The greatest part of Ultimate is that every character in the series history has entered the fight. If you’ve played each Smash title like me, you know that means we have three Links to choose from now. We have Link, Young Link, and Toon Link. So which one is the best?

In this post, I’m going to detail each of the three Links to decide who I think, in my opinion, is the best Link.

All of my findings are from version 2.0 and are subject to change with upcoming patches.

I find each Link to have a strong combo game with their projectiles and respective setups. So I won’t be going over every single combo that each Link can do, I will just state that their combo game won’t be a deciding factor here.

Link

Link is the heaviest of the three, allowing him to survive to higher percents, but at the same time this results in Link having the worst recovery. Yes I know you can bomb drop and detonate to recharge your recovery but for reliability sake, I’m just going to compare the hero’s spin. Link is also the only one to not have his hookshot anymore, so he cannot tether to the stage making his recovery a bit more predictable than the other two.

Link’s run speed is quite slow, ranking in at 63rd in the entire game. Luckily, with his vast array of projectiles you won’t have to do much approaching. Though it can be difficult to return to neutral at times with his slower speed.

All three Link’s share the same projectiles: bow and arrow, boomerang, and bombs. Link’s arrows have a unique trait: you are able to pick one up and either shoot two arrows for more damage, or throw it at your opponent. Link’s bombs are his remote bombs from Breath of the Wild, where you throw it then detonate it instead of the typical timed fuse. This creates a lot of opportunities to gimp your opponent. More or less, each of the Link’s boomerangs act the same – creating great stage pressure and acting as a combo starter.

Link’s biggest advantage over Young and Toon are his kill options. Link hits like a truck, you will never have an issue killing with him. Smash attacks, up tilt, f tilt, fair, you name it and it’ll probably kill. As mentioned above, Link does not have a hookshot, so his grab is faster and there’s less of a chance to be punished after missing. His up throw does kill at high percents too.

Young Link

Young Link is the lightest of the three, just a few units lighter than Toon Link. His run speed ranks 37th, faster than Link but slower than Toon Link. Young’s recovery is very good, it reaches higher than Link’s and you can mixup with a hookshot recovery to keep your opponent on their toes. For the sake of not repeating myself later, Toon’s recovery is almost exactly the same to that of Young’s.

What stands out the most of Young Link to me is that he has the strongest pressure. His arrows can be fired extremely fast and his ending lag is very minimal. Young Link is able to dominate the stage with a flurry of arrows and his quick attacks.

I find Young Link’s biggest flaw to be his kill options. It’s very easy to rack up the percent on your opponent, but his lack of kill moves can get frustrating at times when playing him.

It is interesting to note that Young Link has seen some use in the tournament scene with TSM’s own Tweek and Leffen. However, neither of them main the character. Perhaps top players see the greatest potential in Young Link compared to the other two.

Toon Link

Last but certainly not least, Toon Link. As the meta stands now, I find Toon Link to be criminally underrated. Toon is a bit heavier than Young, and the fastest of the three Link’s with a run speed ranking at 24th.

Toon Link is the floatiest of the three Links, giving him a strong aerial presence. Toon Link is famously known for his bomb to forward air combo, resulting in a very reliable kill setup. Young can pull this combo off as well, but it always feels easier to do it with Toon.

Toon Link has a solid kill game, he doesn’t hit quite as hard as Link, but I also never feel I struggle to get kills like with Young Link at times. Toon Link’s back throw is also a very strong kill option.

The Verdict

Each Link plays quite similar: effective zone gameplay with their projectiles and good combo game. I think each Link is high tier and love playing as each of them. So which of the three is best? In my opinion: Link. As mentioned they all play similar, but what Link does the best is killing. Link has extremely powerful attacks and his remote bombs create so many options. You cannot go wrong with whichever Link you choose, it ultimately comes down to personal preference. To me, I find Link to be the best of our three courageous heroes.

Thanks for reading, happy smashing!

Noah Borski
University of Wisconsin – Green Bay
Information Sciences – Game Studies
Communications