Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Link
Link is the first character on the roster, playable upon starting a new game. He joins the roster after The Battle of Hyrule Field.
Movement
In addition to dodge chaining, Link has shield surfing as an alternative form of fast movement. Shield surfs are performed by pressing X while dashing.
Shield surfing and dodge chaining are extremely close in terms of speed. At a lower level, this means that it doesn't matter which you use, and you can use your preference. Most people will prefer shield surfing, as it is easier.
At a higher level, we must know when to use either technique. Starting a shield surf slows you down, but the movement during a shield surf is faster, which makes up for it. Thus, shield surfing downhill is faster than dodge chaining, since the downhill allows the shield surf to continue longer than normal, but dash chaining is faster if you are traveling less than a full shield surf of distance. On long flat or uphill sections, shield surfing barely eeks out the lead (needs verification).
Ordering characters in the middle of a shield surf will end the shield surf, so make sure that if you are going to order a character you wait until right after beginning a new shield surf, while Link is still flipping.
1H Combat
Base, No upgrades:
At the beginning of the game, Link's combat consists of three main techniques:
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C4: Link's C4 is his most powerful combo at the beginning of the game when paired with his ability to perform charged combos. Holding X at the end of the C4 and then releasing when the charge is full sends Link into a spinning attack that goes forward and up into the air, which can then be followed up with midair attacks. This is excellent both for hordes and strong enemies.
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Stasis: Link's stasis is his most powerful rune, especially when paired with his charged C4 and bullet time.
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Bullet time: Pressing B without holding a direction on the L stick makes Link backflip. While Link is in the air, Pressing ZR causes him to pull out his bow and shoot in bullet time. This slows down time, (except in 2P?) making some weak point breaks only possible with bullet time. However, a weak point break that is possible with fewer bullet time uses is usually faster. This attack is also excellent for opening weak point gauges on enemies who can be headshot.
Keeping the Village Peace:
Once Keeping the Village Peace is completed, Link's C5 is unlocked. This combo is Link's first way to force open a weak point gauge on any (?) strong enemy. It has three main use cases:
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Spawn camping: When a strong enemy is about to spawn, releasing a charged C5 can open the weak point gauge right off the bat.
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Post weak-point stun: Doing a charged C5 immediately after a weak-point smash allows you to immediately open the weak-point gauge again without using a headshot.
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Building special-attack gauge: Once it is acquired, C5 replaces C4 as the best way to build the special-attack gauge and clear hordes in general.
Heartfelt Thanks:
Once you complete Heartfelt Thanks, you gain access to Link's C6/C7 move. The charged C6/C7 opens the weak point gauge and deals decent damage to it. This combo is especially powerful because of a glitch, where dodging with specific timing after the charged C6/C7 lands will do significantly more damage. It also causes the weak point gauge to stay open longer than normal, allowing you to use stasis to keep it open. (It may also be able to directly cancel the C6/C7 with stasis, getting the damage but skipping the dodge)