Her grabs still put in perfect spots for potential killmoves and some 50:50 still exists so..
Yeah I can see how doing downthrow and forcing your opponent to use up their jump still is a advantangeous position as Sheik can trap landings really well. Although not having a 50/50 confirm in the center of the stage might be a bigger nerf than you think.
It was not 3/4 of FD. The old range of Sheiks needles were 2/3 (66,6%) of FD. The new range is 52% of FD. They will still be annoying landings traps, because the range is not necessary for that, but it's a bit fairer.
Oh my mistake, almost. But still a 22% distance nerf of the original.
I think thats going to be more siginifcanct than you think but yeah you can landing trap them still but not from stupid distances. One thing about this distance nerf is that sheik wont be able to throw needles when your opponent throws and projectile and shield before their projectile reaches.
Thats just wrong. The nerf barely matters. And you use needles as a punish anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fjg2Ar9FBc&feature=youtu.be
This is the range at which needles barely misses greninja.
Is it.. wrong? Single needles max range is -35 on block, -28 OOS. Ok. You might not be punished for needling at this distance but if Greninja was one/two characters closer he would definitely get a punish on Sheik. A problem with the new needling range for her is that sheik cant throw needles at characters at max range all the time. The range where needles are safe on block and needles dont whiff has been reduced. Significantly. In 1.1.5, i'd guess that range i just described would be from greninja, to the sheik photo? Any closer and you could dash attack/dash grab. That range where your needles, safe on block and needles that dont whiff would have been the 1.1.5 range + the 22% nerf that the range of needles got. Furthermore even if at max range needles are safe on block, sheik has just lost a lot of stage control for throwing needles on shield and now is cornered.
Needles were designed to be annoying and force approaches anyways. It really isnt the great punish tool honestly unless you have a full stack of needles.
Needles are still very strong though. Zero uses needles in a way where its designed to bait out and fish out options which is still just as effective, he doesnt necessarily needle camp all the time but it's an option that has been nerfed pretty badly.
Fair is like -5 on block. Fair -> spotdodge or fair -> jab beats most punish options and thats only if the opponent reacts perfectly. This numbers get better if you autocancel fair perfectly. So in this scenario the range doesn't matter.
If you space fair then..the nerf almost doesn't matter. It's a really small one. It will rarely make a difference.
1.1.4
1.1.5
It's -5 on block assuming a perfect autocancel, which sheiks wont get all the time. You see zss' nairs get punished every so often which was +5 on block so it's not THAT safe as you think just on its frame data.
Maybe I am over-restimating the range nerf but sometimes the small range nerfs swing things in the opoonents favour. Who knows what moves now can beat out fair with the range reduction.
I think there is almost nothing in this game that is safe on powershield. But it's super hard to powershield sheiks fair because
1. of the low landing lag, She doesn't need to make use of her autocancel, she can vary the timing pretty well.
2. She has an insane autocancel. She can choose a lot of timings to hit you
3. The time between "getting hit by fair" and Sheik landing on the ground is shorter than the average reaction window. She can mix-up her fair with grabs very easily.
At the top level I see a lot of players like Dabuz/Nairo powershield fairs often and punish with tilts/jabs. Its definitely possible, all sheiks are human and can only vary their fair timing to a certain amount. Dabuz makes the powershield timing easier by crouching so Sheik has a smaller opening to vary the fair timing.
I call that Sheik is still the best character in the game, but much harder to use as a pocket character, which is a good thing!
Yeah, rip pocket bnb sheiks. I still think she is very strong but her reduced killing potential/worse neutral might mean she cant keep up with the jank of smash 4 that other top tiers have. Also her weight got reduced so she'll be more susceptible to early kills.
