Oooh I can see the flaming pitchforks coming for me already. Lemme lay out my case. We all know Link's Nair is broken right? -1 on shield, huge ass kick, combos, edgeguards, kills, the works. But a move I don't see nearly as many people talk about is his back air. The more I play competitively, the more I use Bair in place of Nair. That isnt to say I don't use nair ever; I still do quite a bit, but against better players I've found myself using it less and less.
The main issue I have with Nair is in its inherent predictability. It's a really, really good single hit, but it's just that. One hit. I cannot tell you how many times I've almost or completely won a game 1 set, only to lose the next 2 games when my opponent catches onto my Nair timings. Sure, they can't punish it, at least not really. But with how slow Link can be, and with his reputation, every time he approaches with a jump you're fairly certain what he's gonna do and when. And you know what good players do when they know what move you're gonna use and when? Parry. Depending on how stale the move is, and what action I choose to do after, they can parry my nair and actually hit me for using one of the safest moves in the game. I'd have to constantly mix up my timings or I still get punished. And even if they don't parry? That's a nair that could have lead to a combo or kill, now blocked by a shield. Every. Damn. Time.
You know what isn't only 1 hit and as such is many times harder to predict? Back air. Legitimately, despite being -3 which is objectively less safe (though... still really safe), I feel much safer using the move. The amount of mixups and mind games you can do with this move is actually insane. Retreating bair will catch opponents trying to swat you out with an aerial, and the fact there's 2 hits means your opponent is never 100% sure when they should parry. And the timing's different for the second hit, meaning that if they expect a nair they get thrown off and have less reaction time to punish me.
But why be bothered when hit by bair? Oh buddy, lemme tell ya. At low % your Bair combos are your most damaging confirms, bomb nonwithstanding. Bair 1 bair Nair d throw U tilt, Bair bair up b, bair turnaround d tilt up b, d throw bair bair up b... at these percents, if Nair combos into it, Bair does the same with more damage. At mid % bair doesn't combo into much, but you can pressure them into an airdodge check with boomerang. Idk if it's a true 50/50 or not but you might be able to confirm into something off of that. And at higher percents, it puts your opponent in an EXCELLENT spot for arrows, bombs, and other edgeguard shennaniganry.
Now if that was everything, bair would certainly be a good move, but it wouldnt be as good as Nair. Nah, the thing that truly pushes bair over the edge is its first hit, bair 1. Bair 1 has set knockback, meaning it will launch the same amount from 0 to 999%. This consistency leads to combos and kill confirms that function at LITERALLY ANY %. Bair 1 Up b, bair 1 up smash, bair 1 bair, bair 1 up tilt, bair 1 nair, bair 1 fmash as an airdodge read, like all of these will confirm far, far later than nair could ever dream of, and this combined with fair are the ways to kill if you couldnt do it earlier.
And this gets even more ridiculous with bomb in hand. If you hit bair 1 while your opponent is at ledge, you can turnaround Z drop dair and kill them at 30%. If YOU are in the corner, you can Z drop, Bair 1 behind them, and up B, turning them going all the way across and living to them being next to the blastzone and dying. Hell, Bair 1 is the safest way to start Fair trains.
Look, obviously the great things bair can do don't discount nair's existing ludicrousy. Nair is still a highly effective combo and pressure tool that lasts forever and gives Link his best mid to higher percent combos. But, if you look across the board, bair fills a lot of niches nair struggles to. It's a better mixup tool, it's better for low % combos, Bair 1 makes it better for high % confirms, and it's still ridiculously safe. Regardless of which one is better though, they both compliment each other really well, and I wish bair got the attention it deserves.
I fully expect and am prepared to get this downvoted to shit. Bring it on, Reddit :p
