Established Sheik players (Tristan, Light, <3, Scary, dmt... uhh... anyone else?) please summarize for me how you feel Sheik should be played. Include aerial/ground focus, needle/chain/Vanish/transform usage, and of course general playstyle.
Thanks.
I've always played sheik as a defensive character. I try to use my speed to intimidate punishable mistakes. Normally that punishment comes in the form of high damage combo strings instead of big knock back edge guard set ups.
My ground game...
Because of ftilts range and speed that is normally my primary spacing tool, in just about every match up you can pressure sheilds even from in front with ftilt and thats a big thing. While some preach don't use ftilt at low percents I'm a big supporter. while it isn't true ftilt grab works wonder on most of the cast because they simply don't have an answer fast enough. these include characters that can normally trade hit inturupt like snake and charizard. ftilt grab flat out beats the nade/rocksmash interrupts and allows you to continue to combo/string your of your throw.
It's at those ftilt ranges where I like to dash dance to try and force openings for needles dash attacks and tilts. I try to build a list of what they do when I do this through out the game and play off of it and dash dances and empty short hops are a big part of that.
its very rare that I'll just use jab on the ground without some other prior set up even though it is one of my favorite moves. Jab is primarily an interupt tool for me, so that means a high speed OOS punisher, a close range punisher after a successful side step etc.I also use it in place of dsmash in those get off me situations since it is much safer on sheild (when spaced well) and will hit more frequently because of its speed.
Dash attack and grab (boost grabs learn them) are huge. they are flat out too fast for humans to react to at 5 frames so they can be strong mix ups because of their over all range and speed. You can also use both to punish landing right before the hit the ground run in with these moves you will never fail. this is a huge part of air to ground combos. fair to grab bair to dash attack.
Utilt is primarily an anti air for me it beats pretty much everything after that a combo ender for ftilt. at low percents it sets up directly into grabs. don't forget this
Dacus is not a stand alone kill move like MKs dsmash or snakes utilt. PLEASE understand this. you can and will take huge damage for every dacus you do if it is read. its a very high risk move.characters like marth and MK will hit you out of it by acident half the time. It's primary use should be long range punishment and true set ups.
I'm not saying you won't get any kills/damage through random dacus. But against good players that can quickly adapt and change you won't get more that 1 or 2 dacus kills off in the SET.
dtilt is wack and pretty situational. ftilt is better in every way in most cases. you can use it as a low to ground anti are though with decent success.
dsmash save it for jab combos when ever possible. fsmash try it out it actually inst half bad in terms of kill power, properly set up it is very hard to DI out of. it can break shields wreck rolls. pretty high risk but it's good to know what the moves about you won't know until you actually use it. How many people write sheik off as a bad character just through their limited experinces right? Still I use it very very very very sparingly when I'm unsure of where my opponent will land and I don't have needles I op for this a lot of the time for example. On the edge where the frist hit can knock them off stage into the second.
My air game...
Um.. "stomp"? I've been a big fan of back air since day one. bair always hits the opponent opposite the direction you are facing and since her lower leg hit bair becomes a great cross up tool. you can very litterally attack sheilds from infront of a character and end up behind them because of the moves decent sheild stun and amazing "shield push". from there you can prsure sheild freely from behind with ftilt or jabs and link directly into combos if they mess anything up or try to sheild grab you. you can also go imediately into a grab or mix in smash attacks if you've expect spot dodges or rolls right off the bat.
On the other hand if you hit you get links rightinto ftilt at the lower percents which leads to big damage and follow ups on a lot of the cast.
Fair is ****. spaced fair is pretty much unpublishable but is very high reward set up into ftilt combos grabs and edge guards very well. it's also very fast and hits above and eventually below you, the below you part can be huge for you when you need a hit but can fast fall a nair.
NAIR~ nair is a little too hyped IMO but its a great move all around I normally save nair the whole game till we start hitting kill percents then poof jammer I bust it our around those unavoidable kill percents. you can jab into nair so that's big. you can also kill of stage pretty early with a fresh nair though because of it's huge cool down you can lose a lot of altitude for a risky attempt.
uair is crazy under hyped... well prob not. its definitely under used from what I see and hear though. uair is awesome it kills pretty low and
can be her lowest percent kill move. because of her amazing vertical movement speed and the speed of uair you can get a lot of uair kills if you try for them. watch out for getting hit out of your second jump though.
I've seen someone using dair SO~ well it is a 10ish frame aerial stall so you can stall out above a lot of ground based anti airs and stuff and punish them... I haven't had much luck with that.
overall her speed lets her flat out beat moves she would normally be able to out prioritize or bait and punish the few moves fast enough to be an aerial threat.
Um...
needles **** I've gone over this so much my love of needles hasn''t deminished a thread. pretty much unpublishable except at close ranges where you can be punished out of sheild with grabs and upBs.
Um.........
UpB is pretty hip recently I've been getting a lot of kills from it. it a grean answer to edge wake ups and attacks from the air, tornado, gulide attacks etc... I try to aim it so that I appear on the edge for minimal punishment right now.
Chain....
I've been forcing myself to use it... I'm shocked at how well it has been working for me. a way to punish edge wake ups for a lot of damage. I can see how with practice you can use it pretty effectively against a lot of the cast.
So yeah... basically when I play it's about safe pokes baiting openings with my speed and punishing those openings again with my speed. I do ocassionally do high risk stuff that puts myself in danager but that is normally bassed around my opponets reactions to other tests and stuff I've been doing the game.
