what is the difference between linked issues and Epic link?

[sn]

im confused after going through the documentation. we can link any issue type to any issue type. The epic link is to create issues in an epic. How are they different ? i can just create a bug and link it to a user story.

TIA !

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

A link is an indicator of a relationship between two issues for some reason - any reason you choose really.  A duplicate, impacts the other one, one blocks the other, they're the same colour, anything.  A link between two issues is mainly for user information, not a lot more.

An Epic link means that the story belongs to a specific Epic in more of a parent/child like relationship.  Epics group issues together for one specific reason, and they have a lot more functionality than "this beloings to that"

This is worth a quick read - https://www.atlassian.com/agile/delivery-vehicles and https://confluence.atlassian.com/agile/jira-agile-user-s-guide/working-with-epics