Sheik (SSB4): Difference between revisions

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''. Few of her moves (Needle Storm, forward aerial, and her new down special, [[Bouncing Fish]]) give Sheik a better neutral game. The changes to hitstun cancelling also gives Sheik the ability to combo, said ability being lost in ''Brawl''. Finally, her KOing options are also slightly better, with her up smash getting increased power and due to her new down special.

However, she has suffered from a few nerfs. Her recovery has got a mix of buffs and nerfs, as the aforementioned Bouncing Fish allows for more recovery mix-ups, but also losing her [[Chain]] as a tether recovery. She has also lost the ability to utilize Zelda's superior up special, [[Farore's Wind]], and when combined with her faster falling speed has a harder time getting back on stage. She also 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 the most recent one removing much of her kill setups. As a result, Sheik has a very high technical learning curve, requiring precisions with using her aerial and tilts correctly, patience, very quick dexterity, and landing her KO moves efficiently.

Sheik has been heavily nerfed over time in game updates, in a similar vein to {{SSB4|Diddy Kong}}. Update [[1.0.4]] considerably weakened her up aerial and [[Bouncing Fish]], her strongest KO moves, and also weakened her [[neutral game]] by lowering the damage of forward aerial and increasing the ending lag of [[Needle Storm]]. Update [[1.0.6]] lowered the damage of down tilt and back aerial noticeably, with the latter losing its great KO potential as a result. Update [[1.1.0]] further reduced the damage of forward aerial, 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 3% later and reduced the explosion's 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 long-range 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 in the original version, with professionals such as ZeRo no longer considering her the best character in the game and having dropped her as a result, though despite the nerfs, she remains a dominant, perceivedly top-tier character.