Help with projectile zoning (Amateur)

[NonSequtur]

So I've rather recently begun playing melee regularly with my friends and I've noticed an issue. When the opponent has a fast, near-invisible or explosive projectile I often get camped out. They'll stay on one side of the stage and fire/throw until I get close enough, either by shielding my way through or jumping over, then they'll roll or, if possible, run to the other side. This seems to be the biggest issue with Sheik or Falco, though (Young) Link's bombs are also irritating, because they'll explode in your face anyway.

Any suggestions, either match up specific or general would be appreciated. I can't perfect shield, and while I'm not unwilling to practice (I do want to improve as much as possible) something that I could put into practice more immediately would be preferable.

 

[xCardiac]

Just shield and use a wavedash out of shield to get closer. That's one thing you can do. Use Spot dodges, air dodges, and jumps. Jumps are good for sheiks needles, cuz if they're fired in the air, they go at a downward angle. Sorry, I'm at work just trying to post quick. Hope I've helped!

tl;dr: powershield

 

[Syrup on da sid]

Jumps are a good way to avoid some of the damage, using your shield is always good, if you find them rolling away you should look to set yourself up in a position to catch them with a grab at the spot they roll to. A roll has a bit of lag before the player can do something again on most characters so it is at that time that you need to grab them which can set you up for some combos. Hope it helped!

 

[Elyssa Xey Hexen]

So I've rather recently begun playing melee regularly with my friends and I've noticed an issue. When the opponent has a fast, near-invisible or explosive projectile I often get camped out. They'll stay on one side of the stage and fire/throw until I get close enough, either by shielding my way through or jumping over, then they'll roll or, if possible, run to the other side. This seems to be the biggest issue with Sheik or Falco, though (Young) Link's bombs are also irritating, because they'll explode in your face anyway.

Any suggestions, either match up specific or general would be appreciated. I can't perfect shield, and while I'm not unwilling to practice (I do want to improve as much as possible) something that I could put into practice more immediately would be preferable.

I believe you should ideally be paying attention to your opponent. So, say Falcon is on the other side of the stage and leaps directly at you. It should be within your ability with enough practice to see this movement and time some sort of counterattack like shield, moving out of the way, or swinging your sword. It takes time for characters to leap at you and you can make a decision and carry it out in time. Its difficult on faster characters, but the idea carries very much over to projectiles in my opinion. For characters like Pikachu, the projectiles are very slow and the angles are very predictable. Simply take your time to judge there position, yourself, and the projectile and come up with a good solution.

On faster situations such as lasers it much more challenging because you have less time, but as you keep playing you'll recognize prior situations and know the better actions too take from experience. In short, practice, practice, practice.

For Sheik, needles are just pesky from a grounded sheik. I hope you agree that Sheik throwing needles on the ground does not really accomplish much if you do not get hit by her other moves since she cannot connect a needle directly into another attack. So, by shielding a needle or simply getting from far away does not really mean much from her and not much concern. The only needles you want to worry about are those from the air which hit downwards from platforms since if you shield those she does get tight follow-up on your shield. Otherwise, Sheik's projectiles are fairly predictable and you really only need to worry about punishing any sort of push she makes on you.