They’re one of the easiest extra deck monsters to summon, generally only requiring you to tribute a number of monsters equal to their Link rating. Unlike synchro or XYZ summoning, you don’t have to mess around with levels to get your summons right – allowing you to pull of Link summons left right and center no matter what deck you’re playing. Link 4 monsters require up to 4 monsters at a time to summon, so it’s no surprise that these cards have some serious power behind them. This list will break down the strongest Link 4 monsters in all of Yu-Gi-Oh, so that you too can turn your extra deck into an unstoppable onslaught of powerful monsters.
15. Rasterliger
While Rasterliger may not look like the strongest monster with only 2000 attack, his effect gives him the potential to become absolutely colossal. Once per turn you can target 1 Link monster in your graveyard and have Rasterliger gain attack equal to that monster’s! With the right monsters in your graveyard, you can easily turn this guy into a 5000 attack goliath – the sky’s the limit. Rasterliger also provides a handy bit of board destruction, too. You can tribute any number of your monsters that this card points to and destroy that many cards on the field. That’s spells, traps, and monsters that can all be destroyed by this effect – meaning you can deal with a whole bunch of threats all at once.
14. Firewall Dragon
Firewall Dragon was such an insanely overpowered card that it was banned in both the OCG and TCG for quite some time, until we got an errata to make this card more fair. Once per turn you can target monsters on the field and/or graveyards equal to the number of monsters co-linked with this card (co-linking is when two link monsters are on the field, and both of their link arrows point at each other) and return them to the hand. Not only does this allow you to get rid of your opponent’s monsters, but this also returns some of your valuable monsters back to your hand to use all over again. More importantly, if a monster that this card points to is sent to the graveyard (including when you link summon) then you can special summon 1 Cyberse monster from your hand! This effect is what made Firewall Dragon so broken in the first place, as this guy wasn’t always restricted to Cyberse monsters, nor was it once per turn.
13. Trickstar Bella Madonna
Trickstars are one of the best link summoning decks out there, and somehow they made burn decks fun again?! I never thought I’d see the day. But Trickstars are honestly one of my favorite decks to play! While this card doesn’t point to any monsters (with only 1 up arrow this is very easily done), Trickstar Bella Madonna isn’t affected by any card effects, and can burn your opponent for 200 damage for every single Trickstar in your graveyard once per turn! A link summoning deck like Trickstars will get through monsters like no-one’s business – that graveyard will be absolutely stacked, and your opponent will be taking some serious damage from this card.
12. Linkmail Archfiend
Weirdly, Linkmail Archfiend is an amazing link monster if you don’t play a link summoning strategy. When this card is summoned, you can target any Fusion, Synchro, XYZ, or Ritual monster that you control (or is in your graveyard) and have all of your opponent’s monsters lose attack equal to that targeted monster’s ATK. This can set you up to win the game in a flash. I mean, how is your opponent meant to defend when all of their monsters have virtually no attack stat? Furthermore, this guy protects your extra deck monsters from being targeted by any monster effects. And if Linkmail Archfiend itself was eventually outed by battle or card effect then you can simply banish a Fusion/Synchro/XYZ/Ritual monster from your graveyard instead!
11. Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix
If you’re new to Link summoning and not quite sure where to start, then I’d highly recommend a Salamangreat deck. They’re a link summoning deck with some serious firepower – pun fully intended. But basically they’re a series of Link monsters that gain effects when they’re link summoned using copies of themselves. For example, when Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix is link summoned using another Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix, then you can literally destroy every single card your opponent controls! You don’t get board wipes like that anywhere else in Yu-Gi-Oh, that’s for sure. And if that wasn’t enough power for you, whenever a Link monster is summoned to your opponent’s side of the field, you can burn them for damage equal to its attack! To speed this process up, Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix lets you special summon a Link monster from your opponent’s graveyard straight to their field.
10. Borrelguard Dragon
Borrelguard Dragon isn’t just a 3000 attack beat-stick. It’s also one of the best options that dragon decks have for reviving their monsters. Once per turn you can send a card from your spell and trap card zone to the graveyard to revive a monster that was destroyed this turn. Rokket decks (the deck that Borrel monsters were designed for) destroy themselves all the time, meaning there’s no way that you won’t be able to activate this effect in a Rokket deck! This gives you some extra materials to Link summon with, which is a sure-fire way of getting your best monsters out as fast as possible.
9. Topologic Bomber Dragon
Link summoning has become incredibly common in Yu-Gi-Oh – in fact, I’d say it’s probably the most popular form of extra deck summoning out there. So imagine the advantage you’d get by shutting your opponent off from Link summoning entirely. While Topologic Bomber Dragon is on the field, if any monster is special summoned to a zone that a Link monster points to, you can destroy every single monster in the main monster zones! While this’ll also pop your own monsters, it’s a small price to pay to completely shut your opponent out of half of their extra deck.
8. Topologic Zeroboros
This card takes the stopping power of Topologic Bomber Dragon and knocks it up a notch – or ten! Whenever a monster is special summoned to a zone that a link monster points to, you can straight up banish every single card on the field! While this may seem like a waste of a perfectly good Link 4 monster, Topologic Zeroboros actually brings itself straight back to the field during the next standby phase. The broken thing about this card is that it gains 200 attack for every single banished card, meaning each time your opponent triggers this effect, this guy is just going to get stronger and stronger until he’s an unstoppable killing machine.
7. Borreload Dragon
One of my favorite ways of winning at Yu-Gi-Oh is by stealing my opponent’s monsters and firing them right back at them – and Borreload does just that. When this card attacks an opponent’s monster, you can immediately steal that monster for your own, placing it any unoccupied zone that this card points to. And while that monster does get sent to the graveyard during the next end phase, you’re only getting rid of one of your opponent’s monsters – which is always a good thing. Plus this frees up a monster zone for you to steal your opponent’s monsters again, and again, and again!
6. Unchained Abomination
If you’re looking for a link monster that has some destructive power behind it then you’ve come to the right place. Unchained Abomination takes the concept of destroying cards on the field and kicks it into overdrive. Ultimately this card can target and destroy 3 cards every single turn, with each destruction being triggered in a different way. Firstly, when a card is destroyed by a card effect (except this card’s effect, or else you’d be stuck in some horrible recursive loop forever) then you can target and destroy another card on the field. This effect actually plays really well into the Rokket strategy, as they destroy themselves by their own card effects all the time. Secondly, if another monster is destroyed in battle, you can target and destroy another card on the field. And finally, as a reward for getting all the way to the end phase, you can target and destroy one final card. This guy is truly the king of targeting and destroying cards on the field.
5. Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax
Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax is an amazingly versatile Link 4 monster that’s worthy of a spot in any deck. It can best any monster your opponent throws at you in combat, and they’ll have a seriously hard time trying to overcome this card’s power! Whenever this card battles a special summoned monster you can have this card gain attack equal to that monster’s ATK, during damage calculation only. The crazy thing about this effect is that it isn’t once per turn – it’s once per battle! So every single time your opponent attacks, you’ll always have a stronger monster. Making this guy an untouchable defensive wall to keep those life points safe.
4. Borrelsword Dragon
Here’s the final Borrel card we’ll be talking about in this list (I mean, 3 Borrel cards all worthy of a spot in this list, that archetype is amazing!) And I’ve definitely saved the best ‘til last. Once per turn you can target one monster on the field and turn it to defense position, while also granting this card the ability to attack twice in a single turn. This effect is non-negotiable, as your opponent can’t activate any cards of effects in response to its activation! As if two attacks from a 3000 attack monster wasn’t bad enough, once per turn when this card declares an attack you can halve that defending monster’s attack and have Borrelsword Dragon gain that value in ATK until the end of the turn. This’ll seriously beef up your monster for its second attack – and with this attack boost it’s going to be causing some serious damage!
3. Saryuja Skull Dread
If you want to stand a chance at winning in Yu-Gi-Oh, then you need a reliable way of searching for cards in your deck – and Saryuja Skull Dread does just that. This card gains different effects depending on how many different monsters you used to link summon it, but I’d highly recommend using 4 different monsters – it’s definitely worth the payoff. If this card is summoned with 4 monsters, then when it’s Link summoned you draw 4 cards from the top of your deck, providing that you put 3 cards from your hand to the bottom of your deck afterwards. If you’ve got some useless cards in your hand then this is the perfect way of getting rid of them – and gaining some better cards at the same time!
2. Accesscode Talker
Accesscode Talker is without a doubt the best beat-stick monster in Yu-Gi-Oh. And it’s easy to see why! When this card is Link summoned you can target one of the Link monsters used for this card’s summon, and gain attack equal to its Link rating x 1000. On top of that, you can banish Link monsters from your graveyard to destroy a card your opponent controls! This effect isn’t once per turn either. The only restriction is that you can’t banish the same attribute twice – so in a deck with multiple attributes, you can potentially destroy 3 or 4 of your opponent’s cards all at once. The real cherry on top of this sundae is that none of these effects can be responded to with card effects – meaning your opponent is absolutely powerless in stopping you from destroying their cards (and having you gain some serious attack stats).
1. Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess
If there’s one thing that’s important in modern Yu-Gi-Oh, it’s negate power. There are some seriously strong monster cards out there. And you’re gonna need some protection from them if you want to stand a chance in any duel. Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess is the best monster-effect negating card you could run. When this card is summoned it gains attack equal to the number of monsters used for its Link summon x 800, up to a maximum of 3200. However, when a monster effect is activated, you can have this card lose 800 attack to negate that effect until the end of the turn. The crazy thing about this is that it isn’t once per turn, it’s once per chain! This means you can effectively negate 4 of your opponent’s monster effects in a single turn. I don’t think there’s a duelist out there who could still make a decent board after that ludicrous amount of negation, which is why Apollousa is hands-down the best Link 4 out there.
