Zelda (PM)

Zelda is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. She was one of the most buffed characters from Melee and Brawl, going from being a bottom tier character in both Melee and Brawl to a formidable fighter that can be played without the need of .
Zelda is placed 38th out 41 on the official tier list, toward the bottom of the D tier. This is very similar to her 24th out of 26 placement in Melee and a marginal improvement over her Brawl standing as 37th out of 38. Her tools are strong enough to make her a competent fighter, and numerous top placings by have shown her great potential.
==Attributes==
In both Melee and Brawl, Zelda was plagued for being tall, floaty, and slow on the ground and in the air. Additionally, she was hampered by poor approach options. In Project M, these weaknesses are addressed by significantly buffing Zelda overall.
Zelda excels at defensive gameplay, being able to reflect projectiles with Nayru's Love, her neutral special. This move can also be used for spacing. Zelda's side special, Din's Fire, is a fiery, guided projectile that explodes after a few seconds or on contact. This move can be used to force opponents to move closer to Zelda or as a combo finisher. Din's Fire does not enforce helplessness like it did in Melee and Brawl, meaning the move can be safely used in the air. Other moves that Zelda can use for spacing include her jab, which has disjointed hitboxes, and her neutral aerial, which is good for aerial spacing. Her recovery, Farore's Wind, is versatile in that it sends Zelda a good distance in any direction.
Despite being good for defense, Zelda is also a good offensive character, able to utilize combos and possessing many powerful finishers as well. Zelda's most notable finishers, her Lightning Kicks, cause high damage and knockback when sweetspotted. Although difficult to sweetspot, Zelda's down aerial is an effective meteor smash. Her up tilt, up aerial, and back throw are also KO moves at high percentages. 
Although she is much better character than either her Melee or Brawl iterations, Zelda still has many weaknesses. Her recovery can be easily prevented by proper edgehogging. Zelda's light weight causes her to be very vulnerable to many finishing moves. Lastly, while the return of Melee's physics make Zelda faster, she is still slower than the majority of the roster. In earlier version of Project M, Zelda was considered by many to be a powerhouse due to her capability to use three quickly-moving Din's Fire projectiles at once. In Project M Version 3.5 and onward, Din's Fire was nerfed so that only one projectile can be used at a time.
==Changes from Brawl to PM==
Zelda was immensely buffed from Brawl to Project M. Her mobility has been improved and many of her attacks are faster. Many of her moves also have improved KO potential such as back throw and the back hit of her down smash. The changes to PM's mechanics also greatly benefit her as they improve her combo potential and her overall endurance is higher. Lastly, Transform is much faster and much like in Melee is a more effective character.
She did see a few nerfs however. Her down tilt has more ending lag and can no longer trip opponents. Some of her KO moves such as down smash's front hit and her Lightning Kicks were weakened while some of her moves such as up smash, up aerial and neutral aerial are less reliable.
Overall, she is much more effective and viable than she has ever been; however, her buffs were not enough to keep up with most of the cast, resulting in her remaining one of the weaker characters in the game.
===Aesthetics===
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===Attributes===
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===Ground Attacks===
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===Aerial Attacks===
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===Special Moves===
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==Revisions==
===v2.5b===
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===v2.6b===
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===v3.0===
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===v3.5===
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==Moveset==
Up to date as of version 3.6.
 	 	Name 	Damage 	Description
Neutral attack 	Neutral attack 	 	2% (hits 1-2), 3% (hit 3) 	Zelda sticks her hand out in front of herself and shoots small magical sparks. Disjointed with decent range, but very slow for a neutral attack.
Forward tilt 	Forward tilt 	 	14% (tip), 13% (hand), 9% (body) 	Zelda swipes her arm horizontally in front of herself with a boost of magic power. The attack has moderate knockback and sends enemies behind Zelda, potentially comboing into other moves. The tip hitbox has lower knockback than the hand hitbox, facilitating combos to some degree. Can be angled.
Up tilt 	Up tilt 	 	15% (clean), 13% (late) 	Zelda waves her arm above her head in an arc with a boost of magic power. Zelda's right arm is intangible while the hitboxes are out. Strong vertical KO power, even for the late hitbox.
Down tilt 	Down tilt 	 	10% (leg), 11% (body) 	Zelda crouches and kicks her foot in front of her, hitting opponents low. This attack can meteor smash opponents who come in contact with Zelda's body, and grounded opponents who come in contact with her foot. If Zelda attempts another down tilt after connecting one on an opponent, she will suffer from additional lag after the move. Against opponents at high percents, down tilt has weak vertical knockback and can potentially combo into KO moves.
Dash attack 	Dash attack 	 	13% (clean sweetspot), 9% (clean sourspot), 8% (late sweetspot), 7% (late sourspot) 	Zelda shoves her arms in front of her and pushes foes in front of her away with a boost of magic power. Sweetspot is located close to her body. The sweetspot can start combos or can kill at very high percents.
Forward smash 	Forward smash 	 	(hits 1-4), (hit 5) 	Zelda charges magic energy in her right hand and flashes it in front of her, hitting opponents multiple times before knocking them away. Relatively low ending lag, with large range. However, it can be escaped from with good SDI.
Up smash 	Up smash 	 	(hits 1-11), (hit 12) 	Zelda charges magic energy in her left hand and waves it above her head twice, hitting opponents multiple times before knocking them away with reasonably strong knockback. This move can be SDI'd out of, but it is difficult. Combos into itself or other moves at low percents, depending on the opponent.
Down smash 	Down smash 	 	(front), (back) 	Zelda quickly kicks on both sides of herself, knocking opponents away. This attack comes out very quickly and knocks enemies away horizontally at a low angle. The back hit is stronger than the front hit in terms of both damage and knockback. Zelda's leg is intangible while performing the move.
Neutral aerial 	Neutral aerial 	 	2% (hits 1-5), 5% (hit 6), 3% (landing) 	Zelda waves her arms around her, hitting opponents multiple times around her before knocking them away. Relatively fast startup.
Forward aerial 	Forward aerial 	Lightning Kick	19% (foot clean), 16% (foot late), 8% (body) 	Zelda quickly kicks in front of her, dealing great damage and knockback if the opponent is hit at the beginning of the move and just the tip of her boot strikes the opponent. Otherwise, it's extremely weak and doesn't KO until over 300% at the sourspot. Sends opponents at a slightly lower angle than the back aerial.
Back aerial 	Back aerial 	Lightning Kick	18% (foot clean), 15% (foot late), 8% (body) 	Zelda quickly kicks behind herself, dealing great damage and knockback if the opponent is hit at the beginning of the move and just the tip of her boot strikes the opponent. Is slightly faster than her forward air but deals less damage at both the sweetspot and sourspot, and sends at a slightly higher angle. This is Zelda's fastest aerial at 5 frames of startup.
Up aerial 	Up aerial 	 	5% (hit 1), 17% (explosion center), 14% (explosion sides) 	Zelda brings her arm above her head and releases a fiery explosion above her head, dealing great knockback. Has a hitbox at startup that sends the enemy upward into the explosion afterward. The center of the explosion deals more damage and knockback, and launches at a perfectly vertical angle.
Down aerial 	Down aerial 	 	18% (clean ground), 20% (clean air), 8% (late foot), 9% (late leg) 	Zelda stomps her foot below herself. Like her forward & back aerials, if this hits within the first couple of frames with the foot, it causes a pause in the opponent's movement, then deals high damage and meteor smashes the opponent straight downwards very fast. If the opponent is grounded, it does slightly less damage and causes the enemy to bounce off the ground and into the air, with very high knockback.
Grab 	Grab 	 	— 	
Pummel 	Pummel 	 	3% 	Discharges magic into the enemy. A very slow pummel.
Forward throw 	Forward throw 	 	10% 	Magically twirls her opponent and throws them forward. A very fast throw.
Back throw 	Back throw 	 	11% 	Magically twirls her opponent behind herself and tosses them. Strongest knockback out of all her throws.
Up throw 	Up throw 	 	8% 	Magically twirls her opponent above her head, then releases them upward.
Down throw 	Down throw 	 	3% (hits 1-4), 2% (throw) 	Throws the opponent on the ground and shocks them repeatedly with magical bursts. The enemy will be launched upwards behind Zelda. While it is easily DI'd away to prevent any follow-ups, it has very good follow-ups if the opponent DIs wrong, and does very high damage for a throw. At the edge of the stage, she can set up an early edgeguard.
Floor attack (front)	Floor attack (front)	 	6% (hit 1), 8% (hit 2 leg), 6% (hit 2 body) 	Zelda kicks in front and then behind her.
Floor attack (back) 	Floor attack (back) 	 	6% 	Zelda kicks in front and then behind her.
Floor attack (trip) 	Floor attack (trip) 	 	5% 	Essentially the same as her other two floor attacks.
Edge attack (fast) 	Edge attack (fast) 	 	7% 	Zelda climbs up and swings her legs in a circular motion, while pulling herself up.
Edge attack (slow) 	Edge attack (slow) 	 	8% (arm), 11% (tip) 	Zelda raises up slowly, and after a short pause, smacks the enemy with the back of her hand.
Neutral special 	Neutral special 	Nayru's Love 	1-2% (hits 1-5), 4% (hit 6 ground), 3% (hit 6 air) 	Creates a crystal that slashes enemies and reflects projectiles. Has a few frames of invincibility near the beginning of the move when used on the ground. When used in the air, it has no invincibility but the lag can be cancelled if Zelda lands after the hitboxes are done.
Side special 	Side special 	Din's Fire 	7-12% (fireball), 6-13% (set explosion), 10-25% (auto explosion), 4-9% (return) 	Allows Zelda to place a fireball on the field, which can damage opponents upon contact. After a few seconds or if Side+B is pressed again, the fireball explodes and returns as a "wisp" to Zelda, dealing damage to opponents it touches along the way. If an opponent makes contact with the fireball before the initial explosion, it will do damage but not explode, but still become a "wisp". The "wisp" can be detonated with Side+B, creating a small explosion before it resumes travelling back to Zelda. The more time Zelda spends placing the fireball, the bigger and stronger the ending explosion will be, and the more slowly the "wisp" travels.
Up special 	Up special 	Farore's Wind 	4% (warp & return) 	Teleports in a given direction, dealing damage at both ends. Press B while teleporting to shorten the teleport but lose the ending hitbox. With good timing and positioning, Zelda can teleport onto platforms and cancel most of the ending lag.
Down special 	Down special 	Transform 	— 	Transforms into Sheik, detonating any undetonated fireballs. Invulnerable during the transformation (blue sparks).
Final Smash 	Final Smash 	Light Arrow 	3% (trapping), 40% (Light Arrow 1st opponent), 30% (2nd opponent), 22% (3rd opponent)	Draws a large bow and sets an arrow. During this time, any characters in her line of sight will flinch. A second later, the Light Arrow is released, dealing significant damage and likely KO'ing the struck characters. Goes through walls.
==In competitive play==
===Notable players===
* - Best Zelda on the West Coast. Honorable mention on PMRank 2017.
* - The best active Zelda main in the world. Ranked #38 on PMRank 2023 with wins on and .
* - One of the two best Project M players in Japan.
* - Best Zelda in the world. Ranked 32nd on the PMRank 2016.
* - Recently ranked 5th on the MAPM power ranking in mid 2021. Wins on , , , , and .
==Alternate costumes==
===Project M===
Zelda now has an alternate costume that is more closely based off her appearance in Melee, which itself was based off her appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Oddly, the Brawl color palette which references the design featured in the alternate costume stays, despite Ganondorf's Ocarina Of Time based palette swap being replaced with the default color for his alternate costume, which is again based off of his Ocarina design. Zelda has the Triforce symbol in her right hand after getting a Final Smash with her Ocarina of Time costume.
							
							
===Project+===
Zelda gained more alternate costumes, with most of them being reworked in Project+ 2.3:
*Pink/Blue: Based on her appearance as a resident of Skyloft in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
*Red (OOT): Given brown hair, better resembling the ending of The Legend of Zelda if Link rescues her with the Red Ring equipped.
*Green (OOT): Based on her appearance in the ending of The Legend of Zelda if she was rescued by Link with no ring equipped.
*Blue (OOT):
*Violet (OOT): A more accurate portrayal of Zelda's appearance as seen in official artwork for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
*Dark Purple (OOT): Based on Princess Hilda from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Secret costumes:
 
Z-Secret Costume: Young Zelda clothing
R-Secret Costume: Hyrule Warriors Zelda
==Trivia==
*Two players can use the same costume for Zelda (and Sheik) as long as one chooses Zelda and the other chooses Sheik with the corresponding palette swap (i.e. default costumes or team colors). This is likely an oversight as a result of being able to choose Zelda and Sheik separately. Upon exiting the results screen and going back to the character select screen, one of the character portraits will use a different alternate costume instead.
==External links==
*Labbing Discord Tech Post
==References==
Category:Zelda
Category:Characters (PM)