SSBM/Sheik/Introduction

Introduction

Sheik is a fighting game player's dream. 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 SetplayPerforming pre-calculated maneuvers in a flow-chart manner in specific situations, that will typically secure an offensive despite many of the opponent's defensive attempts. 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 great 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 choking punishes that follow it to enable heavily skewed risk-reward mixups. Played properly, once she manages to get even the tiniest advantage, she will never let it go.

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.