Spin Attack

For Sonic's Special Moves, see Spin Dash and Spin Charge.

The Spin Attack is Link's, Young Link's and Toon Link's Up Special Move in their Super Smash Bros. incarnations. The move involves any of the three versions of Link spinning his sword around in a circle. Though generally not good in terms of recovery, it is very powerful in terms of offense.

Link

In Super Smash Bros., Link's Spin Attack has nearly identical animation (the size of the circle made by the attack while in the air is smaller), knockback, and damage when used on the ground and in the air. Both versions deal substantial knockback, making them good combo finishers. As a recovery move, though, it is lacking in both horizontal and vertical range, and also because the attack has strictly horizontal range, leaving Link vulnerable from above and below. Because of this, many people consider it to be the poorest recovery move in the game.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee Link's Spin Attack was improved significantly, making him go up higher on the tier list. If used on the ground, Link will have a bit more range and opponents will be hit away quite a distance. If hit by the attack near the end of its animation, the hit acts as a semi-spike, making it a useful edgeguard technique. Young Link's version has less range, but will suck in opponents to deal several hits of damage. If used in midair, Link will spin while moving upward, dealing a possible 5 hits, the last having considerable knockback. The move is greatly improved from the previous game, having larger recovery distance and covering Link from above if used in midair. Link can grab an edge backwards with his Spin Attack, but only during the move, similar to the Falcon Dive and the Dark Dive. The edge of Link's Spin Attack allows players to give their opponents a very effective Gimp kill.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it gains the ability to be charged, but it is much weaker than in Melee when uncharged. By charging the attack, Link will hold his sword in place for a few seconds before releasing a more powerful version of his normal Spin Attack, somewhat similar to a Smash Attack. The attack can only be charged while Link is on the ground, however.

While using the Spin Attack in the air, if all strikes make contact, the final blow has extremely powerful upward knockback. The angled orientation of the aerial hitbox allows Link to hit potential edge-guarders through the stage's edge.

As a recovery move, however, Link's Spin Attack has very poor horizontal and vertical recovery and his stats makes it worse, unable to gain any horizontal distance at all if he uses it immediately after flinching until he becomes helpless, making Link having one of the worst recoveries in the game. Link can only reach the ledge of the Battlefield stage by giving it momentum with his midair jump. It can also not auto-sweetspot the ledge during the first frames.

Link using the Spin Attack in Super Smash Bros.

Link using the Spin Attack in Melee.

Spin Attack used by Link in Brawl.

Link using the Spin Attack in SSB4.

Link's Special Moves
	Super Smash Bros.	Melee	Brawl	3DS/Wii U	Ultimate
Standard Special	Boomerang	Bow	Hero's Bow		Bow and Arrows
Side Special	—	Boomerang	Gale Boomerang		Boomerang
Up Special	Spin Attack
Down Special	Bomb				Remote Bomb
Final Smash	—		Triforce Slash		Ancient Bow and Arrow

Young Link

Young Link's version has less range, but will suck in opponents to deal several hits of damage. If used in midair, Young Link will spin while moving upward, dealing a possible 5 hits, the last having considerable knockback to it, but being considerably weaker than Link's. Young Link can grab an edge backwards with his Spin Attack, but only during the move. Although Young Link can give a Gimp Kill, players would require perfect timing to deliver an equal amount of knockback. Young Link's version covers a greater distance in the air than Link's version does.

Young Link's Spin Attack used on the ground in Melee.

Young Link's Special Moves
	Melee	Ultimate
Standard Special	Fire Bow	Fire Arrow
Side Special	Boomerang
Up Special	Spin Attack
Down Special	Bomb
Final Smash	—	Triforce Slash

Toon Link

Toon Link's Spin Attack is identical to Young Link's version, trapping opponents and dealing multiple hits. However, unlike the latter, Toon Link has the ability to charge up his Spin Attack. While using the Spin Attack in the air, the final blow has extremely powerful upward knockback, allowing Toon Link to hit potential edgeguarders through the stage's edge because of the angled orientation of the aerial hitbox. Toon Link's version covers a greater distance in the air than Link's version does, great enough to go from near the bottom of the Battlefield stage to the ledge without his midair jump, making Toon Link having one of the best recoveries in the game. However, if Toon Link uses Spin Attack right when he's running off the ledge, when he falls and Spin Attack starts, he won't rise at all.

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Toon Link's Spin Attack used on the ground in Brawl.

Toon Link using Spin Attack in SSB4.

Custom Variations

Shocking Spin

Shocking Spin is one of Link's Up Special Moves that can be used via customization. It is stronger than a normal Spin Attack and deals electrical damage, but doesn't go very far horizontally.

Whirling Leap

Whirling Leap is one of Link's Up Special Moves that can be used via customization. Link can now go much higher into the air, but does no damage to opponents.

Shocking Spin

Whirling Leap

Link's Custom Special Moves
	Custom 1	Custom 2
Standard Special	Power Bow	Quickfire Bow
Side Special	Boomerang	Ripping Boomerang
Up Special	Shocking Spin	Whirling Leap
Down Special	Giant Bomb	Meteor Bomb

Sliding Spin Attack

Sliding Spin Attack is one of Toon Link's Up Special Moves that can be used via customization. Toon Link can slide along the ground while using this, and if he uses it in the air he will go more sideways than up.

Pros:

◾Horizontal recovery

◾Moves forwards on the ground, functioning like Donkey Kong's Kong Cyclone when used on the ground.

Cons:

◾Poor vertical recovery

◾Some lag on the ground

◾Can be hard to connect all the hits

The Sliding Spin Attack provides Toon Link with a great horizontal recovery but the vertical part of it is virtually non-existent. It has some lag on the ground but also provides Toon Link with a new way of attacking on the ground by moving forwards with the attack much like the Kong Cyclone when used on the ground. The move can be hard to trap opponents with as well because of the horizontal movement of it.

Flying Spin Attack

Flying Spin Attack is one of Toon Link's Up Special Moves that can be used via customization. It will not give Toon Link any vertical distance until the end, when he does an upward slash to send him and his opponents upward.

Pros:

◾The upward slash provides some good vertical distance

◾Can get some ceiling kills

◾Combo finisher

Cons:

◾Hard to kill with

◾Initial spin isn't as high

The Flying Spin Attack is a custom move that requires a bit of experience in order to master because it can be a bit unwieldy to some. The move's upward slash gains some distance, but this won't help Toon Link much considering that the initial spin part of the attack doesn't gain much height or distance anyways. The move can be an excellent combo finisher, but will not get any certain kills unless Toon Link manage to get it off near the ceiling of the stage.

Sliding Spin Attack

Flying Spin Attack

Toon Link's Custom Special Moves
	Custom 1	Custom 2
Standard Special	Fire Arrow	Piercing Bow
Side Special	Floating Boomerang	High-Speed Boomerang
Up Special	Hurricane Spin	Rising Slash
Down Special	Time Bomb	Short-Fused Bomb

Origin

The Spin Attack, also known by many Link pros as "The Cyclone," has been a standard move in many The Legend of Zelda games, its first appearance being The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. While usually a basic move available from the start, even allowing the player to charge it up, in some games it can be upgraded with magic to deal more damage and have a greater range.

External Links

• Spin Attack on Zeldapedia