Sheik (SSBM)

This article is about Sheik's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. For the character in other contexts, see Sheik and for information about Sheik's alter-ego, see Princess Zelda.

Sheik in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Alternate form	Zelda
Other playable appearances	in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Tier	S (3)

“	A mysterious warrior whose moves allow her to flow across battlefields.	”
—Description from Melee's manual.

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.

She used to be first on the Melee tier list until the eighth version of it, where Fox now currently takes the top spot. Sheik now ranks third on the tier list, in the S tier primarily due to her chain throw, excellent combos, a great finisher in her f-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, as well as a rather short but quick wavedash.

Attributes

Sheik falls into the character archetype of being incredibly fast, sacrificing a lot of KO power. Sheik generally follows this, with fast dash, high falling speed, and good jumping prowess. Sheik, however, has poor air speed and a rather high short hop. As a result of having high traction and a high falling speed, Sheik has a rather short wavedash.

Sheik is notable for having among the best comboing ability in the game, regardless of her low air speed. Her tilts come out fast and all send the opponents straight into the air; her smash attacks and dash attack also have this property. Sheik's throws also easily chain into combos, even with good DI on the opponent's part. Sheik's aerials are also powerful, with good hitstun, but generally have low duration, and low starting and ending lag, giving her many options in the air; due to her very fast dash and good jumping prowess, Sheik can also easily pursue other characters when they've been sent into the air. Sheik's general speed gives her fantastic options on the ground and in the air, making her approach fast and unpredictable.

Sheik also has one of the best projectiles in the game, Needle Storm; the needles are quick to charge, can travel quickly when thrown, and can cut through or stop most other projectiles in the game. Needles also have high hitstun and low knockback, making them good for distracting foes, and they can easily and effectively edgeguard characters.

Sheik's throwing game is possibly the best in the game. Her up throw can easily chain into other combos, and at high percentages, an almost guaranteed hit into her powerful up aerial attack, and her back and forward throws can easily set up edgeguards, due to their resulting trajectories. Sheik's down throw, however, is the most feared in all the game; in NTSC regions, it can chain into itself on almost every character in the game, allowing Sheik to be among few characters to have a zero-to-death combo ability against most of the cast.

Sheik's edgeguarding game is also among the best in the game. While she lacks a spike like Falco or Marth, Sheik's good jumping prowess and fast, powerful aerials give her amazing options off the edge; her forward air is particularly notable for this, and with a midair jump, the player can easily chain the move into itself. Sheik also has two sex kicks (her neutral and back air), as well as two vertical finishers (her up and down air) and one of the best semi-spikes in the game (her forward air), giving Sheik among the most varied aerial KO options in the game. Due to their low-lag and high power, all are of relatively low-risk to use off the edge.

Sheik, however, doesn't have a flawless approach; despite a high falling speed and very fast, low-lag aerials, Sheik suffers from a sub-par SHFFL, due to her high short hop.

Sheik also suffers from a 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. Sheik's fast falling speed and low air speed worsens Sheik's recovery. 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.

Unlike other high-tiered characters, Sheik also lacks a particularly powerful KO move, relying heavily on edgeguarding to garner KOs; Sheik's down and forward smashes are weak for an attack of their type, and her up smash is also weak when sourspotted. In most cases, she is reliant on her forward and up air to KO, and these require rather high percentages to do so. Sheik also lacks a spike or meteor smash of any type, making gimp KOs more difficult to perform.

PAL differences

Like other characters, Sheik has received some changes in the PAL version of Melee.

• Sweetspotted up smash deals 1% less damage.
• Up aerial no longer has KO potential; it deals 2% less damage and is weaker, making it more of a juggling/comboing-orientated move, rather than finisher.
• This makes it a much better combo attack.
• Down throw sends opponents on a more horizontal angle, meaning it has lost its ability to chaingrab, and it cannot followup with a smash or tilt any more (the only reliable followup option still possible is a dash attack).

Moveset

Sheik's aerial attacks

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

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Slicing Blade, Cutting Blade, Piercing Blade	3-4%	Two fast swipes with good jab cancel potential followed by a series of rapid jabs.
			3-4%
			1% per punch
Forward tilt		Wheel Kick	6%	A round kick in front of her. Short range, but launches the foe directly up leaving them open for aerial combos. Can be done repeatedly, and is very fast.
Up tilt		Bow Form	11% if both hits connect	Kicks up, and lets her leg down in an axe-like way. This attack is famous for its chainability against heavy characters such as her up tilt infinite on Bowser. First hit does 8%, second 3%.
Down tilt		Crouching Sweep	7%	A quick kick while crouching. Not particularly useful due to low range, but can disrupt attacks.
Dash attack		Gale Form	10%	Slashes with her arms to a stop. Excellent juggling due to little ending lag, sends opponents up and behind her.
Forward smash		Double Snake	4% then 12% uncharged, 6% then 19% fully charged	Kicks twice in front of her, has moderate knockback. Decent for racking up damage, but not exactly easy to land both hits at higher percentages.
Up smash		Razor Wing	13-19% (arms), 17-23% (tip, NTSC)/16-22% (tip, PAL)	Puts her arms above herself and violently separates them to her left and right. Incredibly powerful when sweetspotted, being among the most powerful in the game, 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.
Down smash		Windmill	13% uncharged, 17% fully charged	A long-ranged breakdance-like sweep with multiple hits, but low knockback and KO potential.
Neutral aerial		Falling Leaves	14%	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, but an fair is more reliable and stronger.
Forward aerial		Hatchet	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		Flying Swallow	14% (foot), 8% (otherwise)	A quick kick in behind her, good for edgeguarding. The sweetspot is located at the foot.
Up aerial		Vortex Form	12% (NTSC), 10% (PAL)	A spinning kick upwards with high vertical knockback and KO potential. In the PAL version, the attack's knockback is considerably reduced, making it a better attack for comboing.
Down aerial		Butcher Bird	9-11%	A downwards kick with long ending lag.
Grab			—
Pummel		Forearm	2% per pummel	Punches the opponent with her fist.
Forward throw		Battering Ram	8%	Launches her opponent forward with low horizontal knockback and hitstun.
Back throw		Backlash	7%	Kicks opponent behind her. Better knockback and hitstun than f-throw but otherwise weak, though it can force opponents offstage to set up edgeguards.
Up throw		Standing Crane	8%	Launches opponent above her. Excellent for an aerial-attack follow up, but due to low histun follow-ups are difficult.
Down throw		Guillotine	8%	Punches enemy to the ground, 8% damage. 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 in front and back of herself.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Gets up and kicks in front and back of herself.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			8%	Kicks back on the stage.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			8%	Slowly does a similar attack to her ledge attack below 100% damage.
Neutral special		Needle Storm	3% per needle, 18% maximum	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	1-5%	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.
Up special		Vanish	6-12%	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.
Down special		Transform	0%	Transforms into Zelda.

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. She generally has a large advantage against characters whom she can 0-death with her down throw chaingrab, including Bowser, Donkey Kong, Ganondorf, Link, Mr. Game & Watch, Ness, Pichu, Pikachu, Roy, Sheik, Yoshi and Young Link, most of whom she hard counters (obviously outside of Sheik due to it being a mirror match), with a few being solid countered due to having reliable approaching and spacing options, allowing them to avoid being grabbed easier. She has trouble the most against characters who can camp and avoid her approach options easily, most notably Fox, Jigglypuff, and Falco, as well as characters who can escape her down throw easily and lack the tools to escape powerful KO options, such as the Ice Climbers. Overall, Sheik wins against the majority of the characters in the game.

Notable players

See also: Category:Sheik professionals (SSBM)

Active

•  Amsah
•  Android
•  Azen
•  Darkatma
•  Flash
•  Ice
•  KirbyKaze
•  KoreanDJ
•  Lucien
•  McS33
•  Mew2King
•  Overtriforce
•  Plank
•  Reno
•  Shroomed
•  Swedish Delight
•  Walk

Inactive

•  Captain Jack
•  DieSuperFly

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. In fact, at some points, players believed Sheik was so good that they contemplated banning her. With the incredible potential of Fox and Falco eventually being realized, along with Marth and Jigglypuff rising up the tier list, Sheik dropped to third place in the high tier in the eighth tier list. However, she still remained around the third and fourth spots, and is still considered one of the best characters, being ranked third in the eleventh and current tier list (as of July 2013).

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.

Trophy information

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.

Game: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [11/98]

Smash Red

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.

Smash Blue

The best strategy to use when playing as Sheik is to let her flow from one powerful attack into another, like a river of quicksilver. Zelda has some techniques with more punch, however, so in one-on-one battles, use Transform as needed. Sheik only travels a short way when using Vanish, but the move comes with a small explosion that damages foes around her.

• 

  #239

• 

  #240

• 

  #241

Alternate costumes

Sheik's changeable clothing in Melee

Trivia

• Sheik's appearance in Melee marked the first time the character was playable in any game.
• Sheik is the only playable character in Melee not to appear on the character selection screen.
• Sheik is the only character to be ranked #1 on a tier list and then lose the title.
• Sheik's appearance in the Japanese version of Melee marks the first time a Legend of Zelda character expressed themselves with words. As seen in one of her victory poses.