This post is going to help me an extroidinary amount. Thankyou very much but I do have a few questions. The way you desribed the zoning and spacing it seems as if Sheik is more of a defensive character and rushdown if I can get away with it? I learned the whole "generally difficult to rush directly into the fray a la Fox or Falco." from getting absolutely slaughtered by trying to do so against KevinM's spacies. Could you explain how to practice CG's because I have alot of trouble with it and i know it is vital. Maybe a link to a video if you dont feel like explaining. Thankyou again
Meh whether you're aggressive or not is your own call.
It's easier to run defense with her (like with every character) but she is versatile enough to be aggressive. Just not in the sense that she can dive in headfirst.
I say she can't dive in headfirst for a few reasons.
Most importantly, her jump doesn't take her far, so her aerials are largely stationary. So she can't really dive into a dash dance or whatever with a SHFFL Nair or anything like that. Not like Falcon or Fox or whatever. Her projectile doesn't work while moving like Falco's or Peach's, so she can't operate that way either. Not being able to cover ground with an aerial or projectile --> aerial sucks for a variety of reasons, but most notably she misses out on a lower lag aerial approach. Which means she has to cover ground with her dash attack, grab, or boost grab, which have lots of lag.
The other problem is that Sheik's "no lag" moves (namely her tilts) actually do have lag. But it's low enough to generally be safe if you're spaced. But if you're not, they become wildly unsafe vs most characters (sometimes they're unsafe even when spaced but more on that later). Exception is U-tilt, sort of. U-tilt is a strange move. Its vulnerabilities are awkwardly placed so it's sort of safe, sort of not safe. When you're moving forward quickly, like with dashes and whatnot, it's difficult to have that kind of spacing. And the opponent can take advantage of that sort of thing.
So her offense, as a result, largely a game of positioning yourself so you can pressure safely at a good range. There's a lot of waiting involved, usually. Amsah does this sort of thing fairly well. I would suggest watching him if you want to see it.
On that note, I don't want to give the impression that you can't Dash Attack or boost grab against dash dance camps and that you always have to play this patient waiting game because those ludicrously offensive plays have their purpose and can be very useful for hitting people out of risky dash dances. They can be very good at times. But generally you have to respect and understand that, at least while attacking, she is either less mobile or less safe than the other top tiers.
love sheik
