Sheik vs Zero Suit matchup impressions. Feedback Requested

[Darkzephr]

So, my current sparring partner plays Zero Suit, and as I figured I'd share my impressions on the match up and see if other people are experiencing the same thing, or if I can learn any tactics to help improve my play.

The first Thing I'm noticing is that Sheik seems to have the advantage when it comes to horizontal attacks. Bouncing fish and needle storm help to really establish control and edge gaurd, and her grabs are extremely effective due to the strength of her follow ups. Her dash attack is also quite strong against Zero Suit.

When it comes to fighting vertically though, I feel like I'm struggling quite a bit. Zero Suits downA aerial meteor out ranges any of my attacks aside from vanishing strike, and if you miss you are completely vulnerable. I haven't found any reliable ways of dealing with Zero Suit when she's hovering over my head except playing defensively. The same thing is the case if I am in the air above Zero Suit. Her upB cancels my downA meteor, as does her aerial upA. most of the time In the air I find I use bouncing fish for the extra invincibility frames to touch down safely.

I'd like to play more aggressively when Zero Suit is above or below me. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips?

 

[Virgman]

Number one: Don't use Sheik's Dair (down air) to attack. There's way to much lag on it. It's good if both of you are high in the air and you want to get to the ground asap, but if they are below you, it's not worth the risk. That goes the same for Zsam (Zero Suit).

Number two: Know the limits of your character. Don't challenge Zsam in the air, if you are above her, because there's nothing else you can attack her with, other than dair, which is awful. So just try to land, and reset your spacing. Zsam is fast, so a lot of times I'll FF (fast fall) in one direction, then reverse bouncing fish toward the other direction. It protects you with a hitbox, while also making your landing lag very minimal, if you're high enough in the air. Zsam is also a momentum-based character. Once she gets going, she has all the resources she needs in order to keep you in the air, and punish you when you land. To stop this before it starts, use needles. I usually just use one, randomly throughout the fight, multiple times. This pressures Zsam into approaching, which means she's then playing into whatever plan you have. She can't camp Sheik, so take advantage of those single needles.
I could go into more about the MU (match up), but you didn't ask about that. Hope this helps.

 

[<π]

Virgman is the best. Just do everything he says. Don't try and fight her vertically. Wait on the ground and punish the landing. Or try to get to he ground safely with out her punishing you.

 

[Darkzephr]

Number one: Don't use Sheik's Dair (down air) to attack. There's way to much lag on it. It's good if both of you are high in the air and you want to get to the ground asap, but if they are below you, it's not worth the risk. That goes the same for Zsam (Zero Suit).

Number two: Know the limits of your character. Don't challenge Zsam in the air, if you are above her, because there's nothing else you can attack her with, other than dair, which is awful. So just try to land, and reset your spacing. Zsam is fast, so a lot of times I'll FF (fast fall) in one direction, then reverse bouncing fish toward the other direction. It protects you with a hitbox, while also making your landing lag very minimal, if you're high enough in the air. Zsam is also a momentum-based character. Once she gets going, she has all the resources she needs in order to keep you in the air, and punish you when you land. To stop this before it starts, use needles. I usually just use one, randomly throughout the fight, multiple times. This pressures Zsam into approaching, which means she's then playing into whatever plan you have. She can't camp Sheik, so take advantage of those single needles.
I could go into more about the MU (match up), but you didn't ask about that. Hope this helps.

This is really awesome. I got a chance to put some of this into practice and It definitely has paid off. specifically having the mindset of trying to land and reset my spacing. I've been trying way too hard to fight in the air.

Thanks for the awesome advice.

 

[BltzZ]

Number one: Don't use Sheik's Dair (down air) to attack. There's way to much lag on it. It's good if both of you are high in the air and you want to get to the ground asap, but if they are below you, it's not worth the risk. That goes the same for Zsam (Zero Suit).

Number two: Know the limits of your character. Don't challenge Zsam in the air, if you are above her, because there's nothing else you can attack her with, other than dair, which is awful. So just try to land, and reset your spacing. Zsam is fast, so a lot of times I'll FF (fast fall) in one direction, then reverse bouncing fish toward the other direction. It protects you with a hitbox, while also making your landing lag very minimal, if you're high enough in the air. Zsam is also a momentum-based character. Once she gets going, she has all the resources she needs in order to keep you in the air, and punish you when you land. To stop this before it starts, use needles. I usually just use one, randomly throughout the fight, multiple times. This pressures Zsam into approaching, which means she's then playing into whatever plan you have. She can't camp Sheik, so take advantage of those single needles.
I could go into more about the MU (match up), but you didn't ask about that. Hope this helps.

Actually zss dair is ridiculous to deal with. She can almost instant shield or roll out of it. The only way to punish it is if you shield as she dairs you but sometimes it pushes you away making it safe and hard to punish. My sparring partner is a zss and it gets annoying because he overuses it and baiting it to punish is annoying because of how much landing lag she DOESN'T habe after using dair compared to other characters.

 

[Scr7]

ZSS's dair when landing is not safe on shield at all and leads to an easy shield grab from the opponent; it should be very easy to punish.

Anyway, don't be afraid to go in against ZSS whilst she's camping with the paralyzer, as Sheik can rush down ZSS quite well in this situation using fairs and ftilts. You can also use needles from a distance. Fair combos work very well against ZSS, and you can keep up juggles quite easily against her - if she down B's away, just follow her and punish (also shield if she tries doing the kick). If ZSS has you in a juggle, fastfall to the ground and air dodge if necessary (or land on a close platform depending on the stage). When you have ZSS offstage, you should try and hit her out of her down B, which is her only quick and safe option to get back onstage (especially against a character like Sheik). When she lacks that, you can just use fairs and nairs to gimp ZSS.

 

[Neoxide]

I'm in the exact same situation with sheik vs ZSS. You definitely don't want to be above ZSS because it seems she can juggle you into the blast zone easily and none of sheik's moves seem to have priority. Being below ZSS is fairly easy to deal with I get out of their dair trajectory and get to the side of them and follow with a back air or front air but back air has really good range. ZSS's down air is very punishable if you are already on the ground because once they land there is noticeable lag.

Sheik has the advantage on the ground, I usually throw grenade as crowd control and charge up my needles while ZSS is avoiding it.