Things to practice by yourself - Sheik Edition

[InterimOfZeal]

Okay, so I got this idea to make a mega-guide on how to step up your game when you have no one to play with.

Now, obviously for tech-skill, you can go into melee vs comp, set their ratio to .5 with a 1, 9 handicap (you having the 1, obviously), and then just wail on them as Fox. I'll put this part more in-detail on the Fox boards (and I stole the idea from RaynEx, so credit where it's due.) In less than 3 days, I went from missing l-cancels and having sloppy waveshines to being able to do the walking waveshine with reversals in it, as well as double shining and ending it with almost any option.

What I'm wondering is, how can I step up my Sheik game like this? I went into Fixed Camera mode and practiced edge-canceling everything I could think of. I learned how to waveland more smoothly, and have been practicing things like edgecanceled bair, needle cancel turnaround > fair, or waveland dj needle cancel turnaround waveland dj ff edge cancel bair (on battlefield), but I don't know that I really should be practicing, ya know?

I want people's tricks for leveling up their tech-skill, combos, and chases. Give me all the info in da world. I plan on eventually making a megaguide with all the info I gain from each character specific board, so we can further raise the general level of players across the country (obviously, I don't mind getting better, myself.)

I'm only going to make this thread for a few characters right now (Fox, Marth, Sheik, Peach, and prolly ICs or CF), but as things fill out, I may end up doing it for more characters, going in the order of what's needed/what I want to learn.

Soyeah, spill your secrets. I'm particularly interested to learn what top-level Marths practice. I know the best practice is vs people, but sometimes, you just don't have that luxury.

Thanks in advance! :D

 

[Kaffei]

I just do what M2K does
play level 1 CPUs on 99 stock and just do that over and over I usually do that twice if I have access to a gamecube and make sure I execute everything as perfectly as possible

 

[Beat!]

why 99 stock? Why not infinite time instead?

(Not that it really matters lol)

 

[TaFoKiNtS]

SH Fairs
SH Nair (FF)
SH Nair (Non FF)

Platform Cancel double aerial
Wave landing
Needle turn around grab

jab --> ftilt on shield
jab --> dtilt on shield

Fair --> jab
Fair --> fair
Fair --> grab

power shield
shiel --> nair oos

 

[Kaffei]

why 99 stock? Why not infinite time instead?

(Not that it really matters lol)

Cus after I finish all the 99 stocks I play against a different CPU on a different stage

 

[gm jack]

WD Oos (inc PS) to grab/boost grab is also so useful against falco, or anyone in general who touches your shield and retreats away after.

 

[bubbaking]

JC grab and boost grab; be able to do those consistently. Also, it may not seem significant but one should practice snapping to the ledge with upB at different stages of the move from any direction. Naturally, vanish stalling practice would be a part of this.

WD Oos (inc PS) to grab/boost grab is also so useful against falco, or anyone in general who touches your shield and retreats away after.

How do you WD out of a PS? Isn't the shield put down instantly after a PS, or am I mistaken?

 

[gm jack]

PS is pretty much the same as a normal shield, except you can reflect projectiles and do attacks out of a PSed non projectile.

And you do it like a normal WD OoS, except the shield was a PS. Just needs to be learned because it can be slightly frustrating if you use one button for shielding and WD.

 

[KirbyKaze]

TBH most of the stuff I practice with Sheik right now has to deal with movement. I want to be able to maximum distance when I SH back. I've also been getting into the habit of angled FFs and crap like that. Waveland distances, waveland timings on the platforms, needle turn arounds, ledge wavelands, needle edgehog, pivoting into SH back with maximum distance, etc. Just lots of random nonsense so I feel I can do everything as clean as I want it, or as choppy as I want it (choppy is sometimes good, believe it or not [but clean is better like 90% of the time]).

I also work on random attack & combo nuances sometimes. Timing fairs to hit them low, needle grabs on Puff (although I'm still not sure I'd have the balls to do it in tournament), Nair OOS (well, this one I basically have down at this point but I spent a lot of time on it a long time ago), CGs at really low percents (0 in ditto), etc. I've been meaning to review the boost grab distances and practice the tech chase timings but I've been so lazy lately with it ('cuz it requires me to do more than the stuff above).

But the vast majority of it for me at this point is just movement. I feel my movement sucks.

 

[♡ⓛⓞⓥⓔ♡]

It's always better to practice these things in matches, because there's more pressure and you get used to doing this stuff in matches.

I used to practice relatively useless, flashy stuff by myself but I realized that I really need to focus on "simple" and "easy" things if I wanted to actually improve my game, rather than making it look flashy.

Some of these things include:

-Foxtrotting

-DDing

-Perfect wavedash (I learned to wavedash in 45 angle many years ago so this is tricky)

-Perfect wavelands (hard for me also)

-Short hopping

-SHFFLing (namely fair/bair) when hitting the opponent (L-cancel timing is different)

-SHFFLing on shield (BIG, BIG thing for me, I still suck at it because the timing is different)
Nair seems especially hard to L-cancel

2 way's to practice alone:

1. Extra controller, use sticky tape to jam R/L-trigger to make that 2nd player shield (you can practice full or light shield). Space aerials to 2nd player's shield, when the shield dimishes push the character over the ledge, they respawn with full shield.

2. Choose starmen in items and set it on full. Choose cpu/2nd player, get them with starmen and space aerials on them.

-Short hop aerial [nair] OoS (I can't do this yet)

-Short hop needle release -> grab/other stuff (this is really good, I usually full hop because I can't do this)

-fast, short needle turnaround (Inb4 sideBing off the edge)

-Focusing on the opponent as opposed to your own character (Just play cpus)

-Focusing on your movement and positioning (alone and in matches, this will improve your game.)

I think the most important thing is to get absolutely comfortable with your character's movement to maximize control over her