Time passes, people move...
Like a river's flow, it never ends...
Yet a noble mind will return to childish ambition...
And deep affection was always young love...
The water's surface is shattered...
Sheik Guide
KirbyKaze, along with a lot of other great Sheik players, have shared a lot of their knowledge on the Sheik boards. In fact, there is already a Sheik guide out there, in addition to KK's MU guide and this WiP.
This guide is intended to be a first step into attaining that Knowledge.
The Triforce of Knowledge, that is.
Sheik's general strategy is to rack up damage with needles and her strong grab game, then start a combo with her strong tilts that leads to a kill or edeguard. However, she is also looking to gimp at early percents due to her amazing offstage game. Her main kill moves are Fair/Uair/Usmash, while her needles/Bair/Nair/Dsmash are all good for edgeguarding.
Shiek's tilt attacks are all extremely fast and strong, with the rest of her moveset complementing them nicely with similar speed and power. They all lead into each other, providing her with options for almost any scenario.
Her neutral game is guite good due to her high ground movement speed and her excellent projectile, although both her dash dance and wavedash are limited in their distances.
Her weight does make her susceptible to a lot of combos (Utilt -> rest, Ken Combo, waveshine, etc), and her recovery is extremely punishable. In addition, much of her moveset is susceptible to crouch canceling at early percents, so her optimal punish early in each stock should be grab.
Good stuff:
Moveset:
Go here for frame data.
"The best strategy to use when playing as Sheik is to let her flow from one powerful attack into another, like a river of quicksilver."
Make no mistake, Sakurai knew that Sheik's moveset had flow.
Jab
Sheik's jab is in the fastest jab class, coming out frame 2 and having only 13 frames endlag.
It can punish Fox without risk of crouch canceling starting at 126% (209% if he's in the crouching animation). Falco is 129%. Marth is 135%. Sheik is 137%.
Jab on shield is not safe.
It's also good for Jab Resetting until around 40% on most characters.
Dash Attack
When this successfully lands, it sets you up perfectly for followups and advantage. Spamming makes you vulnerable to crouch canceling due to its high endlag. Once you break CC percent on spacies, you can transition from regrab tech chasing to sweetspot dash attacks.
Utilt
This is a ridiculously fast move. The first hit starts frame 5 and combos easily into the second hit, which has only 2 frames of endlag! It's an excellent combo extender that you can pick from your arsenal. It is an ideal choice when your opponent DI's in on your Dthrow.
Ftilt -> Dash Attack -> Uair -> Utilt -> Dash Attack -> Fair
Ftilt
The enormous disjoint on this hitbox makes it a great zoning tool. It also starts frame 5 (all her tilts do). This move is Sheik's bread & butter. One of my mentors would always sarcastically call Ftilt followups the "hype train". Make sure you can efficiently perform the followups. You need technical knowledge and skill (ex, knowing how far to dash before jumping) combined with an active mind (reading and reacting to DI and defensive options).
Dtilt
This is a cute little swipe that is just a niche version of her other tilts. Don't do it on shield (unless it pushes them off stage, but they could try Shield DI).
Usmash
This is an awesome move. It breaks spacie CC at really low percent (around 10%). It clears space, allowing you to return to neutral or initiate an edgeguard. It's a decent OoS option. She has head intangibility for a bit during startup. Comboing into the tipper is called a Dynasty.
Fsmash
The first hit is one of the worst hitboxes in the game. It has low set weight-based knockback, so it literally NEVER combos into the second hit.
On the other hand, the second hit is one of the best hitboxes in the game. It can punish vulnerable spacies at 20% without being CC'd. That, combined with its low endlag and low placement makes it excellent for spaced shield pokes. The low endlag can also be utilized for option coverage techchasing.
Dsmash
The first hit is frame 5, but only hits in the front. This is a great CC option. If your struggling to get a kill, you can try to bait your opponent into running into your crouching trap.
...ongoing revision...
Old Moveset Version
Movement Options:
Grabbing the ledge
I believe this is an important movement option for the following reasons:
1. Sheik's grounded actionable ledge intangibility is above average, and complements her grounded moveset really well.
2. Her aerials are all really good when done intangibly from the ledge.
3. It is very safe for Sheik to be on the ledge due to Shino Stalling.
You should be extremely comfortable wavedashing to the ledge. Also make sure to fastfall to the ledge right before you slide off it.
See here for an analysis of the fastest ways to grab the ledge from a distance.
As important as being able to abuse the ledge is knowing when to go there and when to maintain stage control.
Wavedash
Sheik's wavedash is short due to her sorta high traction, but quick due to her 3 frame jumpsquat. It is good for precise spacing and positioning. Her wavedash OoS is pretty important in many matchups. BTW, WD OoS (3 frames jumpsquat + 10 frames landing lag) is always faster than just letting go of your shield (16 frames of lag).
Dash Wavedash: by dashing before starting your wavedash, you move during the jumpsquat frames instead of wasting them.
Dashdance
Shiek has a short but quick dashdance that is tricky to apply.
Foxtrot
Even though her run is really fast, you may want to try her foxtrot for more mobility.
Run Canceling
B/c her initial dash is so short, Sheik can run cancel back and forth across platforms. This technique works b/c the teeter animation cancels your run.
Another form of run canceling that works without an edge is by crouching. This is actually more useful to Sheik than pivots, since her initial dash is so short.
Utilt -> Dthrow -> Usmash -> Ftilt -> Usmash -> Dtilt -> Usmash -> reverse Bair -> Fair
Walljump
Sheik can wall jump to boost her recovery on certain stages. This allows a lot of desperately needed recovery mixups such as Wall Jump -> air dodge/UpB/aerial/etc.
A Note on Option Coverage:
I'm quite sure that if you're frame perfect, when tech chasing on platforms, you can Fair tech in place and still Dash Attack tech rolling to the other side of the platform.
Matchups
I'm not going to bother with listing who beats who in ea MU, since I'm only doing top tier MUs, and they're all approximately close to even. Spaced Ftilt + Chaingrabs + Auto-Combos should kill any low-tier.
More important than knowing who wins on paper is how to win IRL.
KK has several MU guides that are guaranteed to be better than mine: here and here.
Spacies
For neutral, you need to control center stage and fish for a grab -> tech chase. You don't want to be in your shield a lot, coz you gotta respect their perfect shield pressure. You'll want to avoid getting hit by using your mobility.
Fox:
He can crouch cancel until 40%, so until then you need to get a grab. You can tech chase on reaction for as long as you don't mess up. After 40%, you need to hit them and followup into their death. If they DI the Dthrow, wavedash/walk towards them and space around tech-in-place shine, although if you do it right you can grab tech in place. You should be able to Boost grab techrolls on reaction. Sheik's Jab reset is really good (inescapable till ~40%) if they miss the tech. If you're by the edge, you can mixup techchasing with an early gimp by throwing them offstage. Just make sure to mix that up.
Uthrow -> Uair is a pain. DI behind Fox and then SDI back towards where he has to run from. DI'ing behind makes it hard for him coz he has to Dash back before jumping.
Falco:
He CC's you till 80%. His tech roll is a lot longer and faster than Fox's, so it's harder to react to, but still possible. His Lasers suck. You can learn to powershield by timing your shield inputs based on his SH patterns. M2K also does sneaky stuff with ducking high SH-Lasers with the Needle Charge animation.
Note that you can't CC Dair.
Ditto
The neutral in Sheik dittos should be to bait stuff out and punish with a grab. You can chain grab, or just follow up with tilts, etc. Fairs/etc can be beaten with Dtilt/Dsmash, but those can be dealt with by Dair. Be aware of the CC game on both sides, coz that'll be the basis of footsies in the matchup.
You should know how to edgeguard Sheik b/c that's how everyone else edgeguards you. Grab ledge to force her to UpB onto stage, getup to avoid the explosion, then punish the landing lag. Needles are great against her coz her air game is much slower than her ground game. Take advantage of the startup vulnerability of Vanish.
Marth
Use your mobility to evade his sword swipes. Abuse the fact that Marth has zero lingering hitboxes, which lets you safely boost grab many of his spacing attempts.
Focus on controlling center stage. You can threaten his approaches with fullhop -> rising needle charge, but you will want to stay below him as much as possible since all of his coverage is above him. Always go for grabs if you land needles. Once you get the grab, Dthrow, and Utilt or Dash Attack if he DI's away. You'll have to pivot anything for DI behind. If they never DI anything, just Ftilt at low percents. Without DI'ing away, you don't have to read what he does (bait out the Fair if he goes for it, regrab if he shields), so you can Ftilt again or Fair. At higher percents, you get a guaranteed aerial followup (dash before jumping if he DI's away), which you can mixup from among your aerials. You also have Usmash.
You can mixup calling his approaches with spaced Fairs in addition to fullhop needles.
If you space it right, CC Dtilt will beat his Fair. You could also CC -> Boost grab if you don't space it right.
When recovering, watch out, coz a good Marth player will know when you're vulnerable on your UpB and swipe you before you're intangible with Dtilt or Dair.
A perfect (i..e. latest) needle grab on shield gives just enuff time for Marth to shield grab on the same frame as yours, resulting in a port priority issue (see here).
See here for info on jumping out of Marth's Uthrow -> Utilt/Uair.
M2K has said about edgeguarding marth: grab the ledge late to force him to upB on stage, then either: 1) roll immediately then punish with a ground move or 2) stay on the ledge and punish with an aerial, etc.
Puff
Almost everything Shiek has against any other character doesn't apply in this MU.
For neutral, needle her as much as possible. Some needles travel at a lower angle than others, so a full salvo of needles can catch her a lil bit when she's crouching.
Dash attack and grab can be CC -> rested, so you can't rely on them. Shield a lot and use good OoS options (Nair/WD/etc). Your Bair has good coverage against Puff. Kill with Uair via Dtilt or Dthrow. Expect them to tech on platforms when possible and punish accordingly. You can mix up the Uair with Fair.
Watch out for Utilt/Dthrow -> rest, and always make sure to DI down/away in front of Puff.
If you get rested, DI down so you don't get Star KO'd, so you can punish. If she flubs a rest, charge up you're needles, then charge Usmash or Dthrow -> Uair are probly your best punishes.
Peach
SH Fair is good for covering the weakspot in Peach's zonage. Dthrow -> Ftilt is usually a thing, but watch out for following that with Fair, coz you may need to bait out her Nair before punishing. Patient Bairs can punish her Dsmashes on platforms. As always, don't CC her Dsmash, but a good Peach knows not to rely on it as a go-to punish, so you may be able to sneak in some CC's if you can read that she's not going for Dsmash. Both chars' Dsmashes come out frame 5, FYI. You can also tech her Dsmash if you can get off the ground before getting hit. If she Dsmash's your shield, wavedash OoS can get you a grab unless she lands more hits than usual with it.
Trades are gonna get really annoying. You can't let them get to you. You just need to make sure you retain your positioning.
Edgeguarding is a headache, but with good footsies and mixups you can sometimes catch her slipping. Mixing up RNC -> Bair/Edgegrab can be used to bait out mistakes. The hitbox of her umbrella is really weird (there's a big hitbox attached to the middle of the handle).
Dthrow -> Uair kills around 80-100%, take into account she may tech on a platform, Fair works as a DI mixup.
See here for info on grabbing turnips.
Your weight makes you nasty combo food for her DJC shenanigans.
If she grabs the ledge to force you to UpB onto the stage and then hits you with the first hit of her Dsmash (which will send you back off stage), you can CC the first hit to force the second hit of it, which will send you back into center stage.
She'll probly wanna counterpick dreamland. If she grabs ledge, you can recover onto the high platform and she'll struggle to punish you coz of her slow double jump.
Falcon
While Falcon has a faster air game, your ground game is still fast enough to keep up with him. Your toolset is better than his in neutral. You need to control space by understanding how to use your tools to eliminate his options.
Get a grab and tech chase on reaction. His tech roll is easy to read.
Setup an edgeguard and cackle coz his recovery sucks. You can easily just wait for the UpB and Bair, or go for a Fair if you're fancy and can space it. He may try to sweetspot his 2nd jump if you let him, or he'll try to get close enough to airdodge on stage. I'm pretty sure it's impossible for him to sweetspot his UpB (maybe if he reverses it? I dunno), so just Dsmash him if he UpB's to the edge. Needles can also murder him.
If you notice them SDI'ing out of your jab resets or buffer rolling, double jab to catch them.
Falcon can punish your Dtilt and Dash attack with his Dair if he spaces well. You're also combo food for him. He has Stomp/Dthrow/Uthrow -> knee (I'll update eventually with percents/DI info).
Stages
The various advantages that stages offer different characters usually makes it hard to tell which characters have clear advantages in given matchups. Here, I will lay out facts about each stage. You should really just counterpick whichever ones you feel most comfortable with, but it is nice to know exactly what kinds of shenanigans will be the consequences of your decision.
Stages Guide: here (by me, teehee).
-Fountain of Dreams (FoD)
It is generally agreed that Sheik is really good on FoD.
The close walls allow her to get early Fair kills, while the high ceiling lets her survive longer in the Fox matchup.
Since she is not a SHFFL oriented character, the changing platform heights don't bother her as much as they would Falcon. In fact, she is capable of manipulating them for her combos.
Wall jumping can be added to her recovery on this stage.
When fighting a Marth on this stage, you can UpB onto the platforms when they are high to avoid getting tippered. Just watch out for the times when there are no sideplatforms, where Marth can easily cover all recover options.
-Yoshi's Story (YS)
I really like this stage for Sheik.
It is stupidly easy to tech chase spacies on this stage. From most positions on stage, you can easily cover all options by immediately wavedashing towards center stage right after the Dthrow. The close edges will keep them from teching too far away in either direction, and you can catch that with a boost grab.
Her ledgedash covers almost half the stage with intangible tilts.
In addition, her Usmash can tipper an opponent on one of the side platforms.
Wall jumping can be added to her recovery on this stage.
-Dreamland (DL)
This stage is big enough that Sheik can easily Needle Camp character without projectiles. This is also a viable strategy against spacies, even though they have projectiles too. Sheik has the mobility to match Fox's speed. And she needs them to be above 50% before she can safely combo them out of neutral.
This is a good counterpick against Marth b/c he cannot tipper you on the side platforms. Though he does have room to dash dance around you, you also have room to needles camp him.
Wall jumping can be added to her recovery on this stage.
This is a good stage to integrate Transform into your recovery. By DI'ing all the way up, you have plenty of time to transform into zelda and then back into sheik.
-Battlefield (BF)
This stage is considered the most balanced b/c most characters are comfortable here. I've heard that some ppl don't like fighting against Sheik's here as Marth or Falcon, but really it's just personal preference.
When fighting a Marth on this stage, don't UpB onto the platforms, b/c he can tipper Fsmash you from the ground.
-Final Destination (FD)
There's not much to be said for Sheik on this stage.
She can easily needle camp characters without projectiles.
Wall jumping can be added to her recovery on this stage, though it is not as accessible as it is on other stages.
-Pokemon Stadium (PS)
There's not much to be said for Sheik on this stage.
Her Usmash can tipper an opponent on one of the neutral transformation platforms.
She can Shino Stall on the wall during the mountain transformation.
You can try Jab infinite'ing someone against the walls in the mountain and fire transformations, but they should be able to SDI out of it. You can also use wall jumps in your combos on those transformations.
Tech Chasing
I liked this tech chasing guide a lot, especially where it mentioned reacting to the screen position to figure out if it's a tech roll or not. Also, check this out.
This is how I tech chase spacies:
If they DI all the way in or out, I wavedash towards them trying to space outside of shine range while still within my grab range.
If there's a green flash, it's a missed tech so I jab reset.
If they do the splits, it's a tech in place so I regrab. Depending on their habits, I might bait out a wakeup shine and dashdance grab.
If they're legs are together, it's a tech roll, and I dashdance into a reaction boost grab.
I mix things up with Usmash/Dsmash/Utilt/etc.
Once you get a spacie to like 50%, just dash attack -> sick combo -> KO.
You can extend your tech chase onto platforms with wavelanded grabs, as a mixup for following up with aerial reads on their platform techs.
Part 1 (tech chase, followup, and edgeguard setup):
Part 2 (edgeguard):
tech chase before the infamous 'THIS IS WHY I like Mew2King' Dair/Dair/Usmash combo vs eggm
Edgeguarding
Watch this in your spare time.
Sheik's Bthrow is really good for setting up edgeguards, and her moveset gives her just the right tools to follow it through. Fthrow is also an option if that's how you're facing.
You can SH Bair, or you can wavedash off the ledge into a rising Bair, or you could grab the ledge and send out an intangible Bair.
Due to needles' downwards sending trajectory, they are some of the most deadly edgeguarding tools in the game. And on top of that, you have the coverage of both standing and aerial needles.
A lot of times, you can get a guaranteed followup out of a Dthrow. However, if you are good at picking up your opponent's patterns, you can include setting up an edgeguard as a mixup with your normal comboing. You must be able to pick up on things like whether your opponent likes to recover high or go to the ledge, which of their recovery options they prefer, and most importantly, which of your own tools covers their options the best.
Follow the Fox down:
Miscellaneous Data
Sheik - Tech Skill Trial Video is a good training regimen.
Check out my Mew2King video thread for examples of great Sheik play.
OoS Options
Nair OoS: Supa strong, supa fast.
Usmash OoS: Her Usmash isn't as fast as the spacies', but it's got nice hitboxes.
Wavedash OoS: Just letting go of shield takes 15 frames. WD'ing has 10 frames landing lag. Never just let go of shield. Always WD OoS if you want to get out of shield into neutral.
Edgehogging
http://smashboards.com/posts/17171803
Fairing does not help your recovery
http://smashboards.com/threads/ummm-how-do-you-recover.191704/#post-5270391
This video is what I believe to be responsible for spreading this myth. It's a very good video guide, except for that minor bit of misinfo.
However,
Techchasing Falcon
http://smashboards.com/threads/is-there-a-way-out-of-sheiks-tech-chase.190936/#post-5258166
"Priority"
There are a lot of misconceptions about priority. True priority only ever applies when 2 actions happen at the same time, and the rules of priority determine the outcome. The two most common instances of this are when 2 hitboxes collide or when 2 characters try to grab each other at the same time. The former depends on damage and hitbox properties, while the latter depends on controller port.
A lot of people assume that certain moves flat-out beat others, and they like to call it "priority". The real word for it is bad spacing. But it is true that some moves have better hitbox placement, making them easier to land against others (ex, the placement of the hitboxes in Falcon's Nair makes it very easy for Sheik to hit him during his vulnerability with almost any of her aerials). An important thing to note is that even if your opponent's character has moves with better hitbox placement, you can almost always still outspace them - it'll just be really hard.
CC Grab
If you hit Z while crouching, you'll do a Dtilt. To grab out of a CC, you can just JC grab.
Todo: integrate this.
Photo credit to: http://lakengubben.deviantart.com/art/Mortal-Kombat-Sheik-385433893
Sheik's cameo in 12 Monkeys:
Like a river's flow, it never ends...
Yet a noble mind will return to childish ambition...
And deep affection was always young love...
The water's surface is shattered...
Sheik Guide
KirbyKaze, along with a lot of other great Sheik players, have shared a lot of their knowledge on the Sheik boards. In fact, there is already a Sheik guide out there, in addition to KK's MU guide and this WiP.
This guide is intended to be a first step into attaining that Knowledge.
The Triforce of Knowledge, that is.
Sheik's general strategy is to rack up damage with needles and her strong grab game, then start a combo with her strong tilts that leads to a kill or edeguard. However, she is also looking to gimp at early percents due to her amazing offstage game. Her main kill moves are Fair/Uair/Usmash, while her needles/Bair/Nair/Dsmash are all good for edgeguarding.
Shiek's tilt attacks are all extremely fast and strong, with the rest of her moveset complementing them nicely with similar speed and power. They all lead into each other, providing her with options for almost any scenario.
Her neutral game is guite good due to her high ground movement speed and her excellent projectile, although both her dash dance and wavedash are limited in their distances.
Her weight does make her susceptible to a lot of combos (Utilt -> rest, Ken Combo, waveshine, etc), and her recovery is extremely punishable. In addition, much of her moveset is susceptible to crouch canceling at early percents, so her optimal punish early in each stock should be grab.
Good stuff:
- Tech chasing (fast WD/Boost grab)
- Edge guarding (Bair/Needles)
- Nair OoS stuffs approaches
- High ground speed allows powerful stage control
- Fast and powerful Attacks
- Auto-combos (Dthrow/Ftilt/Dtilt -> Ftilt/Fair/Uair/chaingrab/techchase)
- Tech skill is not too important
- Jab -> Grab
- CC Dsmash
- Late Fair/Bair on shield -> dashdance/roll away
- Rising/Instant Bair
- Ledgedash anything
- Dthrow -> Uair to kill floaties
- Chain grabs
- Spaced Ftilt
- Fast WD OoS
- Weight/falling speed makes her combo food
- Punishable recovery (Wall Jump mitigates a lil bit, but not much)
- Short dash dance limits evasion
- High SHFFL (mitigated by fast tilts, which allows good air -> ground transitions)
Moveset:
Go here for frame data.
"The best strategy to use when playing as Sheik is to let her flow from one powerful attack into another, like a river of quicksilver."
Make no mistake, Sakurai knew that Sheik's moveset had flow.
Jab
Sheik's jab is in the fastest jab class, coming out frame 2 and having only 13 frames endlag.
It can punish Fox without risk of crouch canceling starting at 126% (209% if he's in the crouching animation). Falco is 129%. Marth is 135%. Sheik is 137%.
Jab on shield is not safe.
It's also good for Jab Resetting until around 40% on most characters.
Dash Attack
When this successfully lands, it sets you up perfectly for followups and advantage. Spamming makes you vulnerable to crouch canceling due to its high endlag. Once you break CC percent on spacies, you can transition from regrab tech chasing to sweetspot dash attacks.
Utilt
This is a ridiculously fast move. The first hit starts frame 5 and combos easily into the second hit, which has only 2 frames of endlag! It's an excellent combo extender that you can pick from your arsenal. It is an ideal choice when your opponent DI's in on your Dthrow.
Ftilt -> Dash Attack -> Uair -> Utilt -> Dash Attack -> Fair
Ftilt
The enormous disjoint on this hitbox makes it a great zoning tool. It also starts frame 5 (all her tilts do). This move is Sheik's bread & butter. One of my mentors would always sarcastically call Ftilt followups the "hype train". Make sure you can efficiently perform the followups. You need technical knowledge and skill (ex, knowing how far to dash before jumping) combined with an active mind (reading and reacting to DI and defensive options).
Dtilt
This is a cute little swipe that is just a niche version of her other tilts. Don't do it on shield (unless it pushes them off stage, but they could try Shield DI).
Usmash
This is an awesome move. It breaks spacie CC at really low percent (around 10%). It clears space, allowing you to return to neutral or initiate an edgeguard. It's a decent OoS option. She has head intangibility for a bit during startup. Comboing into the tipper is called a Dynasty.
Fsmash
The first hit is one of the worst hitboxes in the game. It has low set weight-based knockback, so it literally NEVER combos into the second hit.
On the other hand, the second hit is one of the best hitboxes in the game. It can punish vulnerable spacies at 20% without being CC'd. That, combined with its low endlag and low placement makes it excellent for spaced shield pokes. The low endlag can also be utilized for option coverage techchasing.
Dsmash
The first hit is frame 5, but only hits in the front. This is a great CC option. If your struggling to get a kill, you can try to bait your opponent into running into your crouching trap.
...ongoing revision...
Old Moveset Version
Jab
Sheik's jab is in the fastest jab class, coming out frame 2 and having only 13 frames endlag. It's a nice launcher for comboing.
The "lloD" combo is Jab -> Ftilt, as long as they can't CC it.
It's also good for Jab Resetting until around 40% on most characters.
Jab -> Grab is a really great combo. To jab grab, you can hold shield after the first jab and mash a shield grab to prevent the second jab. You could also crouch after the Jab.
Fun Fact: Sheik's first jab will hone in on your opponent if they are a lil above or below you.
Rapid Jab
Jab combo ends in an infinite. It can't be crouch canceled, but it can be SDI'd out of.
Dash Attack
A good launcher. An integral part of her combo and tech-chasing game. Combos into itself, except on spacies with DI away (which leads to a tech chase).
Watch out for CC at low percents, but be ready for knockdown on CC'ers at higher percents.
Utilt
A 2-hit combo with very low endlag. Covers DI-in out of Ftilt or Dthrow. Also a decent anti-air. Combos nicely into aerials.
Ftilt -> Dash Attack -> Uair -> Utilt -> Dash Attack -> Fair
Ftilt
Part of the core of Sheik's combo game. Leads to anything you want (especially itself). Has some good disjoint. Covers a lot of space in neutral. This move is like a pocket Dthrow in terms of followups.
On many characters (ex, Marth), Dthrow -> Ftilt is guaranteed at low percents (pivot Ftilt for DI behind). If they don't DI the first Ftilt, you can get another one. You can also mix in some regrabs depending on DI, but they aren't always guaranteed.
Dtilt
A good launcher with a little bit of low disjoint. This move is like a pocket Ftilt. Particularly good against Fairing Marths.
Note that it's not safe on shield.
Ftilt -> Fair -> Dtilt -> Fair -> Fair (also note the supa gut wavedash OoS)
Usmash
Has a sweetspot at the tip of her fingers before she swipes downwards. You can get the tipper if your opp is on PS/YS side platforms.
An excellent OoS option. Also good for covering tech options. Make sure you can do a sliding Usmash by sliding the control stuck up and hitting A while dashing.
The "Dynasty" Combo is comboing into the sweetspot like a beast.
Fsmash
The only one of Sheik's moves that doesn't fit perfectly with her moveset. It's not completely useless, but it is very situational.
Dsmash
The breakdance is supa fast. Works great out of a crouch cancel. A lot of Sheik's will do a wakeup Dsmash. Also great for edgeguarding due to it's nasty angle. Can be used for tech chasing.
Watch out for wavedash OoS if they shield it.
Note: the first hit only hits in front of her.
Nair
Sheik's sex kick is supa good. It's fast and huge and strong.
SHFFL Nair OoS is one of her best tools. It snuffs spacie pressure and can hard punish a lot of things on shield. Full hop Nair OoS is a good mixup against spacies.
Another difficult but essential option is powershield -> SH Nair. This stuffs and bodybags enemy approaches.
Invincible Nairs from the ledge are great for edgeguarding.
Late Nairs are really good. They're nice on shield, and near the edge can push your opponent off the edge and allow you to catch them with a Dsmash if you're fast enuff.
Uair
This is a powerful KO move. In the PAL version, it was nerfed to be more of a combo move.
KK said somewhere that this move is best when saved for kills, but it can also combo into itself against fastfallers, or be used as a good GTFO move.
Dthrow -> Uair kills floaties at reasonable percents (80-100), with Fair covering DI mixups.
Fair
An integral part of Sheik's game. It sets up edgeguards and can kill off the side. It is really great for creating positional advantage.
This is the go-to finisher for most of Sheik's combos.
It has some nice disjoint in front of it. You can make the angle it sends at even nastier by landing it later.
The reverse Fair is when it sends your opponent behind you if the hitbox hits the side of them that would be in front of you.
It can easily be auto canceled.
You can do a late Nair after an instant SH Fair.
On that note, late Fairs are really hard for opponents to deal with.
Dair
This is an excellent launcher, but its hitbox placement is not as great as her other aerials. In addition, it's slower and has a lot more landing lag than her other aerials. Ledge cancel it for flair and access. The angle it sends at is just so swag tho.
Tech Chase -> Dash Attack -> Dash Attack -> Dair -> Dair -> Usmash
Bair
This is my favorite of Sheik's moves. The sweetspot is at the heel of her back foot. The back foot will kill or edgeguard, but the front leg is the most elegant part of her moveset. The front foot combos in the most swag ways possible. This is the reason to keep playing Sheik after you get SMSD (Sheik-Main Stress Disorder) from ppl complaining about how gay she is.
Invincible or even just dropped Bairs from the ledge are great for edgeguarding. Wavelanding off platforms into this is great for covering space.
Getting it out instantly after jumpsquat is great b/c then the sweetspot is still low enough to really wreck your opp.
Dash Attack -> Usmash -> Ftilt -> Uair -> 2x Ftilt -> reverse Bair -> Ftilt -> reverse Bair -> Fair
Needles
A good projectile. Can't be crouch canceled b/c it sends at a downwards angle. Can jab reset just like her jab. Full salvos of needles can cover a lot of space. Also, the crouching animation of using needles can dodge higher SHlasers from Falco.
Needle Canceling is shooting some needles after the apex of your jump and below your full jump height, which induces only normal landing lag (similar to SH-Lasers). This allows combos like FH or SH Needles -> grab, etc. It's also great for edgeguarding.
Reverse Needle Canceling (RNC, for clarity I call it Needle Storing) is using the fact that storing needles only takes 15 frames. This can be combined with a B-turnaround to mixup your aerial approaches. When edgeguarding, you can jump out, RNC, then either Bair or grab ledge.
Runoff RNC Ledgegrab is a swanky way of edgehogging. Supa fast, supa hard.
Note: some needles will travel at a slightly different angle from usual, allowing full batches of needles to have a chance of hitting a crouching Puff, etc.
See here for info on shield stun, hitlag, and port priority for SH Needles -> grab.
See here for some fancy platform stuff.
Vanish
Sheik's recovery is bad b/c it is punishable. All your opponent has to is grab ledge, get up to avoid the explosion, and then punish the horrible landing lag.
You'll want to try to get close enough to air dodge on stage, or ledge cancel the UpB.
Note: Vanish always sweetspots if you're coming from above.
Note: If you UpB high enough, you can fall through the air and hit the ground without the superbad landing lag.
Double Explosion: If you use vanish in the air and then impact with the ground before the explosion happens, you will get 2 explosions (aerial and grounded), which can catch somebody who flubs the edgeguard.
Vanish can be shortened and turned around, but you can avoid having to sometimes by angling the initial boost so that the explosion-teleport goes straight to the ledge.
Shino Stalling is regaining ledge intangibility by supplementing it with the built-in intangibility from Vanish. Unlike most other ledgestalls (spacies, etc), you don't have to be frame perfect b/c of the built-in intangibility. Just watch out for an edgehogger. Also, a ledgedash done after the lowest possible Shino Stall will grant extra grounded intangibility due to your ECB's shape from that position.
While Vanish stalling is a powerful tool, it is better to maintain control of center stage by using her powerful movement. It's best purpose is to create in your opponent a fear of the ledgedash.
Chain
The chain is not very good, but it's a good taunt. The only time it's ever almost useful is against a character without a projectile, or for edgeguarding fastfallers.
Transform
Zelda's Teleport is longer than Vanish, but not any better (since it doesn't slow your descent, and is just as punishable). Since it slows your descent, Transform can be useful when recovering from up high to stall out your opponent's edgeguard (make sure to DI all the way up if you want to do this, and it's best on DL). Just make sure not to get caught as Zelda. You are intangible for some frames of the transformation, so there's probably a really obscure situation where that might be useful.
Note: Transforming takes away your platform intangibility, which is why it's bad to die as Zelda.
Uthrow
Not a very good throw, except as a DI mixup and only to trap your opponent on a platform. It does chaingrab spacies at like 150% tho.
Fthrow
The only reason to use this is to set up an edgeguard, which it's pretty good at.
Dthrow
This throw is broken. You can always followup, or at least have positional advantage, when you use this against any character. It chaingrabs half the cast (see the ssbwiki article linked in the title for which chars it works on). It leads to Uair against Floaties at high percents. It leads to tech chases against Fast Fallers. It leads to Ftilt/Utilt depending on DI at lower %'s against almost anyone, and leads to Fair on most characters at higher %'s. Keep in mind pivot Ftilt is an option out of Dthrow.
Keep in mind that there are some situations where it would actually be better to Dthrow instead of F/Bthrowing to set up for an edgeguard, simply b/c Dthrow can get you a guaranteed followup/kill.
Bthrow
Really nice for setting up edgeguards.
SHFFL
Sheik's Short Hop is really high, making her SHFFL subpar. However, her aerials are so strong that this is not too much of a drawback. In addition, her fast and powerful tilt attacks make her air -> ground game extremely fluid.
Her jumpsquat is 3 frames, which does make her SH a little difficult to perform.
Boost Grab (Dash Attack Canceled Grab)
Sheik is one of the few characters with a useful boost grab. It makes things like Ftilt -> regrab really stupid. It's also great for punishing whiffed stuff or landings. I've heard that stickywalk boost grab is a sexy thing.
Note: This is still a dash grab, only longer. It's still laggier than a standing grab, so don't throw it out in neutral. You should only ever boost grab when you can confirm it.
*Another grab option to keep in mind is wavedash grab.
Ledgedash
Sheik has a very good ledgedash, with an ideal one granting 11 frames of grounded intangibility. This is plenty of time to get out any tilt, a Dsmash, or a Dash Attack. You can also get out a Usmash or Fsmash with only a frame or two of vulnerability. Almost her entire grounded moveset is available to her intangibly.
Just make sure to mixup your ledge options. Also make sure to take advantage of the fear you can create by Shino stalling, since you're opp will not know when you will ledgedash. If your opponent picks up that you're ledgedashing every time, they can easily space around it.
Note: The maximum Grounded Actionable Ledge Intangibility (GALInt) is attained by ledgedashing immediately after the lowest possible Shino Stall.
Sheik's jab is in the fastest jab class, coming out frame 2 and having only 13 frames endlag. It's a nice launcher for comboing.
The "lloD" combo is Jab -> Ftilt, as long as they can't CC it.
It's also good for Jab Resetting until around 40% on most characters.
Jab -> Grab is a really great combo. To jab grab, you can hold shield after the first jab and mash a shield grab to prevent the second jab. You could also crouch after the Jab.
Fun Fact: Sheik's first jab will hone in on your opponent if they are a lil above or below you.
Rapid Jab
Jab combo ends in an infinite. It can't be crouch canceled, but it can be SDI'd out of.
Dash Attack
A good launcher. An integral part of her combo and tech-chasing game. Combos into itself, except on spacies with DI away (which leads to a tech chase).
Watch out for CC at low percents, but be ready for knockdown on CC'ers at higher percents.
Utilt
A 2-hit combo with very low endlag. Covers DI-in out of Ftilt or Dthrow. Also a decent anti-air. Combos nicely into aerials.
Ftilt -> Dash Attack -> Uair -> Utilt -> Dash Attack -> Fair
Ftilt
Part of the core of Sheik's combo game. Leads to anything you want (especially itself). Has some good disjoint. Covers a lot of space in neutral. This move is like a pocket Dthrow in terms of followups.
On many characters (ex, Marth), Dthrow -> Ftilt is guaranteed at low percents (pivot Ftilt for DI behind). If they don't DI the first Ftilt, you can get another one. You can also mix in some regrabs depending on DI, but they aren't always guaranteed.
Dtilt
A good launcher with a little bit of low disjoint. This move is like a pocket Ftilt. Particularly good against Fairing Marths.
Note that it's not safe on shield.
Ftilt -> Fair -> Dtilt -> Fair -> Fair (also note the supa gut wavedash OoS)
Usmash
Has a sweetspot at the tip of her fingers before she swipes downwards. You can get the tipper if your opp is on PS/YS side platforms.
An excellent OoS option. Also good for covering tech options. Make sure you can do a sliding Usmash by sliding the control stuck up and hitting A while dashing.
The "Dynasty" Combo is comboing into the sweetspot like a beast.
Fsmash
The only one of Sheik's moves that doesn't fit perfectly with her moveset. It's not completely useless, but it is very situational.
Dsmash
The breakdance is supa fast. Works great out of a crouch cancel. A lot of Sheik's will do a wakeup Dsmash. Also great for edgeguarding due to it's nasty angle. Can be used for tech chasing.
Watch out for wavedash OoS if they shield it.
Note: the first hit only hits in front of her.
Nair
Sheik's sex kick is supa good. It's fast and huge and strong.
SHFFL Nair OoS is one of her best tools. It snuffs spacie pressure and can hard punish a lot of things on shield. Full hop Nair OoS is a good mixup against spacies.
Another difficult but essential option is powershield -> SH Nair. This stuffs and bodybags enemy approaches.
Invincible Nairs from the ledge are great for edgeguarding.
Late Nairs are really good. They're nice on shield, and near the edge can push your opponent off the edge and allow you to catch them with a Dsmash if you're fast enuff.
Uair
This is a powerful KO move. In the PAL version, it was nerfed to be more of a combo move.
KK said somewhere that this move is best when saved for kills, but it can also combo into itself against fastfallers, or be used as a good GTFO move.
Dthrow -> Uair kills floaties at reasonable percents (80-100), with Fair covering DI mixups.
Fair
An integral part of Sheik's game. It sets up edgeguards and can kill off the side. It is really great for creating positional advantage.
This is the go-to finisher for most of Sheik's combos.
It has some nice disjoint in front of it. You can make the angle it sends at even nastier by landing it later.
The reverse Fair is when it sends your opponent behind you if the hitbox hits the side of them that would be in front of you.
It can easily be auto canceled.
You can do a late Nair after an instant SH Fair.
On that note, late Fairs are really hard for opponents to deal with.
Dair
This is an excellent launcher, but its hitbox placement is not as great as her other aerials. In addition, it's slower and has a lot more landing lag than her other aerials. Ledge cancel it for flair and access. The angle it sends at is just so swag tho.
Tech Chase -> Dash Attack -> Dash Attack -> Dair -> Dair -> Usmash
Bair
This is my favorite of Sheik's moves. The sweetspot is at the heel of her back foot. The back foot will kill or edgeguard, but the front leg is the most elegant part of her moveset. The front foot combos in the most swag ways possible. This is the reason to keep playing Sheik after you get SMSD (Sheik-Main Stress Disorder) from ppl complaining about how gay she is.
Invincible or even just dropped Bairs from the ledge are great for edgeguarding. Wavelanding off platforms into this is great for covering space.
Getting it out instantly after jumpsquat is great b/c then the sweetspot is still low enough to really wreck your opp.
Dash Attack -> Usmash -> Ftilt -> Uair -> 2x Ftilt -> reverse Bair -> Ftilt -> reverse Bair -> Fair
Needles
A good projectile. Can't be crouch canceled b/c it sends at a downwards angle. Can jab reset just like her jab. Full salvos of needles can cover a lot of space. Also, the crouching animation of using needles can dodge higher SHlasers from Falco.
Needle Canceling is shooting some needles after the apex of your jump and below your full jump height, which induces only normal landing lag (similar to SH-Lasers). This allows combos like FH or SH Needles -> grab, etc. It's also great for edgeguarding.
Reverse Needle Canceling (RNC, for clarity I call it Needle Storing) is using the fact that storing needles only takes 15 frames. This can be combined with a B-turnaround to mixup your aerial approaches. When edgeguarding, you can jump out, RNC, then either Bair or grab ledge.
Runoff RNC Ledgegrab is a swanky way of edgehogging. Supa fast, supa hard.
Note: some needles will travel at a slightly different angle from usual, allowing full batches of needles to have a chance of hitting a crouching Puff, etc.
See here for info on shield stun, hitlag, and port priority for SH Needles -> grab.
See here for some fancy platform stuff.
Vanish
Sheik's recovery is bad b/c it is punishable. All your opponent has to is grab ledge, get up to avoid the explosion, and then punish the horrible landing lag.
You'll want to try to get close enough to air dodge on stage, or ledge cancel the UpB.
Note: Vanish always sweetspots if you're coming from above.
Note: If you UpB high enough, you can fall through the air and hit the ground without the superbad landing lag.
Double Explosion: If you use vanish in the air and then impact with the ground before the explosion happens, you will get 2 explosions (aerial and grounded), which can catch somebody who flubs the edgeguard.
Vanish can be shortened and turned around, but you can avoid having to sometimes by angling the initial boost so that the explosion-teleport goes straight to the ledge.
Shino Stalling is regaining ledge intangibility by supplementing it with the built-in intangibility from Vanish. Unlike most other ledgestalls (spacies, etc), you don't have to be frame perfect b/c of the built-in intangibility. Just watch out for an edgehogger. Also, a ledgedash done after the lowest possible Shino Stall will grant extra grounded intangibility due to your ECB's shape from that position.
While Vanish stalling is a powerful tool, it is better to maintain control of center stage by using her powerful movement. It's best purpose is to create in your opponent a fear of the ledgedash.
Chain
The chain is not very good, but it's a good taunt. The only time it's ever almost useful is against a character without a projectile, or for edgeguarding fastfallers.
Transform
Zelda's Teleport is longer than Vanish, but not any better (since it doesn't slow your descent, and is just as punishable). Since it slows your descent, Transform can be useful when recovering from up high to stall out your opponent's edgeguard (make sure to DI all the way up if you want to do this, and it's best on DL). Just make sure not to get caught as Zelda. You are intangible for some frames of the transformation, so there's probably a really obscure situation where that might be useful.
Note: Transforming takes away your platform intangibility, which is why it's bad to die as Zelda.
Uthrow
Not a very good throw, except as a DI mixup and only to trap your opponent on a platform. It does chaingrab spacies at like 150% tho.
Fthrow
The only reason to use this is to set up an edgeguard, which it's pretty good at.
Dthrow
This throw is broken. You can always followup, or at least have positional advantage, when you use this against any character. It chaingrabs half the cast (see the ssbwiki article linked in the title for which chars it works on). It leads to Uair against Floaties at high percents. It leads to tech chases against Fast Fallers. It leads to Ftilt/Utilt depending on DI at lower %'s against almost anyone, and leads to Fair on most characters at higher %'s. Keep in mind pivot Ftilt is an option out of Dthrow.
Keep in mind that there are some situations where it would actually be better to Dthrow instead of F/Bthrowing to set up for an edgeguard, simply b/c Dthrow can get you a guaranteed followup/kill.
Bthrow
Really nice for setting up edgeguards.
SHFFL
Sheik's Short Hop is really high, making her SHFFL subpar. However, her aerials are so strong that this is not too much of a drawback. In addition, her fast and powerful tilt attacks make her air -> ground game extremely fluid.
Her jumpsquat is 3 frames, which does make her SH a little difficult to perform.
Boost Grab (Dash Attack Canceled Grab)
Sheik is one of the few characters with a useful boost grab. It makes things like Ftilt -> regrab really stupid. It's also great for punishing whiffed stuff or landings. I've heard that stickywalk boost grab is a sexy thing.
Note: This is still a dash grab, only longer. It's still laggier than a standing grab, so don't throw it out in neutral. You should only ever boost grab when you can confirm it.
*Another grab option to keep in mind is wavedash grab.
Ledgedash
Sheik has a very good ledgedash, with an ideal one granting 11 frames of grounded intangibility. This is plenty of time to get out any tilt, a Dsmash, or a Dash Attack. You can also get out a Usmash or Fsmash with only a frame or two of vulnerability. Almost her entire grounded moveset is available to her intangibly.
Just make sure to mixup your ledge options. Also make sure to take advantage of the fear you can create by Shino stalling, since you're opp will not know when you will ledgedash. If your opponent picks up that you're ledgedashing every time, they can easily space around it.
Note: The maximum Grounded Actionable Ledge Intangibility (GALInt) is attained by ledgedashing immediately after the lowest possible Shino Stall.
Movement Options:
Grabbing the ledge
I believe this is an important movement option for the following reasons:
1. Sheik's grounded actionable ledge intangibility is above average, and complements her grounded moveset really well.
2. Her aerials are all really good when done intangibly from the ledge.
3. It is very safe for Sheik to be on the ledge due to Shino Stalling.
You should be extremely comfortable wavedashing to the ledge. Also make sure to fastfall to the ledge right before you slide off it.
See here for an analysis of the fastest ways to grab the ledge from a distance.
As important as being able to abuse the ledge is knowing when to go there and when to maintain stage control.
Wavedash
Sheik's wavedash is short due to her sorta high traction, but quick due to her 3 frame jumpsquat. It is good for precise spacing and positioning. Her wavedash OoS is pretty important in many matchups. BTW, WD OoS (3 frames jumpsquat + 10 frames landing lag) is always faster than just letting go of your shield (16 frames of lag).
Dash Wavedash: by dashing before starting your wavedash, you move during the jumpsquat frames instead of wasting them.
Dashdance
Shiek has a short but quick dashdance that is tricky to apply.
Foxtrot
Even though her run is really fast, you may want to try her foxtrot for more mobility.
Run Canceling
B/c her initial dash is so short, Sheik can run cancel back and forth across platforms. This technique works b/c the teeter animation cancels your run.
Another form of run canceling that works without an edge is by crouching. This is actually more useful to Sheik than pivots, since her initial dash is so short.
Utilt -> Dthrow -> Usmash -> Ftilt -> Usmash -> Dtilt -> Usmash -> reverse Bair -> Fair
Walljump
Sheik can wall jump to boost her recovery on certain stages. This allows a lot of desperately needed recovery mixups such as Wall Jump -> air dodge/UpB/aerial/etc.
A Note on Option Coverage:
I'm quite sure that if you're frame perfect, when tech chasing on platforms, you can Fair tech in place and still Dash Attack tech rolling to the other side of the platform.
Matchups
I'm not going to bother with listing who beats who in ea MU, since I'm only doing top tier MUs, and they're all approximately close to even. Spaced Ftilt + Chaingrabs + Auto-Combos should kill any low-tier.
More important than knowing who wins on paper is how to win IRL.
KK has several MU guides that are guaranteed to be better than mine: here and here.
Spacies
For neutral, you need to control center stage and fish for a grab -> tech chase. You don't want to be in your shield a lot, coz you gotta respect their perfect shield pressure. You'll want to avoid getting hit by using your mobility.
Fox:
He can crouch cancel until 40%, so until then you need to get a grab. You can tech chase on reaction for as long as you don't mess up. After 40%, you need to hit them and followup into their death. If they DI the Dthrow, wavedash/walk towards them and space around tech-in-place shine, although if you do it right you can grab tech in place. You should be able to Boost grab techrolls on reaction. Sheik's Jab reset is really good (inescapable till ~40%) if they miss the tech. If you're by the edge, you can mixup techchasing with an early gimp by throwing them offstage. Just make sure to mix that up.
Uthrow -> Uair is a pain. DI behind Fox and then SDI back towards where he has to run from. DI'ing behind makes it hard for him coz he has to Dash back before jumping.
Falco:
He CC's you till 80%. His tech roll is a lot longer and faster than Fox's, so it's harder to react to, but still possible. His Lasers suck. You can learn to powershield by timing your shield inputs based on his SH patterns. M2K also does sneaky stuff with ducking high SH-Lasers with the Needle Charge animation.
Note that you can't CC Dair.
Ditto
The neutral in Sheik dittos should be to bait stuff out and punish with a grab. You can chain grab, or just follow up with tilts, etc. Fairs/etc can be beaten with Dtilt/Dsmash, but those can be dealt with by Dair. Be aware of the CC game on both sides, coz that'll be the basis of footsies in the matchup.
You should know how to edgeguard Sheik b/c that's how everyone else edgeguards you. Grab ledge to force her to UpB onto stage, getup to avoid the explosion, then punish the landing lag. Needles are great against her coz her air game is much slower than her ground game. Take advantage of the startup vulnerability of Vanish.
Marth
Use your mobility to evade his sword swipes. Abuse the fact that Marth has zero lingering hitboxes, which lets you safely boost grab many of his spacing attempts.
Focus on controlling center stage. You can threaten his approaches with fullhop -> rising needle charge, but you will want to stay below him as much as possible since all of his coverage is above him. Always go for grabs if you land needles. Once you get the grab, Dthrow, and Utilt or Dash Attack if he DI's away. You'll have to pivot anything for DI behind. If they never DI anything, just Ftilt at low percents. Without DI'ing away, you don't have to read what he does (bait out the Fair if he goes for it, regrab if he shields), so you can Ftilt again or Fair. At higher percents, you get a guaranteed aerial followup (dash before jumping if he DI's away), which you can mixup from among your aerials. You also have Usmash.
You can mixup calling his approaches with spaced Fairs in addition to fullhop needles.
If you space it right, CC Dtilt will beat his Fair. You could also CC -> Boost grab if you don't space it right.
When recovering, watch out, coz a good Marth player will know when you're vulnerable on your UpB and swipe you before you're intangible with Dtilt or Dair.
A perfect (i..e. latest) needle grab on shield gives just enuff time for Marth to shield grab on the same frame as yours, resulting in a port priority issue (see here).
See here for info on jumping out of Marth's Uthrow -> Utilt/Uair.
M2K has said about edgeguarding marth: grab the ledge late to force him to upB on stage, then either: 1) roll immediately then punish with a ground move or 2) stay on the ledge and punish with an aerial, etc.
Puff
Almost everything Shiek has against any other character doesn't apply in this MU.
For neutral, needle her as much as possible. Some needles travel at a lower angle than others, so a full salvo of needles can catch her a lil bit when she's crouching.
Dash attack and grab can be CC -> rested, so you can't rely on them. Shield a lot and use good OoS options (Nair/WD/etc). Your Bair has good coverage against Puff. Kill with Uair via Dtilt or Dthrow. Expect them to tech on platforms when possible and punish accordingly. You can mix up the Uair with Fair.
Watch out for Utilt/Dthrow -> rest, and always make sure to DI down/away in front of Puff.
If you get rested, DI down so you don't get Star KO'd, so you can punish. If she flubs a rest, charge up you're needles, then charge Usmash or Dthrow -> Uair are probly your best punishes.
Peach
- Even though M2K's only dropped game the first time he beat Armada was when he used Sheik game 1, he does the MU well
- Drunk Shroomed still does the MU well (games 2-3)
SH Fair is good for covering the weakspot in Peach's zonage. Dthrow -> Ftilt is usually a thing, but watch out for following that with Fair, coz you may need to bait out her Nair before punishing. Patient Bairs can punish her Dsmashes on platforms. As always, don't CC her Dsmash, but a good Peach knows not to rely on it as a go-to punish, so you may be able to sneak in some CC's if you can read that she's not going for Dsmash. Both chars' Dsmashes come out frame 5, FYI. You can also tech her Dsmash if you can get off the ground before getting hit. If she Dsmash's your shield, wavedash OoS can get you a grab unless she lands more hits than usual with it.
Trades are gonna get really annoying. You can't let them get to you. You just need to make sure you retain your positioning.
Edgeguarding is a headache, but with good footsies and mixups you can sometimes catch her slipping. Mixing up RNC -> Bair/Edgegrab can be used to bait out mistakes. The hitbox of her umbrella is really weird (there's a big hitbox attached to the middle of the handle).
Dthrow -> Uair kills around 80-100%, take into account she may tech on a platform, Fair works as a DI mixup.
See here for info on grabbing turnips.
Your weight makes you nasty combo food for her DJC shenanigans.
If she grabs the ledge to force you to UpB onto the stage and then hits you with the first hit of her Dsmash (which will send you back off stage), you can CC the first hit to force the second hit of it, which will send you back into center stage.
She'll probly wanna counterpick dreamland. If she grabs ledge, you can recover onto the high platform and she'll struggle to punish you coz of her slow double jump.
Falcon
While Falcon has a faster air game, your ground game is still fast enough to keep up with him. Your toolset is better than his in neutral. You need to control space by understanding how to use your tools to eliminate his options.
Get a grab and tech chase on reaction. His tech roll is easy to read.
Setup an edgeguard and cackle coz his recovery sucks. You can easily just wait for the UpB and Bair, or go for a Fair if you're fancy and can space it. He may try to sweetspot his 2nd jump if you let him, or he'll try to get close enough to airdodge on stage. I'm pretty sure it's impossible for him to sweetspot his UpB (maybe if he reverses it? I dunno), so just Dsmash him if he UpB's to the edge. Needles can also murder him.
If you notice them SDI'ing out of your jab resets or buffer rolling, double jab to catch them.
Falcon can punish your Dtilt and Dash attack with his Dair if he spaces well. You're also combo food for him. He has Stomp/Dthrow/Uthrow -> knee (I'll update eventually with percents/DI info).
Stages
The various advantages that stages offer different characters usually makes it hard to tell which characters have clear advantages in given matchups. Here, I will lay out facts about each stage. You should really just counterpick whichever ones you feel most comfortable with, but it is nice to know exactly what kinds of shenanigans will be the consequences of your decision.
Stages Guide: here (by me, teehee).
-Fountain of Dreams (FoD)
It is generally agreed that Sheik is really good on FoD.
The close walls allow her to get early Fair kills, while the high ceiling lets her survive longer in the Fox matchup.
Since she is not a SHFFL oriented character, the changing platform heights don't bother her as much as they would Falcon. In fact, she is capable of manipulating them for her combos.
Wall jumping can be added to her recovery on this stage.
When fighting a Marth on this stage, you can UpB onto the platforms when they are high to avoid getting tippered. Just watch out for the times when there are no sideplatforms, where Marth can easily cover all recover options.
-Yoshi's Story (YS)
I really like this stage for Sheik.
It is stupidly easy to tech chase spacies on this stage. From most positions on stage, you can easily cover all options by immediately wavedashing towards center stage right after the Dthrow. The close edges will keep them from teching too far away in either direction, and you can catch that with a boost grab.
Her ledgedash covers almost half the stage with intangible tilts.
In addition, her Usmash can tipper an opponent on one of the side platforms.
Wall jumping can be added to her recovery on this stage.
-Dreamland (DL)
This stage is big enough that Sheik can easily Needle Camp character without projectiles. This is also a viable strategy against spacies, even though they have projectiles too. Sheik has the mobility to match Fox's speed. And she needs them to be above 50% before she can safely combo them out of neutral.
This is a good counterpick against Marth b/c he cannot tipper you on the side platforms. Though he does have room to dash dance around you, you also have room to needles camp him.
Wall jumping can be added to her recovery on this stage.
This is a good stage to integrate Transform into your recovery. By DI'ing all the way up, you have plenty of time to transform into zelda and then back into sheik.
-Battlefield (BF)
This stage is considered the most balanced b/c most characters are comfortable here. I've heard that some ppl don't like fighting against Sheik's here as Marth or Falcon, but really it's just personal preference.
When fighting a Marth on this stage, don't UpB onto the platforms, b/c he can tipper Fsmash you from the ground.
-Final Destination (FD)
There's not much to be said for Sheik on this stage.
She can easily needle camp characters without projectiles.
Wall jumping can be added to her recovery on this stage, though it is not as accessible as it is on other stages.
-Pokemon Stadium (PS)
There's not much to be said for Sheik on this stage.
Her Usmash can tipper an opponent on one of the neutral transformation platforms.
She can Shino Stall on the wall during the mountain transformation.
You can try Jab infinite'ing someone against the walls in the mountain and fire transformations, but they should be able to SDI out of it. You can also use wall jumps in your combos on those transformations.
Tech Chasing
I liked this tech chasing guide a lot, especially where it mentioned reacting to the screen position to figure out if it's a tech roll or not. Also, check this out.
This is how I tech chase spacies:
If they DI all the way in or out, I wavedash towards them trying to space outside of shine range while still within my grab range.
If there's a green flash, it's a missed tech so I jab reset.
If they do the splits, it's a tech in place so I regrab. Depending on their habits, I might bait out a wakeup shine and dashdance grab.
If they're legs are together, it's a tech roll, and I dashdance into a reaction boost grab.
I mix things up with Usmash/Dsmash/Utilt/etc.
Once you get a spacie to like 50%, just dash attack -> sick combo -> KO.
You can extend your tech chase onto platforms with wavelanded grabs, as a mixup for following up with aerial reads on their platform techs.
Part 1 (tech chase, followup, and edgeguard setup):
tech chase before the infamous 'THIS IS WHY I like Mew2King' Dair/Dair/Usmash combo vs eggm
Edgeguarding
Watch this in your spare time.
Sheik's Bthrow is really good for setting up edgeguards, and her moveset gives her just the right tools to follow it through. Fthrow is also an option if that's how you're facing.
You can SH Bair, or you can wavedash off the ledge into a rising Bair, or you could grab the ledge and send out an intangible Bair.
Due to needles' downwards sending trajectory, they are some of the most deadly edgeguarding tools in the game. And on top of that, you have the coverage of both standing and aerial needles.
A lot of times, you can get a guaranteed followup out of a Dthrow. However, if you are good at picking up your opponent's patterns, you can include setting up an edgeguard as a mixup with your normal comboing. You must be able to pick up on things like whether your opponent likes to recover high or go to the ledge, which of their recovery options they prefer, and most importantly, which of your own tools covers their options the best.
Follow the Fox down:
Miscellaneous Data
Sheik - Tech Skill Trial Video is a good training regimen.
Check out my Mew2King video thread for examples of great Sheik play.
OoS Options
Nair OoS: Supa strong, supa fast.
Usmash OoS: Her Usmash isn't as fast as the spacies', but it's got nice hitboxes.
Wavedash OoS: Just letting go of shield takes 15 frames. WD'ing has 10 frames landing lag. Never just let go of shield. Always WD OoS if you want to get out of shield into neutral.
Edgehogging
http://smashboards.com/posts/17171803
Fairing does not help your recovery
http://smashboards.com/threads/ummm-how-do-you-recover.191704/#post-5270391
This video is what I believe to be responsible for spreading this myth. It's a very good video guide, except for that minor bit of misinfo.
However,
Techchasing Falcon
http://smashboards.com/threads/is-there-a-way-out-of-sheiks-tech-chase.190936/#post-5258166
"Priority"
There are a lot of misconceptions about priority. True priority only ever applies when 2 actions happen at the same time, and the rules of priority determine the outcome. The two most common instances of this are when 2 hitboxes collide or when 2 characters try to grab each other at the same time. The former depends on damage and hitbox properties, while the latter depends on controller port.
A lot of people assume that certain moves flat-out beat others, and they like to call it "priority". The real word for it is bad spacing. But it is true that some moves have better hitbox placement, making them easier to land against others (ex, the placement of the hitboxes in Falcon's Nair makes it very easy for Sheik to hit him during his vulnerability with almost any of her aerials). An important thing to note is that even if your opponent's character has moves with better hitbox placement, you can almost always still outspace them - it'll just be really hard.
CC Grab
If you hit Z while crouching, you'll do a Dtilt. To grab out of a CC, you can just JC grab.
Todo: integrate this.
Photo credit to: http://lakengubben.deviantart.com/art/Mortal-Kombat-Sheik-385433893
Sheik's cameo in 12 Monkeys:
