Dingding123
Smash Journeyman
Do Da Stanky Leg!
A Guide to Link's Nair
A Guide to Link's Nair
Welcome to the Stanky Leg thread! I tried to make this short and simple guide different from the portion of Skler's guide on nair by going into a bit more detail on what to do in what situation. Hope you enjoy it!
As we all know, link has been almost specifically designed to be low tier in every smash bros game in one way or another. In all three games he has had poor horizontal mobility and in SSB64 and SSBB his recovery was laughably bad. He has also almost traditionally been made to have a slower moveset than the majority of the rest of the cast in every game.
However, aside from his great recovery in SSBM he has been given one tool to help him stand out from among the low tiers: his legendary Leg of Many Stanks, a.k.a. the Stanky Leg.
At first glance it seems to be the same as any other 'sex kick'. When it comes out it does a decent 10 - 11% damage and has a nice amount of knockback, but afterwards it only does about 6 to 7% damage and has hardly any knockback; it's like a midair jab.
But there's more to Link's nair that meets the eye. First of all, saying that the hitbox frames last longer than any other nair similar to it isn't enough; they frames of the hitbox last about as long as the animation of the move itself!
Also, it outprioritizes a lot of moves that come from underneath link, including (but not limited to) Fox, Falco and Falcon's upb. This makes the nair not only a good, safe aerial and shield poker, but a great move for gimping as well.
~USES AND OPTIONS FOR THE STANKY LEG~
USE #1: GIMPING
As I stated earlier, the Stanky Leg is very useful for gimping, especially against his worst matchups. This is what will get you a lot of efficient kills against the likes of fox, falco, falcon and the occasional sheik.
OPTION # 1:
Simply running off the stage and nairing.
Do this when your opponent is attempting to recover from below the edge.
OPTION # 2:
Short-hopping off the stage and nairing.
After this, you can midair jump and nair again, and still be able to upb back to safety. Do this when your opponent is horizontally knocked off and isn't bothering or able to approach the ledge from below it.
OPTION # 3:
Fullhop nair off the stage.
Do this when your opponent is up high and offstage and is attempting to get back onstage as quickly as possible.
Note that this and option#2 can gimp at lower percents due to that you can midair jump > nair after both of them and still make it back to the stage.
USE # 2: SHIELD PRESSURE/POKING/STANKING
OPTION # 1:
Fullhop > nair (not within the first few frames after the jump) > nair right before you hit the ground.
This option provides less shield poking and more speed and space efficiency than option 1. This is a great little surprising combo on incoming opponents, but it also serves you well if they do expect it and whip out their shield. Use this when there is a nice amount of distance between you and your opponent and they run into it. If they don't, however, quickly get back to safety by switching to
OPTION # 2:
Fullhop > nair (not within the first few frames ) > midair jump away > well-spaced fair.
The less speedy, space-efficient and safe option, but it takes more out of their shield and punishes shieldgrabbers. Use this as long as you've got space to kill and the opponent is either throwing up their shield often or shieldgrab-happy.
Again, use #3, option 1 is a great escape route.
USE # 3: ANTI-AIR/INTERRUPTING, A.K.A. "Awright, time to KNEE this sucka-AAAWWWSHIZ STANKY LEG IS STANKY!"
OPTION # 1:
Fullhop > nair > fastfall after the peak of the jump, so that you hit the ground right after the Stanky Leg stops stanking.
This is a great, safe maneuver, but it can quickly put you on the defensive without you having done much if your opponent blocks it. Thus, you want to do this in two specific situations:
1.) They don't expect it and are or will be under you or close to you . If you see thiscase coming, you can follow up immediately with jab shenanigans.
2.) They are expecting you to follow up with shield pressure from either option 1 or 2 of use #2, and are waiting to punish you on the ground.
OPTION # 2:
Shnairffl.
Yup, the good ol' spontaneous karate kick of stankiness. Good for interrupting opponent's aerials that are used for approaching, such as fox's dair or rival legs of inferior stankiness, although with good spacing reverse utilt is the better option. This is the 'jack of all trades, but master of none' option, and it doesn't take advantage of the Stanky Leg's afterstank (long-lasting hitbox).
OPTION # 3:
Fullhop > nair > midair jump away (preferrably onto a platform) > pull out a bomb.
I would put this under another category, but it's not exactly shield pressure and it isn't for gimping. It's just a safe, surprising technique that is great AS LONG AS THEY DON'T SEE IT COMING!
If they fall for it and try to jump up to you and do an aerial, quickly block it and upb OoS. In fact, throw up the shield after you pull out the bomb, just to see if they fall for the upb.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to put Link's nair to good use, but don't overuse it - be sure to mix up your game with jabs, projectiles and whatnot too. I'll most likely update this thread later with combos, more options, other handy techniques using nair, etc. Good luck, fellow Link mains!
