Sheik Guide on Kill Options

[Dadd?]

Sheik is a character you can't just pick up and play.
Her gameplay is extremely complex and you'll need to have a lot of focus and a lot of muscle memory and understanding of her game and your opponent's.
People have been talking all over about how terrible of a character Sheik is and how she can't kill until even the lightest of opponents are at extremely high percent. While her kill confirms have been nerfed heavily since Sm4sh, they're not nonexistent. And most of the time, Sheik doesn't need a kill confirm, just a quick read off the ledge.
In this thread I'll talk about some of the kill confirms and easy kills I've racked with Sheik consistently on low-level and high-level players alike.

Bouncing Fish
Sheik's down special (Bouncing Fish) has been a consistent kill off the stage since its debut in smash 4. It's a leaping move, similar to ZSS Flip Kick, that launches opponents horizontally with a relatively high knockback. The distance Sheik travels can be affected by your DI, and the timing of the kick can be changed when you press the special button again. Landing a bouncing fish on stage does good damage as a combo ender, but has very low kill power. However, landing a bouncing fish off stage can be incredibly lethal.
Bouncing Fish Confirms

• Forward throw on most characters from low to mid percents is a true combo. Once you reach high percents it becomes a 50/50 situation depending on your opponents DI, but the right read will net you a BF or an Up Air at the edge which will KO most opponents off the side or off the top.
• Most characters can get caught in the double fair off the stage, which leads into a BF at mid to high percent on most characters. The biggest problem most people have is timing the second fair to catch your opponent's double jump. If the double jump gets caught, most characters will be set up for a true BF and a KO at very early percents (Bowser @ 82%, Puff @ 61%)
• BF can also catch opponents off the ledge during almost every option. Starting closer to the stage @ 2/3, if you wait for the opponent's option, you can land a BF in all situations except for dropping from the ledge. This won't kill most characters until much higher percent (130+)
• One of my personal favorite BF edgeguards is the reverse BF into the stage. If you drop down with Sheik below the stage, most characters will choose to recover high to avoid getting gimped or killed. If the opponent chooses this option, I simply BF reverse into the stage, DI away from the stage, and hit them with the second, stronger hit of BF. This technique requires a little bit of practice, but can kill many characters as early as 90-100% if timed correctly.
• Finally, the classic set up. Needles. Getting an aerial needle hit, it will confirm into a true BF from mid to very high percents. Opponent's expect this edge guard and will try to avoid it, but some classic Sheik conditioning off the stage can net you some early kills by going really deep for this tactic

Tips:

• Hit the axe kick earlier to reduce landing lag.
• BF onto a platform or onto ledge for a get up/movement mix up.
• Delaying the axe kick off stage can land a deeper BF and net earlier kills.
• BF off the wall is a good recovery option, and snaps to ledge if DI'd in.

Up Smash
I love Sheik's up smash in ultimate. It comes out incredibly fast and the tipper hit box has been increased by so much. It has multiple confirms and can hit in some crazy situations. Up smash (grounded, tipper) kills bowser at 120%ish and Puff at 85%ish. I haven't labbed out the exact numbers yet but those are my estimates based off of what I've hit before. In Smash 4, up smash was a great option but without the tipper hitbox, it had a lot of difficulty killing. In Ultimate, the sour spot is still relatively powerful. It kills off the side at relatively high percents, but sets up for a lot of edgeguards before that. Of course the goal should always be to land the tipper as it will kill very early (compared to the sour spot and other kill options)
Up smash confirms

• Tipper down tilt still confirms into up smash at mid to high percents. It's not exactly true, but if you time it correctly, you should be able to land it pretty often.
• Forward tilt can actually set up a 50/50. Forward tilt into a tomahawk aerial usually will bait out a directional airdodge, which can be caught by landing with Sheik and dashing to do a sliding up smash. This works at mid to high percent, but won't usually kill.
• Reading your opponents airdodge will actually work pretty well most of the time. Sheik's fast and aggressive play style will find opponents being very scared of getting caught in another combo and getting carried to the blast zone. Reading the directional airdodge will usually lead into an up smash if you bait it out at the right height, but it's a super difficult read.
• One option I get more often than you might think is catching the ledge jump. Catching a ledge jump can kill fairly early, and most opponents won't read it at all. It's good for mixups.

Tips:

• On all the platforms (except Yoshi's Island and Kalos) Sheik's up smash is a great pressure tool. Tech chases and roll/spot dodge reads can lead to easy kills on platforms
• The sour spot can kill opponents around 130% on the edge of the stage
• Pivot cancel to slide the smash attack and give the tipper hitbox a better chance of hitting

Forward Smash
Sheik's fsmash in Ultimate is a double hitting, long range attack, with the first hit doing set knockback to combo into the second hit. It can kill relatively early near the ledge, but from mid stage it won't kill until very high percents. It's not always the easiest move to hit, but it can be very rewarding situationally. I like to use this move a lot, honestly way too much, I'm working on it. There's nothing very complicated about this so I'll talk about the confirms.
Forward smash confirms

• Sour spot nair on a grounded opponent will true combo into fsmash from mid to high percent. After around 130% it won't combo anymore, but will set up a tech chase.
• I think the most useful time to use this move is to catch ledge options. This move will catch every single get up option except for jump if you space it properly. It'll take some practice, but the right spacing will always catch all the grounded options and net early kills (110% on Bowser, 78% on Puff)
• Easy airdodge baits can lead into an easy fsmash. I love landing a dtilt (non tipper, if it's tipper I just dash into up smash) and short hopping to get them to airdodge, then just read it and fsmash them off the map

Tips:

• I'm a big fan of the run up fsmash. If you need to just sit there and stare at their shield for a little bit and then fsmash. People fall for it all the time. This also works with dash dancing, fox trotting, wavedashing/landing, and a tomahawk.
• Tomahawk fsmash is ridiculously good. No one reads it, and at the edge it kills super early.
• Jab lock confirms a true fsmash.
• I wouldn't recommend this option in the middle of the stage. Sheik can't kill from the middle like, well, most characters. But she's a monster at the edge.

Less Common Kill Options
Sheik has a couple more kill options, but the three main ones are listed above. These next options will still kill and still do have confirms, but they won't kill as early as consistently. These options will require harder reads, harder combos and/or are extremely situational or match up based. They're not necessarily bad options, in fact I like to use all of these options to keep my opponent from ever getting comfortable or getting easy reads. These are less common, so I won't be putting tips, only the confirms.

Down Smash
Down smash is a simple double sided move that will hit opponents that are lower to the ground. This move does not 2 frame. This move will launch opponents in a direction based off of where on Sheik's feet they are hit. I rarely use this move unless it's a confirm or a hard read because of its smaller hit box and high end lag.
Down smash confirms

• The easiest confirm for down smash is drag down up air. It's super easy and an incredibly fast confirm, you only need one hit of the up air. It's really just that simple.
• I love to use footstools as a confirm for down smash. Footstools are much more difficult in ultimate than they were in sm4sh and so people rarely reflexively tech and boom free down smash.

Up Air
Up air is a multihit move with a final hitbox that launches opponents upwards. It's a very basic move that doesn't really kill, but can be very useful for comboing opponents by dragging them down into another move such as ftilt or dsmash. This move does have confirms but won't kill off of any of them except for maybe one if you're lucky. The only way you kill with this move is either at extremely high percent or high up near the blast zone. It'll almost only work guaranteed on tri plat stages.
Up air confirms

• Forward tilt at high percents will confirm into up air, sometimes for a double jump up air to kill
• Tipper down tilt at very high percent will confirm into a rising up air

Tips:

• I really only use this move to kill on triplat stages. The top platform confirms kill super early
• I usually combo up air into itself by fast falling before the last hit and then jumping back into it
• This move will usually kill much easier using a rising up air (double jumping right before starting the attack)
• This move isn't a confirm for it, but will set up for a Vanish kill

Back Air
Back air is a very basic attack, Sheik basically just kicks her leg out behind her. Back air is made to be a combo move for extending or finishing basic Sheik combos, however, it is more powerful than fair and kills much earlier due to the launch angle. There are no confirms for this move to be a kill move--and I mean none, I've tried--but this move can kill opponents very early. My favorite tactic is to use wall camping (I will discuss this later in the guide) and then quickly jump to ledge, drop down, bair and then jump into bair. This will not only usually kill opponents with poor recoveries, but it combos or sets up a frame trap for opponents at high percent to get hit very close to the blast zone for a pretty easy early kill.
Tips:

• I like to jump before I back air opponents off stage. It allows a more horizontal recovery that can avoid opponents edgeguards much better.
• This move isn't a reliable kill option and should be used for mix ups and edgeguards

Neutral Air
Sheik's nair is a combo finisher or starter. It's not a great move. It does like 2% and almost no knockback. But what are moves that do no knockback good for? That's right: gimping. Sheik's nair is such a wild gimping tool I use it all the time. My friend plays Ganon and its one of the easiest gimps. I jump down to where he is off stage, wait for him to use his jump and immediately jump with a nair. It's a free kill every time at percents as low as 20%. It's ridiculous and not reliable, but it should be an option in your arsenal. Characters with poor horizontal recovery should be targeted the most (i.e. chrom, ike, marth/lucina, ganon, luigi, you get the point)

Down Air
Sheik's down air is super risky. It's one of the highest risk/reward moves in the whole game. If you land the spike hit box, and your opponent has more than like 50% you'll take their stock before you die. But if you miss the spike hitbox at the beginning of the move, you die first. If you miss the move, you die first. It's super disrespectful, and super difficult. I've tried and labbed it out but I haven't found any real confirms into this move at all. I actually found that if you hit an opponent with the spike hitbox while theyre on the stage, it can confirm into an up smash at high percents, but that's it.
Tips:

• I generally use this move right at the ledge. The move rises just a little bit to set up, so doing it right above the ledge won't hit opponents below the ledge trying to recover. It'll kill me too, but I would say it's pretty reliable
• Down throw at high percents generally leads into a pretty reliable down air spike. If the opponent expects it it's incredibly easy to DI out of but it's a great mix up
• Don't be afraid of the dair spike. It's usually super worth it, just be wise and make sure you're well practiced on how
• The down air can usually just trade with opponents rising hitboxes during recovery, and if it does, you get the spike and you survive. Pretty good right? Know the match up

Vanish
Sheik's main recovery tool, her up special, is called vanish. Sheik does a cool lookin' midair twist, and then spontaneously explodes and appears in a new place depending on your DI. This move will usually be used to recover, or for movement options, but this move is absolutely a viable kill option. In multiple situations, opponents from 100% and higher are very susceptible to quick death by exploding ninja. This option can be used on the ground for a very mildly stronger version, but can also be used as an edgeguard tool. The explosion launches the opponent up and toward the direction Sheik is moving horizontally, pretty powerfully actually.
Tips:

• Using this move to catch recovering opponents will allow Sheik to snap back to the ledge while either killing the opponent or setting up an easy edgeguard
• Using this move on the ground provides a very hard read for rolls or spot dodges and can kill pretty early
• I like using this move to catch approaching or falling aerials. There is a little bit of intangibility during the first part of the move and can be used as an alternative to shielding or dodging

Burst Grenade
Sheik's side special is a grenade set on a string. Sheik throws out the grenade (which has a small hitbox that does super low set knockback and almost no damage) and lets the string hold it out. She will let the string come out until the grenade hits the ground or she dies, unless you let go of the special button. Once you let go of the special button, Sheik will pull the string to pull the pin and the grenade will begin exploding. There is a brief windbox that hurts the opponent and then a strong explosion that launches opponents horizontally. This move is useful for two thing in my opinion: spacing and zoning opponents, and edgeguarding opponents that are far off stage. There are certain techs with using the grenade as an item (if Sheik gets hit before pulling the pin, the grenade falls as an item) but I've found it to be so rare and inconsistent that it's not worth practicing. The other useless tech is drag away edgeguards with the windbox, but I've found that its so difficult to land that it's not worth it.
Tips:

• I like using this move before snapping to the ledge. It provides free pressure so you can get off the edge without worrying about getting hit
• This move is great on stage by just sending the grenade off stage for an edgeguard because the grenade will keep going further before pulling the pin
• This move is also great for pressure. Other rush down characters like Sheik need to find their way through the maze of defensive hitboxes the opponent throws out, and not very many characters can do that as well as Sheik, so they might get hit by the grenade and die.

Final Tips
There is one more tactic I like to discuss with people. Sheik is one of the few characters who can wall cling. Wall clinging is the ability to stick to walls on the stage. This ability is super broken. Sheik simply needs to get the opponent off stage and then snap to ledge, drop down and wall cling. As soon as the opponent gets close to the ledge, jump and back air. Jump and nair. Bouncing fish off the wall. Vanish back to ledge and kill them. There are so many options for edgeguards from this extremely dominant position and it's a tactic I recommend using consistently and get very well practiced at.

Conclusion
Sheik is not a powerful character. If she was, she would be the best character in the game in my opinion. Because she isn't a powerful character, you might not consistently kill opponents at 100%. That's okay. Train in the neutral. With Sheik, small wins in neutral can net an easy 40% combo, or an easy edgeguard. Utilize all of these tools, break patterns, break habits, and mix it up. Sheik's game is wild and uncontrollable, let her kill options stay that way as well. Practice and lab out all of the kill options and get them down, and when you do, Sheik goes from E tier to A tier. She's an amazing character, don't let people tell you otherwise. They'll change their mind when they die at 20% to a nair gimp.
Keep on keeping on Sheik mains, and to anyone looking to pick her up, I put out a HUGE recommendation. One of the most fun characters to play in smash in my opinion. Try it out!

Postscript
This is my first guide, I've never even posted anything to Smash Boards before at all. In fact I've only looked at a couple posts ever. That means I probably made some mistakes or failed some common sense something or other. If you disagree with something I said, or have some corrections to improve the guide, please let me know! I love discussion and I would love to make this guide as perfect as possible. Just shoot me a message or respond in the thread!
My name is Levi and I've been playing smash competitively for a couple years now. Senior in high school, volleyball player, future doctor! Sheik main, and I pretty much pocket every other character, I need to choose a second character.
Thanks for your input! Please discuss in the thread! Love you all.

 

[Machii]

Super cool guide. Greatly appreciated.

My only feedback is not to undervalue any of the kill options provided. I reached Elite (not that it means much, if anything) KO'ing primarily with up air and up special.

In my experience, Bouncing Fish is very threatening; yet, most of it's confirmations can be escaped with DI. I use it mostly for conditioning and recovering.
Up Smash relies on your opponent putting them self in position to be hit. The hitbox on Up Smash is so narrow and small that it's incredibly difficult to land in general, let alone with the sweet spot.
The second hit of Forward Smash can be DI'd out of and leaves Shiek at a disadvantage on shield. I believe in Shiek, but this move is bad all around and should be avoided.

 

[Dadd?]

Super cool guide. Greatly appreciated.

My only feedback is not to undervalue any of the kill options provided. I reached Elite (not that it means much, if anything) KO'ing primarily with up air and up special.

In my experience, Bouncing Fish is very threatening; yet, most of it's confirmations can be escaped with DI. I use it mostly for conditioning and recovering.
Up Smash relies on your opponent putting them self in position to be hit. The hitbox on Up Smash is so narrow and small that it's incredibly difficult to land in general, let alone with the sweet spot.
The second hit of Forward Smash can be DI'd out of and leaves Sheik at a disadvantage on shield. I believe in Sheik, but this move is bad all around and should be avoided.

That's fair about my main kill options. They don't have to be everyone's main kill options. My biggest thing is mix it up. If you keep your opponent on their toes, they won't always be able to DI out of the fsmash and they'll forget every once in a while not to get set up for an up smash, and BF can be reliable but that's totally just my opinion. I'm super glad you have your own input and you've figured out your own ways to KO with her! I super appreciate the feedback too, thanks!
I don't wanna sound like I think you're wrong at all, though. Sheik's up air is a super good option, I just don't use it as often so I put it in the less common category.

 

[dragenn]

BF can be used for instant punishes from a distance. The arch hops over nearly every projectile since the arch upwards is instant, but the downward curve of the arch is the slower part. Just dont get caught whiffing the BF or youll be game for any punish. This also get in your opponents head. Shutting down whole moves from your opponent kits. You just have to rewire your brain to use BF punish instead of a dash. Even dash away - reverse BF. These are hard reads that are not quite confirms but great follow up to chases whiffed from your opponent

 

[dragenn]

Also there forward throw -> ( buffer ) double jump -> BF i into a 50/50. If they air dogde immediately you get one chance to ( fast fall out of BF ) -> bair/jump bair. I think shiek is a mental game not the better aggressor, even though she has great air frame data. Her air game isnt alwats safe on shield. Remember that she weakest against sheild grabs. People sometimes forget a character embodies the shield, grab, attack mentality of spirits. Sheiks attack are attack are fail alot agaisnt shield -> grab without proper spacing

 

[4ntarianSP4CE]

Day 1 of the "Buff Sheik" campaign.

Wish me luck lads.

 

[Windfall]

This guide is amazing! Thank you for your work and applicable commentary! A few questions

[/QUOTE]

the timing of the kick can be changed when you press the special button again.

I'm curious about what changes when you press special again (Is it down B or just B?) I've been testing and I haven't been able to see any difference. Can you clarify?

• BF off the wall is a good recovery option, and snaps to ledge if DI'd in.

I've seen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN_BjZWUxu0
Is it essentially the same in Ultimate? Where you can use BF as a wall jump?
I'm trying to learn wall jumping, and haven't gotten the hang of it yet, because I can't identify which surfaces allow you to wall hang/ BF on. Is there a difference?

 

[nshoes]

I'm curious about what changes when you press special again (Is it down B or just B?) I've been testing and I haven't been able to see any difference. Can you clarify?

Just B. What changes is the timing of the attack. For lower percent forward throws -> BF, you want to DI in and hit special again right after BF so you can get the hitbox out asap.

I've seen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN_BjZWUxu0
Is it essentially the same in Ultimate? Where you can use BF as a wall jump?
I'm trying to learn wall jumping, and haven't gotten the hang of it yet, because I can't identify which surfaces allow you to wall hang/ BF on. Is there a difference?

That's exactly what that is. I haven't labbed it enough to the specifics of where and why, but with you asking and me wondering I think that's enough to go and figure it out myself Or someone will chime in before I get to it.

 

[nshoes]

Windfall I labbed this for about 30 seconds before work this morning hehe. I tested on Battlefield. The mechanics are very similar to the video you linked to. There is a section of the side of the state, a little bit below the edge and above the bottom of the screen. If you BF on those surfaces, you'll flip back. Note that on stages that have walls as lower-map edges like Kalos, you can BF off any part of it.

Is there a correct term for this? Maybe reverse bouncing fish?

 

[Dadd?]

Windfall I labbed this for about 30 seconds before work this morning hehe. I tested on Battlefield. The mechanics are very similar to the video you linked to. There is a section of the side of the state, a little bit below the edge and above the bottom of the screen. If you BF on those surfaces, you'll flip back. Note that on stages that have walls as lower-map edges like Kalos, you can BF off any part of it.

Is there a correct term for this? Maybe reverse bouncing fish?

i just call this the the wall bounce. if you hold toward the wall, sheik will shoot straight up towards the ledge. if you hold away, she will bounce away from the wall and you can land another kick, or just put some distance between you and your opponent. using this as a mix up for your recovery or your edge guard can be very useful imo

 

[Dadd?]

I'm trying to learn wall jumping, and haven't gotten the hang of it yet, because I can't identify which surfaces allow you to wall hang/ BF on. Is there a difference?

wall jumping is pretty simple once you get the hang of it. any flat wall you can wall cling to. this includes the tiny parts of maps like temple and frigate orpheon, while you can wall jump off of almost any flat or diagonal surface, like the sides of battlefield or final destination. i would recommend trying these types of things in training mode on the maps you plan on playing. landing a wall bounce w BF on the diagonals takes a lot of practice to get good at, but it's relatively easy on the flat walled stages

 

[SuperSmashAce]

seems like combining Grenade and Needles can get decent kills at around 130%