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Q&A Sheik Strategy & QnA

jameschen0

Smash Rookie
Joined
Mar 2, 2009
Messages
2
As a newbie who had just begun to play Melee, I'd like to ask: What exactly is so bad about Sheik's chain? It has low hitstun, but if it's deployed against a projectile-less laggy character (Ganon comes to mind), are there any particular disadvantages?
 

john!

Smash Hero
Joined
Nov 19, 2006
Messages
8,063
Location
The Garden of Earthly Delights
i played sheik vs. a peach today. i found that stuffing her approach with full hop needles works well. constantly applying pressure like that makes her scared to pull a turnip, scared to dsmash... scared to do much at all except run. as a peach main, i find that sheiks who abuse their fast aerials and disjointedness are a huge pain.

sheik's chain is bad because you can jump over it and punish sheik before she can retract it, or even roll next to her and punish. it works well situationally for edgeguards, but that's about it.
 

john!

Smash Hero
Joined
Nov 19, 2006
Messages
8,063
Location
The Garden of Earthly Delights
i guess "applying pressure" weren't the right words. but that was me agreeing with the person who said that camping peach is generally a good option. you wouldn't be able to needle her from the ground when she approaches with float, so fullhopping and using platforms to needle camp seems like it would be the way to do it.
 

Teczer0

Research Assistant
Premium
BRoomer
Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
16,862
Location
Convex Cone, Positive Orthant
Oh.

Ok, I can agree with this lol.

Actually, as the peach I don't mind this that much. But needles are a great tool for sheik, pretty hard to argue that lol xD
 

Kira-

Smash Champion
Joined
Nov 3, 2008
Messages
2,859
Location
Socal
As a newbie who had just begun to play Melee, I'd like to ask: What exactly is so bad about Sheik's chain? It has low hitstun, but if it's deployed against a projectile-less laggy character (Ganon comes to mind), are there any particular disadvantages?
It's generally considered a bad move because:

- Huge lag time
- Makes you immobile
- Does not initiate or lead into any combos, nor is it useful as a finisher

However 90% of the time you won't get punished because it has high/weird priority and people rush to punish you too quickly, so in actuality you're like 100% safe every time you use it and that's all any Sheik main should be spamming (/sarcasm).

If you watch Mew2King (M2K) you'll see him occasionally use it to edgeguard Fox and Falco, that's probably its best use. That having been said, you may be the person to find a useful application for it, so don't disregard it too easily.
 

SPAWN

Smash Master
Joined
Oct 8, 2005
Messages
3,121
Location
CT
Slippi.gg
spaw#333
M2k has also used it against Ganons and some other random/weird situations. I think he used it vs Kage but I don't feel like looking on youtube for the video.
 

Kaffei

Smash Hero
Joined
Feb 8, 2008
Messages
7,048
How do I dsmash out of shield? I keep spot dodging o.0
I can WD oos and dsmash but that is so slow :s
 

ZodiakLucien

Smash Ace
Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Messages
623
Location
Walnut Creek, Ca
just wanna say I love comboing sheik. falcon her **** all day hex, got a savage %0-70+ combo comeback against zelgadis tonight. awwww yeah.


his falcon always ***** my sheik though, I think I throw out too many moves as defensive spacing and get grabbed and murdered. not sure where/how I can do that as sheik yet. any tips on how to do that as sheik or is that just more of a falcon habit I've picked up and shouldn't do as her?
Hi walt. I have no idea why im reading this thread at 5 am haha.
 

Walt

Smash Ace
Joined
Mar 31, 2007
Messages
894
Location
Concord, CA
Hi walt. I have no idea why im reading this thread at 5 am haha.
LU! Whats happening brother.

btw you still play sf4? My friends are going to start recording and commentating matches and uploading them as a series tonight as it happens. I figure they aren't terrible at sf4 since most of them are guilty gear pros but if you're interested have Vince call me, he has my number. Happening in concord honestly like, 1 mile from where Vince lives. Haven't told him about it since I haven't seen in a long while.
 

Kira-

Smash Champion
Joined
Nov 3, 2008
Messages
2,859
Location
Socal
Do an Isai drop, which is basically a reverse hadouken motion. Aka forward, down-forward, down. You can take your time you don't have to do it super fast
 

gm jack

Smash Lord
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
1,850
Location
Reading/Cambridge, UK
whats a good time to f-smash? before anyone say its a bad move I know Sheik players have f-smashed by accident countless times and it ended up setting up some crazy **** **** by accident so it's gotta have its uses.
It can occasionally get stuff, but sheik almost always has a better option, if that makes sense. It mostly seems to work because the opponent (and the sheik) are not expecting it, so they miss the easy punishes/ DI poorly.
 

soap

Smash Hero
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
7,229
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
whats a good time to f-smash? before anyone say its a bad move I know Sheik players have f-smashed by accident countless times and it ended up setting up some crazy **** **** by accident so it's gotta have its uses.
run behind people and fsmash back into them

don't get mad at me if they CC **** it tho....
 

gm jack

Smash Lord
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
1,850
Location
Reading/Cambridge, UK
Depends how high falco shoots lasers, a they can hit a crouching kirby if fired low enough. If they are firing them high, sometimes you can just run under them.
 

KirbyKaze

Smash Legend
Joined
Nov 18, 2007
Messages
17,679
Location
Spiral Mountain
Could you guys give my sheik some critique? Mind you this was late night after work but no johns right? :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtSaFhXeuDs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7dCv3YCULc
Get super fast at moving onto the edge / lightshield position after comboing Marth so you can do easy edgeguards after your combos and **** him. D-throw Uair (at like 25+) if he DIs behind anywhere but horizontally away. At 75-115ish U-smash KO him under the same circumstances. At 120 you can go back to Uair I think (maybe grab attack a few times if you're unsure).

If he's jumping around with Fairs I sometimes just stick my Bair, F-tilt, Nair, Fair or whatever in his general zone and hit him first.

Don't attack when you come down every time. If you can get to safety by just landing, be happy and take it. Don't lag yourself up unnecessarily. Similarly, challenging Marth isn't always a good idea anyway because of sword. Air-dodge and waveland are underrated. Save your jump more often.

Be more effective with your movement. I see you messing up or spacing poorly a lot because you'll mess up a wavedash or not go far enough or whatever. I dunno how much of it is intentional and how much is just messing up but pay more attention to that stuff.

Don't try to shield grab so much. It's Marth and he's spaced a lot of the time (or doing a low aerial, which is like spacing but better). You have to recognize when you can do it and when you can't do it better.
 

xbombr

Smash Ace
Joined
Aug 31, 2009
Messages
767
Location
Maryville, MO
whats a good time to f-smash? before anyone say its a bad move I know Sheik players have f-smashed by accident countless times and it ended up setting up some crazy **** **** by accident so it's gotta have its uses.
The only reason it ever sets up for anything is because the person you're playing against usually bends over and starts laughing while you gayly skip across the screen doing minimal damage and knockback. This causes them to DI horribly and lets you combo it into stuff.

At least that's my experience.

If they crouch it, you're screwed, so the only time it ever ends well is when they're at like short hop height.

But yeah, overall, I wouldn't use it. F-Tilt or d-smash or something instead, it's much better.

Peach is dumb. I don't think it's worth it to not camp her.
I agree, but feel this is pretty much the case with Sheik in any match against competitively viable characters.

Peach maybe more so than others is tough to approach.

Basically you've got limited options against her in terms of approaching since she's good at punishing you. Your biggest tool in the match up is BAir. BAir doesn't work well as an approach of course, so you're stuck camping for openings. BAir to get her off your jock and get the grabs for d-throw -> aerial when you can. I've had a little success with well timed Ftilts to defend against her approach.

Other things like Dash attack, running grabs, and stuff end up getting dsmashed, so it makes approaching a really tricky business. I actually really enjoy the match up because me and my brother are on about the same skill level. He plays Peach, I play Sheik so I've got some practice with the match up. It's all about zoning and patience since both sides can defend themselves pretty well.
 

soap

Smash Hero
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
7,229
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
i try to pressure peach as much I can with spaced aerials and boost grabs

i'd rather pressure her than let her get her turnip float cancel pressure on me

u just gotta like, pay attention...and don't always follow up hits immediately
 

Twin_A

Smash Champion
Joined
Jun 16, 2007
Messages
2,860
Location
Singin Pretty Fly for a White Guy in the shower :)
Get super fast at moving onto the edge / lightshield position after comboing Marth so you can do easy edgeguards after your combos and **** him. D-throw Uair (at like 25+) if he DIs behind anywhere but horizontally away. At 75-115ish U-smash KO him under the same circumstances. At 120 you can go back to Uair I think (maybe grab attack a few times if you're unsure).

If he's jumping around with Fairs I sometimes just stick my Bair, F-tilt, Nair, Fair or whatever in his general zone and hit him first.

Don't attack when you come down every time. If you can get to safety by just landing, be happy and take it. Don't lag yourself up unnecessarily. Similarly, challenging Marth isn't always a good idea anyway because of sword. Air-dodge and waveland are underrated. Save your jump more often.

Be more effective with your movement. I see you messing up or spacing poorly a lot because you'll mess up a wavedash or not go far enough or whatever. I dunno how much of it is intentional and how much is just messing up but pay more attention to that stuff.

Don't try to shield grab so much. It's Marth and he's spaced a lot of the time (or doing a low aerial, which is like spacing but better). You have to recognize when you can do it and when you can't do it better.
I love you KK.
Thanks :D

Any spacies advice? Or falco I should say.
KK's understanding of this game is wonderful.
This^
 

rpgfighter

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jun 17, 2009
Messages
433
Location
Chantilly VA
When exactly should I use her Usmash?

I know its a good move and all but I just have not seemed to add it in my game. So when are the instances on which I should use it?
 
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