I mean, they can shield our projectiles and jump them too....
dash attack isn't good in neutral, bowling ball isn't a long-range projectile and wood chip is situational.
I'm not saying you can't avoid his projectiles, but he simply wins the projectile war. He even has a shield that auto-blocks projectiles if he isn't doing anything besides walking or crouching.
Dash attack from platforms is an amazing and unexpected neutral zoner, and it's also a potent edgeguard, especially against predictable vertical recoveries like Link's.
Hylian shield does absolutely nothing against Lloid, the explosion hit box covers way more area than the shield. He will get hit every time..
And I'd like to see him try and shield-tank a short hop fair or bair. 9 times out of 10 the villager player will aim for his face anyway, too high for shield, and even if he aims low, the link is not going to have enough time to even think to instantly stop approaching just to avoid the tiny thing.
Bowling ball IS a long range projectile. Have you ever actually seen how far it falls? It covers an immense amount of vertical space, and is great against Link's up B and tether recoveries.
Wood chip is situational, and only spawns every so often, but when it does actually spawn it is an amazing gimp tool for links bad recovery, can stage spike, and can be z-dropped to combo into almost anything.
Also failed to mention Tree. The tree is just a giant shield that can tank 2 out of Link's 3 projectiles. For whatever does get through your tree fortress, you're right there behind it, either waiting with a pocket, or ready to jump over it and fair/bair.
Point is, villager has all the tools he needs to stop link. You can't assume villager loses the matchup just because the conventional horizontal villy camp game doesnt work on him. You just have to be creative, think outside the box, and know the matchup. Play more of a responsive, bait and trap, retreating anti-camp game and you'll find alot more success. Im not trying to start an argument or anything, but I will say that I've fought countless links and never have a problem as long as I follow the steps I've been talking about here. This is just my advice and my take on the matchup, take it or leave it. But you're not the first villy player I've encountered who is disheartened by the link matchup, and so I'll tell you what I told them:
1. When airborne, stay just out of his Zair range, but just inside your slingshot range.
2. Take him to battlefield or lylat and platform camp with bowling ball and dash attack. Villy has much better vertical camp game, it will shut down Link's strictly horizontal/diagonal camp game.
3. Get him offstage and gimp with woodchip, bowlingball, dash attack, or follow him off and wall-of-pain him with fair. Links recovery is lackluster, yours is godly.
4. Abuse tree to its fullest. It will wall out most of Link's camp game, and force either a hasty approach or a frantic retreat, but either way he will stop his annoying camp game.
5. The number one rule for the link matchup that I've found the most helpful, yet what most villager players don't understand: Don't play pocket tag with him. This is exactly what link is expecting and he will destroy you. When you try pocketing every little thing, you're automatically putting yourself one step behind. Thats just how it is. Be mindful, only pocket what would otherwise kill you, or what you can use later for setups, gimps, or combos.
Try some of these, maybe they will help?
