Okay, so here’s my full list.
as of right now there are 12 different links on n the Zelda canon, while these aren’t all their official names I’m going to refer to them as such:
Hyrule (Loz, AoL)
Legend (LttP, LA, OoX)
Time (OoT, MM)
Wind (WW, PH)
Four Sword (FS)
Minish (MC)
Light (FSA)
Twilight (TP)
Spirit (ST)
Sky (SS)
New Legend (LBW, TFH)
Wild (BotW)
Now as for the rankings:
12.Four Sword.
At first you’d think that the one who can split into 4 would do really well, but they all have one MASSIVE flaw, they can only hold one item at a time, as in they have to drop whatever they currently have if they want to pick something else up. Items and special abilities are easily the most important factors here, so when you’re limited that much on items you’re not going to do so well.
11.light
Same reason as before, can only hold one item. The reason I give them the edge over four sword is that lights item selection is
slightly better than theirs. They also can fight in formations so that’s helps a tiny bit I guess.
10.Hyrule
Hyrule actually has a rather vast array of items and spells to choose from, the problem is that almost none of them are useful in combat. Aside from the usual bow, bombs, and boomerang all he has is a wand, a few spells, and some easily avoidable fire. The wand can shoot the same beams as wizrobes, and assuming these beams are the same in AoL, they can be blocked by a regular shield or even reflected. His spells are a little better, but aside from fairy most of the links can do the same thing without using a very limited resource. Hyrule definitely can put up a fight, but he won’t last long in most situations.
9. Sky
These next four were all very close, as they suffer from the same problems, they all have abilities that make them excel in very niche situations, but not much else. Sky, for instance, is pretty decent with a sword, has a drone, and a whip, but not much else. Not bad, but doesn’t really have much going for him.
8.Spirit
Same reason as sky, only this link has the hurricane spin and readily available sword beams, which puts him slightly above sky.
7.Twilight
If we were going solely on sword and shield combat, Twilight would easily be a contender for the winner, but his equipment is severely lacking, more so than the previous two imo. The reason he’s above them however is his sword skills, and his ability to output a massive amount of damage with the ball and chain. He’s not a guy I’d want to get in a bar fight with, but he’s not exactly special Ops either.
6.Minish
it feels weird putting Minish this high, as he still suffers the same problems as the last few, albeit to a lesser extent. He has Pegasus boots, remote bombs, light arrows, and a few other bits that can help. He’s also pretty good with a sword, seeing as he has his own hidden sword skills. He also has his shrinking ability, but that’s really not that useful in a fight. These aren’t antman rules.
5.New Legend
New legend was
this close to being a strong contender. He has the abilities and equipment to easily win against the previous links, but not quite enough to face up against the big leagues.
4.Wild
Unlike the previous 8, the rest of the links all have a good chance at winning. Out of a hundred battles I’d say about 12 of them would be won by wild. The reason he’s so good is his ability to continuously heal and block, however he’s not able to do that forever. A fight with him is a matter of who can last the longest.
3.Legend
The sheer amount of things legend can pull out to give him the advantage is astounding. He has four games worth of heart containers, red mail, rings that give him a variety of abilities, 7 bottles, 2 invincibility items, 3 screen clearing medallions, he’s got it all. Sure a lot of his stuff is quantity over quality but he can counter just about anything you throw at him.
2. Wind
If it weren’t for his ability to stop time wind would probably be around the same place as new legend. One of the better links, for sure, but his items alone don’t stand a chance against the others. But his real power comes from his ability to stop time. He freezes everything around him for about ten seconds, and there’s no cool down. His only limitation is that he has to have the phantom orbs for it to work, but its not too big of a stretch to say that he can come prepared.
1.time
I almost put wind above time, but I think that as long as time has Nayrus love active he’s in the clear. Sure nayrus love only lasts a limited amount of time, but time can easily reapply it and immediately heal any damages done. Magic isn’t an issue because of chateau Romani, so the fight effectively becomes the final boss of phantom hourglass, with time becoming vulnerable for a short period of time, and wind freezing time during that period. The difference is that time is a lot more capable than bellumbeck, so he’d have no problem beating wind (remember, without the time stop wind is fairly weak). Wind would surely win a fair amount of times out of 100, but more often than not time would be the victor.
I think that a battle royale scenario with all the Links effectively randomizes a possible victor. Any Link could take advantage of any other moment to eliminate a more powerful version. And while I think the Mirror Shield would very much help the Link deflect energy projectiles, I don't think it would do much beyond block arrows. That might mitigate its usefulness. While it would certainly deflect BotW Link's Light Arrows, it wouldn't do as well against those used by OoT Link, whose Light Arrows are still solid projectiles.
I do think the fights work better if they're one on one brawls. Those lend themselves better to each Link's strengths.
Additionally, I do think it's hard to factor in how long stasis+ would hold Link based on strength. I'd probably equate a Link to being about as strong as a blue or grey bokoblin, and they're capable of dealing significantly more damage than (gameplay-wise) anything the other Links have fought. I'd guess stasis+ would probably stop Link for about as long as it stops a bokoblin or a moblin.
But one-on-one fights aren’t exactly fair either. There are links that are overall less powerful that can still beat a clearly stronger link due to a single weakness. I think having a free for all is better as every link has to deal with their own weaknesses and strengths against all of them. I think the best way to deal with any randomness is to say that the best of 100 wins.
remember the mirror shield in WW can reflect light arrows, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say the other mirror shields can too.
freezing for the same amount of time as a grey boloblin still isn’t that long.
