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Because this is a modern guide, it should be referenced over the existing Link guides.
By Eon_II, Guest Contributor
Introduction
Link is a common and popular pick despite sitting at the lower end of S on the tier list for years. This is likely a combination of the fact his figures are extremely easy to obtain due to the sheer number of different designs released, and that he’s a surprisingly simple character to train even for the most finicky of value trainers.
Link boasts great KO power, multihit disjointed smashes, a disruptive projectile that can set up for juggles and kills, and an edgeguard game made terrifying by his ability to get kills well below 80% with fair.
His downside is that he has several awful AI quirks, but once you understand what they are and how you can minimise them I find they don’t detract from the experience of training (or watching!) him.
Training Advice
Note: I will refer to values throughout but you don’t need to understand or follow them to train a good Link.
As with most amiibo, you should walk (dash 0) and stay grounded (I would recommend 95+, closer to 100 is better but you can afford to drop lower with Link thanks to his landing combos and powerful KO aerials).
Edgeguard aggressively when the opponent is offstage. Onstage, I recommend a highly aggressive playstyle — I have trained balanced and defensive Links, and neither perform as well or consistently as my 100 offensive bin. (You do not need 100 offensive but I would definitely recommend keeping it very high).
Prioritise moves as follows:
- Grounded: Up smash > Fsmash > Jab = Grab = Boomerang
- Landing: A balanced mix of nair, bair and fair.
- Juggling: Mix of up smash and up air, optionally a very small amount of utilt
- Offstage: Primarily fair, with a few nairs and ledgedrop bairs.
Move Breakdown
Grounded Normals
Forward Smash: This is one of your main grounded options, dealing great damage and getting early KOs. As a multihit he is great at connecting with it, though amiibo that are trained to priority shielding will tend to be able to shield both hits. This is a great move and should have a value of 20+. It is slow though, and will need supplementing with other moves in his kit.
Up Smash: Your single highest priority move; this is a multihit move that challenges parry, pressures platforms, starts juggles and catches rolls. The lingering disjointed hitbox is enough to challenge even the most dangerous landing options like Bowser and Kazuya dairs. Its damage and KO power hold Link’s kit together. Its weakness is relative lack of range, but it’s grounded scoop hitbox is more than sufficient, and at longer ranges the AI will likely be using a boomerang anyway. Make sure this is high; I recommend 30+, but don’t worry about going higher. While training Link I often stand on the opposite side of the stage using this move just to raise its value (and Offensive).
Down Smash: This is a multihit that hits both sides of Link’s feet. It’s fairly fast, and a good option out of parry. Its damage and KO power are both a bit lacking, but it can be worth including a bit — it usually won’t be stale at high %s which can help Link get a quick KO out of parry. I would keep it low as it’s much lower priority than the other smashes, <5.
Jab: A quick gentleman jab (stab?), not particularly special in itself, but I do recommend using it because it is in my opinion his best get-off-me attack for enemies that have closed the distance around his boomerang. Make sure you use some — if you feel like he’s losing up close in neutral, more jab may be the answer.
Forward Tilt: A single hit move, very slow but it lingers and can KO at ledge. I do not recommend teaching it because of the poor speed making it punishable or interruptible, the fact it’s so easy to parry, and the fact that even with a value 0 he will try to catch rolls with it occasionally at ledge. If you want to try it, keep the value low, <3.
Up Tilt: This is a good move in a vacuum, it combos into itself, it’s quick, and it starts and extends juggles. It can be worth teaching, but you’ll need to be careful not to let it get too high or Link will start using it instead of up smash. You could justify not using this move at all; if you do, I’d suggest keeping the value <5. Mine has a value of 2 and uses it more than enough.
Down Tilt: This move must have a value of 0, at all costs. Link has a serious AI issue (see below) which causes him to SD when he uses this move near ledge. This will happen multiple times per set. Avoid entirely. Stick to jab.
Dash Attack: Kind of like a running ftilt, with all the issues that entails. There is no reason for Link to do this; he could walk up safely and do a smash attack, or stand where he is and throw a boomerang. This value will start at 50 and gradually decrease as you train if you don’t use it, let it do so.
Specials
Neutral Special (Arrow): A slow move, Link is bad at charging it correctly, he can’t use it to edgeguard (and shouldn’t try — see AI flaws), and the reward is minimal compared to all the risk. Don’t bother — you have a better projectile.
Side Special (Boomerang): The final piece of the Link moveset puzzle. The slow projectile gives the AI trouble and forces jumps, which is perfect for Link whose gameplan is centred around up smash juggling and his strong aerials. It can also combo into said aerials if Link is close enough — if he manages to land it near the ledge he can get insanely early kills with a fair follow up, 50% or below. I recommend keeping the value around 10.
Up Special (Spin Attack): On the ground, this is an underwhelming out of shield option. In the air, Link will overshoot the ledge and fall to his death. Best avoided, it’s outclassed by his other moves.
Down Special (Remote Bomb): See AI flaws for details, but in short — this move will ruin your Link. Do not use it at all. Value 0 always.
Aerials
Neutral Air: A fast move with landing combos that the AI can pull off, that can even sneak a kill at high %s off an aerial trade with its early high box. It’s a little short range and can be parried easily so it shouldn’t be priority, but certainly worth using some.
Forward Air: This is your best aerial, a multihit move that works as a landing combo starter or finisher for a juggle or boomerang combo. The damage is great, it can KO crazy early offstage or from a platform. You want a good value for this, 20+, but can easily afford to go much higher.
Down Air: He is unfortunately very poor at timing and spacing it, which leads me to recommend avoiding it. Even if you use it, keep it <10.
Back Air: A surprisingly good move that the AI is surprisingly competent with. It’s a fast multihit with landing combos that the AI can quite consistently pull off. The AI can also use it to cycle ledgedrop bairs, leading potentially to a gimp. Definitely use this.
Up Air: This move is slow, but quite effective; the disjoint is much more useful here than it is on dair, and on Battlefield it can be used to get KOs surprisingly early with its strong lingering hitbox. Use some to extend juggles, but be careful not to let him start landing with it or let him prioritise it over fair.
Throws
Down Throw: Leads to many hardcoded follow ups which you do not need to teach. Down throw often and let the AI do the rest.
Forward Throw: No KO potential but it can get the opponent offstage ready for an edgeguard.
Back Throw: The angle is meh (too high) and the knockback growth is underwhelming meaning it won’t KO until unreasonable %s, but if your back is to the ledge it puts the opponent offstage meaning it should still get some use.
Up Throw: Sends directly vertically upwards, setting up juggles. It can KO in a pinch, but not until %s where up smash or fsmash will probably have already done the job.
AI Quirks
Bomb obsession: Link loves to do tricks with his bomb. He’ll throw it upwards and catch it with an aerial. He’ll drop it, then pick it back up again. And he’ll do basically nothing else while he’s holding it. He can’t use it effectively for ledge trapping or edge guarding. Unfortunately, he is hardcoded to pull out a bomb while he’s standing at the ledge, even with a value of 0, and as you may have surmised this is bad news. To minimise this, train your Link to go offstage — Attack out Cliff 100 ideally. I strongly recommend offstage Link for this reason; his ledgetrapping is arguably the single worst in the game.
Down Tilt to Death: Link has a hardcoded combo where he’ll follow up down tilt with an aerial up special. While he’s doing the combo he’s not paying attention to whether he’s drifted offstage, so if he used it near the ledge (even halfway to midstage) he’s likely to drift past the ledge, then fail to make it back. This will lead to early % SDs multiple times per set. Mitigate this by not using the move.
Appendix: My Link Values
My Link isn’t value trained so some of this will look a bit skewy to modern trainers! Were I to train Valorax again now, I would max his shield and parry values and perhaps lower his item collector, but the rest is fine as is (yes, even that offensive 100 and grounded 99).
Near: 100 | Offensive: 100 | Grounded: 99.2 | Attack Out Cliff: 100 | Dash: 0 | Return To Cliff: 0 | Air Offensive: 100 | Forward Smash: 33.4 | Up Smash: 45.5 | Down Smash: 0 | Neutral Special: 0 | Side Special: 13.4 | Up Special: 0 | Down Special: 0 | Forward Air: 49.5 | Back Air: 19.8 | Up Air: 26.8 | Down Air: 1.8
