Sheik is Zelda’s alter-ego from Ocarina of Time. She is a ninja who is just as light as Zelda, but much weaker, faster, and more agile. She can combo very well and rack up good damage, but she doesn’t have the killing ability that she did in Melee. Overall, she’s probably a little worse than Zelda now, but she is still a great character. You can start as Sheik by selecting Zelda from the character select screen and click on Sheik’s portrait. You can also switch to Zelda by using your down special, but the transformation is very long.
Standard Attacks
Sheik’s standard combo consists of two quick swipes that lead into a flurry attack. The flurry can be useful if you known you will connect a lot of the hits, but most of the time you should just use the first two swipes as quick disruption moves. Sheik’s tilts are all great and work well in combos. None of them are strong enough to kill, but they are all staple moves for regular close combat. The forward tilt can be used very rapidly and at lower percentages you can simply spam it until they get knocked away. The up tilt hits above and then in front of Shiek, and is great to mix into her ground game, but it’s not again good as a defense from air attacks. The down tilt is another great attack to mix into combos.
Sheik’s forward tilt is a double kick that gains forward distance, but it lasts a long time. The attack is not very strong for a forward smash, but it can rack up good damage. Her down smash also lasts for a long time, but it comes out quick and with decent power (for Sheik). Sheik’s up smash is her strongest standard attack and is a good killing move, but it can be hard to connect with the sweet spot. It’s a very opportunistic move. Sheik’s running attack is a great dash attack that is extremely quick, but it does leave you open for a while.
Special Attacks
As mentioned, Sheik’s down special transforms her into Zelda. The transformation process is long, so you don’t want to do it unless you are safe. However, you are invincible during the transformation itself (but not going into or coming out of), so if you time it right you can use the move to evade final smashes. Sheik’s up special is similar to Zelda’s, but more explosive and with shorter range. She also jumps before teleporting, making the mechanics of the move different.
Sheik’s neutral special is very useful, though the controls for it aren’t as good as in Melee. Now if you press the button once, she automatically starts charging her darts, whereas if you want to immediately just send out one dart you have to double tap the button. This is unfortunate since a single dart is a great disruption and harassment move, but it’s not that hard to adjust. You can, of course, charge up multiple darts and unleash them all at once, which is great for gimping recoveries, block projectiles, and sending down from the air, which happens diagonally. Finally, Sheik’s side special is pretty useless, but not as useless as it was in Melee. Now she can use it as a tether recovery, which she doesn’t really need but she can use it to be unpredictable.
Throws
Sheik’s throws are pretty weak, like most of her moves. Her up and down throws are easily the most useful, since she can follow up with her excellent aerial attacks. You should probably avoid the left and right throws.
Aerial Attacks
Sheik’s air attacks are great. Let’s start with her legendary forward air. In Melee this attack, if used well, could kill people at pretty much any percentage that we have seen on Judi Online which showed the attack performance and damage it can make. In Brawl, this move has been severely weakened, like Peach’s down smash, but otherwise it still works in exactly the same way. It’s still a useful move, but you’ll only ever kill with it if you are edge guarding an opponent with high damage.
Her back air is also great, and it’s got good range, speed, and power. Her down air is now an auto-drop, albeit at a slightly diagonal trajectory. Unfortunately, this makes the move worse than before because if gives you much less control over it, but it’s not that bad. Finally, Sheik’s up air is an excellent move and you should try to lead into it as much as possible.
Final Smash
Sheik’s final smash is exactly the same as Zelda’s, except its knockback trajectory is different. Of course, it is a one hit kill attack, so that really does matter at all, unless the stage is set up in such a way that the opponent might bounce off of something, which will probably save him. Just like Zelda’s, the attack is directly horizontal and will hit everyone in a straight line, and you’ll probably miss most of the time in one on one matches.
