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 appearance	in Brawl
Availability	Starter
Tier	S (4)

“

A mysterious warrior whose moves allow her to flow across battlefields.

”

Announced at E3 2001, 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 A 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 fourth 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 some 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. Although her wavedash can be performed quickly, it is rather short.

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 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.

Moveset

Ground Moves

Normal

• Neutral attack- Two swipes that do 3-4%, followed by a fast series of punches doing 1% each.
• Dash attack- slashes with her arms to a stop. Excellent juggling due to little ending lag, sends opponents up and behind her. 10% damage
• Forward tilt- A round kick in front of her. Short range, but launches the foe directly up leaving them open for aerial combos. 6% damage.
• Down tilt- A quick kick while crouching. Not particularly useful due to low range, but can disrupt attacks. 7% damage.
• Up tilt- Kicks up, and lets her leg down in an axe-like way. This attack is famous for it's chainability against heavy characters such as her up tilt infinite on Bowser. First hit does 8%, second 3%

Smashes

• Forward smash- Kicks twice in front of her, has moderate knockback. Good for racking up damage. 4% then 12% uncharged, 6% then 19% fully charged.
• Up smash- Puts her arms above herself and violently separates them to her left and right. 13-19% arms, tip does 17-23% in the NTSC version, 16-22% in the PAL. Incredibly powerful when sweetspotted, being among the most powerful in the game, but otherwise does moderate knockback when sourspotted.
• Down smash- A long-ranged breakdance-like sweep with multiple hits, but low knockback and KO potential. 13% uncharged, 17% fully charged.

Other

• Ledge attack- Kicks back on the stage, 8% damage.
• 100% Ledge Attack- Slowly does a similar attack to her ledge attack below 100% damage, does 8%.
• Floor attack- Gets up and kicks in front and back of herself. 6% damage.

Aerials

• Neutral aerial- 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. 14% damage.
• Forward aerial- a quick swipe in front of Sheik, great finisher/edgeguarder that semi-spikes with high knockback. Usually does 13%, can potentially be done against an opponent repeatedly if Sheik manoeuvres correctly.
• Back aerial- A quick kick in behind Sheik, good for edgeguarding. Has a sweetspot on her foot that does 14% with strong knockback otherwise 8%
• Up aerial- A spinning kick upwards with high vertical knockback and KO potential. 12% damage. In the PAL version, the attack deals 10% damage, with its knockback being considerably reduced, making it a better attack for comboing.
• Down aerial- A downwards kick with long ending lag. 9-11% damage.

Grabs & Throws

• Pummel- Punches the opponent with her fist. 2% damage each punch.
• Forward throw- Launches her foe forward with low horizontal knockback and hitstun. 8% damage.
• Back throw- Kicks an enemy behind Sheik. Better knockback and hitstun than forward throw but otherwise weak, though it can set up edgeguards. 7% damage
• Up throw- Launches the enemy above her. Excellent for an aerial-attack follow up, but due to low histun follow-ups are difficult. 8% damage.
• Down throw- Punches enemy to the ground, 8% damage. Overall, this is the best of Sheik's grabs because it can reliably chain grab or tech chase many characters to high percentages. When compounded with a forward tilt, the throw can also chainthrow Space Animals at or to high percentages.

Special Moves

Sheik's special moves

Neutral special	Needle Storm
Side special	Chain		Burst Grenade
Up special	Vanish
Down special	Transform		Bouncing Fish

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

PAL Differences

In the transition from NTSC to PAL, Sheik was altered slightly as a character. Generally, her transition made her slightly weaker; her up smash deals one less damage when sweetspotted (from 17% to 16%), for one. Most notably, however, is that her up aerial no longer has KO potential; it deals 10% damage now, and it has been weakened, making it a more effective juggling/comboing attack than a finisher. Additionally, Sheik's down throw sends opponents in a horizontal direction, not a vertical; as such, she can no longer chain throw as effective on other characters, nor can she follow up with a smash or tilt.

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 Hyrule 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 him 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 Hyrule 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.

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  #239

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  #240

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  #241

Costumes

Sheik's changeable clothing in SSBM

Trivia

• Sheik's appearance in Melee marked the first time the character was playable in any game.
• Sheik's gender is greatly disputed among fans, mainly because the official artwork displays Sheik with a male's build instead of a female's build. In addition, a comparison between the official artwork of Sheik and Zelda (from Ocarina of Time) display very different body types and builds.
• Sheik's Neutral Aerial and Up Aerial are identical to that of Samus, despite not being a clone or semi-clone of her.
• Sheik is the only playable character not to appear on the character selection screen.