Sheik Critique?

[.Rance.]

Well, I've been switching around characters recently and decided I like sheik...so this is pretty much my first tourney experience with her and like my 2nd/3rd tourney overall. (I've been hosting tourneys with a friend, so I've joined a couple and played myself :D)

I could try and get away with TO johns and out of practice johns but here is my sheik, maybe you guys can help me out!

Ajj (fox) vs Rance (Shiek)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szmum-g0PWE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCtmXjn-IDQ

Big_r (fox/Falco) vs Rance (Shiek)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWMoqoGR-ts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwh9qfzQ3H0

 

[soap]

I guess I could help you out, these are the two people I practice against the most.

You just let Ajj hit you or your shield way too much. Ajj plays very straight-forward and aggressive. Move around more and use defensive spacing. Short hop backwards fair, wavedash back ftilt/grab, start walling bairs are a few good defensive options. Bottom line don't let him rush you down so easy, learn how to properly run away. Once you have that down good and you can stuff his approaches he will switch up the timing with dash dances and stuff but he will continue to be aggresive he is just looking for openings. I take his dash dances as openings to dash attack or boost grab him. Start out defensive and shift to offense when you see an opening.

You also gotta tech chase alot better and really punish your grabs/openings harder. Its something I suck at too. Just work on the standard regrab tech-chase to dash attack.

Big R kinda ***** you in similar fashion. You need either better movement to stop giving him your shield, or a smarter out of shield game. I prefer the former.

When i played him in bracket at that tourney I jumped around his lasers and needled alot using the platforms and back aired alot of approaches. He goes for platform laser tricks to catch you up on the platforms and trap you but I try to anticipate this and trap him up there with bairs. I squeaked out the W by hitting him alot and edgeguarding good, but things would be easier if I could tech chase good.

tl;dr Focus on movement first, any kind is good. Then focus on punishment.

 

[Spife]

I'm no expert (at all) but soap is right, you don't move enough. Your sheik looks like mine, and my sheiks acts like it does (defensive, not very active in combat, aerial based) cause of Link. Link can't play like sheik, he's to slow so I have to learn how to play a high tier.

th0rn helped remedy this by dash dancing, (it's hard for me to explain) but basically just dash dance to throw off their spacing then react to what they do. If fox throws out a nair, dash dance or wave shield away and then grab. Standing still lets him know where you are and where you can go, and I'll bet it's hard to have the reaction speed to get away. Besides, sheiks a high tier, you can move and do things to people, so take advantage of that haha.

This is what I saw from the first game. In turn, if he does the same thing to you, when you go for an aerial, he can just punish you, especially if you wiff it.

 

[Miggz]

You need to work on canceling your aerials more consistently. You were missing a good bit of cancels on your aerials, which plays a big role in your speed. So just practice your canceling and you'll be a lot faster. In my opinion, you react way to quickly. You seem to get a little excited and start using down smash a lot hoping you'll hit the Fox. You have to slow down and think about what you are doing, you know? Yes Sheik is fast but what good to all that speed if you dashing in without a plan? =P

Try running up to your opponent and put up your shield. This might cause your foe to spot dodge, which allows you a free grab. Every now and again approach with a empty short hop. This might make your foe put up their shield (because they may think you are going to SHFFL fair them) which also means a free grab for you. When you do grab a fast faller like Fox use your down throw and watch what they do next. If they miss their tech, put up your shield to anticipated a wake up attack. If they tech to the right, chase after them, grab repeat. This is just the tip of the iceberg. lol

Your overall edge game needs work to. Its good that you were attempting to sweetspot the edge. But the Fox player caught on to this and punished your predictability. So don't be afraid to land on the stage itself at times. When you get Fox off the stage you have to pay attention to where he is. If he falls below the stage, you can either throw needles/senbons at him, wave dash onto the edge and bair him when gets close, or even run off the level and fair. Downsmash isn't a very good edge guarding tool when your opponent can sweet spot. If Fox goes for a Side B, jab when he gets close, and rely on the above options I mentioned.

Just keep practicing/playing. Melee is all about experience. A lot of this stuff will become second nature to you. Give it time and never give up. At least you have good people to play, which will dramatically help your game play. XD

 

[.Rance.]

:D Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll be sure to start working on moving around and thinking instead of just pure reaction. Plus everything else mentioned

Also i think drephen made me too fond of the d smash and i thought it was the greatest move in the world hahaaa

 

[Miggz]

All the best, Rance.

Do keep us updated.

^^

 

[SPAWN]

Uh oh. Don't get too into dsmash. Only edgeguard with it if you KNOW you can pull it off almost always though you're going to want to go to the ledge and bair forever. Use it for finishing combos if you're near the edge. Or just, generally near the edge (when the fox/falco is closest to offstage). The reason being is because they can't really cc grab it. When in the middle/not near the edge(fox/falco closest to offstage), it sucks vs spacies at low damage because they can just cc the first hit and then run in and grab you... then you get 50 damage and are halfway to being dead.

I usually strike stadium, but I guess that's personal preference. FD vs Falco. If your tech chase game gets really good, you can get like 30-40 damage from a grab(0-death comes with being ridiculous aka Tope when he's on point, maybe KK, haven't really seen his techchase game). It's pretty tough but it's awesome when you get it.

Get better with dash attacking lol. You usually ended up using the weak one that doesn't send them into combos. Also, dash attacking past shield is amazing because if it hits them great, if not, you don't get punished ridiculously. I didn't watch all the matches, just 1 of each.