29-
Zero Suit Samus

Jab1 (-19) & Jab2 (-20):
NAir (Frame 7)

Jab3 (-27):
FSmash (Frame 26)

FTilt (-14):
Grab (Frame 16)

UTilt (-36/-29):
FSmash (Frame 26)

DTilt (-13):
GSA (Frame 9)

Dash Attack (-36):
FSmash (Frame 26)
(Can cross up)

FSmash (-30):
FSmash (Frame 26)

USmash (-17):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

DSmash (-15):
Grab (Frame 16)

NAir (-4):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield)

FAir (-7):
NAir (Frame 7)

BAir (-5):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield)

UAir (-2):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield)

DAir (-17):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

ZAir (-2):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield)

Paralyzer (-20 to -18):
Unpunishable
(Projectile usage)

Plasma Whip (-15):
Grab (Frame 16)
(Can be spaced out)

Boost Kick (--):
--

Flip Jump (-36):
UAir (Frame 8)
(Bounceback can make punishing tricky)

• Neutral Moves: Aerials, Tilts, Flip Jump, Plasma Whip, ZAir, Jab, Grab.

• Kill Moves: Flip Kick, Boost Kick, Plasma Whip, BAir, UAir, FAir, Smash Attacks, Dash Attack.

• Kill Confirms: NAir/ZAir > Flip Kick, Paralyzer > Boost Kick/Delayed NAir > Flip Kick, ZAir > Boost Kick.

• Zero Suit Samus has some of the best mobility in the entire game, with amazing run speed, air speed, the second best initial dash, and good air acceleration.

• She uses this speed to play and bait and punish game at midrange, using feints and implied threats to bait out options or punish options after applying pressure.

• Zero Suit Samus’ tools at midrange (ZAir, Flip Kick, Plasma Whip) give her more options vs Young Link at close range. As a result, Young Link often has to play to close range or long range, stuffing out Zero Suit Samus in close quarters combat, or converting off of projectiles at long range.

• At non-kill %s, neutral will take place with footsies at midrange, and Young Link will want to transition more so to long-range and close quarters combat at kill %s.

• Zero Suit Samus’ ZAir outranges most of Young Link’s options at midrange, and sets up into her kill confirm off of Boost Kick. She will drift back in neutral using empty movement to feint/space ZAir.

• Young Link can pressure Zero Suit Samus up close reliably, stuffing out moves with faster frame data and priority in air-to-air situations.

• Zero Suit Samus will often use shield dashing to approach midrange. Punish by closing in for close quarters combat on the shield dash, or walk back and whiff punish an overextension.

• When challenging Zero Suit Samus in neutral, opt for NAir instead of FAir. FAir is often too slow to catch her in neutral.

• Zero Suit Samus can’t fast fall aerials for the first 27 frames of her jump. This means her landing aerials are reactable with walk/dash shield. This forces Zero Suit Samus to Grab/Jab, the former being slow and the latter being unsafe on shield.

• Flip Jump is a kill setup, kill move, and movement option with intangibility on the rising part of the move. Zero Suit Samus can use this as a third jump as well, enabling timing mix-ups.

• On hit, if the kick on Flip Jump is not buffered, the opponent will be buried. This confirms into Boost Kick.

• This makes Zero Suit Samus’ midrange deadly, as she can whiff punish or punish on reaction to certain options for high reward, and dodge attacks at the same time.

• Flip Kick can passively punish by letting Zero Suit Samus take stage control via crossing up.

• The intangibility on Flip Kick ends as she ascends to the apex of the jump. Young Link can challenge Flip Kick reliably with FH NAir or UAir.

• Fire Arrow is good at covering grounded approaches, but SH B-Reverse Fire Arrow can be used to cover Zero Suit Samus feinting with SHs.

• Boomerang at midrange catches FHs and landings well, as constricting air space can be annoying for Zero Suit Samus. However, it becomes much riskier at kill %s.

• Bomb is usually unsafe to pull, but can be used as a passive punish. With a Bomb in hand, Young Link can bring a projectile to close quarters combat, and use up throw Bomb to deny Flip Jump at a certain time.

• Projectile usage at midrange vs Zero Suit Samus is high-risk, as she can use Flip Jump bury on reaction to punish. This is more consistent on Boomerang, but Fire Arrow is a tight window for Zero Suit Samus to punish with Flip Jump.

• ZAir can be used at midrange at the apex of the SH or rising on a read to beat out Zero Suit Samus landing ZAir.

• Zero Suit Samus’ Jab is Frame 1. Because it’s so fast, she can use it after landing an aerial on shield to stuff out immediate options out of shield. The Jab itself is unsafe, though.

• Be careful with landing on her shield at higher percentages, as Zero Suit Samus can boost kick out of shield for a kill.

• Other than Boost Kick, Zero Suit Samus lacks a consistent out of shield option at %s where Boost Kick doesn’t kill or create a strong advantage. Boost Kick is Frame 6 out of shield after the changes to her in patch 11.0.0. This makes NAir, FAir, BAir, ZAir, and Smash toss Boomerang safer on her shield.

• Plasma Whip, Zero Suit Samus’ Side Special, is disjointed and has high killpower. She can use it to catch poor projectile usage, dashbacks, and poorly spaced aerials.

Zero Suit Samus’ Early Kill Setups:

• FThrow/BThrow > Flip Kick: This is always untrue and can be airdodged out of.

• NAir > Flip Kick: Zero Suit Samus often looks for NAir near the ledge to true combo into Flip Kick. NAir has to be done landing.

Boxing

(How do I escape this situation?)

• Rule of thumb: roll/tech roll in is extremely unsafe vs Zero Suit Samus. She can hard punish roll in with DSmash.

• Zero Suit Samus’ FThrow sets up for tech chases, DI up on the throw to avoid the tech chase scenario. At non-kill %s, DI up at these %s are low-risk.

• When in the corner, Zero Suit Samus can force midrange. This means she can set the spacing for ZAir pressure.

• Because she forces this spacing, Zero Suit Samus can also punish projectiles with Flip Jump bury with a mix of anticipation and reaction.

• Zero Suit Samus can use Dash Attack as a burst option for setting up juggling situations. It can kill at very high %s.

• Zero Suit Samus can use BAir in corner pressure to take stocks reliably.

• Zero Suit Samus will try and force midrange in corner pressure. Zero Suit Samus struggles to deal with Young Link’s shield pressure and cross ups.

• Zero Suit Samus struggles with cross up pressure, due to lack of strong rising aerials or a quick Grab. This means crossing her up, though difficult due to her high speed, is an effective option out of the corner.

Platform Pressure

(What tools do they have? How can we escape this pressure?)

• Zero Suit Samus USmash reaches platforms. She can use USmash to catch landings onto platforms.

• Zero Suit Samus can use Flip Kick from below, to the side, or above the platform to pressure the opponent on the platform with the bury or kick.

• Plasma Whip and ZAir can be used to cover platforms horizontally.

Landing

(How do they cover it? What are my best options?):

• Zero Suit Samus can anti-air and combo with UAir. With platforms, she can ladder with UAirs. Zero Suit Samus may try and end the ladder with a Boost Kick, which is untrue/can be airdodged out of.

• Zero Suit Samus will look for these airdodged and punish with BAir, reset ladders with another UAir, or punish with Flip Kick.

• Zero Suit Samus can cover landings horizontally with Grab, Plasma Whip, ZAir, and NAir.

• For Boost Kick DI: DI down and away at early kill %s, and down when sent across the stage at extreme percentages. Refer to the video in resources.

Offstage

(How Do I Escape This Position And What Do I Look Out For?):

• Zero Suit Samus can intercept tether recovery with FAir.

• Zero Suit Samus can extend far offstage with her mobility and Flip Kick for recovery. This means she can land a Flip Kick as she’s returning to stage. Flip Kick can also be used to punish early airdodge usage offstage.

• Plasma Whip can be thrown out offstage as a disjointed kill option.

• Zero Suit Samus can cover the ledge with Boost Kick as she’s recovering to stuff tether.

• Conserve double jump when recovering.

• Zero Suit Samus' DAir can be used to catch Young Link grabbing the ledge too close to spike/can be used a suicide spike. This suicide spike becomes more of a factor when she’s up a stock.

Ledge:

• At ledge, Zero Suit Samus can only hit Young Link with downwards angled FSmash2 and DSmash.

• Young Link can avoid Zero Suit Samus' 2-framing with DSmash by spacing ASA properly vertically.

• Paralyzer on its own is a ledgetrap tool that conditions a certain timing off of the ledge and stuffs immediate options of the ledge, leading into kills.

• Zero Suit Samus DSmash also paralyzes and hits the ledge. If she is charging DSmash at ledge, counter with ledge attack.

• Zero Suit Samus can then switch over to movement-based ledge trapping afterwards once this timing is conditioned.

• Plasma Whip can be used as a hard callout on a timing off of the ledge. The spacing of Plasma Whip makes it relatively safe for ledgetrapping.

Juggling/Boxing:

• When corner pressuring Zero Suit Samus, be wary of Flip Jump usage to punish projectiles or cross up approaches.

• Fire Arrow can be used to poke at Zero Suit Samus in the corner from center stage.

• When playing safe corner pressure vs Zero Suit Samus, hold stage control to respect Flip Jump.

• FAir is used as a raw kill option to call out Zero Suit Samus’ movement in the corner/at the ledge.

• With stage control, projectiles have more influence, and can track Zero Suit Samus more reliably, since she has less stage control.

• Be wary of jumps out of the corner as an approach at a diagonal angle over Boomerang.

• Later into the game as the opponent gives information about their movement out of the corner, closing in for close quarters combat on corner pressure can be done on a read.

• Zero Suit Samus’ airspeed, combined with her Flip Jump, give her mix-ups for landing positions.

• When juggling Zero Suit Samus, use UAir (the implied threat/positional pressure of UAir) and capitalize once she burns resources (double jump, Flip Jump).

• Zero Suit Samus landing options consist of NAir, ZAir, DAir, Plasma Whip, and airdodge.

• When Zero Suit Samus whiffs a Boost Kick and attempts to land on a platform, punish with DAir.

Offstage:

• Zero Suit Samus doesn’t regain Flip Jump until she touches the ground.

• Use a high NAir near ledge to beat out Flip Jump. Be wary of being reversaled or spiked.

• Zero Suit Samus can mix up her air drift to ledge with her high air speed and acceleration. Combine these tools with her tether, and she can require multiple reads to successfully edgeguard.

• Force Zero Suit Samus to burn resources. Ideally, stuff/burn Flip Jump and take away airdodge.

• Because it takes multiple reads to edgeguard Zero Suit Samus, ledge trapping is often more consistent.

• Don’t commit to an action near the ledge while Zero Suit Samus is recovering if planning to ledgetrap. She can use jump and Flip Kick to cross up and skip ledgetrapping.

• Zero Suit Samus can use Flip Jump, ZAir, Plasma Whip, and FAir off of a double jump from ledge.

• Keep in mind Flip Jump when ledgetrapping. Zero Suit Samus may opt for it when Young Link approaches closer to the ledge. Stuff it out with NAir.

• Bomb thrown up can passively cover Flip Jump, although this is niche due to the small window in which Flip Jump is covered.

Ledge Info:

XLR8’s Spreadsheet Young Link Ledge Info:

DTilt: Hits

DSmash: Hits

FTilt: Hits

Most Reliable Move: All

Animation Info: N/A

Note: Normal, FTilt reaches farthest.

• FD DTilt ASA %s: 102, 90

• FD FThrow @ Ledge %s: 165, 139

• Milkshake %s: 93-128, 83-107

• Zero Suit Samus Kill Throws: UThrow, as a DI mix-up.

• Zero Suit Samus can crouch under Fire Arrows before they descend.

• Zero Suit Samus can’t crouch under horizontally thrown Boomerang.

• BThrow > Flip Jump Kick can always be avoided by airdodging.

• Battlefield:
  Terrible. Similar reasons as YS, triplats give Zero Suit Samus circle camping and more landing options. Although this stage has larger zones, this also gives Zero Suit Samus more opportunities to edgeguard Young Link.

• Small Battlefield:
  Indifferent. Similar reasons as SV.

• Final Destination:
  Good. Without platforms, Zero Suit Samus has less landing and ledge options off of Flip Jump. This makes her onstage disadvantage more linear. However, this does help Zero Suit Samus get punishes on projectiles with Flip Jump bury, and Zero Suit Samus can make it hard to land.

• Smashville:
  Indifferent. Unlike PS2, Zero Suit Samus can’t quite pick and choose her fights. This stage favors more ZAir and close quarters combat gameplay, as there isn’t much space to initiate a long range gameplan.

• Town & City:
  Great. The side platforms are awkward for Zero Suit Samus to utilize, and can stuff early conversions. The extreme space of allows Young Link to execute a long range and a close quarters combat gameplan reliably. The only downside is that the ledge-to-zone width is noticeable, so Zero Suit Samus has more room to edgeguard.

• Lylat Cruise:
  Great. Young Link can control the space below platforms here well with Fire Arrows, and it gives him good access to close quarters combat vs Zero Suit Samus. The slants can make it hard for her to land moves in the corner.

• Pokémon Stadium 2:
  Indifferent. The space gives Young Link more room to initiate long range or close quarters combat, which allows for Young Link to be more flexible in neutral. The platform layout doesn’t enable Zero Suit Samus to circle camp, but she can more reliably pick and choose her battles.

• Kalos Pokémon League:
  Great. Same reasons as T&C, but additionally, this stage's side platforms stuff out Flip Kick confirms, and gives Young Link access to wall jumps for recovery.

• Yoshi’s Story:
  Terrible. This stage's platforms are the perfect height for both horizontal and vertical platform extensions. The layout allows Zero Suit Samus to jump around on the platforms more freely, and gives her more mix-ups when landing with Flip Jump.

• Hivesteel’s Young Link vs Zero Suit Samus VOD Playlist: YL vs ZSS

• Toast vs Doorstop: Losers Semis | ZMS - Doorstop [Zero Suit Samus] vs Nfinite - Toast [Young Link] Class Change Monk

• Zero Suit Samus' Hitboxes Vs. Ledge Hanging Hurtboxes from Zero Suit Samus Discord: https://bit.ly/2NuiR8g

• Note: The moves in higher tier work on the characters in lower tiers.

• Zero Suit Samus DSmash 2-Framing: Dsmash 2-framing

• ZSS Boost Kick DI Guide: How to DI Zero Suit Samus's BOOST KICK. NBS Smash Ultimate Guide

• (By ESAM on YouTube) Zero Suit Samus's Best and Worst Stages (ft. Marss)