SSBM/Sheik

Introduction

Sheik is Melee's assassin - a fast, platform-heavy executioner who maneuvers around the limits of her opponents' range, searching for the opportunity to lash out and drag her opponents down into some of the game's most asphyxiating punish situations. Between her ground normals, especially her tilts, her flexible aerials, and her venomously dangerous grab, Sheik has arguably the best palette of buttons in the game. This, combined with the best throw of any top tier, which she can strike with at any moment via her lunging boost grab, can make her a terrifying sight for any opponent. And, befitting of a ninja, verticality only makes it easier for her to move around; Sheik is a spider, and the platforms are her web.

Sheik is best classified as a setplay character. This begins, but does not end, with her legendary down throw: depending on the matchup, Sheik's grab leads either to a torturously long chaingrab or, depending on who you ask, what might be worse - a tech chase which she can (with proper execution) chase down on reaction...and repeat ad nauseam until death. No matter which flavor of poison you're downing that day, Sheik's is among the most constrictive of Melee's punish games, paring your options for escape down to the absolute minimum and leaving Sheik to watch you squirm. Between a flexible combo game that can easily transition small, picked-up openings into full punishes, a set of ruthlessly consistent kill confirms, and perhaps the best edge guarding in the game, being put on the back foot against Sheik can be dangerous in a way no other character can compare to. What was one moment a minor positional disadvantage becomes a death trap the next - if Sheik can get an inch, she will take a mile, and if she finds her bite, you will feel the venom.

All of these strengths do come at a price. Sheik's movement, while still fast and versatile, can be surprisingly awkward; her dash dance is one of the shortest in the game, leaving her reliant upon a variety of careful technical tricks to approximate what most characters can do by waggling the stick. Her short hop is almost uniquely high (though she can come down from it quickly), and her aerial drift is some of the game's worst. The end result is a character that must be surprisingly deliberate as she navigates her own positioning. Moreover, her weak recovery and vulnerability to many MU-specific punishes, such as Fox waveshines or Puff low profiles, mean Sheik can be as fragile as her opponents. Perhaps her most significant challenge is her vulnerability to crouch canceling; since so much of Sheik's moveset is low-knockback single hits, opponents begin each stock able to become immune to everything but Sheik's grab by holding down. While these shortcomings are by no means insurmountable, they necessitate creativity in situations that are much more straightforward for some of the other top tiers.

All of this results in a character that will heavily reward you for strong fundamentals and good decision making, but punish you just as hard for the lack thereof. Put succinctly, Sheik is a fundamentals-based character who uses the threat of the best grab in the game and the torturous punishes that follow it to enable heavily skewed risk-reward mixups. Played properly, Sheik can become one of Melee's most oppressive opponents - a setplay specialist lurking underneath one of the best generalist toolsets in the game.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Throw game - Down throw is one of the most infamous and iconic moves in the game, bar none. Depending on the character and the percent, it can be a loopable chaingrab into itself, the setup for a reaction techchase that can go from spawn 'till death, or just a straight-up kill confirm. A move which manages to be busted in a new way in every matchup. Space Control - While most of her moves are not notably disjointed or active for very long, they’re quick to come out and cover a good amount of space, giving her strong tools to both wall out her opponent and cut off their attempts to escape from bad situations. These moves also often have very low recovery, making it hard to whiff punish her directly Simple and Strong Confirms - Sheik’s combos are some of the most straightforward in the game, with followups often being either completely guaranteed or predicated on simple 50/50 DI mixups. This, along with having some of the most potent edgeguarding tools in the game, means she can get a lot out of just a single opening on a consistent basis Great Defense - Sheik benefits from a massive shield, a great burst option (Nair) out of it, a wavedash that contorts her hurtbox low to the ground, and rolls that cover a long distance. All of these factors together combine to make her a difficult egg to crack once she's on the back foot Needles - Sheik’s grounded and aerial needles are some of the game's best projectiles, allowing her to threaten ranges and angles she otherwise wouldn’t be able to in both neutral and edgeguarding scenarios

Restricted Movement - Despite having a fast walk, dash, and run, she has the lowest amount of dash frames in the game, a below average wavedash length, and slow aerial drift. This means she can sometimes struggle to not be outmaneuvered by her opponents in neutral Weak to Crouch Cancel and ASDI Down - Sheik can have a hard time getting a good opening when her opponents are at low %, as they can often crouch cancel or ASDI down her attacks and get an opening of their own in return. She relies on grab combos, spaced stray hits, and needles to build % until more of her moves become threatening Easy to Juggle - Her aforementioned slow aerial drift along with a lack of good moves that hit directly below her make being above most characters an especially tough position to be in Mediocre Recovery - Vanish is short, slow, and stage-dependent, enabling many characters to flowchart responses to it rather than play the mixup game Platform-reliant - Generally wants platforms available to help create the ambiguity her strange short hop and lackluster dash dance deprive her of. This can be an advantage on tri-platform stages, but on stages like Final Destination or frozen Pokemon Stadium, she can find herself limited.

"A" Moves Analysis

Ground Moves

Normal

• Neutral A- Two swipes that do 3-4%, followed by a fast series of punches doing 1% each.
• Side Tilt- A round kick in front of her. Short range, but launches the foe directly up leaving them open for aerial combos. 6% damage.
• Down tilt- A quick kick while crouching. Not particularly useful due to low range. 7% damage.
• Up tilt- Kicks up, and lets her leg down in an axe-like way. This attack is famous for it's chainability against heavy characters such as her up tilt infinite on Bowser. First hit does 8%, second 3%
• Dash Attack- spreads her arms apart and stops running. 10% damage

Smashes

• Forward Smash- Kicks twice in front of her, has moderate knockback. 4% then 12% uncharged, 6% then 19% fully charged.
• Up Smash- Puts her arms above herself and violently separates them to her left and right. 13% uncharged, fully does 17% in the NTSC version, 16% in the PAL. Incredibly powerful when sweetspotted, being among the most powerful in the game, but otherwise does moderate knockback.
• Down Smash- A powerful breakdance-like sweep. 13% uncharged, 17% fully charged.

Other

• Ledge Attack- Kicks back on the stage, 8% damage.
• 100% Ledge Attack- Slowly does a similar attack to her ledge attack below 100% damage, does 8%.
• Floor Attack- Gets up and kicks in front and back of herself. 6% damage.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral Aerial- A Sex Kick, does 14%, and gets weaker the longer it's out.
• Forward Aerial- a quick swipe in front of Sheik, Great knockback and great for edgeguarding. Usually does 13%
• Back Aerial- A quick kick in back of Sheik, good for edgeguarding. 8% damage
• Upwards Aerial- A spinning kick upwards, does 12%, Great for KO-ing. In the PAL version, does 10%.
• Down Aerial- A downwards kick, does 9-11% damage

Grabs & Throws

• Pummel- She punches the opponent with her fist. 2% damage each punch.
• Forward Throw- Launches her foe forward with low horizontal knockback and hitstun. 8% damage.
• Back Throw- Kicks an enemy behind Sheik. Better knockback and hitstun than forward throw but otherwise weak. 7% damage
• Up throw- Launches the enemy above her. Excellent for an aerial-attack follow up, but due to low histun follow-ups are difficult. 8% damage.
• Down Throw- Punches enemy to the ground, 8% damage. Overall, this is the best of Sheik's grabs because it can reliably chain grab or tech chase many characters to high percentages.

"B" Moves List

Neutral Special

When the special button is pressed, Sheik will throw a slim, almost-invisible needle to attack. They can either travel straight or at an angle (roughly 45 degrees towards the ground), depending on whether Sheik is in the air or not. The special button can be held to add up to 5 more needles, and the needles can be saved for a short time later by pressing the shield button or grab button. This is a very fundamental technique that should be applied to all Sheik players. It is recommended that right after the battle starts, after holding the special button to charge needles, to save the charged needles.

Each needle does 3% damage, allowing this move to deal a maximum of 18% damage. Sheik can also hold onto stored needles after losing a life by transforming into Zelda before being KO'd, then turning back into Sheik during the next life. Needles can disturb your opponents while getting back to stage and can pass through opposing hitboxes in Brawl, as they have transcendent priority. In Melee, like Link's arrows, the needles have hurtboxes and can be attacked; this can be used to block other projectiles.

If thrown after the apex of the jump and below the maximum height of Sheik's single jump, in a technique called needle canceling, the needle storm incurs no significant landing lag, allowing Sheik to combo aerial needles immediately into ground attacks, grabs, dashes, or even more needles. Reverse needle canceling refers to charging needles in the air, then tapping the shield or grab button to stow them. This too produces zero lag, and can be used to efficiently store needles, to grab the ledge, or to increase jump distance.

Side Special

Her chain involves Sheik pulling out a long metal chain and whipping it around. When Sheik pulls out the chain, the player has full analog control over it. The player can whip it in all directions - above and even behind Sheik's head. When a foe makes contact with the middle of the chain, they are slightly damaged. However, when the foe makes contact with the tip of the chain, they are given a small electric shock. Due to its poor damage and lag, it is almost never used in competitive play.

Up Special

Vanish:It involves her throwing a Deku Nut and vanishing into thin air. Using the control stick, players can determine where Sheik will reappear by tilting in a certain direction. Vanish does not go as far as Farore's Wind, but transforming in midair is not recommended, as the transformation takes time, and barely slows her descent. The initial explosion deals damage and knockback, and is capable of KOing at around 120%, but has a noticeable start up lag. However, Sheik will be granted invincibility frames when she is about to use the Deku Nut.

The re-entry of Sheik's Vanish has a very small push effect. This can be seen as it moves an opponent further than simply landing on them would. It has just enough push to knock someone, standing near the edge, off it, causing them to cliff-hang. This can be used downwards, in the air to stop potential ground guarding. On the ground, this can be used to mess with opponents and clear space when fighting close range.

Down Special

She transforms into Zelda.

Strategies

Match-ups

Serious Advantage Match-ups

Everyone else

Advantage Match-ups

Marth, Peach, C.Falcon, Doc, Ganon, Samus, Mario, Luigi, Y.Link, Mew2

Fair Match-ups

Falco

Disadvantage Match-ups

Fox, Puff, IC

Serious Disadvantage Match-ups

None