Larfen's Sheik Guide

These are notes that I wrote down off the dome for Sheik today (4/10/25). I’m formerly Chicago PR (peak rank 9) with over 10 years of maining Sheik. Includes MU tips & tricks and things to be solo practiced. This guide is by no means comprehensive and my goal is simply to provide my particular perspective on the character, for you to absorb as you see fit. Some of the information may not be strictly true, but I have found to be true enough for practical purposes (i.e. chaingrab percentages). My general thought process in writing was to put down the things that I try to remind myself of when I sit down for a set.


Universals


  • If you throw a stack of needles on the ground, hold shield on top of them. If they hit your shield with an aerial they’ll miss their L cancel and you can shield grab

  • You probably only need to use fair, bair, nair, tilts, needles, and grab in neutral. Everything else is fluff

  • Sheik cannot be reaction tech chased, as it’s impossible to react to tech in place vs tech in

  • ALWAYS look out for double jump rings when punishing, it unlocks fun options

  • Fall asleep watching 1001 Mew2King edgeguards

  • Tipper usmash reaches through inner edge of YS side plat, some FoD heights, and works as rest punish on PS side plat


Essential Tech (Practice These)

  • Grabbing ledge fast from any position (DD WD back, SH needle turnaround, runoff poof, side plat runoff needle turnaround on YS and BF)

  • Dash out of crouch

  • Instant Nair OoS, both FH and SH

    • FH nair has mixups. You can either DJ after or double nair

  • Mixup AC fair and SH WL in neutral

  • Be able to (long) boost grab and jc grab on command. They have different timings

  • Dashdance Shieldstop Bair (especially vs Floaties)

  • Act out of endlag asap, especially tilts/jab

  • Practice SH > NIL movement on PS and YS side plats

  • Every character has guaranteed dthrow followups at every %, learn them all


Recovery Tricks


  • Explore walljump variations

    • WJ Bair and WJ airdodge most useful

    • Universal: WJ bair > no DJ > diagonal airdodge up on stage

    • YS: Scar jump, Double WJ

    • FoD & FD: Learn WJ needle turnaround instant ledgegrab

  • Up B high allows for minor drifting and no landing lag

  • Double poof straight up has no landing lag

  • If you drift back during the startup of Up B you can delay ledgegrab timing (hard counter to neutral getup edgeguard. Reactable but not commonly reacted to)

  • If you aim poof at back of opponent’s feet holding ledge, you can delay ledgegrab timing (Laudandus recovery) (hard counter to neutral getup edgeguard. Unreactable but harder to land on stage for true mixup)

  • Learn randall timings for airdodge recoveries

  • If whispy is blowing on DL, Up B to outer lip of plat and mash out nair when blown off

  • Needling opponent on ledge don’t work vs anyone good. Can potentially bait getup with needle cancel though (I've seen Drephen do this)

  • Not a bad idea to learn Zelda basics so you can recover using her and not get owned when you make it back


Zelda Basics for Sheiks


  • General gameplan when stuck as Zelda is to land a dsmash or fair/bair to knock down and give time to transform back

  • Riskier option: Transform while on ledge and recover from there as Sheik

  • Up B directly into ground has no (or greatly reduced) landing lag

  • If Zelda dies while you have needles charged as Sheik, you retain the needle stack when transforming back

  • You lose angel plat invincibility when transforming

  • Zelda airdodge is very good (like Peach’s)

  • DL trick: roll to inside edge of side plat and Up-B horizontally. This edge cancels on the opposite side plat and gives transformation opportunity



Vs Fox


Punish

  • Practice RTC regularly

    • If you are normal and can’t do it consistently, usmash read on tech in place is unpunishable

    • If you can’t react to tech in place shine with grab, try reacting with dashback dash in grab (loses to any getup option other than shine)

    • Can’t WD techchase until ~30%

    • Jab reset stops working mid 20’s %

  • Mixup ftilt/dsmash vs DI in on dthrow >90%

  • Tipper usmash kills at 88% on FD

  • Learn to reverse fair vs wallride Up B to counter wall tech


Neutral

  • Ftilt knocks down at 24%, so stray aerials, raw grabs, and needles before then

  • Bair walling works pretty well

  • You have to play the player, not the MU

  • You can grab landings, but watch out for FH > DJ bait

  • Always shieldgrab vs drill

  • WD back OoS grab or Upsmash OoS if they dash attack shield (they go behind you)


Defense

  • Learn to SDI out of drill and grab the followup shine

  • Can ASDI down tech in place vs usmash low % to get a guaranteed grab. Most reliable off waveshine usmash

  • Mixup SDI in and SDI out on waveshines

  • You can't punish nair with CC


Vs Falco


Punish

  • Practice RTC regularly

    • If you are normal and can’t do it consistently, usmash read on tech in place is unpunishable

    • Also if you can’t react to tech in place shine with grab, try reacting with dashback dash in grab (hard countered by spotdodge)

    • WD techchase doesn’t work because tech away goes too far

    • Jab reset stops working mid 20’s %

  • Mixup ftilt/dsmash vs DI in on dthrow >80%

  • Learn to reverse fair vs wallride Up B to counter wall tech


Neutral

  • OoS game is central. Nair OoS is a staple, roll out can reset if Nair isn’t working. FH Dair OoS (The Drephen) is high risk high reward and cool

  • You can crouch under most lasers

  • PS Laser > WD fwd ftilt or grab works very very well

  • Removing a trigger spring helps with powershields


Defense

  • Don’t get lasered out of the air

  • Side plat is safe zone

  • You can Amsah tech dair well over 100%

  • DJ backwards nearly always dodges suicide dair


Vs Marth


Punish

  • You must read and reread the Druggedfox post

  • Sami stall for edgeguarding. Can react to side b offstage

  • Don’t sleep on the Marth killer


Neutral

  • CC fair > Dash OoC grab is fundamental to modern meta

  • Single grounded needles can force approach if you’re getting DD camped


Defense

  • No DI > buffer tap jump escapes uthrow utilt

  • Don’t recover to platform, Amsah tech fsmash, live forever

  • Almost always want to recover to stage in this MU

  • DI out vs dair spike to live longer


Vs Sheik


  • I don’t want to think about this. Practice cg and be better at cc/edgeguarding than them


Vs Puff


Punish

  • Dthrow Uair works on all DI’s at kill%, practice it

  • Dthrow nair does most damage at low%, but dthrow fair has more followup potential

  • Dtilt and jab combo into fair/uair at higher % (50+)


Neutral

  • You’re faster, use your movement

  • Bair and Fair can compete with Puff aerials

  • Don’t grab until you’re well into the set/game. Save them so that they’re unexpected

  • Dash attack lowkey good to catch landings

  • Upsmash OoS lowkey good vs crossup aerial on shield > crouch

  • Charge needles during your invincibility (you won’t hit her)

  • Use plenty of needles

  • Runoff fair can work vs drift to ledge and keep recovery honest


Defense

  • Every rest is avoidable (except maybe when you’re recovering)

  • If you get rested, you’re fucked

  • Puff is likely to go for riskier rests than usual because Sheik’s rest punish sucks


Vs Peach


Punish

  • Watch KirbyKaze vs Kzhu GOML Game 1

  • Needle her recovery if possible. Horizontal needle very good here

  • Easiest (good) character to hit during your invincibility. Don't be afraid to go allll the way off stage to hit her when you're invincible


Neutral

  • Bair, Nair, Fair all have uses

  • FC Fair > double jab on shield is common. You can asdi down grab this sequence


Defense

  • Don’t be afraid to use CC, just don’t CC the one move

  • FC Fair Dsmash doesn’t shield poke full shield usually

  • Know your edgeguard counterplay (double hit dsmash, amsah tech)


Vs ICs


  • Don’t play Sheik if possible

  • If not possible, platform camp with needles and spaced aerials

  • You still get chaingrabbed by sopo lmao


Vs Falcon


Punish

  • Dsmash at ledge works OK vs ledge tech because of multihit

  • Can dthrow chaingrab DI in >60%

  • Can dthrow dashattack DI away >110%

  • Don’t jab reset falcon players ever

  • They only have two options after bthrow at ledge: instant DJ aerial or DJ sweetspot to ledge. You can read instant DJ with turnaround jab or tilt, sweetspot with WD back to ledge


Neutral

  • Ground Wobble vs Air Wobble: The Matchup

  • Ngl I don’t really understand how to play neutral in this MU. I rely on punish and so do they


Defense

  • DI uthrow in at mid%, then DI down & away vs uair. You should only eat one.

  • Uthrow knee guaranteed ~80-110%, so DI to top plat if possible


Vs Yoshi


Punish

  • Chaingrab works until ~40, tilt or usmash to finish

  • Can’t reliably break DJ armor, so wait for an airdodge or aerial when edgeguarding

  • Dthrow fair kills very late in comparison to other MUs, but is only reliable kill option

  • Runup dsmash works well vs ledge eggs


Neutral

  • Yoshi has no shieldstun, so do not interact with shield on plat

  • Force him to approach with needle charge


Defense

  • Don’t break out of neutral B immediately, make them guess

  • Yoshi can grab ledge very quickly, be careful


Vs Samus


  • You shouldn’t need my help with this one

  • Hardest character to dthrow fair in the game

  • Utilt is her biggest opener

  • AC fair > shield works vs cc dsmash. If you got hit you didn't do it well enough

  • Spam shield

  • You can roll through bomb in neutral if they’re being annoying

  • Needle her grapple and bomb recovery

  • Vs grapple recovery, hold ledge and react to “reel in” with standard getup


Vs DK


Punish

  • You have a cg but it starts super late (I forget the %, it’s always higher than I think)

  • Dthrow > ftilt, tech chase, or dash attack at low%


Neutral

  • He’s faster than you think. Be very careful when you commit to grab because that’s a big opportunity for him

  • Don’t be too aggressive, he prefers to be on defense


Defense

  • SDI up vs uair chains to DJ out



Vs Pika


Punish

  • CG stops working ~20%. Finish with utilt or usmash

  • Ledgehop bair still works well for edgeguarding


Neutral

  • Shield while facing backwards to shieldgrab crossup nair

  • His best OoS option hits behind him first (uair)

  • He has little to no answer to CC

  • Ftilt while holding down at low% is basically unpunishable


Defense

  • He has guaranteed uthrow usmash at low%, uthrow nair at higher

  • Recover to plat to reduce likelihood of getting upsmashed



Vs Ganon


Punish

  • Feels to me like cg ends at ~40%. They always try to escape with DJ dair, so if you read with uair you get the freest combo ever

  • They love to tournament winner > DJ aerial (usually dair). You must DJ to punish this but it's worth


Neutral

  • The only way they can trick you is with DJ. Reading/reacting to DJ’s is your key to success

  • Be conservative. He can only hit you if you overextend


Defense

  • His chaingrab is wayyyyy better than yours

  • Recovering low is dangerous because of tipman > dj uair


Vs anyone else


Punish

  • Dthrow


Neutral

  • Platforms & Bair

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