Sheik (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)


 * 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.

Sheik is a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Sheik transforms from Zelda by using her down special move Transform, and can also transform back into Sheik. Her design saw great changes in that she was given a great deal more detail in her costume, as well as a knife and pony-tail. The most significant change to her design is in her figure, which now appears much more feminine than in previous titles.

The playability of Sheik had earlier been hinted by Eiji Aonuma, the director of Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, who stated that he sent Twilight Princess-style designs of Sheik and Ganondorf to Sakurai.

Sheik can be selected off of the Character Select screen by clicking on her image, like selecting a starting Pokémon with Pokémon Trainer. However, unlike Pokémon Trainer, there is no Random option between the two.

Sheik saw a large drop in her tier position, from rank 3 in Melee to rank 25 in Brawl. Her loss of many of her killers and her chaingrab caused a drop-off in her position.

Attributes
Sheik is one of the fastest characters in the game, having the fourth fastest running speed and a very high attack speed. She has one of the best abilities to combo effectively, as her attacks have very little start up and ending lag, and generally have low knockback, allowing them to chain effectively. The best example of this is Sheik's Forward Tilt. Most of Sheik's attacks can lead to a forward tilt, especially at low percentages, especially the Up Tilt, Down Tilt, Neutral Aerial, Forward Aerial, Back Aerial, Down Smash, and Jab Cancel. Additionally, the low knockback of the Forward Tilt can be repeatedly linked into itself, especially against heavy characters and fastfallers, making for great damage-racking potential. This combo can also be ended with almost any of Sheik's attacks, and it can easily rack up 50% or more in one combo, especially on fast-fallers or heavy characters, making him a hard counter to Fox. Sheik's Up-tilt is also a powerful attack. At very low percentages, it can combo into itself, and at slightly higher percentages it combos into a Forward Tilt. It has a very large range and long-hitting hitbox, making it a powerful defensive move. Sheik's smashes are also fairly good. Her down smash has multiple hits and has long range. Her up smash can kill easily at around 100%, but this is probably the most difficult-to-hit attack Sheik has. 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 are Sex Kicks with very similar knockback and speed and negligible landing lag outside of auto-cancel. The Back aerial also has great range. Her Up Aerial also has Sex Kick properties, but has some landing lag. Her Forward Aerial is a very quick swipe with low knockback but a great trajectory (slightly below horizontal), low lag, but sub-par range. This makes it a great move for gimping. 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. Needles are a fast projectile that can be very hard to dodge and can be charged for increased damage. Sheik's Up Special is a fairly good recovery, but also 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 also has some offensive potential through Chain Locking, which is great for punishing Shielding, Rolling, and Spot Dodging, and Chain Jacket, which can be used to insert the knockback and priority of the last attack into the Chain, which can prove useful on some characters with less priority or some projectiles. The Chain makes him a sub-impossible match-up for Ganondorf. Additionally, the Chain has transending priority, and combined with the massive range behind it, trancending priority is a blessing. It is slow coming out and returning, and leaves him vulnerable from behind though, 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 shore up some of Sheik's weaknesses. Sheik also can wall cling and crawl.

Sheik is not a character without weaknesses, however. Sheik lacks moves with kill power, as her two best kill moves (the tipper Up-smash and Vanish) are the two most difficult-to-hit moves in her arsenal, and almost nothing else can kill reliably below 150%. This makes Sheik very reliant on getting numerous hits to rack up damage and edgeguarding. Additionally, Sheik's best combo (the forward tilt-lock) often stops working before the opponent reaches kill 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). Sheik is also very light-weight, making her easier to kill than many characters (though this is not without its advantages, as it allows Sheik to escape some combos like Dedede's Chaingrab), and her merely average recovery can sometimes come up short. Sheik is also one of the fastest-falling characters in the game (second fastest, only slower than Fox), making her vulnerable to any combo or chaingrab that is effective against fast-fallers.

Normal

 * Neutral Attack - Sweeps her right hand left then right, then repeatedly jabs with her arm straight and with her fingers sticking out. First two hits, 3%. Jabs, 2% each, 1% if hit with the tip of her fingers.
 * Dash Attack - Throws her arms forward and forcefully separates her hands. 7%.
 * Strong Forward - Kicks her leg in an arc (can be done multiple times in a row). 5%.
 * Strong Up - Sheik raises her right leg above her and slams it down. First hit, 6%. Second hit, 7%.
 * Strong Down - Sheik does a quick spin kicking the ground with her leg. 8%.

Smash

 * Side Smash - Sheik kicks in front of her twice trapping the enemy in the first kick at low percentages and knocks them back with the second kick. First hit, 5% uncharged, 7% fully charged. Second hit, 9% uncharged, 12% fully charged.
 * Up Smash - Sheik raises her arms above her head holding them together and forcefully separates them to the left and right sides of her body. It is one of the most powerful up smashes in the game when both hits connect. Body (hits first), 17% uncharged, 23% fully charged. Wind, 12% uncharged, 17% fully charged.
 * Down Smash - Sheik spins her body on the ground sticking her legs out. First hit, 13% uncharged, 18% fully charged. Second and third hits, 10% uncharged, 14% fully charged.

Other

 * Ledge Attack - Sheik swiftly kicks her foot up off the edge. Similar to her Up Air, except sideways. 8%.
 * 100% Ledge Attack - Sheik slowly gets up and forcefully brings her elbow forward. 8%.
 * Floor Attack - Sheik kicks backwards, then brings her leg over her head in a kick, then gets up. 6%.
 * Trip Attack - Gets up and spins around with her leg extended. 5%.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Air -Sheik kicks forward with her leg. 13% during the first several frames, 5% during the rest.
 * Forward Air -Sheik claws infront of her with her left hand. 9%.
 * Back Air - Sheik kicks backward with her right leg. 11% during the first several frames, 6% during the rest.
 * Up Air - Sheik does a quick screwdriver kick. 11% during the first several frames, 6% during the rest of them.
 * Down Air - Sheik kicks down throwing herself down with it. 10%.

Grabs & Throws

 * Pummel - Sheik punches the enemy with her left hand. 3%.
 * Forward Throw -Sheik elbows the enemy with her left arm. 5%, then 2%.
 * Back Throw - Sheik throws the enemy behind her and kicks backwards. 5%, then 2%.
 * Up Throw - Sheik flips upsidedown and kicks the enemy with both of her feet. 3%, then 2%.
 * Down Throw -Sheik throws the enemy down to the ground, flips, and axe kicks the enemy's midsection, sending the enemy upward. Two hits of 3%.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

 * Needle Storm immediately begins charging if special move button is tapped, rather than firing a single needle. Special button must be tapped twice to fire a single needle.
 * Needle Storm will eventually stop charging by itself, instead of requiring the player to throw the needles or press Z to save them.
 * Chain can be used as a tether recovery.
 * Up Special has more damage and significantly increased knockback with less landing lag.
 * Forward Smash has increased knockback on the second hit.
 * Down Smash has lower knockback.
 * Up Smash has increased knockback on the sides. If Sheik is close enough, the tip and side hits can both strike the opponent, sending the enemy at a ~60 degree angle.
 * Forward Air has lower knockback and a smaller sweetspot.
 * Up Aerial is a better juggle move, but a worse kill move (like the PAL version).
 * Down Aerial sends Sheik downwards, and is a Stall-Then-Fall.
 * Forward tilt has less knockback, comboing better.
 * Up tilt has increased knockback on the second hit.
 * Can be chosen to start a match instead of Zelda at the character selection screen.
 * Has a shorter, better short hop.
 * In-battle transformation takes more time (loading times in Brawl are longer in general; the Wii system can be heard clicking during transformation), but renders Zelda/Sheik invincible for much of the time.
 * In Melee Sheik's braid did not exist.
 * Sheik's chain moves more freely than in Melee.
 * Sheik looks more feminine.
 * Lighter skin tone.
 * Smaller eyes and a different outfit.

Role In Subspace Emissary
After Peach and Zelda  are rescued by Lucario, Meta Knight, and Snake, the two princess 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 between then and the entrance to Subspace, Sheik transformed back into Zelda.

Trivia

 * Sheik has the shortest on-screen appearance duration out of all the characters in Brawl.
 * Sheik's Brawl design isn't based on her appearance from Ocarina of Time like it was in Melee. It's actually based on conceptual designs that were created for Twilight Princess.
 * If Sheik is attacked while charging her Needle Storm attack, her needles fall out of her hand and scatter all over the floor.
 * If you choose to rescue Zelda from Petey Piranha in the Subspace Emissary, you can still transform into Sheik, despite her not technically being introduced until much later.
 * Sheik has a different hair color than Zelda in most of her costumes except for her black and white costume and her SSBM costume where it's the same.


 * Sheik's Final Smash has different knockback. Sheik's sends flying straight, while Zelda a higher trajectory knockback.
 * Sheik is the only character in the Subspace Emissary to be playable before she's introduced.
 * The black and white costume is the only costume where Sheik's hair color changes.
 * Unlike in Melee, where completing Classic mode with either Zelda or Sheik you would get both Zelda and Sheik trophies, Brawl makes you 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 four of these characters begin with the letter 'S'.
 * Sheik has a dagger on her back, but never uses it to fight.