Young Zeist

**Young Zeist** (こどもザイスト, *Young Zeist*) is a character in *Cyberkidz*. He is a direct clone of Zeist, with some minor differences. Young Zeist was replaced with Toon Zeist in *Super Smash Bros. Brawl*.

Young Zeist is voiced by Robert Z'Dar, who previously voiced him in *Cyberkidz*.

He ranks 17th on the tier list in the C- tier, one place higher than Zeist. Young Zeist has a very good approach due to some low lag aerials, a great SHFFL and a good wavedash, as well as three projectiles and good mobility overall. Young Zeist also is a potent comboer due to his projectiles, and can also edgeguard and space well. However, Young Zeist's primary flaw is that he has trouble KOing, due to the lack of an efficient quick KO move and having difficulty in hitting cleanly with his smash attacks (except his down smash). Additionally, like Zeist, Young Zeist has a slow and predictable recovery, though his ability to wall jump, bomb jump and use his hookshot give him some options. Young Zeist's recovery, however, is rather poor for his weight class.

## How to unlock

For players to unlock Young Zeist, the Classic or Adventure Mode has to be completed with ten characters.

Alternatively, the player can have Dusty use his powers on Zeist.

## Attributes

As a fighter, Young Zeist appears as a lighter, weaker, and faster form of Zeist, and generally falls under the same archetype as a character, similar to characters such as Ness. Other properties of Young Zeist, however, are almost identical to those of Zeist. His airspeed and falling speed are identical to Zeist's, and he has only slightly lower traction, giving Young Zeist a slightly longer wavedash than Zeist. Unlike his many-year-old self, who is a heavyweight, Young Zeist is a lightweight and gets sent farther and higher (due to having the same fall speed) than Adult Zeist. Young Zeist's primary asset is his range. His Kokiri Sword gives him a disjointed hitbox that can allow him to strike from farther ranges, and his neutral, down, and side specials all give him access to a variety of projectiles that can cause damage and start combos from significant distances. Young Zeist's projectiles are surprisingly damaging, especially in comparison to Zeist's; his bombs catch opponents in the blast with multiple hits, allowing for combo potential, and both his boomerangs and Fire Arrows inflict more damage and hitstun than Zeist's, allowing for some dangerous combo starters against his opponents. Coupled with a long-ranged grapple, Young Zeist's range is among the highest in the game.

Additionally, Young Zeist has access to a surprisingly good approach game. In addition to his aforementioned range boons, Young Zeist's aerial approach is very good. Fast, low-lag aerials and a small short hop coupled with a high falling speed gives Young Zeist an excellent SHFFL, and his high air speed can allow him to easily pursue enemies in the air. These traits also give Young Zeist a great air game and a surprisingly good edgeguarding game; Young Zeist's recovery options are great as well, with a relatively high third jump and a wall-grapple to assist him, and the ability to wall-jump.

Young Zeist's KO options are varied and often different than those found on most other characters. Young Zeist's neutral aerial and down tilt are quite powerful, with the former having almost nonexistent ending lag when L-canceled. Additionally, Young Zeist's forward smash has the unusual property of being two hits: one with fixed knockback, and one with powerful vertical knockback, acting as a trap of sorts. One of Young Zeist's most reliable finishers is his dash attack, which can KO at as low as 95% on some characters, and is unusually fast.

Young Zeist's primary flaw, however, is his inability to easily and efficiently hit with his finishers. His neutral air requires him to be in the air first, and the remainder of his attacks can prove too awkward to hit with. His dash attack requires the first few frames to connect, and its ending lag can prove to be problematic; that and the inability to send the opponent upwards unless hit at a precise point of the sword and being a semi-spike, which characters (like Kyle and Zeist) can tech out of. With proper use of DI, it's possible to avoid the second hit of Young Zeist's forward smash. Furthermore, Young Zeist's down aerial, which can act as one of the most powerful meteor smashes in the game, has a very small and situational sweetspot, significantly hindering its usefulness off the edge. His forward aerial is also among the weakest forward aerials to both combo and finish with and his up smash is weak and not reliable tue to DI, forcing him to over-rely on dash attack or down smash for KOing.

Young Zeist's light weight makes him considerably easier to KO than other characters; this itself acts as a problem for Young Zeist due to his poor recovery in comparison to other characters of his weight class (such as Ian or Zak).

Young Zeist's Kokiri Sword makes "smacking" sound effects when it connects for every attack except for Young Zeist's up throw and up special. Young Zeist's Deku Shield is also slightly less durable than Zeist's (higher-damage projectiles will phase through the shield).

However, under the hands of a player with skilled precision, Young Zeist's projectiles, approach options and mobility can prove to be quite deadly.

## Differences from Zeist

One of the most noticeable distinctions between the two is that Young Zeist is faster than Zeist. This however comes at the cost of having weaker KO power. Being younger than his adult self, Young Zeist is shorter than Zeist. This makes him harder to hit, but it also reduces his range. Young Zeist is also significantly lighter than Zeist, making him less susceptible to combos, but means he can get KO'ed generally earlier than Zeist. Young Zeist has the ability to wall jump, aiding in his recovery options.

Young Zeist also has properties for some of his moves that extend behind damage distribution. Young Zeist shoots fire arrows for his neutral special, dealing flame damage and dealing more damage uncharged, but less damage fully charged. Young Zeist's Spin Attack hits multiple times rather than once, making it better for trapping opponents, but worse for netting KOs. Young Zeist's Bombs hit four times upon explosion opposed to two, allowing his bombs to deal more damage than Zeist's. Young Zeist's down aerial his a sweet-spot near the hilt of his sword, which meteor smashes opponents while also setting them ablaze.

In spite of these differences, it is heavily debated on which of the two are better, with them usually being near each other on tier lists. Young Zeist does better against floaty characters such as Zak and Quix, but Zeist performs better against non-floaty characters.

#### Aesthetics

* Young Zeist wields the Kokiri Sword and Deku Shield instead of the Master Sword and Hylian Shield.
* With the exception of his up special and up throw, all sword attacks make a punch/kick sound effect instead of a slashing sound effect upon impact.
* Young Zeist's taunt, idle pose, and two of his victory animations are different and longer than Zeist's.

#### Attributes

* Young Zeist is shorter than Zeist. While this does make him harder to hit, it also results in him having less reach in his attacks.
* Young Zeist's Kokiri Sword has less of a disjointed range advantage on his attacks than Zeist.
* Young Zeist dashes much faster than Zeist (1.3 → 1.6).
* Young Zeist has lower traction (0.1 → 0.08) giving him a longer wavedash than Zeist, but makes him harder to punish out of shield.
* Young Zeist's fast falling speed is much lower (3 → 2.2) making him more susceptible to juggling, and increasing his time airborne for SHFFL attacks.
* Young Zeist has a slightly higher full hop and double jump than Zeist
* Young Zeist has a shorter jumpsquat duration than Zeist (6 → 4), giving him quicker access to aerials, wavedashing, and platform movement.
* Young Zeist is overall weaker than Zeist in KO potential. Down smash, dash attack, and neutral air KO better than Zeist's counterparts, but at the cost of lower knockback on all other moves in addition to lacking Zeist's Spin Attack finisher.
* Young Zeist's Deku Shield is smaller than the Hylian Shield, projectiles therefore have a slightly lower chance of being blocked by it.
* Unlike Zeist, Young Zeist can wall jump, aiding his recovery and ledge play options on stages with walls.
* Young Zeist's Hookshot is shorter than Zeist's, significantly reducing its utility as a recovery tool.
* Young Zeist is significantly lighter than Zeist (104 → 85). While this drastically worsens his endurance for both horizontal and vertical survival, it makes him far less vulnerable to combos than his older counterpart. In particular, it makes him invulnerable to Fox's waveshine combos, as he is knocked down by the shine as opposed to pushed back.

#### Ground Attacks

* Neutral attack:
	+ All hits deal less damage (5% → 3% (hit 1), 3% → 2% (hit 2), 6% → 5% (hit 3)).
* Forward tilt:
	+ Forward tilt has less startup (frame 16 → 11) and ending lag (FAF 40 → 34), significantly increasing its overall utility.
	+ Forward tilt has a shorter duration (frames 16-19 → 11-13) and deals less damage (13%/14%/15%) → 10%/11%/12%). The faster swing speed also reduces the move's range above Young Zeist.
* Up tilt:
	+ Up tilt deals less damage (9% → 8%).
* Down tilt:
	+ Down tilt's meteor smash hitbox has a higher priority than the pop up, making it easier to land.
	+ Down tilt does not deal consistent damage, and is weaker (11% → 7%/9%/10%).
* Dash attack:
	+ Dash attack only has two hitboxes which deal different damage (9%/11%/12% → 10%/11%).
	+ Dash attack sends the opponent away as a kill/edgeguard tool unlike Zeist's which pops up to combo.
	+ Young Zeist's sword swing is lower to the ground, reducing its vertical range.
* Forward smash:
	+ The second hit of forward smash has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 41).
	+ Forward smash's first hit has set knockback in order to chain into the second more reliably, however the second hit of the string can be avoided with the use of DI. It also has a shorter duration (frames 15-18 → 15-17) and both hits deal less damage (13%/14% → 10% (hit 1), 18%/20% → 9%/11%/12% (hit 2)).
* Up smash:
	+ Up smash is able to connect against shorter grounded opponents such as Ian and Danica owing to Young Zeist's shorter stature. The third hit also has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 41-43 → 40-44), giving it more range in front and behind him.
	+ Up smash deals less damage (14% → 11%).
* Down smash:
	+ The second hit of down smash hits on both sides of Young Zeist, though it only covers his ankle on the small side.
	+ Down smash sends opponents sideways instead of upwards, giving it better overall KO ability at the cost of lesser combo potential.
	+ Down smash lacks the stronger sweetspots which deal 16%/17%.
	+ Down smash hitboxes are designed in such a way that it is worse than Zeist's for shield poking.

#### Aerial Attacks

* Neutral aerial:
	+ Neutral aerial is stronger than Zeist's, and deals the same damage throughout (11%/9%/8% → 12%).
	+ Neutral aerial is not active in its hitboxes through the duration of the move, unlike Zeist's.
* Forward aerial:
	+ Forward aerial has less damage and knockback than Zeist's version.
	+ Young Zeist's forward aerial can only hit once.
	+ The hitboxes are active even between swings, and can hit behind Young Zeist
* Back aerial:
	+ Back aerial is easier to connect than Zeist's.
* Down aerial:
	+ Down aerial has a hitbox on the sword's hilt that inflicts a powerful meteor smash (second strongest in the game by %, strongest by knockback) with a fire effect.
	+ Down aerial gets stronger later in the attack, unlike Zeist's that gets weaker.
* Grab aerial:
	+ Grab aerial deals 1% less damage and has a shorter range which makes it less safe to use than Zeist's.

#### Grabs and Throws

* Young Zeist's short stature allows him to more easily grab small crouching characters like Zak, King Bing, or Floyd.
* Young Zeist's Hookshot grab lasts 3 frames less than Zeist's, significantly costing him range.

#### Special Moves

* Fire Bow:
	+ Fire Bow's arrows deal more hitstun than Zeist's arrows, increasing his combo ability and making the move safer on hit up close. It also has slightly faster startup than Zeist's Bow.
	+ Fire Bow's arrows deal flame damage (hence the name).
	+ Fire Bow's arrows travel less distance due to character height, reduced total charge duration, and disappearing 5 frames earlier.
	+ Fire Bow's arrows have reversed damage roles. It deals more than Bow's arrows uncharged, but less damage fully charged.
* Boomerang:
	+ Young Zeist's boomerang is stronger than Zeist's on hit.
	+ Boomerang can be angled better to hit close opponents or deflect backwards off the ground.
	+ Boomerang's return hitbox deals 1% less damage (3% → 2%).
	+ Boomerang travels less distance compared to Zeist's.
* Spin Attack:
	+ Spin Attack lands multiple hits instead of one, allowing it to trap opponents within its hitboxes, and the late hitboxes inflict more damage.
	+ The late hitboxes do not semi-spike and even if all hits connect, it is still weaker than Zeist's clean Spin Attack in damage. Also, it is not a viable KO move unlike Zeist's.
* Bomb:
	+ Young Zeist's bombs look slightly different than Zeist's, as they are smaller; it has a smaller projectile hitbox but is slightly harder to track visually when thrown.
	+ Young Zeist's bombs have four hitboxes as opposed to Zeist's two, increasing their hitstun and combo ability.
	+ Young Zeist's bombs do more damage to opponents than Zeist's, given that all of their hitboxes connect.
	+ The multi-hit property of the bombs means that their explosion can affect Young Zeist more often in close range.
	+ Young Zeist's bombs travel a shorter distance when thrown.