I picked up Sheik last December and have gotten fairly good with
him her, so I'll try my best to describe how I feel and why.(Pardon if certain things I describe are obvious, I like to try and cover all my bases.) However I am not the best, so some info could be wrong. I'll try and keep things to what I've experienced.
Keep in mind that Zelda is my main, so I am trying my hardest to take Zelda's options into consideration. Also, apologies for it being so long. I just wanted to make sure that I covered everything I found important.
NEUTRAL GAME - Sheik is best when she right in her opponents face.
Let's start off with approaching. Zelda cannot use Din's when Sheik is on the stage; it is too easy for Sheik to just roll past it, rush up, and grab you before the moves ending lag is over. The only time I could see this ever being safe is if shes a significant distance from the stage. Even still, it's not a good idea to camp and launch fireballs at Sheik while she's on the other side of the stage, because she's either camping to charge her needles(which she can instantly shield or roll out of) or she's on her way to get you and she just rolls past it.
Phantom is unsafe, but then again, it usually tends to be. She can hop over it or roll past it. But chances are, it will just whiff because Sheik will be where you will mostily find her; right up next to her. Best option I believe is to wait until she arrives
cringes.
A lot of Sheik players will approach with a FAir, however it is dangerous for Zelda to just throw up her shield out of reaction whenever Sheik's close and in the air.Tomahawking is another option Sheik players will use if their FAir's begin to be met with Zelda's shield; they simply short hop and fast fall again, baiting the shield and allowing them to rush forward for the grab(more on her grabs later)
Another way they can approach is with a tech dubbed "
Wave Needle", and it does the video does a better job describing it then I could.
On to when Sheik is in comboing range.
At low percentages, her FTilts combos into itself and her other tilts, so be ready to watch yourself be pummeled quite a bit before you can do anything. FTilt also combos into FAir, so be mindful that you could be carried into the air in a split second if your not careful.
Her DTilt can also combo into her FAir, and into her UAir, but due to the lack of range I never usually spam it.
Overall, her FTilt is probablly the safest due to the lack of lag. Best way out of these would be to
spam Farore's grab oos, or Nayru's.
Her grabs are very dangerous, due to how many options Sheik can go with after tossing you. This is how a Sheik player can build up a lot of damage.
FThrow can combo into a couple of moves. At extremely low percent, her FThrow can actually combo into her Bouncing Fish(BF). Most of the time though, she'll combo into her FAir.
If a Sheik begins to notice you DI'ing away from her when she uses her FThrow, chances are she'll begin to utilize her DThrow more. This move not only makes it even tougher for players to DI away before she can land a FAir, but it also sets up for her UAir.
Now compared to Sheik's, Zelda's throws(especially BThrow) can kill at reasonable to high percentages. Sheik's can't kill even at 200%, and eventually her throws will launch you past comboing distance. This can cause someone at high percentage to simply shield when Sheik approaches; if they attack, the you block and punish. If she grabs, they know it won't kill and it won't lead to any attacks after that.
AIR GAME - Sheik is devastating in the air. Her FAir can combo into another FAir, allowing us to carry opponents off the stage with relative ease. Sometimes, at low percentages I'm actually able to get in four FAir's is the character is heavy enough.
If a Sheik begins to notice you DI'ing away from her when she uses her FThrow, chances are she'll begin to utilize her UThrow more. This move not only makes it even tougher for players to DI away before she can land a FAir, but it also sets up for her UAir, which is pretty heavy hitting and can actually kill at higher percentages.
I haven't been able to play against a whole lot of Zelda's, but I would still guess that
spam Farore's Nayru's and airdodging would be the best way out of these kinds of situations. Be warned that you tend to still be in striking distance for a BAir after an air-dodge. If Zelda dodges too often, Sheik could easily bait her.
OFF-STAGE/LEDGE GUARDING - This is where Sheik players can work a lot of magic, although it does depend on the stage. A Sheik player is most at home when the stage has walls that extend beneathe itself all the way to below offscreen. This is because Sheik can go ridiculously deep to gimp and not worry about SD'ing. I mean RIDICULOUSLY deep. Not only does she have her air jump and recovery, but she also has her wall-cling(which allows you to jump off the spot your clinging too) and she has a wall jump. Plus her Bouncing Fish allows her to rebound off of stages, allowing her to get even higher. That's right. Counting the recovery she has five jumps.
FIVE. I have practically fallen to the point where I am in the hour glass, gimped, and recovered without SD'ing. Seriously, she is a monster on these wall-stages.
Also it is worth noting that Sheik
CAN traverse under Final Destination type stages. I know of one way, and I've heard there is another. So yeah, be mindful of that.
Also Zelda would have to already have in mind what she would want to do once she grabs the stage, or else Sheik could use
one of her most hypest techs to kill you imo.
Sheik is well equipped to go after you when you are trying to recover; she just copies and pastes her air manuevers from above the stage to the bottom left/right of the screen. However Zelda's FW makes Sheik's job a bit tougher; it has a really long range and she can't hit you out of it when you are in mid-flight. Because of this, Zelda may be able to breathe just a bit easier than most other characters; simply airdodge and up up away!
It would be extremely tough for Zelda to ledge guard, especially if the stage is like the one aforementioned with the walls. You could try and D-Tilt when she reappears after using Vanish, but its tricky to get the timing right of when she reappears. Plus she has a few different ways of utilizing her BFish and grenades to punish you if your not careful
(she can even auto-cancel BFish when she lands onstage to get a grab on you if you aren't careful enough.)
KILL MOVES - Ah, one of the bane's of playing Sheik; landing the kill. Her speed and ability to rack up damage is balanced by the fact that she has only a few kill moves that are pretty tough to land sometimes. Sheik has to rely on you being at really high percentages if she wants to finish you off without gimping.
I believe I already expressed that UAir can kill at higher percentages. BAir also can at higher percentages, however it tends to be only when she hits you away from the stage when your at a far side or off the stage.
Her smashes can kill(obviously) however each of the smashes are multi-hit, and I have had a couple times where someone gets out of it before I could finish the move.
Also I would like to take a little section to make a warning about her USmash;
It's really dangerous. It consists of two hits; one is at the tip of her hands, and then the other is the rest of her hands and arms. The tip is the only move I know of that can kill at medium/fairly high percentages depending on the character, and it also goes through platforms. Plus she can slide into it, so be mindful of that.
Vanish is also dangerous; picture it as a shorter, reversed version of Brawl Farore's. When Sheik vanishes, it does damage and KB, and when she reappears, a windbox pushes people. The vanish is what makes this move dangerous; this kills earlier than most of the moves listed above, so be careful of your opponent getting the read on you.
Zelda definitely is more versatile here. Excluding her smashes, Zelda still can use all of her aerials(sans Neutral), Din's, Phantom, and of course, Farore's to kill from medium to high percent. When Sheik does get punished, it will hurt.
Also don't worry about comparing spikes; Sheik's DAir is her only spike and is suicidal. I rarely use it.
FINAL REMARKS AND MU OPINION VOTE - Sheik's ability to rush down and overwhelm Zelda is enormous. The only moves that suffer significant lag is all of Sheik's specials besides her Needles, whereas most of Zelda's moves has a fair amount of lag. This enables Sheik to play a fast offensive game that would force Zelda to be very defensive and precise, and can easily punish Zelda with a few combos if she messes up. Nayru's and Farore are good tools for dealing with Sheik in terms of combat and recovery. But Nayru's ending lag is significant enough for Sheik to punish if your baited. If both players had skill, it would be an uphill battle for Zelda.
75 - 25 Sheik's favor.
(Note: This just means that the only thing that can beat Zelda is...Zelda
)
but I agree that Nairo didn't get as much on Nietono. It went more like the MU usually would, I think. Also, who's to say Nairo wouldn't of won if he hadn't missed the recovery in that battle? (iirc he lost that battle in GF when he missed a ledge while they were both on their last stocks.)
