The Sheik Essentials?

[Cruecial]

Hey all,

I've been playing as only Kirby for since the smash bros. series inception. With Smash 4, I'm considering playing a more competitive character and have recently picked up Sheik. What would you consider the essentials that a Sheik player needs to prioritize learning in order to become competent with the character?

I realize that uploading a video of me playing would be much more helpful, unfortunately I don't have anything for recording from the Wii U at the moment. What I've been doing to practice has been working my way up from lvl 1 CPU's, only progressing to the next CPU level after 3-stocking the previous.

One thing I noticed when watching videos from the Sheik thread is players taking their opponents form 0-~50% from the start. I'd be satisfied if this were something I could practice against a stationary opponent in training mode, move to CPU's and then real players.

Thanks for the help!

 

[WillLi]

Well I'm not at the level of a pro player so I don't know how much of this is valid during the pro game but, I find that when using Sheik, she really test your ability to measure distance and air combos. I'm not totally familiar with her new moves yet as I've only had the game for a day but, her forward b is very good if you can time it right and get the distance it's got a good bit of knocking power to it, her down b is similar in that if you can place the move right you can get a good launch. However both need you to get the distance right. as they have dead zones if you over shoot, and are very easy to punish.

Lost of Sheik's moves form the ground lift the opponent as well so the natural thing to do is follow a lot of them up with an air combo. She's not the greatest in air from my experience, but she tends to be able to finish pretty well or at least keep the advantage, depending on the situation.

So I would say work on your ability to measure distance accurately and your air pursuits. Wont make you be best Sheik player ever, but it'll help you keep yourself solid.

 

[False]

Sheik isn't one with range, so spacing yourself to be able to trick your opponents with mix ups and such is a bit difficult.

 

[Arbitation]

For that quick 50% look at comboing forward tilts together and following up with some thing simple like an up air.

 

[YaBoyEli]

Sheik is really good at building percent with a variety of set ups that combo into fair which i would say is her basic bread and butter you need to know. For example a string of forward tilts against heavy characters or characters that fall fast can be followed up by a string of fairs and bouncing fish read etc..

She struggles with killing so make sure you are able to land her kill moves like bouncing fish etc..

 

[Scr7]

Learn combos and throw followups and what moves are good to use in certain situations. Fair is a move you can use in a lot of situations, and it can combo into itself or almost any other move, and ftilt is also very good at racking up damage. Dthrow sets up a fair or upair nicely depending on the character/percent, and fthrow can also create setups (and can combo into down B; there's a thread around here explaining fthrow to down B that you may want to look at). Also learn spacing and advanced techs like pivot ftilts and ledge shenanigans with side B and down B.

Hope this helps.

 

[Cruecial]

Thanks guys, that helps!

 

[suarsuar]

I would focus on being more reactive than anything.

Being straight aggressive is not in your best interest in any case because Sheik will usually be out traded or killed outright.

She is opportunistic like any classical ninja - meaning, she won't start a brawl she knows she can't end extremely quick.

Ninjas are all about the quick and dirty and they don't stay to chat.

So I would recommend shield grabbing a ton, analyzing the opponent's landing patterns, punishing any smashes they try to charge or throw out, and always keep your distance with needles or the burst grenade.

The reason a reactive style of play rewards her over other styles is because she cannot comfortablely kill in the range most other characters can.

After 120% to 130%, it is open season for the uair, bouncing fish finish - her popular kill moves.

Up smash, down smash, and forward smash can kill 95% to 110% but they have to be sweet spotted real well and read ever better so they're not reliable.

They recently nerfed the knockback on BF and uair so you have to really rack up damage in order to secure a stock.

The biggest mistakes people always make with Sheik, in any iteration of Smash tbh, is that they jump a lot.

They jump all the time.

Stop jumping, her game relies on her ground presence. Her aerials are okay in Sm4sh, but her ground game is unmatched with her tilts, grabs, and overall pressure.

I would recommend watching Denti's Sheik in past 3DS tournaments because he is a good example of how a Sheik should behave.

Sheik is definitely seeing tournament play and will remain a headache of a match for anybody, but she is different from her previous version and, thus, must be learned differently.

And lastly, take advantage of her mobility.

When I play my sparring partner, he mentions he has problems tracking Sheik even as ZSS, another slippery character.

So empty short hop fast fall, run past your opponent and start mix ups, hop platforms, drop down, etc etc.

She has the sickest Nikes in the game so it would benefit your game to be unpredictable and fast.

 

[Orion*]

watch a lot of videos
go to tournaments, even if you initially lose a lot
practice your combos and frame traps on cpus for a lot of hours until you dont have to think about it
dont worry about style, unless you're a top player winning events this will hinder you imo. Screw the aggressive vs campy mindset of what is better for you, or what's honorable. instead focus on the best option is in a given situation

sheiks not that technical. i think like the only thing you might need to practice is b reversal needles, the timing is tighter in this game in comparison to brawl. otherwise it;s just basic spacing and understanding your character

 

[FierceFox]

I would focus on being more reactive than anything.

Being straight aggressive is not in your best interest in any case because Sheik will usually be out traded or killed outright.

She is opportunistic like any classical ninja - meaning, she won't start a brawl she knows she can't end extremely quick.

Ninjas are all about the quick and dirty and they don't stay to chat.

So I would recommend shield grabbing a ton, analyzing the opponent's landing patterns, punishing any smashes they try to charge or throw out, and always keep your distance with needles or the burst grenade.

The reason a reactive style of play rewards her over other styles is because she cannot comfortablely kill in the range most other characters can.

After 120% to 130%, it is open season for the uair, bouncing fish finish - her popular kill moves.

Up smash, down smash, and forward smash can kill 95% to 110% but they have to be sweet spotted real well and read ever better so they're not reliable.

They recently nerfed the knockback on BF and uair so you have to really rack up damage in order to secure a stock.

The biggest mistakes people always make with Sheik, in any iteration of Smash tbh, is that they jump a lot.

They jump all the time.

Stop jumping, her game relies on her ground presence. Her aerials are okay in Sm4sh, but her ground game is unmatched with her tilts, grabs, and overall pressure.

I would recommend watching Denti's Sheik in past 3DS tournaments because he is a good example of how a Sheik should behave.

Sheik is definitely seeing tournament play and will remain a headache of a match for anybody, but she is different from her previous version and, thus, must be learned differently.

And lastly, take advantage of her mobility.

When I play my sparring partner, he mentions he has problems tracking Sheik even as ZSS, another slippery character.

So empty short hop fast fall, run past your opponent and start mix ups, hop platforms, drop down, etc etc.

She has the sickest Nikes in the game so it would benefit your game to be unpredictable and fast.

Awesome quick Sheik write up. Appreciate it!

 

[suarsuar]

Awesome quick Sheik write up. Appreciate it!

A pleasure.

They gave her a lot of love this iteration.