Link to original post: [drupal=1461]I <3 Needles: the comprehensive guide to needles.[/drupal]
Um... I wrote this a while back; december; and did a few final touches for release in January. The gudes purpose was to detail some practical uses for needles while giving in depth information about... junk. Ultimately I wasn't really feeling the feedback I was getting about it so I decided not to post it at all in the sheik boards. Most of whats here is common knowledge so instead it can live and die here.<!--break-->
That said still feel free to ask questions if you have any and as always I'm open to feed back.
- 1: Updates
1/28/09 - [/size=1]Done with the first postable version. yeah it's full of spelling and grammar errors, but so are you.[/size]
0: Table of Context
1: Introduction - About me, about the guide
2: Pros and Cons - The pros and cons of needle storm
3: Needles Defined - Random definitions I'll be using
4: Defensive Techniques - covers your evasive and defensive options while charging and using needles, and when should you use each.
5: Offensive Techniques - Covers your attack options
6: Special Techniques - Random Crap... basically. Stuff that is good to know but doesn't play a huge roll in game play
7: Needle Cancels - Cover the options you have when canceling aerial needles
8: Thanks - Cuz other people helped me out too
9: Contact Info - You can reach me at...
1: Introduction
Hi, I'm <3, LessThanThree, Less, whatever you wanna call me. I always start my guide with a tid bit about myself so so people reading know where I'm coming from and who I am and how experienced I am with the game. I've played melee with some of the best and definitely some of the worse, thats where my compedetive smash roots are. I played a strong samus, ask around you'd be hard press to hear any different. I've written the I <3 Bombs guide hosted here on smash boards. which was a guide highlighting probablly samus most versitile move, bombs.
I picked up Sheik soon after brawls release simply because of the fluidity of her moves and samus' lack of bomb techniques, lol. My sheik play style focuses on spacing, waiting, and taking advantage of openings, so obviously needles play a huge roll.
In this guide I hope to share with you all that I've found about needles. And through that improve your Sheik.
2: Pros and Cons
Pros:
-A safe hard to punish attack.
-Up to 18% damage fully charged.
-Good at shutting down lateral approaches
-High priority/invincible
-Multi hit long duration make it hard to dodge and avoid.
-Needle cancel to change direction in air.
Cons:
-Limited options out of charge animation.
-Vulnerable during needle cancel animation.
-Vulnerable during the shot animation.
-Crazy long landing lag
3: Needles Defined
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ankoku
Needle Storm
ACTION: 8
HIT: 12
END: 94
FULL CHARGE: 55
FULL CHARGE HIT: 12
CANCEL: 6
INSTANT CANCEL: 15
(basically, this means that instant needle cancel takes at least 15 frames)
So a little bit of redefinition.
The opening needle storm animation lasts 8 frames, this cannot be canceled by input.
[/b]Charge animation:
After frame 8 you enter a new animation state that I call the charge animation, that can be interrupted a few different ways; left right input, shield (or grab) input, and special move input, and these respectively result in left right roll, charge cancel, and activation of needle storm.
The dodge is identical to sheik's normal roll.
The cancel takes 6 frames.
And needle storm hits 4 frames after activation during charge.
If needles are fully charged you will have no options other options during the move and will do the needle storm which hits 12 frames after activation.
4: Defensive Techniques
Preemptive cancel:
The idea here is that you return to you idle animation long before you are in attack range. I think this is the best option since it leave you the least open and requires no prediction on your part. Putting you back in the idle animation lets you be do anything, you have access to all of sheik if you will. You can even start charging again depending on how your opponent is reacting.
rolling out of charge:
In my opinion the best reactive option. You are invincible after input frame 5, and sheik dodge will put her a safe enough distance away to avoid follow up attacks.
needle storm:
Throw needles! It is pretty fast, and will shut down a lot of shot hopped approaches before they even get started since a lot of characters hit boxes will be level with you while their attack is coming out this option can work on a lot of people in the cast, though more often than not rolling is going to be the best choice, needle storm is not that anti-aerial approach that is samus' charge beam unfortunately.
cancel to shield:
Normally I'm big against this option. Since it takes like 8 frames for the shield to come up. it is hard or even impossible to shield attacks on reaction especially fast aerials and tilts. but this can be used for shield grabbing telegraphed aerials and power shielding slower smash attacks etc. Normally I'm a much larger fan of canceling long before an attack can be delivered so I don't have to account for the charge cancel animation and can react normally. Normally.
5: Offensive Techniques
Grounded needle storm:
YES! NEEDLES! Pretty much my Sheik's bread and butter right here. They shield it, it kills their shield they don't 12- 18 damage, they avoid it they aren't going to hit me! there are key points when using needles have the highest chance to hit, that every sheik should understand.
Any aerial dodge into the ground should be responded to with needles, since all character are vulnerable on land the needles will hit if you timed them correctly.
Likewise if they've used both of their jumps respond to their land with needles timing it so they'd connect just as the opponent lands.
And of course dodge whiffed attacks of any kind, recoveries, etc.
Aerial to Grounded needle storm:
20 plus damage combo that is unavoidable, yeah sheik has it on every character even at higher percent it is still going to work. You do however have to keep an eye on how many needles you have and decide if dash attack, tilts, or other options will deal more damage or lead to better set ups.
Short hop needle:
A.K.A Garbage needle. You have crazy land lag make this Sheik's 3rd laggiest. that doesn't mean it doesn't have applications. it destroys a lot of upBs, diddy being on of the most noticeable. using this move to hit people on stage though is silly.
Full hop Needle:
No lag if you start the needle as soon as you are air born and it works with both fully charged and uncharged needles. Good for edge guarding great for people who want to duck under needles or people who like to short hop over them. In my experience it is hard to get punished you can throw out a nair before you hit the ground which is a good answer to people who try to dodge close in response.
6: Special Techniques
needle glide:
So yeah, think vanish glide except with needles. It gives you increase horizontal movement speed while falling off the edge making it okay for edge guarding characters a little further out and a little faster than normal. Even still I rarely use it sheik has better options closer to the stage IMO.
needle storm cancel:
NEEDLE STORM CANCEL! Sounds awesome, because it is. the execution is similar to the vanish and needle glide. Except you are going to time it a little earlier so that you shoot the needles before you slide off the ledge. The perfect NSC you can shoot two needles. zip-a-dee-doo! Very cool on Frigate, neat on Norfair.
Most of the time I prefer fully charged needles over this so I use that instead, but it definitely has applications for edge guarding.
Roll off needle storm/needle charge:
This has happened to everyone I'm sure. You roll towards the edge and start to charge needles and you start to fall while aerial charging. This is good to know. I use it to charge off stage, but it doesn't really have any real useful applications.
7: Needle Cancels
?more soon?
8: Thanks
Big thanks to Ankoku for frame data on needles early early on.
And both Ankoku and Ryoko for letting me pretty much naw their ears off whenever I have brawl on my mind.
Zero to Death
9: Contact Info
I'm on AIM when ever my laptop isn't on the frits, you can reach me there at "ThanThree".
And of course PM, and this thread.
Um... I wrote this a while back; december; and did a few final touches for release in January. The gudes purpose was to detail some practical uses for needles while giving in depth information about... junk. Ultimately I wasn't really feeling the feedback I was getting about it so I decided not to post it at all in the sheik boards. Most of whats here is common knowledge so instead it can live and die here.<!--break-->
That said still feel free to ask questions if you have any and as always I'm open to feed back.
- 1: Updates
1/28/09 - [/size=1]Done with the first postable version. yeah it's full of spelling and grammar errors, but so are you.[/size]
0: Table of Context
1: Introduction - About me, about the guide
2: Pros and Cons - The pros and cons of needle storm
3: Needles Defined - Random definitions I'll be using
4: Defensive Techniques - covers your evasive and defensive options while charging and using needles, and when should you use each.
5: Offensive Techniques - Covers your attack options
6: Special Techniques - Random Crap... basically. Stuff that is good to know but doesn't play a huge roll in game play
7: Needle Cancels - Cover the options you have when canceling aerial needles
8: Thanks - Cuz other people helped me out too
9: Contact Info - You can reach me at...
1: Introduction
Hi, I'm <3, LessThanThree, Less, whatever you wanna call me. I always start my guide with a tid bit about myself so so people reading know where I'm coming from and who I am and how experienced I am with the game. I've played melee with some of the best and definitely some of the worse, thats where my compedetive smash roots are. I played a strong samus, ask around you'd be hard press to hear any different. I've written the I <3 Bombs guide hosted here on smash boards. which was a guide highlighting probablly samus most versitile move, bombs.
I picked up Sheik soon after brawls release simply because of the fluidity of her moves and samus' lack of bomb techniques, lol. My sheik play style focuses on spacing, waiting, and taking advantage of openings, so obviously needles play a huge roll.
In this guide I hope to share with you all that I've found about needles. And through that improve your Sheik.
2: Pros and Cons
Pros:
-A safe hard to punish attack.
-Up to 18% damage fully charged.
-Good at shutting down lateral approaches
-High priority/invincible
-Multi hit long duration make it hard to dodge and avoid.
-Needle cancel to change direction in air.
Cons:
-Limited options out of charge animation.
-Vulnerable during needle cancel animation.
-Vulnerable during the shot animation.
-Crazy long landing lag
3: Needles Defined
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ankoku
Needle Storm
ACTION: 8
HIT: 12
END: 94
FULL CHARGE: 55
FULL CHARGE HIT: 12
CANCEL: 6
INSTANT CANCEL: 15
(basically, this means that instant needle cancel takes at least 15 frames)
So a little bit of redefinition.
The opening needle storm animation lasts 8 frames, this cannot be canceled by input.
[/b]Charge animation:
After frame 8 you enter a new animation state that I call the charge animation, that can be interrupted a few different ways; left right input, shield (or grab) input, and special move input, and these respectively result in left right roll, charge cancel, and activation of needle storm.
The dodge is identical to sheik's normal roll.
The cancel takes 6 frames.
And needle storm hits 4 frames after activation during charge.
If needles are fully charged you will have no options other options during the move and will do the needle storm which hits 12 frames after activation.
4: Defensive Techniques
Preemptive cancel:
The idea here is that you return to you idle animation long before you are in attack range. I think this is the best option since it leave you the least open and requires no prediction on your part. Putting you back in the idle animation lets you be do anything, you have access to all of sheik if you will. You can even start charging again depending on how your opponent is reacting.
rolling out of charge:
In my opinion the best reactive option. You are invincible after input frame 5, and sheik dodge will put her a safe enough distance away to avoid follow up attacks.
needle storm:
Throw needles! It is pretty fast, and will shut down a lot of shot hopped approaches before they even get started since a lot of characters hit boxes will be level with you while their attack is coming out this option can work on a lot of people in the cast, though more often than not rolling is going to be the best choice, needle storm is not that anti-aerial approach that is samus' charge beam unfortunately.
cancel to shield:
Normally I'm big against this option. Since it takes like 8 frames for the shield to come up. it is hard or even impossible to shield attacks on reaction especially fast aerials and tilts. but this can be used for shield grabbing telegraphed aerials and power shielding slower smash attacks etc. Normally I'm a much larger fan of canceling long before an attack can be delivered so I don't have to account for the charge cancel animation and can react normally. Normally.
5: Offensive Techniques
Grounded needle storm:
YES! NEEDLES! Pretty much my Sheik's bread and butter right here. They shield it, it kills their shield they don't 12- 18 damage, they avoid it they aren't going to hit me! there are key points when using needles have the highest chance to hit, that every sheik should understand.
Any aerial dodge into the ground should be responded to with needles, since all character are vulnerable on land the needles will hit if you timed them correctly.
Likewise if they've used both of their jumps respond to their land with needles timing it so they'd connect just as the opponent lands.
And of course dodge whiffed attacks of any kind, recoveries, etc.
Aerial to Grounded needle storm:
20 plus damage combo that is unavoidable, yeah sheik has it on every character even at higher percent it is still going to work. You do however have to keep an eye on how many needles you have and decide if dash attack, tilts, or other options will deal more damage or lead to better set ups.
Short hop needle:
A.K.A Garbage needle. You have crazy land lag make this Sheik's 3rd laggiest. that doesn't mean it doesn't have applications. it destroys a lot of upBs, diddy being on of the most noticeable. using this move to hit people on stage though is silly.
Full hop Needle:
No lag if you start the needle as soon as you are air born and it works with both fully charged and uncharged needles. Good for edge guarding great for people who want to duck under needles or people who like to short hop over them. In my experience it is hard to get punished you can throw out a nair before you hit the ground which is a good answer to people who try to dodge close in response.
6: Special Techniques
needle glide:
So yeah, think vanish glide except with needles. It gives you increase horizontal movement speed while falling off the edge making it okay for edge guarding characters a little further out and a little faster than normal. Even still I rarely use it sheik has better options closer to the stage IMO.
needle storm cancel:
NEEDLE STORM CANCEL! Sounds awesome, because it is. the execution is similar to the vanish and needle glide. Except you are going to time it a little earlier so that you shoot the needles before you slide off the ledge. The perfect NSC you can shoot two needles. zip-a-dee-doo! Very cool on Frigate, neat on Norfair.
Most of the time I prefer fully charged needles over this so I use that instead, but it definitely has applications for edge guarding.
Roll off needle storm/needle charge:
This has happened to everyone I'm sure. You roll towards the edge and start to charge needles and you start to fall while aerial charging. This is good to know. I use it to charge off stage, but it doesn't really have any real useful applications.
7: Needle Cancels
?more soon?
8: Thanks
Big thanks to Ankoku for frame data on needles early early on.
And both Ankoku and Ryoko for letting me pretty much naw their ears off whenever I have brawl on my mind.
Zero to Death
9: Contact Info
I'm on AIM when ever my laptop isn't on the frits, you can reach me there at "ThanThree".
And of course PM, and this thread.
