Sheik (SSBM)/Techs

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Overview[edit]

When sent tumbling and launched into a solid surface, Sheik will perform a recovery-style move (not to be confused with off-stage recovery), assuming the Sheik player successfully timed their shield button press, which grants her instant intangibility. Which specific tech move Sheik performs depends upon both which surface she impacted (floor, ceiling, or wall) and the player's control stick input at the time of collision. Like all techs, Sheik's can be used to escape bad situations or survive certain death, and is almost always a better option than entering knockdown (with the exception of slideoff DI).

Tech rolls[edit]

Aside from the traditional uses of techs (escaping an otherwise guaranteed punish), Sheik's most important use for her tech rolls is in performing the so-called amsah tech; every character in Melee can perform an amsah tech, but Sheik is arguably the character that benefits the most from it: when knocked off-stage and recovering against an opponent who's ledgehogging, Sheik usually has no other choice but to Vanish onto stage. However, Vanish has incredibly high landing lag (a full ½ a second), leaving her vulnerable to a punish, such as Marth's tipper forward smash. With access to amsah teching, Sheik can just roll away, saving herself from an otherwise bad situation. Without it, she would likely be launched off-stage, leading to a rinse-and-repeat edgeguard, or be outright KO'd.

It's worth noting that Sheik does not have to be in Vanish lag to perform an amsah tech, meaning that she can also perform it during the lag of other moves, such as her boost grab or her up smash. However, it's also worth noting that not every move can be amsah teched: spikes and meteor smashes, sufficiently powerful moves, such as Jigglypuff's Rest, and regular moves at sufficiently-high percents are all unable to be teched in this manner. That said, amsah teching is a great defensive mechanic that can save Sheik from a bad outcome and allow her to reset to neutral.