Link (Super Smash Bros. Reboot)

The legendary hero of Hyrule, wielder of the Master Sword, owner of the Triforce of Courage, Link makes his appearance in Super Smash Bros. (2016 Reboot) as the third character revealed. Link isn't actually a single character, but rather a sort of "entity": in fact, many heroes in the eras saved Hyrule from evil. In Smash, Link appears to be based, like fellow The Legend of Zelda representative Zelda, on his appearance from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Link is a slow but bulky opponent.
==Attributes==
Link can be described as a barricade: he is slow in all ways, but with his heavy weight, large array of projectiles and strong hits, he can deal with anyone who underestimated his strengths. The Master Sword is a great advantage, due to its disjointed attributes that allow him to have the upper hand against opponents like Mario or Pikachu, whose attacks have small reach. His projectiles have different usages: Bow allows Link to disrupt approaches, Gale Boomerang is the fastest of all and can bring opponents near Link, Bombs have the best combo potential. Speaking about his weaknesses, Link's recovery is probably the worst in the game, with his up special (Spin Attack) gaining little distance both horizontally and vertically. This is also worsened by Link's high falling speed. No throw has the ability to set combos or to kill opponents, but his grab acts as a tether, allowing him to disrupt approaches by spamming Z in air. Lastly, his moves, while powerful, aren't as strong as Bowser's, King Dedede's, Ganondorf's or Donkey Kong's. At the end of the day, Link can be a threat if used in the right way and can quickly kill reckless, offensive-oriented opponents and plays very well against projectile-users (due to his own projectiles and his Hylian Shield, which blocks incoming projectiles), but many players will quickly adopt a defensive playstyle to fake out his options. Because of these limitations, Link ranks 30th out of 30 characters.
==Standard attacks==
===Ground attacks===
*Jab combo - two slashes in one direction, followed by another one in the opposite direction. The jab comes out more slowly than his other tilts. Considered to be the worst jab in the game. Taken from the standard combo in Ocarina of Time
*Side tilt - a powerful, horizontal slash. Faster and stronger than his jab combo. Taken from the animation seen when using heavy items in Breath of the Wild.
*Up tilt - an overhead slash, from the front. Covers a good area above him, making the move a great anti-aerial attack. Taken from a similar attack in Soulcalibur II.
*Down tilt - a stab with his sword. Knocks opponents diagonally downwards, thus a great edge-guarding move. Taken from the crouching stab in Ocarina of Time.
*Dash attack - a jumping, overhead slash. Very powerful, only behind King Dedede’s in terms of both power and slowness. Taken from the jumping attack in Ocarina of Time.
*Forward Smash - a forward stab. Considered to be Link’s beast Smash (and possibly, one of his best attacks) due to its speed, power and reach. May be inspired by the final attack that killed Ganon in Ocarina of Time.
*Up Smash - three overhead slashes, similar to his up tilt but overall faster and stronger. It’s hard to SDI out of the hits due to their speed.
*Down Smash - swipes his sword firstly in front of him, then behind. The second hit is slightly stronger than the first one.
===Aerial attacks===
*Neutral aerial - a vertical slash, from upwards to down. Covers a good area in front of Link and under him, but it’s slow and rather useless except for defensive purposes.
*Forward aerial - two spinning attacks, where the second quickly follows the first one. The attack deals considerable damage and knockback. Can easily end combos and thus stocks. May be inspired by the weak version of the Spin Attack.
*Back aerial - two quick kicks. While having the worst reach among Link’s arsenal, this attack is fast and can be used to block opponents in shield-stun and later break their defensive guards. Inspired by the kicks Link performs in Soulcalibur II.
*Up aerial - an up thrust. The strongest part of the attack is when the hitbox has just came out. Otherwise, it can be so weak that opponents can punish Link. Inspired by the up thrust seen in Zelda II: the Adventure of Link.
*Down aerial - a down thrust. The move has huge landing-lag but can KO vertically pretty easily. Taken from the down thrust seen in Zelda II: the Adventure of Link.
===Grab and throws===
*Grab - uses his clawshoot to grab at a fair distance. In the air, it becomes a weak attack that can disrupt approaches.
*Pummel - a simple knee hit
*Forward throw - kicks his opponent in front of him. Low knockback growth, can set edge-guards with ease.
*Back throw - slashes his opponent twice with his sword. Almost useless except for situational edge-guards.
*Up throw - tosses his opponent upwards, then slices them with his sword. Link’s second best KO throw, at low percentages can lead into combos.
*Down throw - jumps, then lands on his opponent, attacking them with his Master Sword. Link’s best KO throw and overall the strongest down throw in the game, damage wise. Taken from the Ending Blow seen in Twilight Princess.
==Special moves==
Move 	Name 	Damage 	Description
Neutral Special	Bow 	4%-12% 	Link takes his bow and shoots an arrow, which is stronger, faster and reaches further the longer Link charges it.
Side Special 	Gale Boomerang 	7% (going), 0% (return)	Link throws his Gale Boomerang. It deals low damage and knockback but it’s possible to choose the direction where it will fly and when returning it creates a moderately weak windbox that draws enemies and items with it.
Up Special 	Spin Attack 	14% 	Link quickly spins, attacking with his sword. While it can seem a multi-hit attack, it’s only possible to hit once. When used in the air, Link gains some height, however it can’t be considered to be a good recovery move, as the height gained is the least among each up Special attack in the game.
Down Special 	Bomb 	5% 	Link pulls out a bomb that can be thrown. Usually considered to be Link’s best special move, due to its high combo potential.
Final Smash 	Triforce of Courage	68% 	Link traps the closest opponent with the power of the Triforce, then he unleashes a powerful flurry of hits that can KO at very low percentages.
==Animations==
*Fighting stance: taken from Twilight Princess when targeting an opponent.
*On-screen appearance: jumps fro Epona, who is running towards the opponent. Similar to his entering animation in Hyrule Warriors.
*Up taunt: holds the complete Triforce. Similar to a trick in Mario Kart 8.
*Side taunt: Navi flies near him and says, "Watch out!". The clip is directly taken from Ocarina of Time.
*Down taunt: swings the Master Sword twice, then twirls and sheaths it. Similar to the animation seen in Twilight Princess when defeating a strong enemy or when learning a new attack.
*'Winning animation 1: swings the Master Sword, twirls it and then sheaths it. Similar to down taunt, but Link turns around before sheathing the sword.
*'Winning animation 2: shows the complete Triforce, then unsheaths the Master Sword and swings it twice.
*'Winning animation 3: performs a very powerful Spin Attack. After that, he's dizzy. Based on the fact that in Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks Link becomes dizzy after performing four Spin Attacks.
*Losing animation: claps.
*Idle: takes a battle-ready stance.
*Idle: kicks the ground.
*Idle: lifts the Shield even more.
*Walking animation: taken from Ocarina of Time.
*Dashing animation: similar to the one seen in Hyrule Warriors, albeit with the shield and the sword, the former lifted.
*Jump animation: taken from Zelda II: the Adventure of Link.
*Double jump: spins in the air.
==Alternative costumes==
*Default: Link's default attire. Green tunic and hat.
*Red: Link's attire while wearing the Goron tunic. Red tunic and hat.
*Blue: Link's attire while wearing the Zora tunic. Blue tunic and hat.
*Purple: based on the fourth hero from Four Swords Adventure. Purple tunic and hat.
*Black: Dark Link's appearance. Black tunic, hat and dark skin. The shield is changed as well to better resemble the Mirror Shield.
*Lavender: Link's attire while using the Blue Ring in the very first The Legend of Zelda. Lavender hat and tunic.
*Dark blue: based on a costume seen in Hyrule Warriors. Dark blue hat and tunic, red particulars and orange hair.
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