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Sora

Jab1 (-22) & Jab2 (-22):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)

Jab3 (-23):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

FTilt1 (-17) and FTilt2 (-17):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)

FTilt3 (-22):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

Strong FTilt (-13):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)

UTilt (-15):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

DTilt (-16):
GSA (Frame 9)
Jab (Frame 15)
Grab (Frame 16)

Dash Attack (-22):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)
Dash Attack (Frame 19)
(This move can cross up)

FSmash (-17):
GSA (Frame 9)
Grab (Frame 16)

USmash (-26):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

DSmash (-25):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)
FAir (Frame 17)
(This move high profiles Grab)

NAir1 (-6):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield, can't react to the following hits)

NAir2 (-8) & NAir3 (-8):
NAir (Frame 7)

FAir1 (-9), FAir2 (-10) & FAir3 (-11):
NAir (Frame 7)

BAir (-6):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield, can be spaced)

UAir (-5):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield, can be spaced)

DAir (-22):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)
(Be aware of the autocancel window making this move safer)

Firaga (-23), Thundaga (--), Blizzaga (-13):
Unpunishable
(Projectile usage, Blizzaga does heavy shield damage and will shield poke/freeze)

Sonic Blade (-25/-39/-43):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)
Grab (Frame 16)
Dash Attack (Frame 19)
(This move is very tricky to punish. It requires good reaction time and awareness. It can crossup, but it is still punishable)

Aerial Sweep:
--

Counterattack:
--

• Neutral Moves: Firaga, Thundaga, Blizzaga, Tilts, Aerials, Sonic Blade.

• Kill Moves: BAir, UAir, Thundaga, Smash Attacks, FTilt, Dash Attack, Aerial Sweep.

• Kill Confirms: Double jump UAir > Aerial Sweep, DTilt > USmash, aerial Firaga > UAir > followup, DThrow > UAir, Blizzaga > followup.

• Sora is a character that has coverage in both close range and the long range. His Keyblade is slightly disjointed, and has high active frames on most attacks, making them very forgiving when hitting opponents up close.

• Sora has subpar ground speed, and while he has great air acceleration, he has poor air speed and is quite floaty. This can make it difficult for Sora to navigate his way around Young Link’s projectiles, as he might not be able to punish Young Link in time for using them.

• This floatiness also means that Sora can linger around Young Link at uncomfortable angles for him to handle (think diagonally above Young Link at full hop or short hop height, just over his head).

• This diagonal short hop game makes up most of Sora’s neutral and burst range in this matchup. When combined with Dash Attack, Sora can catch the opponent trying to escape his lingering hitboxes. His NAir and FAir cover space all around Sora, and he can do so continuously due to his floatiness and bounce-up on hit.

• At these angles that are uncomfortable for Young Link, he can’t reliably hit Sora with projectiles. This is usually where normals come in handy. Fair, BAir, and NAir can catch Sora at a short hop height reliably. Sora is often at this short hop height, as at that height he can reliably start his combos from NAir/FAir, both of which also bounce Sora in the air on hit.

• Sora’s Dash Attack is a grounded burst option that has good range. It can crossup for additional shield safety, and can kill at late %s. Because of its high range, Sora can Dash Attack to catch dashbacks and/or stuff projectiles out on startup.

• Sora’s UAir is a fast anti-air with good killpower. Young Link can’t reliably challenge this aerial, and Sora can quickly rise with it using a double jump. Double jump UAir can lead into Aerial Sweep, which kills off the top blast zone.

• Sonic Blade is Sora’s Side Special. While it’s mostly best as a recovery tool, it can be used as a burst or chase option. The first burst of Sonic Blade will always travel in a horizontal straight line. Sonic Blade can be awkward to punish out of shield since Sora doesn’t have to use all 3 bursts, and can aim them in different directions.

• Since Sonic Blade is a special, it’s a burst option that can be used in the air, even when Sora is drifting away (set distance moving forward). Sora can time the Sonic blade as Young Link commits to a projectile to punish Young Link’s risky commitment.

• The forwards range on Sonic Blade can make it difficult to challenge sometimes.

• Sora’s NAir and FAir are his main aerial neutral tools and combo starters. On hit, Sora floats mid-air to connect the next hit. This lets him pressure shields while delaying his landing, which can make his pressure ambiguous and awkward to punish.

• Sora can be extremely tricky with his drift on NAir. He can show a crossup and then immediately bounce back in the opposite direction. Drift like this can dodge Young Link's NAir and BAir out of shield.

• This can force Young Link to do a delayed NAir out of shield to hit Sora’s drift, or an immediate USmash out of the parry to punish Sora hitting shield. Sometimes it can be more consistent to just reposition out of shield instead of punishing Sora, just because his pressure can be that tricky.

Sora’s Spells:

• Sora’s spells cover midrange outside of the range of his sword. Sora has 3 spells: Firaga, Thundaga, and Blizzaga. The 3 spells can’t be used all at once, and are cycled through in this order.

• Sora can use these spells to condition the opponent to approach in specific ways (forcing movement options and/or specific timings of these movement options) and then using the disjoint off the Keyblade to stuff the opponent out.

• Firaga fires a fireball in a straight line at decent velocity. Sora can fire 1 or multiple fireballs. These do moderate damage, but don’t kill.

• Sora can use Firaga as an approach tool, as he can cover a short hop or grounded approach with Firaga. Young Link cannot out-projectile it, so at best, Young Link would have to pull a projectile and/or maneuver around Firaga.

• What Firaga excels in is combo potential. Firaga, especially short hop Firaga, can set up into lengthy combos and kill confirms for Sora. Sora can followup with a NAir/FAir dragdown combo starter into loops or a Smash Attack, or go for immediate damage and combo potential with an UAir after the Firaga.

• Sora has some simpler conversions as well out of Firaga, such as Firaga > Aerial Sweep to kill easily at late %s.

• Thundaga is Sora’s second spell. Thundaga fires 3 lightning bolts in front of Sora starting above and traveling downwards. The first and second bolts launch into the third, which can kill opponents.

• Thundaga can hit opponents above (from the thunderclouds) or on the ground as the bolts descend.

• Thundaga isn’t a go-to neutral tool for Sora, but it can stuff approaches and even short hops when spaced well, as the move covers a large area.

• Despite the large area Thundaga covers, the move ends if Sora is hit during the move. In addition, it’s possible to shield/stand between the bolts, and the move sometimes has issues connecting.

• Blizzaga is Sora’s third neutral tool. Blizzaga freezes opponents that get too close, allowing Sora to followup and potentially net a kill from freezing the opponent.

• Bomb will instantly free Young Link from the ice if it explodes. If Sora is aware of this, he could use this timing against Young Link.

• Mixing up the mash timings when frozen will make it more difficult for Sora to net a kill from Blizzaga. Mash a lot, a little bit, delay the mash, don’t mash at all, etc.

• Blizzaga does high shield damage. It’s better to stay out of range and whiff punish Sora for using it.

• Keep in mind that sometimes Sora may just use a spell solely to access another spell, whether it be Thundaga for edgeguarding, Firaga for combos, etc.

• Sora’s floatiness and slow speed limit how he can get around projectiles. Sora can’t jump and then land quickly to threaten an aerial after dodging a projectile. A character like Ness could still threaten PK Fire mid-air despite his floatiness, but Sora doesn’t have a tool like PK Fire to threaten Young Link on the ground while mid-air.

• As a result, neutral vs Sora is best played extremely campy. Sora struggles to get in and around Fire Arrows and Boomerangs, and can be met air-to-air with Young Link’s aerials (best at short hop air-to-air or directly below, anti-airing).

• Fire Arrow can control ground space against Sora well. Sora can best counter Fire Arrow by shield dashing in or short hopping over the Fire Arrow and attacking from above (NAir/FAir). Sora’s slower speed on the ground means he can’t pressure up close as quickly as other characters.

• Boomerang is important for controlling airspace against Sora. Sora’s floatiness means that he’ll get caught more often by Boomerang rising in the air. It can also linger and prevent Sora from taking certain angles to land.

• If Sora waits for Young Link to overcommit with an aerial/normal or sits back and uses Spells, then Young Link can passively punish by pulling a Bomb.

Boxing
(How do I escape this situation?):

• Sora’s floatiness means that he can spend a high amount of airtime threatening aerials. This allows him to cover short hops more fluidly.

• Sora’s BAir and UAir will outright kill Young Link if he jumps at the wrong time.

• Sora can cast a spell in the corner to punish Young Link for committing to a projectile/certain movements on a read.

• Sora’s Dash Attack can be used as an overshoot to hit dashbacks and projectiles. It can kill by catching bad DI from a dashback, and it can crossup on shield.

• Sora can still struggle to get in, even when he has stage control. Young Link can still have enough room to zone Sora out from the corner, using projectiles to keep Sora out and then using close quarters combat if Sora gets too close.

• Young Link and Sora have similar range horizontally.

• Jumping around Sora is a bit tricky due to his floatiness, which helps him catch jumps. Fight Sora out of the corner and prevent him from reaching Young Link, or escape through empty movement.

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

• Sora’s Sonic Blade1 can set up for platform tech chases, which Sora can follow up on with USmash.

• Sora can pressure the platform from below with UAir, BAir, UTilt, and USmash.

• Sora’s high double jump is able to catch double jumps off of the platform with an UAir. Sora has the burst range from below to swat Young Link in the air.

• Move around Sora and try to reposition on the ground in neutral.

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

• Sora can cover landings with UAir. It has killpower, and can combo directly into his Aerial Sweep, which kills off of the top blastzone.

• Sora’s UAir will beat Young Link’s DAir.

• Sora can also catch landings with Thundaga. The clouds and lightning bolts cover a high amount of space while trying to land, and it’ll catch fastfall airdodge.

• If Sora doesn’t have Thundaga on hand, he has limited counterplay (outside of committing) to cover fastfall airdodge, and dealing with fast falls in general. Alter landing timings and fall timings so that Sora can’t intercept Young Link’s landing.

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

• Sora has multiple ways to edgeguard, as he not only has multiple moves, but movement that enables lengthy edgeguarding. Sora’s floatiness gives him more time offstage, meaning he can secure hits more easily, and intercept recoveries at more timings than most characters.

• Additionally, Sora’s floaty jump means he can quickly rise with an aerial and meet Young Link. Sora could use a double jump rising aerial to catch Young Link recovering high and swing at him.

• Sora’s NAir and FAir can be used for edgeguarding relatively well. They do high damage and can kill at late %s or near the blast zones early. Sora doesn’t lose height using these moves, and they can reset an edgeguard situation in an effective way if Young Link has lost his double jump. If he hasn’t, he’s forced to burn it.

• Sora can meet Young Link in the air to outright kill with BAir. Sora can use BAir to cut off high recoveries or intercept Young Link attempting to grab the ledge.

• Thundaga offstage covers a wide amount of horizontal space and vertical space. Sora can use Thundaga to cover Young Link using tether or ASA and take a stock. Young Link can avoid Thundaga by going below the bolts or above the thunder clouds. It is possible to slip between the bolts and stall out the attack, but lining this up is high-risk.

• Sora’s Counterattack can intercept Young Link using ASA to recover to the ledge and take the stock. Counterattack staggers Young Link midair, meaning there is no possible way for Young Link to slip past it. Using ASA at a linear angle is very much a last resort because of Counterattack.

• If Young Link can get back to the ledge in time with a tether, do so before Sora can set up an edgeguard. Otherwise, aim to get around Sora and recover, using ASA as a last resort.

• Boomerang can be used to hit Sora for using Counterattack, trigger it, or hit him out of Thundaga. If Sora is hit by Boomerang while using Thundaga, the move will be interrupted.

Ledge:

• Sora can hit ledge with DTilt, Dash Attack, DSmash, and Thundaga.

• Sora can catch ledge jumps with BAir, UAir, or FTilt. Sora's single FTilt sends straight out, which has ample killpower and can check for bad DI if Young Link is drifting back during a ledge jump.

• Sora can throw out Blizzaga at the ledge to catch neutral getup with a lingering hitbox. The freeze on hit can set up for kill confirms. Blizzaga’s high shield damage can also remove the option of shield for a few seconds.

• Mix up ledge options and timings to help get off of the ledge.

Juggling/Boxing:

• Sora has variety in his out of shield options. Sora can use a NAir or Grab out of shield to start combos, UAir/USmash to anti-air, or even DSmash to dodge Grabs.

• Sora can use Aerial Sweep out of shield to kill opponents off of the top blast zone for hitting his shield unsafely. Since it kills off of the top, Sora could land on a platform and shield, looking to kill early with an Aerial Sweep.

• If Sora uses Aerial Sweep out of shield and Young Link blocks it, punish with full hop UAir out of shield.

• Sora’s floatiness means that he will take more time to land, which gives Young Link more time to get into a good position and set up a favorable juggle situation or corner pressure. However, this also gives Sora more time to mix up his landings and use different landing options, as well as more time to drift left or right.

• Sora can use any of his Spells to decrease his fall speed during the spell use. This can mix up Sora’s fall timing and give him more time to escape.

• Sora can use Sonic Blade aggressively out of disadvantage to reversal opponents. The first swing must go left or right, so react to the first swing and shield/move out of the way and punish.

• Sora can land with his stall-then-fall DAir. The hitbox is sometimes inconsistent, as it will lose to Young Link’s UAir sometimes. Sora’s DAir kills off of the top and can be autocanceled when used from high above. Sora can also use DAir to reversal opponents too close to him whilst landing.

• Sora can land with an aerial (NAir/FAir), but Young Link’s UAir outranges Sora from below.

• Use the time gained by Sora’s floatiness to set up a strong juggle/position, and then set up a Bomb/Boomerang or threaten an aerial against Sora.

• Sora can burst out of the corner with short hop Firaga, Thundaga, or Dash Attack.

• Sora can most reliably counter Fire Arrow/Boomerang usage by short hopping over and using a NAir/FAir. At that height, Young Link can stuff Sora out with NAir/FAir/BAir/ZAir. Manage the short hop height so that Sora has to stay grounded or full hop.

• If Sora full hops out of the corner, dashback and take stage first to threaten positioning rather than immediately anti-airing.

• FAir is good risk/reward in corner pressure when FAir2 will kill, as Sora has comparable range to Young Link, so he can’t easily stuff out Young Link for using FAir.

Offstage:

• Sora has a plethora of tools to recover with. At no point will Sora be unable to recover by being gimped. Young Link has to kill Sora off of an edgeguard to take a stock. For closing an edgeguard, FAir, ASA, or a projectile conversion offstage is most preferred.

• For a brief overview of Sora’s tools: Sora can stall in the air with Spells, which can also be used to cover his recovery (although Firaga and Blizzaga leave Sora vulnerable from above), double jump, Aerial Sweep, and Sonic Blade. Sora can use Sonic Blade after Aerial Sweep.

• Similar to Young Link’s ASA, Sora’s Aerial Sweep doesn’t cover his head fully until the last swing.

• Be wary of Sora using Sonic Blade or Aerial Sweep through the ledge to hit opponents standing at the ledge.

• Most of the time, it's more consistent to just set up ledgetraps and take projectile chip damage against Sora while avoiding reversals. Young Link can’t threaten Sora offstage for prolonged periods of time, which Sora can wait out to get his recovery back to the ledge.

• Standing near ledge against Sora is high-risk. Sora can threaten the ledge with Thundaga from below the stage, Blizzaga to set up into kills, UAir/FAir to swat away opponents, and Sonic Blade/Aerial Sweep to reversal opponents standing too close.

• Stay near roll distance and jump around/shield Thundaga should Sora use it. Sora’s floatiness and poor ground speed, as well as lack of long range threat, will make it difficult for him to return to neutral against Young Link.

• At high %s, FAir can contest Sora’s ledge jump well for good risk/reward. Sora is rather light, so FAir at ledge can kill somewhat early.

• When Sora recovers with Sonic Blade to the ledge, the hitbox can reach past the ledge and hit Young Link.

Ledge Info:

Ledge Coverage Labbed by Sachit:

DTilt: Doesn’t Hit

DSmash: Hits

FTilt: Hits

Most Reliable Move: FTilt

Animation Info: N/A

Note: Medium Difficulty, Space DSmash to hit at lowest point.

• FD DTilt > ASA %s: 108, 98

• FD Milkshake %s: 96-132, 85-112

• Sora Kill Throws: UThrow, BThrow

• Battlefield:
  Terrible. Young Link’s best strength against Sora is his ability to wall Sora out, making it difficult for him to get in. Not only does this stage offer combo extensions on platforms for Sora, but they give him spaces to land and reset, making it more difficult to wall him out.

• Small Battlefield:
  Indifferent. Neutral stage in the matchup for both characters. Sora has the means to get in, but the side platforms can help Young Link a lot in disadvantage.

• Final Destination:
  Good. This offers no platforms for Sora to use to maneuver around projectiles. This enables Young Link’s zoning, but can also make it difficult to land and escape disadvantage at times.

• Smashville:
  Terrible. This stage offers little to no space to zone out Sora, and it can be difficult to land against him when he has the center platform to secure and extend juggles.

• Town & City:
  Great. Same reasoning as PS2.

• Lylat Cruise:
  Indifferent. While Young Link gets the benefit of extended Fire Arrows to zone, trying to land against Sora on this stage is difficult, since Sora can use the platforms as cover when juggling.

• Pokémon Stadium 2:
  Great. This stage’s wide space gives ample room to zone. Young Link can make it difficult for Sora to get in.

• Kalos Pokémon League:
  Great. Same reasoning as PS2, although this stage offers side platforms to help get off of the ledge.

• Yoshi’s Story:
  Terrible. Same reasons as BF.

• Hollow Bastion:
  Indifferent. The extra space on the sides give Young Link slightly more room to zone out Sora, but the problems of SV in the matchup are still somewhat present.

• Young Link vs Sora Matchup VoD Playlist: YL vs Sora Matches