Sheik (SSBU)

Sheik in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Sheikah Dance

“	Now Sheik joins the battle wearing the Sheikah costume from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Keep the pressure on your opponent by using his [sic] speedy dash to quickly close in on (or get away from) your opponent!	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Sheik (シーク, Sheik) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. She was officially confirmed on June 12th, 2018 alongside Zelda and the rest of the returning roster. Sheik is classified as fighter #16.

Sheik is now voiced by Ayumi Fujimura, who voices her alter-ego in both The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Ultimate.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Sheik being the 47th character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Donkey Kong or any character in his unlock tree, being the fifth character unlocked after King Dedede.
• Have Sheik join the player's party in World of Light.

Sheik must then be defeated on Gerudo Valley for the first two methods or Final Destination for the third method.

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. She also has high gravity, which makes her mobility better, but leaves her more vulnerable to vertical knockback. Her crouch is also very low, making her difficult to hit when doing so. Sheik can also wall cling and crawl. However, she is one of the lightest characters in the game, which when coupled with her gravity and tall height, these traits collectively make her very susceptible to combos and KO's, thus giving her very frail survivability overall.

Aside from her excellent mobility, another one of Sheik's greatest strengths is her extremely quick frame data. Her moves have generally negligible amounts of startup and ending lag, making her extremely difficult to punish properly; this is supplemented by the good range of her moveset. She also has an excellent projectile in Needle Storm, with the needles charging and travelling fast, being long-ranged (covers about half of Final Destination), possessing transcendent priority, 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 set-ups.

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, has reliable follow-ups all the way into KO percents. Down tilt, while not chaining into itself as effectively, has even lower power, giving her access to KO confirms as well.

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 edge-guards. Her back aerial is also versatile to an extent, as it can be used to extend or finish combos. When sweetspotted (at the foot), it can KO at high percents near the ledge and is even safer on shield than her forward aerial. Neutral aerial is her fastest one, allowing her to break out of combos and extend or finish hers, notably into Bouncing Fish. Up aerial is her strongest aerial, and also sends opponents into a great angle for juggling, both of which give it good utility at both KO'ing and finishing combos.

Outside of her Needle Storm, Sheik's special moveset also possesses good utility: her up special, Vanish, grants her intangibility 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 reappears, making it difficult to punish. Meanwhile, her down special Bouncing Fish, is famous for being her primary KO move, being similar to Flip Jump on some regards: it deals good damage with high knockback scaling, can finish combos from her neutral aerial, forward aerial, and aerial Needle Storm, and is safe on shield if it hits. Bouncing Fish can let you bounce on multiple players in a single move, although this is very rare in normal gameplay. 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, Sheik has polarizing 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 very weak due to her very light weight (being lighter than characters such as Kirby), succumbing to even decently strong blows, whereas her above average height, high falling speed and gravity make her easy to combo. This is further compounded by her notoriously poor damage output overall: despite her strong damage racking ability, she requires extremely long strings of attacks just to deal the same amount of damage that the vast majority of the cast can inflict in noticeably far 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 first hit 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 second hit 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 ending lag as well, while Vanish's hitbox when Sheik disappears is hard to land. In the air, she is limited to using her up aerial, back aerial, or Bouncing Fish to KO, and even then, the former two require to be used close to the blast lines due to their relatively weak knockback, forcing her to rely too much on up smash and Bouncing Fish to score a KO. Furthermore, her aerial KO setups are difficult to pull off due to Ultimate's faster launch physics, re-addition of directional air-dodges, and the weakening of her neutral aerial's combo potential. Her other aerials are otherwise only useful for edge-guarding and gimping characters with particularly weak or linear recoveries due to their abysmal KO power or sacrificial use. Furthermore, her overall below average grab game has no throws that can KO at realistic percents, and her aforementioned forward and down throws have too much knockback for truly reliable KO set-ups. With all of this working against her, it is not uncommon for her opponents to survive in excess of 150%. Lastly, the rage mechanic hinders Sheik: without rage, she often has trouble KO'ing, though as her rage increases, her combo game slowly dwindles, which when combined with her poor damage output, it can make bringing an opponent to KO percents difficult. Additionally, this brings opponents to a high level of rage enough to KO Sheik herself.

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, giving 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 is powerful but has a slow explosion, which limits it to situational usage on edge-guarding predictable recoveries, extending the damage of a hard punish, or a situational mix-up to deter edgeguarders.

Altogether, Sheik's strengths are arguably outweighed by her flaws. While she has an outstanding neutral game owing to her excellent frame data and mobility, these traits are overall unrewarding due to her very frail survivability, abysmal damage output, and inconsistency at KOing. Her strengths are further overshadowed by the vastly buffed mobility, frame data, damage outputs, and combo and KO potential of many returning veterans and newcomers. As a result, many top players have a poor view on Sheik's viability, with her tournament representation matching her perception due to her playerbase from Smash 4 largely dropping her.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Like most top-tier characters, Sheik in Smash 4 was considered one of the most potent characters (and the best character in the middle of the game's lifetime), due to her nearly uncontested neutral game. Sheik went on to receive the most nerfs from game updates, and while they did somewhat reduce her effectiveness, she remained a top tier character. Possibly as a result, Sheik has been noticeably nerfed overall.

Sheik's most notable nerfs are to her already weak damage output and poor survivability. Her main combo moves like her tilts, neutral aerial and forward aerial, in addition to Needle Storm and Bouncing Fish, all deal less damage. This requires her to string even more hits in order to rack up notable amounts of damage, exacerbated by her lack of KO ability. Furthermore, Ultimate's faster launch physics, jostling mechanics (which prevents cross-ups and instead pushes opponents away), and re-addition of directional air dodges hinder many of Sheik's combo strings and KO setups. Although the weakening of rage slightly improves her survivability and combo consistency, this is offset by her weight being decreased to the point of being lighter than characters such as Kirby, making her the 6th lightest character Lastly, while Sheik does benefit from the universally faster jumpsquats and lower landing lag like the rest of the cast, the universal changes have overall indirectly nerfed her, as she already had the overall fastest frame data in Smash 4, and most other characters have received more significant buffs in those aspects, allowing more characters to keep up with her.

However, Sheik did receive some buffs besides the universal changes. Her rapid jab connects more reliably and its finisher has less ending lag, making it more effective for damage racking despite its individual hits dealing less damage. Her up tilt, down tilt and Needle Storm (especially the aerial version) also have less ending lag, improving their combo potential. Her generally least used moves in Smash 4 such as her dash attack, down smash, down aerial, and up throw deal more damage; while forward smash and down smash's hits connect better, and up smash's first hit has more range. Burst Grenade has less ending lag and no longer causes helplessness, while Vanish grants more intangibility when used on the ground. Most notably, her back aerial deals more damage and knockback, improving its previously lacking KO potential when sweetspotted (though it is still a relatively weak aerial) and her pummel has gone from one of the slowest to one of the fastest, allowing it to be used more safely.

Overall, Sheik's nerfs outweigh her buffs, as the former have exacerbated her main flaws, while the latter were not significant enough to compensate, making her worse than her Smash 4 iteration. Her overall perception has been extremely negative, with many top players such as ZeRo, ESAM, MkLeo and Dabuz have claimed that she is not a viable character, since she has to work notoriously harder to rack up damage and score KOs than the vast majority of the cast. As such, her current representation in Ultimate has been poor, with many notable players such as Vinnie, Mr. R and VoiD dropping her in favor of other characters. While she did receive some improvements in Patch 3.0, including a new kill confirm, they did very little to address her minimal damage output. Despite this, VoiD has done well with her as a secondary in tournaments. For now, Sheik's viability remains questionable.

Aesthetics

• Sheik's design is now based on the Sheikah Set from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, including the long white scarf of the Stealth Mask. Her color scheme is also more subdue, and her hair features simple detailing similar to Brawl.
• Sheik is more vocal. She now vocalizes when using Vanish and Bouncing Fish.
• Up taunt no longer has Sheik do a flip to rebound.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Sheik's jumpsquat animation takes 3 frames to complete (down from 4).
• Sheik's initial dash speed (1.7 → 2.178) and run speed (2.016 → 2.42) are faster.
• Sheik's air speed is slightly faster (1.1 → 1.155).
• Sheik's weight has been decreased (81 → 78), now being lighter than Kirby. This further worsens her endurance, but makes her less susceptible to combos.
• Sheik's traction is higher (0.06 → 0.106).
• Forward roll has less ending lag (FAF 28 → 27).
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-15 → 4-12).
• Back roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-15 → 4-14) and has more ending lag (FAF 28 → 33).
• Spot dodge has less ending lag (FAF 25 → 24).
• Spot dodge has more startup and grants less intangibility (frames 2-15 → 3-14).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 2-25 → 2-26).
• Air dodge has significantly more ending lag (FAF 31 → 45).
• The removal of perfect pivoting hinders her ground mobility, worsens Needle Storm's mindgame potential, and worsens her ability to extend combos.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first and second hits have altered angles (70° → 361°/180° (hit 1), 361° (hit 2)) and knockback (10 base/100 scaling → 35/30/20 base/30/30/15 scaling (hit 1), 20 base/40 scaling → 35/25 base/25/20 scaling (hit 2)) to keep opponents close to Sheik, akin to other neutral attacks.
    • This allows them to connect better and jab lock.
    • However, this worsens Sheik's guaranteed jab cancel setups, which played a large part in the utility of her neutral attack in Smash 4.
  • The neutral infinite has less startup lag (frame 9 → 5), a consistent angle (50°/60°/70° → 361°), a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.5×) and SDI multiplier (1× → 0.4×), and deals less knockback (14 base/20 scaling → 12/15) while inflicting 2 additional frames of hitstun per hit. This vastly improves its linking capabilities, making it much more reliable overall.
  • The neutral infinite's finisher has significantly less ending lag (FAF 53 → 36), no longer being the slowest in the game.
  • All hits except the first deal less damage (3% → 1.6% (hit 2), 0.8%/0.6% → 0.3% (infinite), 3% → 2% (finisher)), with knockback scaling not fully compensated on the finisher (115 → 132), slightly reducing its already lacking KO potential.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt deals less damage (4% → 3%), with knockback scaling compensated (158/165 → 180/188).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less ending lag (FAF 36 → 33).
  • The second hit has less startup lag (frame 19 → 17), allowing it to connect better from the first hit.
  • Both hits deal less damage (5% → 3% (hit 1), 6% → 4% (hit 2)) with knockback on the second hit compensated.
    • However, the second hit's knockback was not fully compensated (20 base/125 scaling → 25/147), allowing it to combo for longer.
  • Due to the changes to jostle mechanics, the first hit is harder to connect against grounded opponents.
  • Up tilt has an altered animation where Sheik's heel hits the ground, bearing a closer resemblance Samus's up tilt.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt has less ending lag (FAF 30 → 27), improving its combo potential.
  • It deals less damage (5% → 4.5%). However, this also allows it to combo for longer.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has less ending lag (FAF 41 → 35).
  • It deals slightly more damage (6.5% → 7% (clean), 4.5% → 5% (late)) with no compensation on knockback, improving its KO potential.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash's second hit has less startup lag (frame 26 → 20), allowing it to connect better from the first hit, with the move's total duration reduced as well (FAF 51 → 45).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash's first hit deals slightly more knockback (50 base/86 scaling → 52/88).
  • The first hit has a marginally larger hitbox (6u → 6.1u).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 55 → 52).
  • The first hit deals more damage (3% → 4%).
  • The first hit has received an additional hitbox that launches opponents more inward (140° → 200°), allowing it to connect better into the second hit.
  • The second hit launches at a lower angle (48° → 43°), improving its edgeguarding and KO potential.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (10 frames → 6 (neutral), 10 → 5 (forward), 12 → 7 (back), 21 → 13 (up), 30 → 22 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial deals less damage (8%/7% → 6%/5% (clean), 5%/4% → 4%/3% (late)), with only base knockback compensated (20 → 30), hindering its KO potential while not improving its combo potential.
• Forward aerial:
  • Sheik can grab ledges faster after using forward aerial (88 frames → 59).
  • It deals less knockback (40 base/132 scaling → 44/43 base/127 scaling), improving its combo potential.
  • It has more range after the first active frame (Y offset: 0 → -0.5/-1, Z offset: 0 → 1/1.5).
  • It deals less damage (4.3%/5% → 3.8%/4.5%), being the least damaging forward aerial in the game.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial deals more damage (7%/8% → 7.5%/9.5% (clean), 5% → 6% (late)), with knockback only minimally compensated on the clean hit (30 base/100 scaling → 32/30 base/98 scaling), improving its KO potential.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 47 → 44).
  • The looping hits have a lower hitlag multiplier (1.3× → 0.7×), making them harder to SDI out of.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial deals more damage (8% → 10%), with knockback not compensated on the clean hit, increasing the meteor smash's power.
  • The late hit launches at a lower angle (70° → 56°), and has more base knockback (30 → 55), but less knockback scaling (105 → 78), decreasing its KO potential overall.
  • The landing hit launches at a higher angle (40° → 48°), and has more base knockback (40 → 77), but significantly less knockback scaling (150 → 50).

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • All grabs have noticeably more ending lag (FAF 28 → 37 (standing), 35 → 45 (dash), 33 → 40 (pivot)).
  • All grabs have less range (Z2 offset: 8.9 → 7.9 (standing), 10.7 → 9.5 (dash), -14.9 → -13.4 (pivot)).
  • Dash and pivot grab have more startup lag (frame 8 → 9 (dash), 9 → 11 (pivot)).
• Pummel:
  • Sheik has a new pummel, a knee strike rather than an elbow jab.
  • It deals more hitlag (5 frames → 11), but has significantly less startup (frame 9 → 1) and ending lag (FAF 24 → 6), shortening its duration. This makes it more reliable for racking up damage, now being one of the fastest pummels in the game.
  • It deals much less damage (3.1% → 1%).
• Up throw:
  • Up throw deals more damage (2% → 3% (throw), 5% → 6% (total)).
  • It deals more knockback (80 base/60 scaling → 110/62), diminishing its 50/50 setups while not granting it KO potential.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw has more base knockback (80 → 95), but less knockback scaling (90 → 60), improving its combo potential.
• Edge attack:
  • Edge attack deals more damage (7% → 9%).

Special moves

• Needle Storm:
  • Needle Storm's charge can be canceled by jumping or spot dodging.
  • Needle Storm reaches its full charge faster (98 frames → 82).
  • It has less ending lag (1-5 needles/6 needles: FAF 48/54 → 42/49), allowing for better followups with the aerial version.
  • The clean hit has a longer duration, with the late hit having a shorter duration instead (frames 1-3 (clean)/4-10 (late) → 1-5/6-10).
  • It deals less damage per needle (1.9% → 1.5% (clean), 1.2% → 0.8% (late)) and has less knockback scaling (180 → 167).
  • Its charge can no longer be canceled immediately by rolling, instead incurring 4 frames of lag beforehand.
  • The flight trajectory of aerial needles has been altered from approximately a 45° angle to a shallower 30° angle. This makes them worse as a followup from aerials at lower percents, but better at higher percents.
  • Sheik can throw the needles with the attack button while charging.
  • After charging the move, Sheik holds the produced needles on one hand until they are fired.
• Burst Grenade:
  • Burst Grenade no longer leaves Sheik helpless in the air.
  • It has less ending lag upon releasing the grenade.
  • The grenade's vortex is clear/white rather than light blue.
• Vanish:
  • Vanish grants intangibility earlier when used on the ground (frame 19 → 14).
  • Sheik emits a gold flash right before she disappears.
• Bouncing Fish:
  • After the first kick of Bouncing Fish hits an opponent, successive kicks deal more damage (12% → 13%) and knockback (26 base/90 scaling → 28/97), making them much stronger.
  • It has slightly more startup (frame 17 → 18).
  • It no longer grants intangibility.
  • It no longer refreshes if Sheik is hit in midair after using it, hindering her recovery.
  • The first kick deals less damage (12% → 11%), with knockback scaling compensated (90 → 97).
  • Bouncing Fish produces a splash of water at the start.
• Sheikah Dance:
  • Sheik has a new Final Smash called Sheikah Dance, replacing Light Arrow. Sheik dashes forward while the Sheikah symbol flashes on-screen. If the initial attack lands, Sheik will trap the opponent in place and repeatedly slash them with her dagger before launching them away, similar to Triforce Slash.

Update History

Sheik has been buffed via game updates. Sheik's KO ability is slightly more consistent — up smash's sweetspot is larger, allowing it to catch landings better and hit even more tall or large characters when they're standing right next to Sheik; while down smash connects more reliably at higher percents. Down tilt's tipper sweetspot is easier to land, improving its combo ability and allowing her to set up KOs more reliably. Her neutral game is slightly better, as forward aerial can now hit smaller characters beneath her; while Needle Storm charges slightly faster. Lastly, Burst Grenade and neutral infinite's finisher have less ending lag, leaving Sheik less prone should her opponent escape either attack.

2.0.0

• Up smash's first hit has more range.
• Down smash connects more reliably.
• Sheik can grab ledges faster after using forward aerial (88 frames → 59).
• Up aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 47 → 44), matching the move's interruptibility.
• Burst Grenade has less ending lag.

3.0.0

• Rapid jab's finisher has less ending lag (FAF 42 → 36).
• Down tilt's tipper hitbox is easier to land.
• Forward aerial has more vertical range, enabling it to hit small characters in a rising short hop.
• Needle Storm charges 1.2x faster, reaching its full charge more quickly (98 frames → 82).
• Changes to shield mechanics make charged Needle Storm much harder to perfect shield, as each needle must be manually perfect shielded.

4.0.0

• The universal changes made to stall-then-fall down aerials hinders its mixup potential.

Moveset

• Sheik can crawl, wall cling, and wall jump.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2%	An inward knifehand strike, followed by an upward knifehand strike. When button mashed, Sheik performs a barrage of knifehand strikes, followed by a palm thrust. Fast, at frame 2, and deals about 10% with good SDI. Can kill on certain platforms, such as one of the platforms on Town and City.
			1.6%
			0.3% (loop), 2% (final)
Forward tilt		Cycle Kick	3%	An inwards roundhouse kick. Deals very poor damage, but can string into itself and its low vertical knockback grants it excellent combo potential.
Up tilt			3% (hit 1), 4% (hit 2)	Performs a stretch kick that transitions to an axe kick. The first hit is hard to land on grounded opponents. Like forward tilt, its low damage is compensated by its great combo ability.
Down tilt			4.5%	A legsweep. The tip has a hitbox that launches the opponent straight up, while the rest of the move launches at a non-optimal 45-degree angle. The sweetspot combos into forward tilt, up smash, and all aerials besides down air. The tip leads into up smash for a KO at around 90%, though the timing is very strict.
Dash attack			7% (clean), 5% (late)	Lunges to perform an outward fanning knifehand strikes with both of her arms. While situational, its fast startup at frame 5 and decent base knockback make it a decent punishment tool.
Forward smash			5% (hit 1), 8% (hit 2)	A roundhouse kick followed by a spinning side kick. Both attacks cause Sheik to move forward. One of Sheik's best KOing moves, although its power compared to other forward smashes is weak. Crosses up shields if done close enough.
Up smash		Razor Wing	15% (hit 1), 11% (hit 2)	Raises her arms overhead and then quickly swings them downward to perform outward fanning knifehand strikes. There is a hitbox at Sheik's hands, just before she swings down her arms, that hit opponents above her. If close enough to a tall character, it is possible to land both hits of the move, but this is difficult to achieve. When sweetspotted, it is Shiek's strongest move overall and one of her best KOing options. However it has high ending lag and the second hit lacks KO potential.
Down smash			4% (hit 1), 6% (hit 2)	A modified butterfly kick performed from the windmill (a breakdancing move). Does very poor damage and has below-average knockback for a smash attack, but it starts up quickly.
Neutral aerial			6% (clean sweetspot), 5% (clean sourspot), 4% (late sweetspot), 3% (late sourspot)	A flying kick. Very fast at frame 3, and a great combo breaking or out of shield option. Great for edgeguarding due to its somewhat powerful sweetspot and sourspot that lingers for a long time. The late hitbox on landing combos into Bouncing Fish at around 100% for a KO confirm. Autocancels in a full hop.
Forward aerial		Hatchet	4.5% (sweetspot), 3.8% (sourspot)	A lunging, downward knifehand strike. Its sweetspot is located on Sheik's arm, while the sourspot is on her body. Comes out on frame 5 with minimal ending lag. Low base knockback, but very high knockback scaling. Combos into itself and other moves exceptionally well, including Bouncing Fish which can lead into a KO. Safe on shield if properly spaced. Has a very generous autocancel window, being able to do so after 11 frames.
Back aerial			9.5% (clean sweetspot), 7.5% (clean sourspot), 6% (late)	A high-angled back kick. While its power is slightly below-average for a back aerial, it can easily gimp characters with bad recoveries or outright KO offstage starting at around 90%. Hits on frame 4, sharing its speed with up aerial and making it one of the fastest moves of its kind in the game and autocancel in a short hop.
Up aerial			1% (hits 1 - 3), 4% (hit 4)	A diagonal, corkscrew flying kick, concluded by another kick with the opposite leg. KOs reliably near the top blast zone, and can be set up into by forward tilt or down tilt, though this requires precise timing and doesn't KO until around 120%. Can be used after a forward tilt to drag the opponent down and lead into another forward tilt. Does not autocancel in a short hop.
Down aerial			10% (descent), 2% (landing)	A diagonal flying kick. It is a stall-then-fall, and its clean hitbox is a meteor smash during its beginning. One of Sheik's least useful and most situational moves, as its lag makes it very punishable, and trying to use it offstage will most likely result in an instant self-destruct.
Grab			—	Reaches out. One of the shortest grab ranges
Pummel			1%	A knee strike. Fast but weak.
Forward throw			5% (hit), 2% (throw)	The tie shan kao[1] (a technique used in Bajiquan). Combos into aerials and Bouncing Fish at starting percents. Can be comboed into Bouncing Fish at higher percents, though this is easily escapable with an airdodge. However, this can be conditioned and punished with Sheik's extremely fast movement and frame data.
Back throw			5% (hit), 2% (throw)	Throws opponent behind herself and performs a mid-level side kick. The weakest back throw in terms of knockback. KO's Mario at roughly 565% at the edge of Final Destination.
Up throw			3% (hit and throw)	A handstand kick. Sheik's least useful throw, as it does the least damage and cannot be comboed out of. It is also Sheik's strongest throw, but fail to KO middleweights until around 288% on Final Destination.
Down throw			3% (hit and throw)	A collar drag takedown followed by a somersault axe kick. Can combo into up air at low percents.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Kneels and performs a palm thrust in front of herself, and then behind herself.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	A kip-up transitioned into a double-footed scorpion kick.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Squats on one leg and performs a spinning roundhouse kick.
Edge attack Edge getups			9%	Performs a corkscrew dropkick while climbing up.
Neutral special		Needle Storm	1.5% (per needle, close), 0.8% (per needle, far)	Accumulates up to six needles that can be thrown immediately or stored for later use. When used in the air, Sheik throws the needles downward at approximately 30°. One of Sheik's best options for camping and zoning. The needles have transcendent priority, and so cannot stop or be stopped by other attacks (including, for example, other projectiles).
Side special		Burst Grenade	1% (grenade), 1% (vortex), 12.6% (explosion)	Throws a grenade attached to a tripwire. On detonation, it creates a small vortex that pulls opponents towards it, then explodes. The detonation can be delayed a second by holding the special move button. The grenade can be thrown a farther when used in the air or when thrown over an edge, and its explosion is strong enough to KO middleweights at 115% near the edge, making it useful for edge-guarding. If Sheik is attacked before the grenade explodes, the grenade will detach from the tripwire and become a non-explosive item that anyone can use.
Up special		Vanish	12% (disappearance), 5% (reappearance)	After a short delay, Sheik destroys a Deku Nut in order to disappear via a small explosion, before reappearing nearby in a controlled direction. Its disappearing hitbox's respectable damage output and very high knockback scaling enable it to KO at 100% while near the upper blast line. It also grants a small vertical boost when used in the air. Conversely, its reappearance hitbox deals much less damage, but also has a windbox that can push away opponents who are very close to wherever Sheik reappears. It grants intangibility on frames 19-53. Reappearing near a edge renders her helpless, though self-destructing with the move is difficult to do because it allows Sheik to grab the edge the moment she enters helplessness.
Down special		Bouncing Fish	11% (first kick), 13% (following kicks)	A 360° Tengkong Pantui Cepu[2] (a kick used in Nanquan). If it connects with an opponent, she will backflip a distance away and land on her feet. She can then kick up to three times by pressing the special move button again after the preceding kick connects. Upon missing, she experiences landing lag if she lands before the move's animation is over. It can also be executed earlier by pressing the special button again, and covers more distance if the control stick is held in whatever direction Sheik is facing. Its long horizontal travel distance, respectable damage output, and high knockback scaling make it one of Sheik's most viable KOing options. It KOs middleweights at 120% while near the edge, and grants intangibility on frames 3-4. Due to its earliest input hitting on frame 17 and its landing lag, however, it is punishable if it misses.
Final Smash		Sheikah Dance	3% (first hit), 2% (first hit, late), 50% (entire move)	Sheik dashes forward and slashes with her knife. If she catches anyone, the Sheikah eye symbol will appear onscreen, and the screen will darken. She will then proceed to launch an onslaught of attacks from multiple directions before finally launching the trapped opponent with a final slash. The last hit of her Final Smash launches opponents the opposite direction of the initial dash. Only one opponent can be trapped in her Final Smash, though anyone nearby will also take damage during the duration.

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: Pulls out the tripwire she uses for Burst Grenade and stretches it out, causing a "twang" sound.
• Down taunt: A modified version of the age uke, a blocking technique in Japanese martial arts.

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  Sheik's up taunt.

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  Sheik's side taunt.

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  Sheik's down taunt.

Idle poses

• Rears back her left hand up to her face, then quickly swings it outward.
• Performs a modified passé.

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  Sheik's first idle pose

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  Sheik's second idle pose

Victory poses

• Kicks once (similar to her forward tilt), spins on the ground (similar to her down smash), then poses with her arms blocking her face.
• Crouches, swipes with her hand twice, then stands up while rearing back her right hand up to her face.
• Performs the fumikomi geri^[3] (a stomp-style kick in karate), followed by a mid-level side kick, and then exhales loudly before performing the tate shuto uke^[4] (a blocking technique in Shotokan).

A flourished and abridged remix of 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.

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In competitive play

During Ultimate's early meta, Sheik's representation was almost nonexistent due to the significance of her nerfs. With the reduction of her overall damage output, it was common for Sheik players to pull off a lengthy string of combos that only amount to the equivalent of 2-3 stray hits that their opponents dealt. As a result, much of her playerbase dropped her entirely due to the sheer amount of effort required when using her compared to the vast majority of the cast (for the same or potentially even weaker result). Her weak damage output even got notorious within the community, with players and commentators alike pointing it out during matches.

Patch 3.0.0 eventually gave Sheik a handful of buffs, most notably improving the effectiveness of some staple moves like down tilt, forward aerial and Needle Storm. As a result, some of her former players, most notably VoiD and Mr.R, began representing her in tournaments again, and her perception within the community has improved somewhat as some players such as ESAM believe that Sheik has potential and could make a great secondary character. However, it is commonly agreed that Sheik is noticeably worse than her Smash 4 iteration and while she may not be a bad character, she has glaring flaws that hinder her viability.

Notable players

•  kameme - Uses Sheik as a secondary. Placed 1st at The Mang0 Kickoff and 4th at Just Roll With It! 11 using Sheik as one of his characters. Has a win over Tsu.
•  Mr.R - Uses Sheik as a secondary. Placed 2nd at Encuentro Mítico and 4th at both Saints Gaming Live 2019 and Expand Gong 4 using Sheik as one of his characters. Took a game off of Tweek using the character.
•  Sylph - Placed 9th at Sumabato SP 4 and 13th at Sumabato SP 3.
•  VoiD - Uses Sheik as a secondary. Won Goodwill of Orange County's Charity Invitational and placed 13th at Thunder Smash with Sheik as one of his characters.

Classic Mode: Masquerade

Sheik's congratulations screen.

Sheik's opponents are characters who wear masks or other forms of headwear to conceal their identity.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Meta Knight	Fountain of Dreams	Forest Stage
2	Captain Falcon	Big Blue	Death Wind
3	Samus	Norfair	Opening/Menu - Metroid Prime
4	Roy Koopa	Mushroom Kingdom U	Underground Theme - Super Mario Land
5	Wireframe Mac	Boxing Ring	Tunnel Scene - X-Scape
6	Mii Fighter	Final Destination	Meta Crystal	Horde Battle. Items do not appear. Mii Brawler costume combinations: Majora's Mask and Skull Kid's Outfit, Hockey Mask and SSB T-Shirt. Mii Gunner costumes: Shy Guy Mask and Butler Outfit, Ray Mk III Helmet and Ray Mk III Outfit. Mii Swordfighter costumes: Black Knight Helm and Black Knight Armor, Yiga Clan Mask and Yiga Clan Outfit.
Bonus Stage
Final	Master Hand	Final Destination	Master Hand (Less than 7.0 intensity) Master Hand / Crazy Hand (Intensity 7.0 or higher)	On intensity 7.0 and higher, Crazy Hand fights alongside Master Hand.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Sheik has Gerudo Valley accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light

Finding Sheik in World of Light

Although Sheik does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, she was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans Kirby) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

During the mode itself, Sheik can be unlocked early on shortly after rescuing Mario, where the player arrives at a crossroads and has the choice to rescue her, Marth or Villager. If one of the others is rescued first, Sheik's path will be blocked by a force field created by Master Hand, which will disappear upon defeating a boss or can be circumvented by looping back to the other side.

Sheik has a separate awakening battle from Zelda, who appears in the opening cutscene.

Fighter Battle

No.	Image	Name	Type	Power	Stage	Music
16		Sheik	Shield	2,500	Final Destination	Final Destination

Spirits

Sheik's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Unlocking Sheik in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

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  174. Sheik

In Spirit battles

As the main opponent

Spirit				Battle parameters
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music
104	File:Genosmrpg.png	Geno	Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars	•Sheik •Peach •Kirby •Bowser •Mario		13,700	Mario Galaxy (Battlefield form)	N/A	•Defeat the main fighter to win •Timed battle •The enemy's FS Meter charges quickly	Rainbow Road Medley
193		Impa	The Legend of Zelda series	•Sheik		9,400	Temple	•Defense ↑ •Item: Deku Nut	•The enemy has increased defense after a little while	Gerudo Valley
261	File:Byrne Artwork.png	Byrne	The Legend of Zelda series	•Sheik		1,800	Spirit Train (Battlefield form)	N/A	•The enemy's punches and elbow strikes have increased power •The enemy's throws have increased power •Stamina battle	Full Steam Ahead
660		Sothe	Fire Emblem series	•Sheik		3,600	Mushroomy Kingdom (Battlefield form)	N/A	•The enemy favors dash attacks •The enemy has increased move speed	Time of Action
677	File:Jakob Spirit.png	Jakob	Fire Emblem series	•Sheik		3,500	Spear Pillar (Battlefield form)	•Item: Throwing Types	•The enemy's throwing-type items have increased power •Items will be pulled toward the enemy	Lost in Thoughts All Alone (for 3DS / Wii U)
735		Kat & Ana	WarioWare series	•Sheik (×2) (,)		9,000	Suzaku Castle	•Item: Throwing Types	•The enemy loves to jump	The Mysterious Murasame Castle Medley
751	File:Gray Fox Spirit.png	Gray Fox	Metal Gear Solid series	•Sheik		9,700	Shadow Moses Island	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Gray Fox) •Move Speed ↑	•The enemy has increased move speed •Hostile assist trophies will appear	Encounter
835		Rover	Animal Crossing series	•Sheik •Villager (x2) ()		8,800	Spirit Train	N/A	•Take your strongest team into this no-frills battle	Title Theme - Animal Crossing: Wild World
990	File:Cammy Spirit.png	Cammy	Street Fighter series	•Sheik		9,300	Bridge of Eldin (hazards off)	•Jump Power ↓	•The enemy's kicks and knee strikes have increased power •Stamina battle •All fighters have reduced jump power	Cammy Stage Type B
1,016		Loki	Bayonetta series	•Sheik		9,200	Umbra Clock Tower (Battlefield form)	•Invisibility •Item: Timer	•The enemy is invisible after a little while •Items will be pulled toward the enemy •The enemy is easily distracted by items	Tomorrow Is Mine (Bayonetta 2 Theme) (Instrumental)
1,069		Mummy	Castlevania series	•Sheik (x2)		3,600	Dracula's Castle (Ω form)	N/A	•The enemy's throws have increased power •The enemy has super armor but moves slower •Stamina battle	Mad Forest
1,085		Shinobu	StreetPass Mii Plaza series	•Sheik •Mii Swordfighter (Nia Wig, Ninja Suit)		1,500	Golden Plains (hazards off)	•Item: Bullet Bill	•The enemy is easily distracted by items	Boss 1 - Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword
1,313		Makoto Niijima	Persona series	•Sheik •Wario		3,000	Dracula's Castle (Ω form)	•N/A	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The enemy is invisible	Last Surprise

As a minion

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
655		L'Arachel	Fire Emblem series	•Robin •Sheik •Wario		1,600	Castle Siege	•Health Recovery	•The enemy is healed when the enemy's at high damage	Preparing to Advance	Rennac
1,052		Trevor C. Belmont	Castlevania series	•Simon •Palutena •Sheik		13,000	Dracula's Castle	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Alucard)	•Hostile assist trophies will appear when the enemy's at high damage •Reinforcements will appear during the battle	Beginning	Grant Danasty
1,306		Phantom Thieves of Hearts	Persona series	•Joker •Pikachu •Captain Falcon •Zero Suit Samus •Chrom •Sheik		13,300	Mementos	•Sudden Final Smash •Item: Daybreak Parts	•The enemy will suddenly have a Final Smash when the enemy's at high damage •Reinforcements will appear during the battle	Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There	Makoto Niijima

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Artwork of all The Legend of Zelda characters, as posted on the official Legend of Zelda Twitter account.

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  Sheik's fighter card.

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  Sheik posing on Skyworld.

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  Fighting Wii Fit Trainer on Coliseum.

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  Surrounded by the fires on Kalos Pokémon League.

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  Sheik performing Bouncing Fish near a Goldeen on Tortimer Island.

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  Sheik and Ivysaur taunting on Tomodachi Life.

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  Sheik on Lylat Cruise.

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  Sheik and King Dedede hit by Mr. Game & Watch's down smash on Yoshi's Story.

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  Sheik getting hit by Toad's spores on Tortimer Island.

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  Sheik becoming buried by the male Wii Fit Trainer's neutral attack on 3D Land.

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  Sheik getting hit by Zero Suit Samus's back aerial on Luigi's Mansion.

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  Sheik charging Needle Storm on Tortimer Island.

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  With all playable The Legend of Zelda veterans on the Great Plateau Tower.

• Ganondorf(SSBU)WarlockPunch.png

  Struck by Ganondorf's Warlock Punch

Trivia

• Sheik is currently referred to with male pronouns on the Smash Blog despite being referred to with female pronouns in every Smash appearance thus far, as well as on various other official Nintendo social websites. Likewise, the game itself uses both female and male pronouns: Sheik is referred to with female pronouns in her moveset and tips, while Palutena and Viridi refer to Sheik with male pronouns in Palutena's Guidance, albeit in the latter instance is done for comedic purposes as Pit then mentions her being an alter-ego of Zelda.
• Ultimate is the first Smash game where Sheik's design is based off of a different The Legend of Zelda game than her alter-ego, Zelda.
• Ultimate is also the first installment in the series that gives Sheik a Final Smash different from Zelda's.
• Sheik is the only Zelda character (excluding Ganondorf) to not face Ganon as her final boss.
• Sheik is the only character who travels to Final Destination outside the final round in Classic Mode.
  • Sheik is also the only Zelda character to not travel to her home stages in her Classic Mode route.
• In English, Sheik and Joker are the only characters whose Classic Mode titles are each one word.
• Like in the previous installment, Sheik will revert to her Brawl idle animation while holding a small throwable item.
• In Palutena's Guidance, Sheik is referred to in the sense of having been present before in Smash ("Sheik appears to be wearing a traditional Sheikah outfit this time around."), despite every other newly recorded Zelda character guidance bringing up the characters having separate incarnations throughout the franchise (Ganondorf being the same person, Link being a different person than before and Zelda and Young Link being specific incarnations). This implies that she's the same version of Zelda/Sheik seen in Brawl and 4 that was based upon the scrapped Twilight Princess design. Seeing as Sheik and Zelda are separate characters starting from Smash 4 onwards, It is possible it could instead refer to the original Ocarina of Time version of Sheik from Melee as Ocarina of Time is her only canon appearance.

Notes

1.^ translates to "Applying Mountain Lean"

2.^ translates to "Vacant Cross-Legged Side Flip"

3.^ translates to "Stomping Kick"

4.^ translates to "Vertical Knife Hand Block"