Sheik (SSBB)
- This article is about Sheik's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Sheik. Also, for information about Sheik's alter-ego, see Princess Zelda (SSBB).
| Sheik in Super Smash Bros. Brawl | |
|---|---|
 
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| Universe | The Legend of Zelda |
| Alternate form | Zelda |
| Other playable appearances | in Melee in SSB4 in Ultimate |
| Availability | Starter |
| Final Smash | Light Arrow |
| Tier | D (25) |
| “ | Zelda's alternate form. Graceful, swift attacks make her a close-range threat. | ” |
| —Brawl manual description | ||
Sheik (シーク, Sheik) is a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Sheik was originally hinted to return as a playable character when Eiji Aonuma, director of The Legend of Zelda stated he had sent the Twilight Princess designs of her, Link and Ganondorf to Sakurai [1]. She was ultimately revealed on January 16, 2008.
Sheik saw a large drop in her tier position, from being rank 4th in the top tier of Melee, to being currently ranked 25th in the Middle tier of Brawl, her worst placement in the series. Sheik retains her blinding attack speed from Melee, possessing some of the fastest movement, and frame data only rivaled by Meta Knight. Additionally, Sheik possesses a transcendent and fast projectile with high damage potential in her Needles, as well as great combo ability, and a lock in her forward tilt that can rack up over 50% in damage on most characters. Her power was significantly nerfed from Melee however. She possesses few attacks that can KO under 150% outside edge guarding, and of those few potential finishers, only two can be considered reliable in KOing (her sweetspotted up smash and the explosion in Vanish), both of which are difficult to land. Sheik also has very poor endurance; suffering from the combination of being tall and light, causing her to sustain high knockback while being rather easy to hit, which is exacerbated by her poor momentum cancelling, and her short distanced and easily edge hogged recovery. Additional problems Sheik has include her fast falling speed leaving her vulnerable to some juggles and chain throws, as well as short reach in the majority of her attacks. This has resulted in average matchups and below average tournament results for Sheik. Despite ranking significantly higher than Zelda, who rests at 37th on the tier list (second to dead last), her Zelda/Sheik form is considered a better character and is ranked slightly higher than Sheik alone (currently 24th), mainly as transforming into Zelda can help alleviate the very severe KO problems Sheik has in some matchups (such as against King Dedede).
Attributes
Sheik is one of the fastest characters in the game, having the fourth fastest running speed, high attack speed, and a quick, long and deadly DACUS. She has one of the best comboing abilities, as her attacks have very little start up and ending lag, with overall low knockback, allowing them to chain effectively. The best example of this is Sheik's forward tilt. As in Melee, the forward tilt can smoothly follow after her up tilt, down tilt, neutral aerial, forward aerial, back aerial, down smash, and jab cancel; it can also repeatedly link into itself to easily rack up 50% or more, especially on fast-fallers or heavy characters, such as Fox. Sheik's up tilt can combo into itself very low percentages, and at slightly higher percentages, it leads well into a forward tilt. It has a very large hitbox in terms of size and duration, making it a powerful defensive move.
As for stronger moves with greater KO potential, Sheik's down smash has multiple hits and has long range. Her up smash can KO easily at around 100%, but only when it is sweetspotted, which is not always easy. Her forward smash isn't very powerful, but it is a two hit combo and has fairly good range.
Sheik has a fairly powerful air-game that really only lacks in one area: versatility. Her back and neutral aerials have very similar knockback and speed and negligible landing lag outside of auto-cancel. If hit in the initial few frames, they have decent knockback, making them useful for edgeguarding, and they have good range. Her up aerial has some landing lag and has less knockback. Her forward aerial is a quick swipe with low knockback but a great semi-spike trajectory, low lag, but sub-par range. This makes it a great move for KO'ing at higher percentages. Her down aerial is a stall-then-fall, negating all vertical knockback, but unfortunately, it has high landing lag.
Sheik does have versatility amongst her special moves, however. Needle Storm is a fast projectile that can be very hard to dodge and can be charged for increased damage. Sheik's up special is somewhat low in terms of recovery distance, but it has the second highest knockback of any of Sheik's moves. Combined with the invulnerability it grants, this can occasionally be used against some moves as a powerful counter, but it's also one of the hardest moves to hit with unless used in this way: it can also be used to edgeguard through Vanish Gliding. Sheik's forward special is the Chain, which can be used for a tether recovery and the Chain Jacket, which can be used to insert the knockback of the last attack into the Chain, giving an advantage over characters without attacks that cannot outrange or clank with the Chain. It is slow coming out and returning, however, and leaves her vulnerable from behind, a problem that can be capitalized on. Sheik's down special transforms her into Zelda, which allows use of two different characters in the same match, which can help to balance some of Sheik's weaknesses. Sheik also can wall jump, wall cling, and crawl.
Sheik is not a character without any weaknesses, however. Above all, Sheik does not have much KO'ing power on most of her moves, as a majority of her KO'ing moves in Melee were severely nerfed. Her two most powerful KO'ing moves are her sweetspotted up smash and Vanish, which are hard to connect with compared to Sheik's other moves. Sheik can use techniques such as DACUS and forward tilt to help connect her up smash, to an extent, but nothing else KO's reliably below 150%. This makes Sheik very reliant on getting numerous hits to rack up damage and edgeguarding. Additionally, Sheik's best chain of attacks (the forward tilt-lock) often stops working before the opponent reaches KO percentage (stops at about 50%, depending on the match-up of course: lasts to later percentages on fast-fallers and heavy characters like Wolf and Bowser, but stops sooner on light and floaty characters like Kirby and Jigglypuff). Because of this, it may be best to turn back into Zelda to KO the opponent. Sheik also has poor attack range on a good number of moves. Sheik is also very light-weight and tall for her weight class, making her easier to defeat than many characters (though this is not without its advantages, as it allows Sheik to escape some chaingrabs, including Dedede's infamous Chaingrab), and her poor recovery often comes up short. Sheik is also one of the fastest-falling characters in the game, making her vulnerable to any chaingrab that is effective against fast-fallers.
Changes from Melee to Brawl
Sheik has received a mix of nerfs and buffs in her transition from Melee to Brawl. Her KO'ing ability is much worse though: up smash, neutral air, forward air, and up air have had their damage and knockback significantly reduced, and with the changes to hitstun, they cannot be comboed into as effectively and are thus much harder to land. In addition to that, she is more vulnerable to KO's herself, as her weight and fall speed have been lowered while her gravity has been increased. Her grab game has been worsened as well: all of her throws deal less damage (except for back throw), and she has lost the ability to chain-grab and set-up other moves with her down throw, which played a major role in her success in Melee. The reduced damage on many of Sheik's moves, the removal of much of down throw's follow-up potential, and the general changes to hitstun and fall speeds have limited Sheik's ability to rack up damage, though it is still quite good relative to the rest of the cast. Transform takes longer to execute, and so transforming into Zelda to make use of her superior recovery is now impractical.
Sheik has received some notable buffs. Her down aerial is now a stall-then-fall, allowing her to make good use of vertical momentum cancelling, aiding her vertical endurance. Due to the more severe effects of stale-move negation, forward tilt's combo potential has been improved, especially on fast-fallers, as Sheik can now lock them with her forward tilt for as much as 50% damage. Chain can be used as a tether recovery, and Vanish is faster and more powerful. Needle Storm has been given transcendent priority, which overall improves her camping ability, and she is also one of the biggest benefactors of the DACUS technique.
However, such buffs do not compensate for the nerfs to her damage output and KO'ing ability, resulting in her being considered a below-average character relative to the cast, a far cry from her top-tier status in Melee, in a similar line to Jigglypuff.
Aesthetics
Sheik now uses a design based on a concept artwork from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which includes a braid and a small dagger. She also now looks more feminine, has a lighter skin tone, and smaller eyes. The boost in graphics also giver her outfit much more detail.- Sheik can now be chosen instead of Zelda at the character selection screen by selecting Zelda and then clicking on Sheik's portrait, rather than holding the A button while selecting Zelda.
Attributes
Sheik walks faster (1.2 → 1.3).- Sheik dashes faster (1.8 → 1.92).
- Sheik's air speed is slightly faster (0.8 → 0.846).
Sheik's traction is lower (0.8 → 0.6).- As with the returning veterans, Sheik's falling speed is slower (2.13 → 1.58). Compared to the returning veterans, however, Sheik falls faster.
- Sheik's gravity is higher (0.12 → 0.1409).
- Sheik is lighter (90 → 85), which when combined with the previous two changes, worsens her endurance, only slightly outlasting Zelda vertically, and being outlasted by Zelda when knocked back horizontally, despite Zelda's already poor endurance also made worse in the transition.
Ground attacks
- First hit of neutral attack deals 1% less damage (4% → 3%).
- Forward tilt deals 2% less damage (7% → 5%).
- The previous change gives it more combo utility and allows it to lock most characters.
- Up tilt deals 1% more damage (12% → 13%).
- Up tilt has different damage timings (8%/4% → 6%/7%).
- Up tilt has increased end lag and knocks the opponent away, removing most of its followup potential.
- Dash attack is much weaker, dealing less damage (10%/7% → 7%/5%) with decreased knockback.
- Forward smash deals 1% less damage (15% → 14%).
- Second hit of forward smash has increased knockback, making it slightly stronger despite its lower damage.
- Introduction of DACUS gives Sheik an additional approach and KO option in her up smash.
- Up smash is much weaker, especially the sourspot, whose hitbox also has a less favourable diagonal trajectory rather than a vertical trajectory, and deals less damage (16% → 12%).
- Down smash can now hit twice, allowing it to deal up to 23% uncharged. The second hit also has greater knockback.
Aerial attacks
- All of her aerials deal less damage and are weaker, especially her neutral, forward, and up aerials (14%/10%/9% (neutral) → 13%/10%/5%/4%, 13% (forward) → 9% , 14%/10%/8%/10%/9%/7%/6% (back) → 12%/11%/6%, 12%/9% (up) → 11%/6%, 11% (down) → 10%.
- Forward aerial launches opponents at a higher angle (25° → 30°), making it less effective as a semi-spike.
- Down aerial is now a stall-then-fall.
- The introduction of momentum cancelling allows her down aerial to cancel all knockback, slightly compensating for her poorer vertical endurance.
- Down aerial has more ending lag, poorer hitbox placement, and can no longer set up aerial follow-ups properly due to it being a stall-then-fall.
Throws/other attacks
- All throws (except back throw) deal less damage (forward throw: 8% → 7%, up throw: 8% → 5%, down throw: 8% → 6%).
- Due to the lower falling speeds, down throw is no longer capable of chain throwing or tech chasing.
Special moves
- Needles from Needle Storm now have transcendent priority, making them more useful to disrupt any approach. However, they can no longer cancel out other projectiles.
- Needles can now be charged without pressing the special attack button, and can be still charge cancelled, allowing her to resume the charge when needed. However, they are now fired by pressing the special attack button twice instead of once regardless of charge.
- Needles now deal 1% less damage (3% → 2%) at long range.
- Chain moves more freely and can be used as a tether recovery, giving Sheik an additional recovery option.
- Vanish has less start-up lag, and the hitbox from its explosion deals 3% more damage (12% → 15%) with stronger knockback.
- Due to the game disc no longer automatically loading Sheik and Zelda's data at the same time rather than having it loaded at all times as in Melee, Transform takes much longer to complete. This allows the opponent to set up a punish on Zelda for simply performing the move, and renders Sheik's ability to transform into Zelda for a longer recovery infeasible.
- Sheik now has a Final Smash, Light Arrow. Sheik pulls out the Bow of Light and shoots a Light Arrow from it. It has immense damage and knockback, and can usually one-hit KO anyone who gets hit by it. She shares this Final Smash with Zelda, though Sheik's version does more slightly more damage and sends opponents at a semi-spike angle.
Moveset
| Name | Damage | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral attack | 3% | Two quick swipes, followed by a series of short jabs. | ||
| 3% | ||||
| 1-2% | ||||
| Forward tilt | 5% | Sheik rotates her leg upwards knocking the opponent into the air with low knockback. Easily combos into itself and other moves. | ||
| Up tilt | 6% (hit 1), 7% (hit 2) | Sheik brings her leg up and quickly brings it down. Can hit on the upswing and downswing. | ||
| Down tilt | 8% | Sheik quickly sweeps her leg out in front of her. Has low vertical knockback. | ||
| Dash attack | 7% (clean), 5% (late) | A quick slash in front of her. Has decent knockback with little ending lag. | ||
| Forward smash | 5% (hit 1), 9% (hit 2) | Two successive kicks that moves her forward as they are executed. The first has low knockback, while the second has significant knockback. Can KO at high percentages. | ||
| Up smash | 17% (sweetspot), 12% (sourspot) | Sheik raises her arms over her head and quickly brings them down to her sides. Powerful knockback when sweetspotted, but less powerful when sourspotted. It is also possible to hit twice with it for huge damage. | ||
| Down smash | 13% (hit 1), 10% (hits 2-3) | Gets on her back and does a break-dance style rotation. Can hit twice, but only on the late hits. | ||
| Neutral aerial | 13% (clean sweetspot), 10% (clean sourspot), 5% (late sweetspot), 4% (late sourspot) | Sheik extends one leg in front with the other tucked underneath in a typical sex kick form. Poor knockback. | ||
| Forward aerial | 9% | Sheik leans forward and quickly slashes downwards. Good for edgeguarding due to its semi-spike trajectory. | ||
| Back aerial | 12% (clean sweetspot), 11% (clean sourspot), 6% (late) | Sheik extends one leg downwards and the other backwards in a sex kick. The sweetspot is located at the foot. | ||
| Up aerial | 11% (clean), 6% (late) | Sheik does a quick screwdriver kick upward. | ||
| Down aerial | 10% | Sheik performs a downwards kick in a similar fashion to Sonic and Zero Suit Samus's down aerials, being a stall-then-fall. Has high ending lag. | ||
| Grab | — | |||
| Pummel | 3% | Hits opponent with her left elbow. | ||
| Forward throw | 5% (hit 1), 2% (throw) | Launches the opponent forward. | ||
| Back throw | 5% (hit 1), 2% (throw) | Throws her opponent behind and kicks them away. | ||
| Up throw | 3% (hit 1), 2% (throw) | Flips upside-down and kicks her opponent with both of her feet. | ||
| Down throw | 3% (hit 1), 3% (throw) | Throws opponent on the ground, then performs an axe-kick knocking the opponent up into the air. | ||
| 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 punches in front and back of herself. | ||
| Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip) |
5% | Gets up and kicks in front and back of herself. | ||
| Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast) |
8% | Climbs up and kicks onto the stage. | ||
| Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow) |
8% (arm), 6% (body) | Slowly gets up and thrusts out her elbow. | ||
| Neutral special | Needle Storm | 3% (needle close), 2% (needle far), 6 needles max | Sheik accumulates up to six needles that can be stored and released immediately or later. If thrown in the air, the needles travel at approximately a 45 degree angle. | |
| Side special | Chain | 3% (chain), 5% (tip) | Pulls out a long metal chain which can be controlled by moving the control stick (directional pad on Wii Remote) The tip of the chain deals electric damage. Has high ending lag. | |
| Up special | Vanish | 15% | After a short delay, Sheik vanishes in a puff of smoke, reappearing nearby in a controlled direction. The vanish hitbox has high knockback, able to KO at high percentages. Any opponents near Sheik whenever she reappears will be pushed back a bit. | |
| Down special | Transform | 0% | Transforms into Zelda. | |
| Final Smash | Light Arrow | 3% (hit 1), 45% (Light Arrow 1st opponent), 33% (2nd opponent), 25% (3rd opponent) | Sheik pulls out a large magical bow and light arrow which she fires in a straight, horizontal line across the stage. It can strike multiple opponents, but the damage decreases for each successive target. Launches opponents at a semi-spike angle. | |
On-screen appearance
- Appears in magical sparks, which was also used for the ending animation for when Zelda transforms into Sheik.
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Taunts
- Up taunt: Stands on one hand.
- Side taunt: Pulls out her Chain.
- Down taunt: Performs a threatening pose with her right hand before her face.
| Up taunt | Side taunt | Down taunt |
|---|---|---|
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Idle poses
- Balances on one foot
- Moves her hand in front of her face, then quickly swings it to the side
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Crowd cheer
| English | Japanese | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheer | ||
| Description | Sheik! | She-i-k! |
| Pitch | Crowd cheer | Crowd cheer |
Wii Remote selection sound
- The Transform sound effect is heard and Zelda shouts.
Victory poses
- Kicks twice then holds her left hand in front of her while exhaling loudly.
- Slashes towards the screen twice, then holds her right hand up to her mouth.
- Looks off into the distance, pondering, while keeping her mouth concealed.
| Up | Left | Right |
|---|---|---|
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In competitive play
Matchups
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Sheik's match-up spread is overall average. She hard-counters three characters, counters two, and soft-counters seven, and has one near-unloseable match-up. She goes even with eight characters, is soft-countered by eleven, is countered by two, and is hard-countered by two. She is at a general advantage against characters with poor recoveries, such as Captain Falcon and Wolf, as her ability to gimp them with her above average edge-guard tools partially alleviates her otherwise weak KO power. She can make good use of her frame data, mobility and camping ability against characters who have laggy attacks and/or lack safe approaches, with Ganondorf being the most notable. Sheik is notable for hard-countering a character above her, Fox, as she can exploit her forward tilt lock for massive damage in addition to being able to edge-guard his recovery efficiently. However, Sheik's poor KO'ing ability plays a major role in her losing match-ups, with Lucario in particular being able to make great use of Aura. Her high falling speed leaves her susceptible to chain-grabs, giving her poor match-ups against Pikachu and Ice Climbers, both of whom possess reliable zero-to-death combos on her.
Notable players
- See also: Category:Sheik professionals (SSBB)
Role in The Subspace Emissary
If one chooses to rescue Zelda from Petey Piranha in the Subspace Emissary, the player can still transform into Sheik, despite her not technically being introduced until much later. Thus, Sheik is the only character in the Subspace Emissary to be playable before she is introduced. After Peach and Zelda are rescued by Lucario, Meta Knight, and Snake, the two princesses are ordered to stay where they are until the Halberd is under their control. Zelda transforms into Sheik and walks out with Peach, opening a window to the outside of the ship. Both princesses then make their way to the front deck of the ship. There, they witness Fox's Arwing attacking the Halberd, and his lasers meant for the Halberd's turret nearly injures Peach. In response, Sheik leaps into the air and uses Vanish onto the Arwing, striking the windshield and forcing Fox to jettison. They fall back to the Halberd, and begin to fight, but Peach offers them both tea, ending any erroneous hostilities.
As they drink their tea, several Mr. Game and Watches fall from the bridge and turn into shadow bugs that coalesce to form the monstrous Duon. The three prepare to fight, but are joined by Lucario, Snake, and Falco. They then proceed to defeat Duon, and it turns into the trophy of Mr. Game and Watch, who Peach revives. Then she and the other heroes journey into subspace for the final battle against Tabuu. Sometime when the Halberd was retaken, but before the Isle of Ancients was consumed by Subspace, Sheik transformed back into Zelda.
Playable appearances
Sheik is always playable in any level Zelda appears in. If Zelda is rescued in Midair Stadium, after The Lake Shore is completed, she along with her alternative form Sheik will be removed from the team until Battleship Halberd Exterior.
- Midair Stadium
- Sea of Clouds - If she is rescued in Midair Stadium.
- Battleship Halberd Exterior
- Battleship Halberd Bridge
- Entrance to Subspace
- The Great Maze - If she's rescued in Subspace (Part II).
In Event Matches
Solo Events
- Event 2: Landmaster Ignition: As Fox with a Smash Ball, the player must survive against Meta Knight and Sheik. Fox must rely on his Landmaster as his opponents take less knockback from his regular attacks.
- Event 17: Super Waterfall Climb: As Zelda, the player must survive until the background changes into a waterfall. Two pairs of Ice Climbers with unlimited stock will try to hinder the player's progress. The player can transform into Sheik to complete this event.
- Event 22: Monkeys Unite: As Diddy Kong helped by a giant Donkey Kong, the player must defeat Sheik and Lucario.
- Event 25: The Aura Is With Me: As Lucario starting at 182% damage, the player must defeat Ness and Sheik.
- Event 31: The Ultimate Bodyguard: Marth must defend Zelda and defeat two Ganondorfs on Castle Siege. Zelda remains in her crouching position until the third background change, where she'll transform into Sheik and assist Marth.
- Event 33: Advent of the Evil King: As Ganondorf, the player must defeat Link, Zelda, and Pit on Temple. Zelda may transform into Sheik on harder difficulties.
- Event 34: All-Star Battle Melee: Zelda is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are newcomers from Super Smash Bros Melee. On harder difficulties, Zelda may transform into Sheik.
Co-op Events
- Co-Op Event 6: Unwanted Suitors: As Zelda and Zero Suit Samus, both players must defeat an invisible Captain Falcon and an invisible Luigi on Port Town Aero Dive. The player may transform into Sheik if he/she wishes.
- Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Two players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield. Note that Sheik may take Zelda's spot in the lineup.
Trophies
Sheik's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing Classic Mode and All-Star mode respectively with Sheik.
Trophy descriptions
- Sheik
- The persona Zelda adopted to escape from Ganondorf. She completely hid all traces of her Zelda identity and appeared to Link as the last member of the Sheikah tribe. She taught Link essential ocarina melodies and then vanished in an instant. She didn't appear very often—rather, she would show up to support Link in crucial situations.
- Light Arrow (Sheik)
- Sheik's Final Smash. After grabbing a Smash Ball, Sheik will be able to wield a bow of light. The arrow fired from this bow has the power to pass through multiple targets, so it will damage all enemies in the direction it flies. This, coupled with its shield-breaking power, makes it even more terrible. Even in Sheik form, Zelda's ability as an archer is undiminished.
: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Classic Mode trophy
Light Arrow trophy
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Alternate costumes
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Trivia
- Unlike in Melee, where completing Classic mode with either Zelda or Sheik would get both Zelda and Sheik trophies, Brawl makes one play both characters separately to retrieve their trophies.
- Along with Sonic, Squirtle, and Zero Suit Samus, Sheik is one of the only characters to not be seen in trophy form during The Subspace Emissary. Coincidentally, all these characters' names begin with the letter "S", and all have a blue-colored default palette.
- Sheik is the only veteran fighter that can wall cling.
- Excluding Transformation from Zelda, Sheik is the only character in Brawl not to be selectable in Events without free character selection.
External links
- Sheik's page at Smash Bros. Dojo
- Sheik Character Guide on SmashBoards
- Sheik's hitbox size of each of her moves
- Zelda and Sheik's Moves - History Behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl, by CrappyCaptureDevice
- Eiji Aonuma reporting that he sent the Twilight Princess designs of Link, Sheik and Ganondorf.
| Fighters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl | |
|---|---|
| Veterans | Bowser · Captain Falcon · Donkey Kong · Falco · Fox · Ganondorf · Ice Climbers · Jigglypuff · Kirby · Link · Luigi · Mario · Marth · Mr. Game & Watch · Ness · Peach · Pikachu · Samus · Yoshi · Zelda / Sheik |
| Newcomers | Diddy Kong · Ike · King Dedede · Lucario · Lucas · Meta Knight · Olimar · Pit · Pokémon Trainer (Charizard · Ivysaur · Squirtle) · R.O.B. · Snake · Sonic · Toon Link · Wario · Wolf · (Zero Suit Samus) |
