SSBM/Sheik

Introduction

Sheik used to be 1st on the tier list, to the point where some smashers considered her to be "broken". On July of 2006, however, she slipped to rank 3, ousted by Fox and Falco. In the current Melee tier list, she slipped to fourth, ousted this time by Jigglypuff.

Sheik stands in the high tier primarily due to her chain throw, excellent combos, a great finisher in her fair, a very good approach due to fast aerials and good air speed, and one of the best edgeguarding games in Melee. Sheik, however, suffers from a relatively short and predictable recovery, as well as a rather short wavedash.

"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

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