Sheik (SSBM): Difference between revisions

Sheik; in Super Smash Bros. Melee
	;
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Shares character slot with	Zelda
Other playable appearances	in Brawl; in SSB4; in Ultimate;
Availability	Starter
Tier	A (5) (North America); A (5) (Europe)

Revision as of 12:48, March 29, 2021

This article is about Sheik's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. For the character in other contexts, see Sheik.

For information about Sheik's alter-ego, see Princess Zelda (SSBM).

Announced at E3 2001, Sheik (シーク, Sheik) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. She transforms from Zelda by using her down special move (Transform), and can transform back. By holding the "A" button at the stage loading screen, Zelda will automatically transform into Sheik at the start of a match.

Jun Mizusawa reprises her role as Sheik from Ocarina of Time in the game.

She used to be first on the Melee tier list until the eighth version of it, where Fox took top spot, and has continued to hold it. Sheik currently ranks 4th on the tier list, in the S tier primarily due to her chain throw on many of the lower tier characters, excellent combos, a great finisher in her forward air, a very good approach due to fast aerials and high jumps, and one of the best edgeguarding games in Melee. Sheik, however, suffers from a relatively short and predictable recovery, vulnerability to comboing, as well as a rather short but quick wavedash. She also is relatively weak to crouch canceling.

Attributes

Sheik is a very agile fighter, possessing a fast dash, high falling speed, good jumping prowess, and very quick, combo-friendly attacks. While only a portion of her moveset can reliably KO to compensate for her speed, such options are very reliable combo finishers at most percentages, greatly offsetting her power loss. Sheik, however, has poor air speed(tied for 5th worst among the cast) and a rather high short hop. As a result of having high traction and a high falling speed, Sheik has a rather short, but fast, wavedash.

Sheik's main strength is her edgeguarding ability, which is among the best in the game. While she lacks a spike like Marth, or even a meteor smash, Sheik's good jumping prowess and fast, powerful aerials give her amazing options off the edge. Sheik's forward aerial is among the most feared in the game, due to its fast startup, high knockback scaling, semi-spike angle, and its ability to autocancel itself if used correctly, and is her main pressuring and edgeguarding tool, while also being an outstanding combo finisher. Her back aerial is slightly weaker(but still very powerful if sweetspotted) with a more diagonal angle, but has more reach and is safer to use, allowing for it to be used as a potent edgeguarding option as well. Sheik also has one of the best projectiles in the game, Needle Storm, which aids in her edgeguarding; the needles are quick to charge, can travel quickly when thrown, and can cut through or stop most other projectiles in the game, allowing Sheik to neutralize projectiles from characters who rely on them to cover their recovery, such as Samus. Needles also have high hitstun and low knockback, making them excellent for intercepting recoveries, especially more linear options such as Fire Fox. In addition, Needles travel in a diagonal downward path when thrown from the air, presenting the edgeguarder with more options. Sheik also has the means to force edgeguarding situations very easily, possessing a back throw that sets up edgeguards on fastfallers, and the speed to effectively corner opponents once they're close to the ledge.

Sheik is also notable for having among the best punishing abilities in the game. Her tilts, dash attack, and up smash all come out quickly and all send the opponents straight into the air, giving Sheik guaranteed aerial followup options, especially at lower percentages. Aside from the aforementioned forward and back aerials, Sheik's other aerials also possess amazing utility for punishing, despite her low air speed. Her neutral aerial is a quick sex kick that serves as a potent out of shield option that can dispel the opponent's shield pressure; her up aerial is a combo extender at lower percentages that can reliably KO at higher percentages, especially near the ceiling; her down aerial, while possessing the slowest startup out of all of her aerials, sends opponents upwards with a great deal of hitstun, allowing followups into her aforementioned up, back, or forward aerials, or even a sweetspotted up smash. Due to their low lag and high power, most are of relatively low-risk to use off the edge. Sheik's aforementioned Needle Storm also aids in her punishing game; when used in midair, the needles travel diagonally downwards, allowing them to hit grounded opponents. Due to the fact that Needle Storm has no landing lag after being used in midair, Sheik can use the hitstun or shield stun from her needles to immediately grab or attack the opponent upon landing. This is further compounded (in NTSC only) with Sheik's excellent down throw, which boasts a chain grab on many characters in the game at lower to mid-percentages, including Pikachu and Link, and sets up tech chasing situations on fastfallers such as Fox, Falco, and Falcon. Skilled Sheik players can convert a single down throw into potential stock losses for the foe by utilizing either chain grabbing or tech-chasing until the opponent is at combo-friendly percentages, where they will use Sheik's launching options to begin nearly inescapable combos that result in a KO or a fatal edgeguarding situation.

Sheik, however, has a mediocre neutral game, especially compared to other top tiers. Due to her high short hop, Sheik suffers from a poor SHFFL, which impairs some elements of her aerial approach. Sheik also possesses a short dash-dance, forcing her to rely on her short wavedash to adjust her spacing. While Needle Storm has no landing lag when used in midair, it does have significant ending lag when used on the ground; however, Sheik's needles will only travel straight if she throws them while grounded, impairing her ability to approach with her projectile from afar. Sheik usually struggles in approaching opponents who are at low percent, as they can use crouch cancelling to make her tilts, dash attack, jab and aerials unsafe, forcing her to rely on grabs or her downsmash. Sheik also lacks universal disjoint, causing her to have a very small and concentrated "threat zone" where she can create openings by threatening the opponent with a forward aerial, her tilts, or an aerial Needle Storm into a grab. As such, high-level Sheik players will often look for openings to close distance and go into that "threat zone," a spacing where Sheik can threaten the opponent with her outstanding punish game. This is easier to do against characters with even worse neutral games, particularly low- and bottom-tier characters, as they lack the means to zone Sheik out of that ideal area. However, other top-tier characters have the tools to keep Sheik out, whether it be through projectiles or disjoint, and can similarly harshly punish Sheik if she unsafely attempts to close this distance.

One of Sheik's more universal weaknesses is her poor, predictable recovery. Despite her high midair jump and fast aerial attacks that can aggravate edgeguarders, Vanish does not give significant vertical or horizontal distance, and when she reappears, there is no offensive hitbox, allowing easy edgeguarding. Additionally, Sheik is horizontally locked after performing Vanish, disallowing her from drifting back to the stage from afar. In some situations where Sheik cannot recover at all, Sheik may be forced to transform and use Zelda's superior recovery, this is not without its risks however, as Zelda is much less viable in top level play, which is where Sheik performs. A common strategy is to DI upwards and use Zelda's superior air speed and lower falling speed to drift back to stage, or in worst case scenarios, use Farore's Wind to recover. Further compounding these recovery flaws are Sheik's fast falling speed and low air. Sheik can wall jump, but its use is situational, dependent on the stage, and is shorter than most others due to Sheik's fast falling speed. Sheik's low air speed compounded with her fast falling speed also makes her very easy to combo herself, especially against characters with reliable launching throws or attacks such as Marth, Falco, and Jigglypuff.

Overall, Sheik is a solid character with the tools to combat every other fighter in Melee. She is a very punish- and control-based character, relying on her excellent comboing abilities to rack up damage and force edgeguarding situations where she can intercept the foe for quick gimp KOs. Against characters ranked lower than her, Sheik usually has free reign over the match and can easily close distance and convert a single opening into a clear advantage. However, against most other top tiers, Sheik must play with the utmost caution and precision to create those same openings and succeed.

PAL differences

Like other characters, Sheik has received some changes in the PAL version of Melee, which nerfed her overall. This is due primarily to the changes to her down throw, which caused Sheik to lose her chaingrab, some tech-chasing options, and several KO setups. Along with the nerfs to her finishers, Sheik generally has a much harder time KOing characters that she had no trouble KOing in the NTSC version, such as Peach and Marth, resulting in much poorer matchups against them. This is reflected in the current PAL tier list, where Sheik is ranked 5th instead of her usual 3rd or 4th.

Sweetspotted up smash deals 1% less damage (17% → 16%) and has less knockback scaling (105 → 102).
Up aerial deals less damage (12% (clean)/9% (late) → 10%/8%), and has less knockback scaling (120 → 110), significantly hindering its KO potential.
- However, this improves its combo potential at higher percents.
Down throw's hitbox has increased set knockback (90 → 100), making it slightly more effective against bystanders.
Down throw launches opponents at a less vertical angle (80° → 60°), significantly hindering its followup potential.

Moveset

Sheik's aerial attacks

For a gallery of Sheik's hitboxes, see here.

	Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		4%	Two fast swipes with good jab cancel potential followed by a series of rapid jabs.
		3%
		1% (loop)
Forward tilt		7%	A quick spin kick forward. Short range, but launches the foe directly up, leaving them open for aerial combos. Can be done repeatedly, and is very fast.
Up tilt		8% (hit 1), 4% (hit 2)	Kicks up, and lets her leg down in an axe-like way. This attack is famous for its chainability against heavy characters such as Bowser.
Down tilt		8%	A quick ankle-sweep performed while crouching. Despite possessing limited utility at most percents, it can be used to prepare F-air at percents where F-tilt no longer combos.
Dash attack		10% (clean), 7% (late)	Slashes with her arms forward while coming to a stop. Excellent juggling due to little ending lag, sends opponents up and behind her.
Forward smash		5% (hit 1), 10% (hit 2)	Kicks twice in front of herself. Both hits combined has moderate knockback. Decent for racking up damage, but not exactly easy to land both hits at higher percentages as the opponent can DI out of the first kick.
Up smash		17%/16% (sweetspot NTSC/PAL), 13% (sourspot)	Raises her arms over her head, then quickly brings them down to her sides. Incredibly powerful when sweetspotted, being among the most powerful in the game (2nd strongest next to Pikachu's), but otherwise does moderate knockback when sourspotted. In the NTSC version, it can be a reliable KO move after a d-throw chaingrab or a d-throw on its own. Both of Sheik's arms and her head are intangible while the hitboxes are out.
Down smash		13% (clean), 10% (late)	Gets on her back and does a break-dance style rotation. Can hit 3 times. The first active frame of the move, frame 5, grants Sheik intangibility on her legs.
Neutral aerial		14%/10% (clean leg/knee), 9% (late)	A typical sex kick that gets weaker the longer it's out. Mostly used for its horizontal knockback, continuing combos, or potentially setting up an edgeguard game, or even using it to edgeguard alone. It is also a common OoS option.
Forward aerial		13%	A quick swipe in front of her, great finisher/edgeguarder that semi-spikes with high knockback, and very deadly offstage against characters with poor recovery. Can potentially be done against an opponent repeatedly if Sheik can maneuver correctly.
Back aerial		Clean: 14%/10% (right foot/leg), 8% (left leg) Late: 10%/9% (right foot/leg), 6% (hip), 7% (left leg)	A quick kick in behind her, good for edgeguarding. The sweetspot is located at the foot. It is also her 2nd most powerful aerial after her F-air, dealing high knockback which is enough to KO Mario around 100%
Up aerial		NTSC: 12% (clean), 9% (late) PAL: 10% (clean), 8% (late)	A spinning kick upwards with high vertical knockback and KO potential (most notably near a ceiling). In the PAL version, the attack's knockback is considerably reduced, making it a better attack for comboing.
Down aerial		11%	A downwards kick with long ending lag. This move has a lot of hitstun and can lead into her other aerials easily, or even her Up-smash/tilts
Grab		—
Pummel		3%	Hits opponent with her elbow.
Forward throw		6% (hit 1), 2% (throw)	Launches her opponent forward with low horizontal knockback and hitstun.
Back throw		5% (hit 1), 2% (throw)	Throws her opponent behind and kicks them away. Better knockback and hitstun than her f-throw but otherwise weak, though it can force opponents offstage to set up edgeguards.
Up throw		6% (hit 1), 2% (throw)	Launches opponent above her. Excellent for an aerial-attack follow up, but due to low hitstun follow-ups are difficult. Can chain grab the space animals at high percentages.
Down throw		5% (hit 1), 3% (throw)	Throws opponent on the ground, then performs an axe-kick, knocking the opponent up into the air. Overall, this is the best of Sheik's throws because it can reliably chain grab or tech chase many characters to high percentages, with a reliable KO option being a u-smash. However, in the PAL version, it does more knockback and so it cannot chaingrab reliably.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge	—	—
Techs	—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)		6%	Gets up and kicks both sides of herself.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)		6%	Gets up and punches both sides of herself.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)		8%	Climbs up and kicks onto the stage.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)		6% (body), 8% (arm)	Slowly gets up and thrusts out her elbow.
Neutral special	Needle Storm	3% (needles), 6 needles max	Charges up needles, which can be fired by releasing the B button. The charge can be saved by pressing the shield button, and continued by pressing B again. They are quick to charge, travel fast and far when thrown, can cut through or stop most other projectiles in the game, and also have high hitstun and low knockback, making them good for distracting foes. They can even edgeguard characters easily and effectively. If used in the air, they travel roughly 45 degrees to the ground.
Side special	Chain	3% (chain), 5% (tip)	Pulls out a long metal chain and whips it around (controllable with the control stick). Does minor damage to opponents, and an electric effect at the tip of the chain. Due to the low damage and high lag, it is almost never used in competitive play. Despite this, it can be used for edgeguarding.
Up special	Vanish	12%	Vanishes into the air, then reappears further in one direction, which can be controlled with the control stick. Used for recovery. It does not travel as far as Zelda's Farore's Wind, though if Sheik is above the ledge and far away from the stage, transforming into Zelda to get back to the stage is possible, but this should only be done if Vanish absolutely can't make it to the stage. Vanish deals decent knockback and can be used as a risky edgeguard move as well.
Down special	Transform	0%	Transforms into Zelda.

Taunt

Performs a threatening pose with her left hand before her face.

Idle pose

Shakes her hand in front of her face, then swings it to the side.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Gooooooooooo Sheik!	Shei-k! Shei-k!
Pitch	Group chant	Male

Victory poses

An orchestrated portion of the main theme from The Legend of Zelda series.

Uses one arm to hold up the other while she holds her other hand to her chin, as if in deep thought.
Throws two needles, then holds her right hand up to her mouth.

When the language is set to Japanese, Sheik says "貰った。" ("I got it.") during this pose.

Kicks two times, then holds her left hand in front of her while exhaling loudly.

When the language is set to Japanese, her exhale is delayed.

In Competitive play

Matchups

**Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups**
																											Avg.

Sheik has one of the best matchup spreads in the game. She is soft countered by three characters, has one even matchup, soft counters six characters, counters five, and hard counters ten. Overall, Sheik's advantages give her amazing matchups over the majority of the cast, with the most hard-counter matchups against other characters, and only loses against a small handful of characters in Melee.

She generally has an advantage against characters with:

Sluggish movement speed or slow moves, such as Link and Bowser, as Sheik can simply outspeed them and force an opening before they can respond;
Bad neutral game tools and approach options, like Zelda, Ness, or Donkey Kong, therefore allowing Sheik to largely ignore some of her key weaknesses such as her poor dash dance;
Vulnerability to chaingrabs and long combos, including characters like Pichu, Mr. Game & Watch, or Ganondorf, owing to their high hitstun and large hurtboxes;
Poor recovery/lack of edgeguarding moves, such as Luigi, Roy, and Dr. Mario, who are all susceptible to being gimped by a single edgeguarding interaction;
Susceptibility to her KO setups, such as Marth and Peach, who Sheik can reliably KO at mid-high percentages with down throw to forward or up aerial, unless the opponent DIs particularly well.

Sheik tends to struggle most against characters who can abuse her fast falling speed, height, and weakness to crouch canceling to the fullest extent. Fox, Jigglypuff, and the Ice Climbers are her most notable bad matchups. With a combination of his fast falling speed and crouch canceling, Fox is essentially immune to Sheik's combos until mid-percent; Sheik must utilize very difficult tech chasing to consistently get him to those percentages, where the player must either perfectly read, or react within less than a second, to the Fox player's getup option. Jigglypuff boasts superior aerial mobility, allowing it to camp Sheik long-term while avoiding her Needles, and can Rest Sheik if she dares challenge its crouch cancel with any move or even a standing grab (which cannot grab a crouching Jigglypuff). On the other hand, Sheik's weight and falling speed make her susceptible to all of their usual combos, such as Fox's waveshine followups or up throw to up aerial, or Jigglypuff's wall of pain and various Rest conversions. The Ice Climbers essentially negate all of Sheik's strengths; her strong grab game is ineffective when the second Climber can break grab situations, and she lacks tools to separate them at low percentages, with the consequence of improperly spacing a single move being a wobble or a lengthy chaingrab.

Current metagame

Sheik has declined slightly in the modern metagame as players have learned how to better take advantage of her numerous weaknesses. This is reflected by her matchups against Marth and Peach, which are now closer to even. As players have improved their understanding of the neutral game over time, Marth's advantages in that area have grown more prevalent, making it much harder for Sheik players to force openings. Sheik still tends to out-punish Marth when she gets a neutral win, since Marth's punishes in the matchup are not guaranteed and more difficult to execute, keeping the matchup fairly even at the top level. The opposite development is true for her matchup against Peach, as Peach's punishes and edgeguarding in the matchup are now considered significantly stronger. Sheik still maintains advantages in her superior speed, neutral game tools, and easier KO setups, but the consensus now is that Sheik only slightly wins against Peach, if at all.

At the time that the matchup chart was made, Pikachu and Yoshi were considered low-tiered characters that Sheik easily won against due to her chaingrab, perceived back then to go up to 90% and lead into a guaranteed KO. These opinions have proven to be mostly false as those two characters rose up the tier list. With proper DI and port considerations, the chaingrab rarely deals more than 40-50%, with many opportunities to escape it. Both characters have strong punishes on Sheik as well; Yoshi's double jump cancel combos perfectly take advantage of her fast falling speed, and Pikachu can juggle her and force edgeguard situations with its up aerial semi-spike. Sheik is also nearly incapable of gimping Yoshi due to his double jump armor, while both characters can very easily edgeguard or gimp her poor recovery in return. She still wins those matchups by a fair margin due to her much simpler and more guaranteed combos, as well as more tangible rewards off her grounded moves that are easier to look for in neutral than either Pikachu's or Yoshi's combo starters. However, neither of these matchups are a hard counter in her favor, unlike what was initially perceived.

Notable players

Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the 2019 MPGR, which recognizes the official top 100 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Melee. "HM" indicates an honorable mention on the 2019 MPGR.

Active

Ranked

Amsah (#91) - Best player in the Netherlands. Has taken a set off Armada.
Captain Faceroll (#17) - Best Sheik player in SoCal. Placed 1st at DreamHack Atlanta 2019, 3rd at GENESIS: BLACK and 9th at GENESIS 7. Has wins on Mew2King, iBDW, and Wizzrobe.
Drephen (#49) - One of the best Sheik players in the world. Placed 9th at Smash 'N' Splash 5, 17th at Super Smash Con 2019, and 25th at Pound 2019. Has wins over n0ne, Westballz, and KJH.
Free Palestine (#72) - One of the best Sheik players in the Midwest. Placed 3rd at We Need Some Space 2, 9th at Show Me Your Moves 20, and 25th at The Big House 9. Has wins on Zamu and Prince Abu.
HTwa (#94) - Co-mains Fox and Sheik. Placed 33rd at GENESIS 6 and 25th at both Shine 2019 and Pound 2019.
Mew2King (#10) - The second best Sheik player in the world and one of the Five Gods. Usually plays her for a matchup advantage.
Nut (#61) - Second best Sheik in SoCal. Placed 9th at Mainstage, 13th at GENESIS: BLACK, and 21st at Saving Mr. Lombardi 2. Has wins on S2J, Westballz, and Magi.
Plup (#8) - The best Sheik player in the world.
Shroomed (#30) - One of the best Sheik players in the world. Placed 9th at Smash 'N' Splash 5, 17th at Get On My Level 2019, and 7th at Battle of BC 3. Has wins over Ginger, ChuDat, and Lucky
Spark (#22) - One of the best Sheik players in the world. Placed 33rd at GENESIS 6, 25th at Smash 'N' Splash 5, and 4th at Smash Camp 2019. Has wins over Mang0, aMSa, and ARMY.
Swedish Delight (#18) - One of the most improved players in the world, thus became one of the best Sheik players in the world. Rapidly improving his combo and tech skill with her. Has taken a set off Armada.

Unranked

Android - The best Sheik player in Sweden. Usually teams with Armada.
Aza - Best Sheik in Mexico. Has wins on Redd, NMW, n0ne, and Eddy Mexico.
Borp - Known for having decent placings despite not using tech skill.
Captain Jack - Formerly one of the best Sheik players in the world as well as best player in Japan.
Darkatma - Sheik player from NorCal. Has wins on Drephen and Polish. Placed 17th at GENESIS 6, 25th at The Big House 9, and 33rd at GENESIS 7.
Fizz (Colorado) (HM) - The best active player in Colorado, ranked 1st on the Colorado Power Rankings, with set wins on Gahtzu and Albert. Placed 33rd at GENESIS 7.
JFlex - A strong Sheik main from the Tristate region, ranked 4th on the New Jersey Power Rankings and formerly ranked 95th on the 2016 SSBMRank.
Krudo (HM) - Currently ranked 2nd on the Central Florida Power Rankings, and has taken sets off Colbol and HugS. Placed 7th at CEO Dreamland 2020.

Inactive

Aniolas - Formerly one of the best Sheik players in Europe.
DieSuperFly - One of the best Sheik mains in the Golden Age of Melee; notably took a set off Ken.
DruggedFox - Mained Sheik before switching to Fox.
Flash - Was considered to be the best Sheik in Japan before his retirement. Most notably took sets off SFAT and Silent Wolf.
Ice - Mained Sheik before switching to Fox.
Isai - Played Sheik along with Captain Falcon before retiring to focus on Smash 64, mostly in doubles events.
KDJ - Triple-mained Sheik, Marth and Fox before retiring. Was one of the best players before the Brawl era.
KirbyKaze - The best Sheik player in Canada. Placed 3rd at Battle of BC 2, 9th at The Big House 6 and Super Smash Con 2017. Ranked 29th on the 2017 SSBMRank.
Laudandus - Formerly ranked 50th on the 2017 SSBMRank, he remains a strong local contender in Northern California when he appears at tournaments, although his attendance is sporadic and he rarely travels.
Lucien - A solid competitor during the Brawl era, though he was more well-known for his artistic contributions than his gameplay. Formerly ranked 86th on the 2014 SSBMRank.
OkamiBW - Formerly ranked 47th on the 2013 SSBMRank; a notable pioneer of shield dropping, particularly in Sheik's metagame.
Overtriforce (#55) - The best Sheik player in Spain. Placed 5th at Valhalla III, DreamHack Rotterdam, and Syndicate 2019. Has wins on S2J, Trif, and KJH. Has been permanently banned from tournament play.
Recipherus - The best Sheik in the 2002-2003 era.
Reno - Formerly ranked 83rd on the 2016 SSBMRank, he has become relatively inactive on the national scale, only attending GENESIS.
Tafokints - Formerly ranked 84th on the 2016 SSBMRank. He has since largely retired from serious competition, focusing on coaching and working closely with eSports sponsors such as Cloud9 and Counter Logic Gaming.

Tier placement and history

Sheik has always been a high/top tier character, similar to Fox and Falco. For the first five years of the Melee metagame, Sheik was considered the best character in the game, ranking at the top of every tier list up until the eighth (July 2006). Her chain throwing ability was considered especially powerful in the early metagame, and her ease of use allowed Sheik mains to succeed consistently, especially since counterplay to her options had not yet been popularized. In fact, at some points, players believed Sheik was so good that they contemplated banning her, although such a ban was never carried out. However, over time, competitive players slowly became privy to Sheik's weaknesses, leading to growing matchup problems that would continue to plague her players into the present day.

Sheik's dominance as a character was cut short with the discovery of the incredible potential of Fox and Falco. With these characters now perceived as having much higher skill caps while still being good against relevant top tiers, they took the top two spots while Sheik dropped to third place. With these developments in place and the growing skill of the playerbase, players soon found that Fox had an advantage over Sheik, as did the Ice Climbers, both of which were growing in prevalence in the metagame. Soon after, Mango and Hungrybox would take Jigglypuff to the next level, and reveal that it, too, was a very poor matchup for Sheik and possibly her worst. With three bad matchups at the top level to now deal with, which only grew more difficult as time passed, Sheik was no longer considered even a contender for the best in the game.

Other top-tiered character mains started improving their Sheik matchups as well (most notably Marth and Peach), causing less of an incentive for players to pick up Sheik just to deal with those characters. Due to this, and opinions on Marth improving further due to his better matchups against Fox and Falco, Sheik dropped to 4th in the twelfth and current tier list (as of December 2015). Although she has fallen from dominance, with some even arguing that she should be lower, Sheik remains one of the best and most consistent characters in the game. Players such as Plup and Swedish Delight continue to push her capabilities, incorporating shield dropping and more robust platform movement to keep up with the evolving metagame.

PAL viability

Like several other characters who would coincidentally become known to be top-tiered, Sheik was nerfed in the PAL version of Melee. Her up aerial was weakened, making it more of a juggling move than a KO move, and her down throw, which boasted a chaingrab on much of the cast in NTSC and gave Sheik follow-up options, now has a much more horizontal launch angle, removing those guaranteed chaingrabs and follow-ups. These changes make some of Sheik's winning matchups in NTSC much harder. For example, in NTSC, Sheik could KO Marth, Peach, and sometimes Jigglypuff reliably with down throw to forward or up aerial. In PAL, however, not only does down throw send those characters too far at KO percentages, up aerial is no longer a reliable KO move until much higher percents. Sheik must, however, still deal with Marth's range and more effective neutral game and Peach's edgeguarding and Vegetable projectiles.

Despite these nerfs, there were initially more Sheik professionals in PAL regions than in NTSC regions, namely Amsah, Aniolas, and others. Due to Sheik's nerfs, they adopted an even more defensive playstyle using primarily Needle Storm and forward aerial camping to find openings. These PAL Sheik players were very successful at that stage of the metagame, even moreso than NTSC Sheik players, arguably because they developed stronger fundamentals (with less of a reliance on grabs) to overcome their more difficult punish game. For nearly 5 years (March 2010 - March 2015), Sheik was ranked 2nd on the PAL tier list, higher than she was in NTSC during that time span. However, Sheik's shortcomings over other top-tiered characters became increasingly prevalent as the technical ceiling of Melee increased, and she is now ranked 5th on the PAL tier list instead. However, she still retains her powerful air game, punish game, and excellent combo ability despite her down throw nerf.

In single-player modes

In Classic Mode

Sheik's unused intro image.

Sheik herself can only be fought if the opponent is Zelda; animations left on the disc, however, suggest that she could have immediately began matches against the player, instead of having to wait for Zelda to transform.

In Adventure Mode

Sheik's sole appearance in the Adventure Mode is in the second portion of Stage 3, the Underground Maze. The player has to fight against Zelda on the Temple stage; Sheik can be fought if Zelda transforms.

In All-Star Mode

In All-Star Mode, Zelda/Sheik and her allies are fought on the Temple stage.

In Event Matches

Sheik is featured in the following event matches:

Event 9: Hide 'n' Sheik: The player is pitted against two Zeldas on Great Bay; to win, however, players have to wait for Zelda to transform into Sheik and then KO them. Upon getting KO'd as Sheik, the CPU will be removed from the game; KOs against Zelda, however, merely cause her to respawn as normal.
Event 15: Girl Power: The player, with two stocks, has to fight against Samus, Peach and Zelda, all of whom also have two stocks; the player, however, is tiny, and must KO all three, who are on the same team. Friendly fire is turned on in the match, easing it slightly for the player.
Event 20: All-Star Match 2:Zelda/Sheik is the third opponent the player must fight in this series of staged battles. Their character battles her on the Temple stage, and the player's character has 2 stock while Zelda/Sheik has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat her and the other four characters with the overall time and life they have: Samus, Link, Captain Falcon, and Fox.
Event 29: Triforce Gathering: The player plays as Link with Zelda as their partner, both of whom have one stock. They face Ganondorf on the Temple stage, who has two stock. Clearing the event allows the player to unlock Ganondorf.
Event 44: Mewtwo Strikes!: In this event, the player is initially placed on Battlefield, against Zelda. After fifteen seconds, however, Mewtwo appears on stage and will fight the player. The player's goal is to KO Mewtwo; while Zelda can be attacked, KOing her will result in failure.

Ending images

Sheik and Zelda share ending images for the one-player modes, as well as the same cinematic; clearing the mode with one also gives the player both of their trophies.

Classic Mode.
Adventure Mode.
All-Star mode.

Trophies

Sheik

This is Zelda's alter ego. Using a variation of the name of the ancient Sheikah tribe, she appears before Link and teaches him melodies instrumental to his success. It's believed that she's not just a quick-change artist, but rather that she is able to instantaneously alter her clothing and her eye and skin color by using her magical skills.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 11/98

Sheik [Smash]

Strategically switching between Zelda and Sheik is key. Compared to her Zelda form, Sheik is nimble and has gorgeous moves, but she lacks a strong knockout attack. The number of needles thrown in Needle Storm is based on how long you hold the B Button before releasing it. Use the Control Stick to wave the Chain after brandishing it.