- flat stages with less platforms, that way metaknight is forced to approach in a specific way ie at you from the air or at you from the ground, none of this through platforms junk. i suggest FD if they don't ban it, followed by Halberd, followed by SV, followed by PS1
- with proper shield tilting habits tornado is dangerous to use against sheik unless she's put in a bad shielding position, getting needles'd for 20% or getting straight up grabbed in tornado lag is annoying. mk can retreat with the tornado though...but once he floats away he's not really going to come back so just charge needles.
- speaking of needles: use them in this matchup. needle camp intelligently; make an effort to create pressure for the MK seeing as this is your basic option against him that's always guaranteed to do something good at mid-range or long-range. don't use it at short range. needles are always fun to throw at MKs when he's away from the stage because they put him in an awkward position where he has to waste a jump or two to recover the lost height OR he can just drop below. either way it's just kind of funny and a smart move to do anyways since it's a free 18%
- you must recover (!!) in MULTIPLE ways. if you're at a lower percent you can afford to get hit, so just keep mixing up your recoveries so that later on he's guessing. hell even at higher percents just make an effort to mix it up. MK can punish predictable recoveries in so many different ways -___- Also try not to recover from below that much, smart MKs will notice that once you cross a specific line your chain is no longer a very safe option if they go down there...
- i don't care that you think it's a kill move. when you get a grab, don't throw them. just release, dacus. it's a free 30% each time, +5% for pummels if he's at a higher percentage. the chances for a grab are so slim in this matchup that you will have a refreshed usmash EVERY time.
- ftilt. yeahhhhh his ftilt is kind of broken too, even moreso than yours. at lower percents just double ftilt -> aerial and stuff. if he makes dumb approaches just ftilt -> dsmash him or something. of course, lock when possible; though getting the usmash may be difficult?
- chain is something i have yet to test. i'll be recording against OS probably on sunday (and i'll most likely forget what I'm saying here -__-) so i'll get back to you guys on that. in general you're just going to have to be really careful about chain, he attacks faster than you retract so >___>;
- badly spaced bairs get you up B'd. don't space your bairs badly. alternative options for MK for badly spaced bairs are: at mid range, SH Fair, if he's feeling risky at mid range, uair, if you're really bad at spacing, nair. if you're at long range and spamming bairs at him you're doing it wrong, he can just dash shield under you unless he's in inital dash...but trying to space with his initial dash range in mind is just crazy because all of his aerial options + his grab are dumb good
- don't hesitate to go after MK if he starts recovering low...if it's an obvious loop then just kinda drop off and bair, most of the time you'll clash with the top of the loop and you'll get sent towards the stage while he goes away for a few moments. it's only 8% with bad knockback, your bair hits him for a good amount too right? with the rush if it's obvious that it's going to happen you're going to want to try and drop -> chain with some chain left to retract.
- if you have to throw...dthrow or something. use fthrows when you feel as though you've got a hang of their DI patterns or you just wanna try and throw them off. throws should be used to get a general sense of whether they know how to properly DI and stuff...if they know how to DI useless moves like Sheik's grab then I would say it's likely that they know how to DI the other stuff though this may be wrong. just don't try to throw offensively, instead just find time to charge needles.
- use zelda if you want. it doesn't make this any easier really because you lose the advantage but gain it in other areas. i'd stay with this ninja because she's fast and stuff not to mention needles =)
- jab cancelling or dtilt shield pressure might lead to some 623P shenanigans from MK, so just jab cancel to grab works. i dunno when you're ever going to pressure MK's shield so much that he forgets to grab though, sheik's shield pressure options are pretty piss poor against MK
- i dunno about using nair/utilt/jabs in this...i'm especially wary of nair since it's low priority is a pain. it's startup and nice damage when strong is pretty cool though, i'm just really not sure when to use it vs. MK, ever. maybe OOS? UTilt I'm not sure about either, the jab combo too. UTilt maybe when he's flying at you with the glide? someone test that.
- FAirrrrrrr....I dislike this aerial against people who have good range. I play against people who MAIN character with good range. therefore someone inform us about this.
- UAir is okay, just don't be surprised when dairs start coming your way.
- against the shuttle loop you'll want to hold towards the stage for an easy DI, sheik's light though so be sure to DI it right. when you're descending you're going to have to play a guessing game, which is unfortunate given metaknight's ridiculous options. with dsmash DI straight up, it's always sending you horizontal. screw dair, don't DI that move just get the **** away. fair tap DI out. uair just...try to get away >_> nair you should be getting hit with as a kill or punishment so play smart to avoid this, it's a single hitter so DI is not happening, really. i never observe the trajectory because most times when i get hit by a nair it's in a situation where once i get hit i'm fukked.
- when doing the getup most metaknights will either grab, dsmash, fsmash or dtilt/ftilt. getup -> shield will get rid of a lot of these options. just...try to keep them guessing so that you're not hit by any of these. meta****'s ledge traps + sheik's terribad options to escape out of ledge traps = ouch. don't do full ledge hop or ledge hop aerial btw, it's really stupid. ledge hop airdodges are also not that great. so either shield, roll, or getup -> dodge. get up to jab might push him back even in shield? i dunno, just don't ever full ledge hop or ledge hop air dodge or ledge hop aerial.
in general metaknight is dumb. just....don't try to do anything ******** and stick to the basics: needle camping, critical spacing with ftilts/critical decay with ftilts, and good shield/di habits. the only real "gimmick"/trick here is GR -> Usmash. Do it consistently so as to get the tipper; the later you do input it (though the window is small there's enough time where you hitting him will depend on when you input) the more of the "side" boxes you'll get. ideally you want the tipper or the double/triple hit though the multi-hits will be a problem if they're at low enough percents.
