Sheik (SSB4)

Sheik in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Light Arrow
Tier	S (4)

“	Sheik Appears on the Scene!	”
—Introduction Tagline

Sheik (シーク, Sheik) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Her return to the series was announced during a Super Smash Bros. Direct on April 8th, 2014. Jun Mizusawa reprises her role as Sheik's voice actor, albeit via recycled voice clips from Brawl.

Sheik is currently ranked 4th out of 58 on the tier list, placing her at the bottom of the S tier. This is a vast improvement over her mid-tier placement in Brawl, where she was ranked 25th out of 38. While not as overwhelmingly dominant as Meta Knight in Brawl, the sheer effectiveness of Sheik's moveset saw her almost universally perceived as the best character in the early metagame of SSB4. Sheik's extremely fast frame data grants her an excellent neutral game and a potent combo game, which are supplemented by Needle Storm and her improved grab game, respectively. Her KO potential has also improved: up aerial now consists of multiple hits and concludes with a very strong hit, while her new down special move, Bouncing Fish, deals respectable damage and has high knockback scaling. Lastly, the combination of Sheik's much faster air speed, Bouncing Fish's horizontal travel distance, and the removal of edge-hogging noticeably improves her recovery.

Although she has outstanding strengths, Sheik nevertheless has noticeable weaknesses. Her overall low damage output offsets the very high knockback scaling of her smash attacks and up aerial, which results in her KO potential being unimpressive at best. When coupled with her lack of set-ups at high percentages, Sheik is forced to rely on hard reads to properly score a KO. While rage alleviates her KO potential, it also offsets her combo game. By extension, Sheik cannot utilize rage because of her tall height and very light weight collectively rendering her endurance as unimpressive. Lastly, nerfs from game updates have further hindered her by decreasing her already light weight, worsening her forward aerial and grab game's combo potentials, and weakening up aerial and Bouncing Fish's KO potentials.

While Sheik's flaws have resulted in her losing her status as the highest ranked character in SSB4, she is still widely considered to be a very viable character in competitive play. This was especially evident with ZeRo achieving a 56-tournament winning streak while maining her.

Attributes

Sheik is a character that, as a ninja of sorts, fits the "hit-and-run" character archetype. One of Sheik's greatest strengths is her overall mobility, being among the best in the game both grounded and aerial, boasting the fifth fastest walking speed, eighth fastest dashing speed, above average traction, high air speed and air acceleration and the ninth fastest falling speed. She also has high gravity, which makes her mobility better, but leaves her more vulnerable to vertical knockback. However, she is the eleventh lightest character, which combined with her gravity, also makes her among the frailest characters in the game. Her crouch is also very low, making her difficult to hit when doing so. Sheik can also wall cling and crawl.

Aside from her excellent mobility, another of Sheik's greatest strengths is her nearly-unrivaled frame data. Her moves have generally negligible amounts of startup and endlag, making her extremely difficult to punish properly, and this is supplemented by the good range of her moveset. She also has an excellent projectile in Needle Storm, with the needles being fast, long-ranged (covers about half of Final Destination), transcendent, and causing hitstun. Coupled with her range, her needles give her a strong camping ability. Overall, her mobility, projectile game, range and frame data all combined form her greatest strength: her outstanding neutral game. She can play both defensively, by pressuring and zoning from afar without much trouble, or aggressively, with her fast attack speed giving her an unpredictable approach. Sheik can poke and pressure her opponents with her aerials and tilts, all of which are safe options. If they choose to drop shield, they are wide open to these attacks. At the same time, holding shield presents her with an opportunity to grab and use her throw setups.

Sheik's excellent frame data, combined with the low power of many of her moves, gives her among the best combo abilities in the game. Her throws can easily lead into other attacks, with her forward and down throws being particularly effective at starting combos, as they can set up long chains of forward aerials, with her up aerial and Bouncing Fish being useful combo finishers. Her combos are not limited to her air game; all of her tilts can start and extend combos since they send opponents into the air, and can confirm into aerials; her forward tilt particularly, can chain into itself at lower percentages, and has reliable follow-ups all the way into KO percents as well. Down tilt, while not chaining into itself as effectively, has even lower power, giving her access to KO confirms as well. She also boasts an effective jab cancel that leads into her tilts. With proper spacing and timing, she can even carry out pseudo-chain grabs.

All aspects of Sheik's moveset are solid overall. A sole few number of her aerial moves possess great versatility; forward aerial in particular, has little startup, decent ending lag, auto-cancels in a short hop fast fall, and has slightly disjointed range, making it an all-purpose move: it can be used to approach, pressure, combo and set up edgeguards. Neutral aerial is her fastest one, allowing her to break out of combos and finish or extend hers, notably into Bouncing Fish. Up aerial is her strongest one of her aerial moveset, and also sends opponents into a great angle for juggling, both of which give it good utility at both KOing and finishing combos. Her back aerial is her second strongest one, though due to its low damage output, it is overall best suited for edgeguarding and ending a combo. It also has the longest range of Sheik's aerials, and when fast-falled and sweetspotted (at the foot), it is even safer on shield than her forward aerial.

Outside of her Needle Storm, Sheik's special moveset also possesses good utility: her up special, Vanish, grants her invincibility and invisibility, making it hard for the opponent to predict where she will appear. It also has a hitbox on disappearance that is decently strong, and another one and a windbox when she reappers, making it nigh-impossible to punish. Meanwhile, her down special Bouncing Fish, is famous for being her primary KO move, being similar to Zero Suit Samus's Flip Jump on some regards, it deals good damage with high knockback scaling, has KO confirms on it from her neutral aerial (both clean and late), forward aerial and aerial Needle Storm, and is safe on shield if it hits. Both Vanish and Bouncing Fish also conform Sheik's last strength in her recovery, as they make it versatile and extendable, both of them and can be used in tandem with each other, and they are difficult and risky to intercept, as they both deal high knockback enough to interrupt an edge-guard. Combined with her wall jump, this makes Sheik hard to edge-guard or gimp, without disabling her midair jump, and enables her to reverse edge-guard effectively.

However, despite having immense strengths in several ways, Sheik still has notable flaws. The most notable of them is her frailty: despite her recovery being amazing, in a similar vein to Fox, her on-stage endurance is fairly weak, succumbing to strong enough blows, whereas her tall frame, high falling speed and gravity make her easy to combo despite her slender physique. This is further compounded by her poor damage output overall: despite her strong damage racking ability, she requires very long strings of attacks to deal the same amount of damage that super-heavyweight characters such as Bowser and Donkey Kong can inflict in noticeably fewer hits. While the low damage and power on her moves grant her an awesome combo game, Sheik also struggles to secure her opponent's stock. She has a few moves with high knockback, but she has difficulty landing them; her up smash has a powerful sweetspot on her arms as she rises them, but it is hard to land outside of a read or confirm, and is hampered by its much weaker sourspot as she lowers her arms. Her forward smash and her down smash are among the weakest smash attacks of their kind, and they have punishable endlag as well. In the air, she is limited to using her up aerial or Bouncing Fish to KO, and even then they must be relatively close to the blast lines for maximum effectiveness, since her other aerial attacks do not KO until 200% or more, and are otherwise only useful for edge-guarding and gimping characters with particularly weak or linear recoveries. Furthermore, her overall below average grab game has no throws that can KO reliably, and her aforementioned forward and down throws have too much knockback for truly reliable KO setups. With all of this working against her, it is not uncommon for her opponents to survive in excess of 150%. Lastly, the introduction to rage hinders Sheik: without rage, she often has trouble KOing, though as her rage increases, her comboing ability is slowly hindered, which when combined with her poor damage output, it can make bringing an opponent to KO percents difficult. Besides, this also brings opponents to a high level enough of rage to KO Sheik herself with a strong enough move.

Other weaknesses include a few moves that have very low utility, despite Sheik's moveset versatility. These include her down aerial, which is the slowest of her aerial moveset, has the highest landing lag and is a stall-then-fall, which give it the lowest utility of Sheik's aerial moveset despite it meteor smashing an opponent. Her smash attacks are difficult to land overall and outside of up smash, have little KO power. Lastly, Burst Grenade has a slow explosion, renders Sheik helpless if performed while airborne, and has only situational usage on edge-guarding predictable recoveries (such as Little Mac) and extending the damage of a hard punish.

Sheik benefits a good amount from her custom moves. Penetrating Needles only shoots three needles instead of six and has less range, but it deals extra shield damage, granting her a new pressuring option. Gravity Grenade loses the suction effect, but the grenade can be thrown much farther and pulls enemies towards Sheik, allowing multiple follow-up opportunities. Pisces, while having a much more shallow flip, removing her forward throw combo, gains more horizontal distance, is faster, has little lag if the follow-up attack is not executed, and is significantly stronger, being able to KO 59% earlier than the default Bouncing Fish. Her other custom moves, like Paralyzing Needle and Abyss, have slightly increased amounts of risk and reward for using them over their standard counterparts.

All in all, Sheik's strengths outweigh her weaknesses, and due to her big advantages, she has some of the highest tournament representation of any character in SSB4, with some of her mains such as Mr. R, VoiD, and Vinnie being considered to be among the best players in the world. However, her recent nerfs to her KO potential and range in 1.1.5 have slightly affected her standings and representation compared to other characters.

Changes from Brawl

Sheik has been buffed significantly from Brawl, which has allowed her to become a dominant character in competitive play as she was in Melee, only more so. Many of her attacks have been partially reverted or changed, giving Sheik many options back that she lost in Brawl. Her grab game has regained much of its utility: her grabs have overall less ending lag, forward throw sends at a better angle for follow-ups, and back throw has less ending lag. The changes to hitstun have helped restore her combo potential: her forward and down throws can set-up other moves more reliably, forward aerial combos more effectively with its higher launch angle, and up tilt has less ending lag. She benefits greatly from the reintroduction of pivoting, which improves her movement and allows her to extend combos with her tilts. Needle Storm has more knockback and travels faster, making it more effective for spacing. She now has better mobility: her walking, dashing, and especially air speeds are faster. The removal of edge-hogging, her much faster air speed, and her new down special have made her previously mediocre recovery among the best in the game. Her KO'ing ability has been slightly improved, thanks to the addition of Bouncing Fish and the increased knockback on her up smash and up aerial.

However, she has suffered from a few nerfs. She has lost her DACUS technique, which she relied on in the previous installment. On top of this, her already weak attacks deal even less damage, which forces players to rely on combos to rack up damage. Furthermore, the new rage mechanic also hurts her comboing ability while at mid-high percentages. Sheik has also been nerfed in several game patches, with update 1.1.5 removing many of her 50/50 KO mixups. As a result, Sheik has a very high technical learning curve, requiring precise use of her attacks and mobility in order to land her KO moves efficiently.

Despite these noticeable flaws, Sheik's buffs significantly overpower her nerfs, and she is a dominant force in the metagame with many high-placing tournament results on the national and international level, and prior to 1.1.5, she was regarded by many as the best character in the game.

Aesthetics

• Sheik retains the Twilight Princess-inspired design she had in Brawl, but now with a noticeably brighter color scheme due to SSB4's more vibrant aesthetics. However, she appears to be more muscular than her appearance in Brawl. This gives her a physique closer to the one she has Ocarina of Time, which was more masculine in appearance compared to the physique she has in her Twilight Princess concept art.
• Sheik has a new idle animation and two new idle poses.
• Sheik has a new victory pose. She now performs her forward tilt and then immediately performs her down smash. It replaces her contemplative victory pose.
• Due to the removal of Chain, side taunt's visual effects have changed. Sheik now brandishes the tripwire she uses for Burst Grenade.

Attributes

• Sheik is lighter (85 → 81). This makes her slightly less susceptible to combos, but hinders her endurance.
• Sheik walks faster (1.3 → 1.4).
• Sheik dashes faster (1.92 → 2.016).
• Sheik's air speed is faster (0.846 → 1.1).
• Sheik falls faster (1.58 → 1.75).
• Sheik's gravity is higher (0.1409 → 0.15).
• Item throw is weaker (0.896 → 0.866).
• Sheik is no longer connected to Zelda via Transform or character selection screen input. As a result, she can no longer access Zelda's significantly better KO potential to alleviate her own.

Ground attacks

• Neutral infinite now transitions into a finisher, a palm thrust.
• All tilts deal less damage (5% → 4% (forward), 6% (hit 1)/7% (hit 2) → 5%/6% (up), 8% → 5% (down)), although their knockback was compensated.
• Forward tilt has increased ending lag (frame 22 → 25).
• Forward tilt and up tilt's first hit's durations increased (frames 5-6 (both) → 5-8).
• Down tilt has improved combo potential at low percentages.
• Down tilt's duration is shorter (frames 5-8 → 5-6).
• Dash attack deals less damage (7% (clean)/5% (late) → 6.5%/4.5%).
• Forward and up smash attacks deal less damage (14% → 13% (forward), 17%/12% → 15%/11% (up)).
• Forward smash has increased knockback (50 (base)/100 (scaling) → 60/109).
• Forward smash now consists of one instead of two when using a battering item.
• Forward smash now uses a stab effect instead of a normal effect.
• Sweetspotted up smash has increased knockback scaling (82 → 86).
• The removal of DACUS significantly hinders up smash's approach potential.
• Due to consisting of two hits instead of three, down smash deals less damage (13% (hit 1)/10% (hits 2-3) → 3% (hit 1)/6% (hit 3)) and has increased start-up lag (frame 4 → 11).
• Down smash has increased ending lag (frame 49 → 55), decreased range, and no longer grants intangibility on Sheik's legs. Altogether, these changes significantly hinder its safety.

Aerial attacks

• Clean sweetspotted and clean sourspotted neutral aerial deal less damage (13% (clean sweetspot)/10% (clean sourspot) → 8%/7%), although their knockback was compensated. Neutral aerial also auto-cancels later (frame 25> → 31>).
• Due to consisting of a sweetspot and a sourspot instead of a consistent hitbox, forward aerial no longer deals consistent damage (9% → 5% (arm)/4.3% (body)). Additionally, its sourspot takes priority over its sweetspot. Lastly, it has decreased range.
• Due to its angle being altered (30° → 50°), forward aerial is no longer a semi-spike. This grants it combo potential at low to high percentages, but hinders its edge-guarding potential.
• Forward, up, and down aerials now use a slash effect instead of a normal effect.
• Forward aerial's angle animation has slightly changed. Sheik now lunges further inward.
• Back aerial deals less damage (12% (clean sweetspot)/11% (clean sourspot)/6% (late) → 8%/7%/5%), although its knockback was compensated. Additionally, it has increased landing lag (10 frames → 12). Lastly, late back aerial has a shorter duration (frames 7-17 → 7-14).
• Due to consisting of loop hitboxes instead of a clean hitbox and a late hitbox, up aerial no longer has sex kick properties (11% (clean)/6% (late) → 1% (hits 1-3)/4% (hit 4)).
• Up aerial has increased ending lag (frame 40 → 44). It also auto-cancels later (frame 30> → frame 47>) and can no longer auto-cancel with a short hop.
• Clean down aerial deals 2% less damage (10% → 8%), although its knockback was compensated. Down aerial also has increased landing lag (26 frames → 30).
• Down aerial received a landing hitbox that deals 2%. Due to its angle being altered, clean down aerial (280°) is now a meteor smash.
• Due to Sheik's faster falling speed, down aerial descends significantly faster. This improves its combo breaking ability, but significantly hinders its safety while off-stage.

Throws/other attacks

• Standing and dash grabs have decreased ending lag (frame 30 → 28 (standing), frame 40 → 35 (dash)).
• Dash and pivot grabs have increased start-up lag (frame 7 → 8 (dash), frame 8 → 9 (pivot)).
• Pummel deals 0.1% more damage (3% → 3.1%).
• Forward throw is faster and its angle has been altered (72°), improving its combo potential.
• Forward throw has increased knockback scaling (65 → 79), hindering its combo potential at high percentages.
• Back throw has decreased ending lag, improving its follow-up potential.
• Down throw's angle has been altered (77°). When coupled with the changes to hitstun canceling, this significantly improves its combo potential.

Special moves

• Needle Storm has increased knockback and travels significantly faster, improving its spacing potential. The reintroduction of pivoting also improves its mindgame potential.
• Needle Storm deals less total damage (18%/12% → 11%/7%) and takes slightly longer charged. It also has increased ending lag and decreased range.
• Sheik has a new side special, Burst Grenade. Sheik throws a grenade attached to a tripwire that can be detonated at will. Compared to Chain, Burst Grenade deals more damage and has significantly more knockback, making it capable of KOing. Unlike Chain, it has windboxes and does not have a set range, making it significantly better at edge-guarding.
• Unlike Chain, Burst Grenade cannot be freely maneuvered, or be used as a tether recovery, making it worse at spacing and unusable for recovery.
• Burst Grenade's explosion is absorbable.
• Vanish's disappearing hitbox deals 3% less damage (15% → 12%), hindering its KO potential.
• Vanish's reappearing windbox has received a hitbox that deals 5%, improving its safety.
• Vanish's explosion is now absorbable.
• Sheik has a new down special, Bouncing Fish. It is an acrobatic kick attack. Unlike Transform, it deals damage, has knockback and propels Sheik forward, making it capable of KOing and granting recovery.
• Light Arrow deals less damage (3% (hit 1)/45% (first opponent)/25% (third opponent) → 1%/44%/24%) and has decreased knockback, slightly hindering its KO potential.

Update history

Sheik has been heavily nerfed over time in game updates, in a similar vein to Diddy Kong. Update 1.0.4 considerably weakened her up aerial and Bouncing Fish, her most reliable KOing options, and weakened her neutral game by decreasing forward aerial's damage output and increasing Needle Storm's ending lag. Update 1.0.6 noticeably decreased down tilt and back aerial's damage outputs, which almost removed the latter's KO potential as a result. Update 1.1.0 further decreased forward aerial's damage output, as well as switching the priority of its hitboxes. Update 1.1.1 made Penetrating Needles less threatening to shields. Update 1.1.4 made Vanish KO 2% later and reduced the explosion's hitbox size. The most detrimental update, however, was 1.1.5: as of said update, Sheik is much more susceptible to early KOs as she is four units lighter, the range reduction of Needle Storm made her neutral game weaker, and her pivotal forward and down throws have increased knockback scaling and angle alterations which reduces their combo potential, and removes any semi-guaranteed KO set-ups without making them strong enough to KO at realistic percentages. The only buff she received was a very slight knockback increase to her down smash, which continues to be one of her least-used attacks regardless of the buff. Overall, Sheik is noticeably worse compared to how she was at the release of SBB4, with professionals such as ZeRo no longer considering her the best character in the game and having dropped her as a result. Despite these nerfs, Sheik has nevertheless managed to retain her status as a top-tier character throughout SSB4's lifespan.

1.0.4

• Forward aerial deals less damage (6.8% (sweetspot)/6% (sourspot) → 5.5%/4.8%), hindering its KO potential, as well as its combo potential at lower percents.
  • However, this also improves its combo potential at higher percents.
• Up aerial's loop hits hits now function properly, making it hit one less time, dealing less total damage as a result (8% → 7%).
• Up aerial's final hit has less knockback scaling (155 → 138), significantly hindering its KO potential.
• Needle Storm has more ending lag on the ground (FAF 41 → 47), hindering its safety and combo potential.
• Bouncing Fish deals less knockback (30 (base)/100 (scaling) → 26/90), hindering its KO potential.
• Bouncing Fish can no longer be edge-canceled.

1.0.6

• Down tilt deals 2.5% less damage: 7.5% → 5%.
• Clean sweetspot and clean sourspot back aerial deal less damage: 11% (clean sweetspot)/10% (clean sourspot) → 8%/7%, significantly hindering its KO and edge-guarding potential.

1.1.0

• Forward aerial deals less damage: 5.5% (sweetspot)/4.8% (sourspot) → 5%/4.3%, although its sweetspot's knockback was compensated: 125 → 132.
• Forward aerial's sourspot now takes priority over its sweetspot.

1.1.1

• Penetrating Needles deal less shield damage: 9 → 6.

1.1.4

• Weight slightly decreased: 85 → 84.
• Vanish's disappearance hitbox knockback scaling (104 → 102) and size are slightly decreased (14 → 13).

1.1.5

• Sheik is lighter (84 → 81).
• Sheik's max walk speed with heavy items is slower (0.896 → 0.866).
• Forward throw launches opponent's at a slightly higher angle (70° → 72°).
• Forward throw has more knockback scaling (65 → 79), hindering its combo potential at higher percents.
• Down throw has more knockback scaling (75 → 90) and launches opponents at a slighly lower angle (80° → 77°). This considerably hinders its combo potential at higher percents, notably heavily restricting her 50-50 KO set ups after a down throw.
• The sweetspot of forward aerial was brought closer to Sheik, reducing its range (z-offset: 3.5 → 2.5).
• Needle Storm's needles have a shorter duration (12 frames → 10), reducing their range by one sixth.
• The third hit of down smash has more knockback scaling (155 → 165), improving its KO potential.

Moveset

• Sheik can crawl and wall cling.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2%	An inward knifehand strike, followed by an outward knifehand strike, followed by a barrage of knifehand thrusts, followed by a palm thrust. The palm thrust has somewhat weak knockback and has high ending lag.
			3%
			0.8% (near loop), 0.6% (far loop), 3% (last)
Forward tilt			4%	A roundhouse kick. It launches the opponent in the air with low knockback. Easily combos into itself and other moves.
Up tilt			5% (hit 1), 6% (hit 2)	A stretch kick transitioned into an axe kick. The first hit has set knockback so it can be reliably followed up by the second hit. Commonly used to continue combos.
Down tilt			5%	A legsweep. Fairly low knockback, so it can be immediately followed by her neutral or forward aerial. The hitbox at Sheik's heel sends opponents flying straight upward, which can allow Sheik to KO with an up aerial at about 130%.
Dash attack			6.5% (clean), 4.5% (late)	Lunges to perform two outward fanning knifehand strikes. Has decent knockback.
Forward smash			5% (hit 1), 8% (hit 2)	A roundhouse kick followed by a spinning side kick. Moves her forward and the first hit has low set knockback, allowing it to followup into the second hit. It is the weakest forward smash in the game, KOing at 152%.
Up smash			15% (sweetspot), 11% (sourspot)	Raises her arms overhead and then quickly swings them downward to perform outward fanning knifehand strikes. Has a slash effect. The sweetspot is on her fingertips when her hands are overhead, whereas the sourspot is around her torso during the downswing. Sheik's arms and her head have intangibility when the hitboxes are present. The sweetspot KOs at roughly 110%, while the sourspot cannot KO reliably.
Down smash			3% (hit 1), 6% (hit 2)	A modified butterfly kick performed from the windmill, a breakdancing move. Hits twice with the last hit having moderate knockback, though not enough for KOing reliably, doing so at 160%. Using this move as a finisher is risky, as it has rather low range, shieldstun, and high ending lag, making her vulnerable to punishment.
Neutral aerial			8% (clean sweetspot), 7% (clean sourspot), 5% (late sweetspot), 4% (late sourspot)	A flying kick. It is a sex kick and is her fastest aerial (frame 3), good for breaking combos and functions as a great out of shield option. The strong hit can also combo into Bouncing Fish at mid percents. Its lingering hitbox is capable of covering Sheik's landing, catching opponents off-guard, and applying pressure against opponents that are attempting to aim their recovery to the ledge.
Forward aerial			5% (sweetspot), 4.3% (sourspot)	A lunging, downward knifehand strike. Has a slash effect. Arguably Sheik's most versatile move: it has fast start-up (frame 5), decent range, low landing lag, and a very generous auto-cancel window, making it highly effective in an SHFF. Its sweetspot is located on her arm, whereas its sourspot is located on her body. It can be used to approach, is safe when spaced well on shield, and due to its moderate knockback it is very good at comboing into itself multiple times and into grabs, tilts, neutral aerial, a reverse aerial rush back aerial, and even Bouncing Fish depending on percent and positioning, while being capable of KOing at 160% at the ledge. It is also a strong edge-guarding option thanks to its low lag and Sheik's reliable recovery.
Back aerial			8% (clean sweetspot), 7% (clean sourspot), 5% (late)	A high-angle back kick. It has weak knockback, being the seventh weakest back aerial when clean, but has large hitboxes. Can be used for a reverse aerial rush and is a decent edge-guarding tool fast start-up.
Up aerial			1% (hits 1-3), 4% (hit 4)	A diagonal, corkscrew flying kick. The first three hits have the autolink angle against aerial opponents, which allows all four hits to connect easily. The final hit has strong knockback and is a solid KO move at moderate damage percentages, depending on rage. It can combo out of down throw. Interestingly enough, the first three hits have a slash effect, while the finishing hit has a stab effect.
Down aerial			8% (descent), 2% (landing)	A diagonal flying kick. A stall-then-fall, it can meteor smash during the beginning, but it is hard to recover from because of the fast descent. Has high ending and landing lag, making it unsafe on shield. This move is considered to be Sheik's worst aerial, possibly her worst move, and is arguably the riskiest meteor smash in the game, as Sheik will likely get KO'd before her opponent. Thus, it is almost never used in competitive play.
Grab			—	Reaches out. Sheik's overall grab range is relatively short.
Pummel			3.1%	Hits opponent with her arm. Moderately slow, but tied with Palutena's pummel as the sixth most damaging in the game.
Forward throw			5% (hit 1), 2% (throw)	The tie shan kao, a technique used in Bajiquan. Can combo into a forward or up aerial, and Bouncing Fish until mid percentages against most characters, depending on DI, and a jump-cancel up smash on heavyweights and fast-falling characters. At high percent, depending on DI and without rage, it can lead to Bouncing Fish against opponents attempting to jump or air dodge as a semi-guaranteed KO set-up offstage.
Back throw			5% (hit 1), 2% (throw)	Throws opponent behind herself and performs a mid-level side kick. Can potentially follow up with aerials or Bouncing Fish.
Up throw			3% (hit 1), 2% (throw)	A handstand kick. Due to it having high base knockback and high ending lag, it has no guaranteed follow-ups until high percentages, and is her overall least useful throw.
Down throw			3% (hit 1), 3% (throw)	Throws the opponent onto the ground and then performs an axe kick. It launches the opponent up into the air and can combo into any aerial (except down aerial) depending on opponent's DI until high percents, where opponents fly too high for her to followup. This is also her strongest throw, but does not KO until 305%.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Kneels, then punches forwards and backwards.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Kicks her feet over her head.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Spins while kicking in front and then behind her.
Edge attack Edge getups			7%	Pulls herself up and kicks both legs forward along the ground.
Neutral special	Default	Needle Storm	1.9% (near), 1.2% (far)	Accumulates up to six needles that can be stored and/or thrown immediately or later. If thrown in the air, the needles travel at approximately a 45 degree angle. One of Sheik's best options for camping/zoning, as it can nullify approaches and has transcendent priority.
	Custom 1	Penetrating Needles	2.2% (near), 1.6% (far)	The needles travel through multiple opponents with an electric effect. Deals extra damage to shields. However, it travels a shorter distance and can only be charged to three needles.
	Custom 2	Paralyzing Needle	1%	A single needle that can stun an opponent. The higher the opponents damage, the longer they are stunned. However, it has significant ending lag along with less range than normal.
Side special	Default	Burst Grenade	1% (hit), 1% (pull), 12% (explosion)	Throws a grenade attached to a tripwire. On detonation, it creates a small area that pulls opponents towards it, then explodes. The detonation can be delayed a second by holding the special attack button. The grenade can be thrown a further distance when Sheik is in the air or when thrown over an edge. If Sheik is attacked before the grenade explodes, it will become an item for anyone to use. Sheik will fall into a helpless state if it is used in the air and uninterrupted.
	Custom 1	Gravity Grenade	3.58%	Upon detonation, the grenade does not pull enemies into it and the explosion has a smaller radius, but the explosion knocks opponents towards Sheik, allowing multiple follow-up options like gimps or an up smash.
	Custom 2	Skimming Grenade	2% (hits 1-3), 4.6% (explosion)	The grenade bounces on the ground with a time delay before exploding. Despite what the in-game description states, however, it deals the same damage regardless of how long it takes to explode.
Up special	Default	Vanish	12% (vanish), 5% (reappear)	After a short delay, Sheik destroys a Deku Nut in order to vanish via a small explosion, before reappearing nearby in a controlled direction. The vanish hitbox has high knockback, able to KO at high percentages. The reappearance hitbox has much weaker, set knockback, but can push shielded opponents who are in the location that Sheik reappears in. Sheik has intangibility before disappearing and a bit after reappearing. Reappearing near a ledge puts her helpless, though self-destructing with the move is hard due to her grabbing the ledge the moment she enters helplessness. Due to a glitch, holding a direction and then using the move right after suffering knockback also gives her a boost on the chosen direction.
	Custom 1	Gale	—	Sheik vanishes and reappears faster while traveling farther, with the loss of a vanishing and reappearing hitbox. It gives more momentum, meaning that reappearing near a ledge puts her helpless and cannot recover like the normal variant.
	Custom 2	Abyss	5% (vanish), 4% (travel)	The move meteor smashes for the entire duration of the vanish. However, the distance traveled is shorter, her pathway during it is visible and there is no longer a short vertical movement before vanishing.
Down special	Default	Bouncing Fish	12%	Flips forward a moderate distance and kicks the opponent. If her feet connect with an opponent, she will flip back a small distance and land on her feet. She can kick up to three times if the preceding kicks connect. Upon a miss, she lands on her back and stands up. Strong knockback and one of her best KO moves. Also drastically improves her off-stage recovery as her up special can be used immediately afterwards. Can be executed sooner by hitting the button again and gains more distance if the control stick is held in whatever direction Sheik is facing. Has intangibility on startup. It KOs at 165%, though due to its high scaling, it is easier to do so near a ledge.
	Custom 1	Jellyfish	8% (grounded opponents), 10.5% (aerial opponents)	Sheik's flip is more vertical, traveling a shorter horizontal distance. Grounded opponents are launched diagonally upwards with set knockback in order to ensure that the opponent can be hit the second time, said kick being significantly more powerful on aerial opponents. She can kick up to two times if the preceding kick connects.
	Custom 2	Pisces	15.5%	Sheik's flip is faster and more shallow, which requires pressing the attack button in order to kick if the attack is used while standing on the ground. If the hit lands, she will flip a short distance forward and will launch opponents backwards while dealing more knockback. It cannot be used more than once before landing on the ground. If it hits, she can control her movement. Has little to no lag if the button is not pressed. KOs at 106%.
Final Smash		Light Arrow	1% (hit 1), 44% (first opponent), 33% (second opponent), 24% (third opponent)	Wields Zelda's Bow and fires a Light Arrow forward. It can strike multiple opponents, but the damage decreases for each successive target. Has very high knockback.

On-screen appearance

• Appears from a Deku Nut's explosion while briefly emanating blue wisps.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Performs the pike, a breakdancing move.
• Side taunt: Brandishes the tripwire she uses for Burst Grenade.
• Down taunt: Performs a threatening ninja pose with her right arm in front of her face.

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle poses

• Moves her hand in front of her face, then quickly moves it back down.
• Turns around and balances on one leg.

Crowd cheer

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

Victory poses

An orchestral remix of Get Triforce Fanfare, the theme that plays when Link obtains a Triforce Piece in The Legend of Zelda and has since become the main theme of The Legend of Zelda series.

• Uses Needle Storm, then stands up while rearing back her right hand.
• Uses her forward tilt and then her down smash.
• Performs the fumikomi, a stomp-style kick in karate, followed by a side kick while exhaling loudly.

In competitive play

Official Custom Moveset Project

Character	Custom sets available
Sheik	2211	2111	1211	2311	1311
	1213	3213	2212	2312	2231

Notable players

Active

•  ANTi - A master of diversity. Has a very strong Sheik secondary.
•  Cacogen - Best Sheik in Washington, 3rd at 2GGT: Fatality Saga, 17th at GENESIS 3.
•  Eim - 1st at Tohoku University Smash 4 Festival.
•  False - A dual Marth and Sheik main. 13th at EVO 2015, 7th at CEO 2016.
•  K9sbruce - One of the best Sheiks in SoCal, also began dualmaining Diddy Kong in Q4 2016 along with Sheik. With Sheik, 5th at Sandstorm, 25th at Apex 2015, 9th at Final Battle, 33rd at EVO 2015.
•  Kameme - Dual mains Sheik with Mega Man, most notably beating MkLeo with Sheik.
•  Karna - Best Sheik in DFW, ranked 1st on the DFW Smash 4 Power Rankings. 7th at Low Tier City 3, 5th at Aftershock 2016.
•  Mr. R - The undisputed best player in Europe and one of the two best Sheik mains in the world. 5th at CEO 2016, 3rd at Super Smash Con 2016, 1st at Syndicate 2016, 4th at The Big House 6, 1st at Eclipse 2.
•  Nietono - Highest ranked Sheik on the JAPAN Power Rankings. Ranked 36th worldwide and 17th in Japan.
•  Nyanko - 4th at Umebura 15, 9th at Umebura 23.
•  Puppeh - A prodigy who is currently ranked 5th in the MD/VA Smash 4 Power Rankings. 9th at Glitch, 4th at Paradigm Shift, 7th at Glitch 2.
•  Saiki - Arizona Sheik main. 17th at 2GGT: FOW Saga, 5th at LVL UP EXPO 2016, 2nd at Rewired 2016.
•  Strike - Top Canadian Sheik, ranked 1st in Manitoba.
•  Trevonte - One of the best players in NorCal. 4th at Clutch City Clash.
•  Vinnie - The best Sheik in Tristate. Is also the second person to have taken a set off of ZeRo. 5th at MomoCon 2016, 9th at EVO 2016, 1st at Revelation 2016.
•  VoiD - One of the two best players in SoCal and one of the two best active Sheik mains. 4th at EVO 2016, 4th at Super Smash Con 2016, 5th at The Big House 6.
•  Yoh - Top Canadian Sheik, ranked 3rd in Ontario behind Blacktwins and Mistake. Plays both Sheik and Diddy Kong. 5th at Canada Cup 2016 and 17th at GOML 2016.

Inactive

•  Edge - Now primarily a Diddy Kong main, but was one of the best Japanese Sheiks. With Sheik, 3rd at Sumabato 8, 13th at Sumabato 13.
•  RAIN - Used to main Sheik before dropping her for Cloud. With Sheik, 1st at Umebura 14, Umebura 15, and Umebura 16, 9th at EVO 2015, 25th at GENESIS 3, 17th at SHIG Tournament.
•  ZeRo - Widely considered to be the best Sheik player in the world before mostly dropping her, only still using her in specific matchups (ex. Luigi), and was ranked on several Power Rankings, including 1st on the Panda Global SSB4 Rankings. Held a 56-tournament win streak with Sheik as one of his mains.

Tier placement and history

Sheik has always been perceived as a top-tier character since the game's release, which was eventually reflected in her ranking at the very top of the first official 4BR tier list, with the previous nerfs to Rosalina & Luma and Diddy Kong paving the way for Sheik to be considered the near-indisputable best character in the game, in a similar manner to Meta Knight in Brawl and Fox in Melee. Players noticed her fantastic frame data, the ability to control the neutral game by spacing effectively with her forward aerial and camp with needles, extensive combo ability that allowed her to rack up damage quickly and efficiently, dominant offstage game, and reliable KO set-ups off of low-committal grab set-ups. This led most players to believe she lacked losing match-ups and had only a handful that were arguably even. As expected, Sheik's position was cemented by a stellar playerbase that included highly talented players such as ZeRo, Mr. R, VoiD, K9sbruce and RAIN, among others, all of whom achieved great results with the character on a consistent basis.

However, Sheik's overwhelming dominance took a blow with patches 1.1.4 and 1.1.5, which removed her most reliable KO set-ups, worsened her survivability, and weakened her camping ability. As a result, her most notable player, ZeRo, eventually dropped her, and others such as VoiD and K9sbruce have been using secondaries more often. Despite her heavy nerfs, Sheik's neutral, combo, and offstage games are still among the best, allowing her to continue to gain strong results and remain a top-tier character, with her placing 3rd and 4th on the second and third version of the tier list respectively, remaining on the S tier.

Trophies

Sheik

In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Sheik claimed to be a surviving Sheikah. However, this was just a cunning disguise for Princess Zelda so that she could escape Ganondorf. In Smash Bros., she's the complete opposite of Zelda, striking with fast attacks that can keep an opponent off balance.

Sheik is introduced in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the "survivor of the Sheikah", although it turns out to be Zelda, who took on the disguise to hide from Ganondorf. Sheik's ninja-like speed is a real contrast with Zelda's, and it allows for sneaky, fast-paced attacks that overwhelm opponents before they can even react.

: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (11/1998)

: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (06/2011)

Sheik (Alt.)

Sheik's Burst Grenade side special throws a small grenade that draws in nearby fighters before exploding. Once the button has been released, it'll hop or explode after a time. The down special Bouncing Fish is an attack where Sheik strikes with both heels, falling similarly to the way a fish might flop around.

Sheik's Burst Grenade side special throws a small grenade that draws in nearby fighters, then explodes. Hold the button longer to thrown it further. The down special Bouncing Fish is a fish-like flop forwards that has Sheik attack with both heels on the way down. If the move connects, Sheik will bounce back up into the air.

: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (11/1998)

: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (06/2011)

Light Arrow (Sheik)

Sheik's Final Smash uses a gigantic bow to fire a Light Arrow across the screen. If multiple foes are in its path, it will strike them all, ignoring shields like they're not even there. Sheik's Light Arrow is more damaging than Zelda's and it launches its victims at a lower angle.

Sheik's Final Smash uses a gigantic bow to fire a Light Arrow across the screen. If multiple foes are in its path, it will strike them all, even penetrating straight through their shields. Sheik's Light Arrow is more powerful than Zelda's and it launches its targets at a more shallow angle.

• 

  Classic (3DS)

• SheikAllStarTrophy3DS.png

  Alt. (3DS)

• 

  Classic (Wii U)

• 

  Alt. (Wii U)

• 

  Light Arrow

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• All-Star Battle: Melee: Sheik is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents debut in Melee, and reappear in Smash 4.
• Aura Mastery: The player, as Lucario, must defeat an invisible Sheik and Wii Fit Trainer.
• Identity Crisis: Sheik must defeat Samus. After defeating her, the player must defeat Zero Suit Samus. If Sheik gets knocked out, then Zelda will appear.

Co-op Events

• The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Sheik's introduction picture.

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  Sheik's amiibo.

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  A pose.

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  In the air.

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  Throwing an attack at Samus.

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  Burst Grenade.

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  Neutral aerial.

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  A face closeup.

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  With Navi.

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  A pose.

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  Back-to-back with Zelda in the 3DS version.

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  Charging up smash.

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  Charging Needle Storm midair.

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  Attacking Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong.

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  Posing.

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  Attacking Little Mac.

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  Charging up Needle Storm.

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  Bouncing Fish against Mario.

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  Burst Grenade.

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  Back-to-back with Zelda in the Wii U version.

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  Sheik attacking Samus.

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  Sheik and Wii Fit Trainer attacking Mega Man.

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  Sheik attacking Marth.

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  Jumping.

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  Sheik and Greninja.

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  Sheik and Little Mac.

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  Sheik fighting Toon Link.

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  Down taunt.

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  Little Mac attacking Sheik.

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  Sheik slipping on a banana peel.

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  Sheik and Toon Link.

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  Sheik running from Little Mac.

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  Jumping.

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  Side taunt.

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  Sheik and Olimar.

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  Toon Link holding a bomb in front of Sheik.

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  Sheik posing with Wii Fit Trainer.

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  Sheik and Olimar.

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  In the air.

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  On the 3DS Version.

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  Sheik and Yoshi.

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  Sheik and Charizard.

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  Sheik and Lucario.

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  Sheik and Little Mac.

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  Sheik charging Needle Storm.

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  Neutral air attack.

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  Jumping over Mario and Luigi.

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  Sheik on Yoshi's back.

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  Using the Burst Grenade.

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  Jumping in the Prism Tower stage.

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  Above a shark in the Tortimer Island stage.

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  Sheik and Zelda.

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  Sheik about to attack Mario, Samus and Donkey Kong.

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  In the air.

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  Above Olimar.

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  Neutral air attack.

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  Sheik and Pikachu.

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  Sheik and Toon Link.

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  Sheik with Charizard and Pikachu.

Trivia

• Although Sheik has a new idle animation, she will revert to her previous one if holding a light item. She shares this trait with Yoshi, Dr. Mario, and Roy.
• Sheik is the only Legend of Zelda character that can crawl or wall cling.
• Sheik is currently the only character in the Smash Bros. series to have been at the very top of the tier list in two different games, with her position in the first SSB4 tier list, and on earlier iterations of Melee's tier list.
• Sheik is the first and currently only character to have her weight changed twice in updates.