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This article is about Zelda's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses, see Zelda.
You might recognize Zelda's look from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds game. In battle she uses magical moves to reflect and teleport, and for her Final Smash, she seals her opponents away in the Triforce of Wisdom. If an opponent has 100% damage or more, they will be instantly KO'd!
—Description from the Super Smash Blog.

Zelda is a veteran fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, first playable in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Her fighter number is #17.

When unlocked, she is fought at Temple.

Attributes[]

Strengths[]

  • Possesses two projectiles, Din’s Fire and Phantom Slash.
  • Nayru’s Love is both a reflector and a combo-breaker.
  • Din’s Fire is unique in that it can be pocketed, but not reflected. This is likely because it doesn’t have a hitbox until it is detonated. You can also angle its direction up or down.
  • Phantom Slash is a good kill move.
  • Down aerial can meteor smash, despite needing to hit the sweetspot to do so.
  • Forward, back, and down aerials (Lightning Kick and Meteor Heel) all possess easy-to-land sweetspots that deal immense damage and knockback and have very good kill potential.
  • Farore’s Wind possesses two hitboxes, one on the disappearance and one on the reappearance. The latter is an excellent combo finisher and can kill opponents off the upper or side blast lines if used correctly. It can also be angled, so you can alternatively use it as horizontal or vertical recovery.
  • Her Final Smash, Triforce of Wisdom, has an extremely long pull range in all directions that is impossible to miss unless if used extremely carelessly and can OHKO if used next to a blast line, which is fairly simple to execute. It also automatically kills if the enemy is at 100% by the end, making it a very reliable kill move.

Weaknesses[]

  • Few reliable kill moves.
  • Nayru’s Love requires timing in order to properly reflect projectiles, and has high end lag, making it easy to punish.
  • Phantom Slash requires charging to execute, and cannot be shield-canceled, which makes it easily punishable. Also, it is technically a projectile, meaning it can be reflected and pocketed.
  • Din’s Fire requires you to control the trajectory and detonation of the flame, which means Zelda is unable to move while doing this and thus can be punished for doing so. It cannot do sharp turns and thus is only that effective at long range where the orb has time to adjust.
  • When using Farore's Wind, it's possible to accidentally teleport off-stage. In this case, it's impossible to survive as you cannot double-jump or use Farore's Wind again until you hit the ground. If used downwards in such a way that a platform is in the way, it'll move Zelda sideways, making it a little risky and unpredictable in certain situations.

Summary[]

Zelda is primarily a zoning character, keeping her distance from opponents with powerful projectiles that can easily disrupt a match, and high-powered aerials that can be easily sweetspotted to land devastating blows. Din’s Fire is spammable, and can repel enemies quite well, forcing them to keep their distance while you form a plan. Nayru’s Love is a reflector, meaning that enemy projectiles can be used against them with proper timing. Phantom Slash is a heavy hitting projectile that is a decent kill move, and Farore’s wind gives good height/distance in addition to being a combo finisher with good kill power. If an enemy does get close, her dash attack is easy to hit and can push them away.

Unfortunately, many of Zelda’s moves have high end lag, making her easily punishable. Din’s Fire requires use of the control stick to move its trajectory, meaning Zelda is completely still until the fire explodes. Similarly, Phantom Slash cannot be shield-cancelled, so Zelda either loses the Phantom by an opponent hitting it while charging or attack Zelda herself. However, both attacks can be terminated early even if it means losing some of their potential. Nayru’s Love requires timing to actually reflect projectiles, so mistiming means getting hit with a projectile or being punished in the frames where Zelda is finishing the move but it has no hitbox. Her aerials also require sweetspotting for maximum effectiveness (except for her up aerial).

In conclusion, Zelda is a character who overwhelms opponents with powerful projectiles and aerials, but is quite easily punished for missing or even using most of her moveset.

Changes from 3DS/Wii U[]

Attributes[]

  • Her design is based off of her appearance from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
  • She has a new voice, the first time since Brawl.
  • Zelda has a new set of taunts.

Ground Attacks[]

  • Zelda's jab is now a multi-hit attack with a finisher.

Aerial Attacks[]

Grabs and Throws[]

Special Attacks[]

  • Din's Fire no longer puts Zelda into a helpless state when used in the air. Instead, she will not lose height and will drift in the direction the attack was aimed until it's over.
  • Zelda's Phantom Slash now has four levels of charge; the Phantom will stall before launching forwards when at full charge, and during this time Zelda can move around freely.
    • The Phantom is also unable to be destroyed this time and will block projectiles in its path.
  • Her final smash is now a sealing move called the Triforce of Wisdom, replacing her previous final smash; Light Arrow.

Moveset[]

Ground Attacks[]

Normal[]

  • Neutral Attack: Zelda thrusts a hand forwards, with several magic sparks appearing in front of her. A final, larger spark launches the opponent. The whole attack deals roughly 14% damage.
  • Forward Tilt: Zelda swings an arm forth, magic trailing behind her hand.
  • Up Tilt: Zelda swings an arm overhead, magic trailing behind her hand.
  • Down Tilt: Zelda kicks low to the ground.
  • Dash Attack: Zelda thrusts both hands forth, magic sparks appearing in her palms.

Smash Attacks[]

  • Forward Smash: Zelda thrusts both arms forth, conjuring multiple magic sparks in front of herself.
  • Up Smash: Zelda raises on arm and waves it around, with magic trailing behind her hand.
  • Down Smash: Zelda kicks to each side.

Other attacks[]

  • Floor Attack (Front):
  • Floor Attack (Back):
  • Floor Attack (Trip):
  • Ledge Attack:

Aerial Attacks[]

  • Neutral aerial: Zelda spins around with her arms outstretched, magic trailing behind her hands.
  • Forward aerial (Lightning Kick): Zelda kicks forth, a burst of magic appearing at the tip of her foot, dealing 4% damage to an enemy that got hit. This attack has a sweet spot: to hit it, press the attack button so that the enemy will get hit more or less in the middle of this attack's hitbox. Doing so will deal quintuple damage and increase the knockback drastically.
  • Back aerial (Lightning Kick): Zelda kicks backwards, a burst of magic appearing at the tip of her foot, dealing 4% damage to an enemy that got hit. This attack has the same sweet spot gimmick as Forward Aerial.
  • Up aerial: Zelda raises an arm and conjures a magic explosion overhead. She will also do a very small hop in midair.
  • Down aerial (Meteor Heel): Zelda stomps downwards with one leg. This attack has the same sweet spot gimmick as Forward and Back Aerial and will also meteor smash if sweet spotted.

Grabs and Throws[]

  • Pummel: Zelda zaps the grabbed opponent with magic.
  • Forward Throw: Zelda levitates the opponent and then hurls them away.
  • Back Throw: Zelda levitates the opponent and then hurls them backwards.
  • Up Throw: Zelda tosses the opponent upwards.
  • Down Throw: Zelda tosses the opponent to the ground and then attacks them with fire.

Special Moves[]

Zelda's Special Moves
Melee Brawl 3DS/Wii U Ultimate
Standard Special Nayru's Love
Side Special Din's Fire
Up Special Farore's Wind
Down Special Transform Phantom Slash
Final Smash Light Arrow Triforce of Wisdom

Taunts[]

  • Up Taunt: Places a hand on her hip, while generating magic and twirling it in an cross shape in front of her.
  • Down Taunt: Giggles and waves with a smile.
  • Side Taunt: Closes her eyes and summons Din's Fire between cupped hands.

On-Screen Appearance[]

  • Appears facing the screen, generating magical sparkles from between cupped hands. Zelda then flourishes her hands while smiling before assuming her idle pose.

Idle Poses[]

  • Brushes her hair while looking back.
  • Smiles and performs a pondering gesture with a finger tapping her cheek.

Victory Poses[]

  • Left: Creates magic with her fingertips and waves it around.
  • Up: Creates fire from her fingertip and waves it around while giggling.
  • Right: Summons a Phantom behind her with a snap of her finger and poses with it.

In competitive play[]

As one of the characters playable in the E3 demo build, players were fairly divided early on regarding Zelda's competitive viability. Much of the optimism surrounding the character could be attributed to noticeably improved frame data, particularly on her jab and out-of-shield options, which were key points of grievance with the character's past iterations, as well as Phantom Slash's changes. However, just as players took notice of the character's improvements over SSB4, they found that some of her key issues, such as her mobility and poor endurance, were retained from previous games as well. In spite of this, players such as ven used to her to a fair degree of success in the early metagame. This left consensus on Zelda as a mid-tiered character. However, as time went on and the metagame progressed, her flaws were only further exploited, and her early success was not as high in comparison to the release metagame. This led to a more negative perspective early on, with the general consensus of professionals considering her as a low-tier character.

After the early metagame however, opinions on Zelda began to improve, as players such as ven, Mystearica, Naskino, Marf, and ZeroTwoNone continued to place well with her. ven, in particular, has won sets against ESAM and Megafox and has had close sets with MkLeo and Glutonny. Furthermore, she has received noticeable improvements towards her consistencies in patch 7.0.0, which is one of her major weaknesses, as well as an important improvement to Forward Smash in patch 11.0.0 making it a more reliable KO move. Moreover she has seen consistently good placements in tournaments and a notable growth in her player base over the past year. As such, many players now have a more positive opinion on Zelda, and she is widely considered as at least an upper-mid character, with some such as Mew2King, Salem and Goblin considering her a high-tier character due to her out of shield options, KO power, and ledge trapping. ESAM, who once viewed her as a low-tier now believes that she is a mid or low-high-tier character, although some players claim that Zelda is still too polarizing as a character and believe she’s still a mid-tier. Overall though, it is widely agreed that Zelda is much better than all of her previous incarnations, and is viable for the first time in the series.

Classic Mode Itinerary: Wisdom Prevails[]

For her classic mode route, Zelda faces foes who are antagonists. This is a reversal of the classic mode route of Ganondorf, who tends to face heroic characters. The stages and music themes are from the Zelda franchise.

  • First round: Wario is the opponent. The battle takes place on the Great Plateau Tower, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's main theme plays.
  • Second round: Bowser is the opponent. The battle takes place on the Skyloft stage, and the original version of Ballad of the Goddess plays.
  • Third round: The battle occurs on the Hyrule: Temple stage from Super Smash Bros. Melee, and the music is the temple theme. The opponents are five Yiga Clan Mii Swordfighters.
  • Fourth round: King K. Rool is the opponent. The battle takes places on the Bridge of Eldin, and the music is Dark World from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. King Bulbin may be the basis due to his appearance on the stage.
  • Fifth round: Dark Samus is the foe. The battle takes place in Gerudo Valley, and the Hidden Mountain & Forest theme plays.
  • Sixth round: Four Dark Links are the opponents. The battle takes place at Hyrule Castle, and the Great Temple theme from Super Smash Bros. Brawl plays. Clearing this round triggers a Bonus Stage.
  • Boss round: Ganondorf is the opponent. Upon his defeat, Ganondorf becomes Beast Ganon, though the boss assumes his bipedal form from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

If Zelda clears classic mode, the Hidden Mountain & Forest theme plays during the credits.

Role in World of Light[]

Zelda was among the fighters that were summoned to fight the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Zelda tried to rally the other fighters to fight the army of Master Hands by saying, "Stow your fear; it's now or never!" ("ここまで来たらやるしかないでしょう!"), and was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. She and Mewtwo attempted to reflect the beams using Nayru's Love and Confusion, respectively, but this attempt failed, and both of them were vaporized and placed under Galeem's imprisonment along with the rest of the fighters (excluding Kirby).

Zelda was one of the many fighters that fell under Dharkon's control upon Galeem's first defeat. She is unlocked in The Dark Realm at Sacred Land, on the bottom left corner of the land which makes up the Triforce of Wisdom. The player must defeat the spirit of Impa (which is revealed by solving a clock-based puzzle) to clear a boulder that's blocking the path to her unlock battle and then the Zael and Uxie, Mesprit, & Azelf spirits. Unlocking her reveals the Triforce of Wisdom in the center of the map. If Young Link is unlocked, the boulders leading to Cloud's unlock battle and the Master Sword clear out.

Zelda is later seen among several other fighters, making their last stand against Galeem and Dharkon. She is also seen in the bad ending where Galeem emerges victorious against Dharkon, witnessing Galeem engulf the world in light.

Palette Swaps[]

Gallery[]

External links[]

17_Zelda_–_Super_Smash_Bros._Ultimate

17 Zelda – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Smash Ultimate logo glow  · Fighters
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ZeldaSymbol The Legend of Zelda universe
Characters Link (64  · Melee  · Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Sheik (Melee  · Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Princess Zelda (Melee  · Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Young Link (Melee  · Ultimate)
Ganondorf (Melee  · Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Toon Link (Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Side characters Bosses Dark Link  · Ganon
Assist Trophies Tingle  · Skull Kid  · Midna  · Ghirahim  · Moon
Mii Fighter Costumes Link  · Princess Zelda  · Sheik  · Majora's Mask  · Yiga Clan  · Skull Kid  · Ancient Soldier Gear
Background characters Four Giants  · Moon  · Tingle  · Toon Link  · Alfonso
Stage Hazards King Bulblin  · Koume and Kotake
Enemies Bubble  · Cucco  · Darknut  · Like Like  · Octorok  · Peahat  · ReDead  · Stalfos
Other Navi  · Beedle
Stages Hyrule Castle  · Great Bay  · Temple  · Bridge of Eldin  · Pirate Ship  · Gerudo Valley  · Spirit Train  · Skyloft  · Great Plateau Tower
Underground Maze  · Majora's Mask
Items Beetle  · Bombchu  · Bunny Hood  · Cucco  · Deku Nut  · Fairy Bottle  · Gust Bellows  · Heart Container  · Triforce
Music List of Music (The Legend of Zelda series)
Collectibles Trophies Melee Trophies  · Brawl Trophies  · 3DS Trophies  · Wii U Trophies
Stickers List of stickers (The Legend of Zelda series)
Spirits List of spirits (The Legend of Zelda series)
Masterpieces The Legend of Zelda  · Zelda II: The Adventure of Link  · The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
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