First, I recommend reading St. Viers' What makes a move "safe". It has a quick summary of frame advantage and a little mathematical example as well.
That said, we all probably have Sheik's moveset down decently well now. We know that ftilt sets up into a lot of things, and usmash hurts, etc. So in this thread we'll consider the options of approach against a shielding opponent.
Obviously, using an unsafe attack like dash or running usmash will get you punished. People can react, and they'll shield unless they have something better to do. So, if you and your opponent are both in a neutral situation, do not approach with these very often, if at all:
dash attack
usmash
fsmash
dair
If you're a bit of a distance from your opponent, closing that distance will give him time to shield, at which point you'll need to think of what to do against it. Your options are:
Properly spaced ftilt
Properly spaced dtilt
Two jabs
Autocanceled fair
Autocanceled nair
Autocanceled bair
Crossup with bair
Dsmash
Grab
If you successfully grabbed, congratulations, you now have control of the situation. Do a throw and try to hold control for as long as possible.
If you didn't, then your opponent will have either shielded/dodged your attack, or gotten hit by it. Let's consider the options on shield.
If you attacked the shield with
ftilt
dtilt
then you can follow up with
jabs
shorthop nair (retreating, if you want to avoid punishment)
If you attacked the shield with
jabs
then you can follow up with
ftilt
dtilt
grab
If you attacked the shield with
fair
nair
bair
then you can follow up with
ftilt
dtilt
jabs
If you attacked the shield with
dsmash
then you have no options, just hope one of the three hits connects or they retreat.
You can then link any of the above into a proper shield pressure string and keep it up until you either connect with an attack or land a grab. I hope this helps for those of you Sheik players who like to play aggressive.
That said, we all probably have Sheik's moveset down decently well now. We know that ftilt sets up into a lot of things, and usmash hurts, etc. So in this thread we'll consider the options of approach against a shielding opponent.
Obviously, using an unsafe attack like dash or running usmash will get you punished. People can react, and they'll shield unless they have something better to do. So, if you and your opponent are both in a neutral situation, do not approach with these very often, if at all:
dash attack
usmash
fsmash
dair
If you're a bit of a distance from your opponent, closing that distance will give him time to shield, at which point you'll need to think of what to do against it. Your options are:
Properly spaced ftilt
Properly spaced dtilt
Two jabs
Autocanceled fair
Autocanceled nair
Autocanceled bair
Crossup with bair
Dsmash
Grab
If you successfully grabbed, congratulations, you now have control of the situation. Do a throw and try to hold control for as long as possible.
If you didn't, then your opponent will have either shielded/dodged your attack, or gotten hit by it. Let's consider the options on shield.
If you attacked the shield with
ftilt
dtilt
then you can follow up with
jabs
shorthop nair (retreating, if you want to avoid punishment)
If you attacked the shield with
jabs
then you can follow up with
ftilt
dtilt
grab
If you attacked the shield with
fair
nair
bair
then you can follow up with
ftilt
dtilt
jabs
If you attacked the shield with
dsmash
then you have no options, just hope one of the three hits connects or they retreat.
You can then link any of the above into a proper shield pressure string and keep it up until you either connect with an attack or land a grab. I hope this helps for those of you Sheik players who like to play aggressive.
