Menu
By:
Filters
What's new

General/Other - Sonya Blade Sonya General Discussion Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Youphemism

Youphemism

Gunslinger since pre patch (sh/out to The Farmer)
I've only messed about with Covert Ops for a very short amount of time but I'm quite liking the mixup you get with her B14 string I think it is. Overhead into low into either overhead (the end of the string OR MS 4(?)) or low (MS 3(?)) #Kreygasm I'll mess about with it more later and see if there's anything else I like.
 
S

Saionide

Noob

messing around with demo sonya, she can safely end strings with grenade i believe, which is a big deal since most of her strings are punishable.

character is feeling lack luster and might be jumping ship.
 
Espio

Espio

Kokomo
Okay so I've been playing with Sonya's Special forces variation almost exclusively as I anxiously await Goro to become available to me. I love this variation so far and can see myself playing this pretty exclusively. Every single drone based attack is plus on block so it grants safe, pressure extending mix ups, even if they block it correctly thus amplifying your offense from what I've gleaned.

The only thing about this variation is the combo potential seems much lower for her than her covert ops variation, but I really enjoy the blending of old and new that Special Forces provides.
 
Reactions: jmt
SidTheHaze

SidTheHaze

25th place Tempest Lao
In demolition stance i've noticed:
The exploding grenade is better for wall carry while the stun grenade is better for damage (better hit scaling).
if you throw a grenade and explode it instantly, on block you're really negative(combo punishable).
You can't get 2 grenades in 1 combo, well you can but the 2nd grenade just makes them fall on the ground.
 
Phosferrax

Phosferrax

Original Liu Kang cop.
At the minute in demolition I'm doing 50/50 confirm into grenade, run into 2134 hard knockdown for continued pressure. Any got decent midscreen combo for demoltion? All I can get from the 50/50's is about 23%-25%
 
Laziman5898

Laziman5898

"Cassie , D'vorah , Jacqui and Tanya are killers"
I'm liking so sonya a lot I use covert a lot cause I love her from mk 9

Gameplay wise I use b1,4-stance and choose from there if blocked , if hit confirmed I use 4/cartwheel into full combo

I also use d4 and d1 pressure and play footises but to make my pressure more gimmicky :) I do d3 , parry sometimes to make my opponent a lot more weiry of throwing out defensive d1s

This Is only after day 1 so please be sure to think of new game plans
 
reptar

reptar

Noob
Still trying to learn how this game SHOULD be played, but for setting up pressure I'm thinking if you have a very minor +frames on block, e.g. blocked jump in or something that's only 0, +1, or +3 or in a pure neutral situation, then you can try and poke with a d3 (low), d1 (mid), or maybe d4 (better range). if it HITS, then you have enough frame advantage to do a 50/50 mixup between b1 string (b1 or f1? whichever is the overhead) and b3 strings, which should beat out an opponent's unarmoured counterattack - I was testing this with d3 and d1 yesterday.

With demo specifically, you can end strings with a grenade toss which is very unsafe, but since you can cancel the grenade at any time you can punish the opp for trying to press buttons and pop them up into a combo. If they respect the grenade, then you can then start throwing out a grenade and going into a 50/50 without detonating it.

f2 seems like a great footsie tool as well, neutral on block and huge range - with demo you can cancel into a grenade for a combo, or just finish the string for a hard knockdown.

Also fun gimmick, if you grenade toss and then throw the opponent, they'll take the grenade hit even if they tech the throw, so that's a guaranteed 8% damage if you connect with the throw. When it detonates, you get knocked back as well so you can't start a combo, but it could be a bit of a trap :)
 
HDTran

HDTran

Just a guy.
Espio said:
Okay so I've been playing with Sonya's Special forces variation almost exclusively as I anxiously await Goro to become available to me. I love this variation so far and can see myself playing this pretty exclusively. Every single drone based attack is plus on block so it grants safe, pressure extending mix ups, even if they block it correctly thus amplifying your offense from what I've gleaned.

The only thing about this variation is the combo potential seems much lower for her than her covert ops variation, but I really enjoy the blending of old and new that Special Forces provides.
Click to expand...
Hi @Espio, how are you getting your offense started in this variation? The drone setup alone seems very crippling and if you tag drone setup at the end of juggles, you're sacrificing what seems to be a large amount of damage for a low-damage character. That paired with the fact that she can't seem to create great mix-ups that even lead to those standard combos seems like a huge detriment in Special Forces variation.
 
Last edited:
S

Slayhawk84

Yup, still a noob.
Her Spec Ops variation seems really good. There are just so many crazy hit/block confirm shenanigans she can do with ->db2. Ending a combo with db21 for the air grab leaves them right next to her for a b14->db2 mix-up. If they start tech rolling after after the air grab there is always f2->db2, which is confirmable to either 3 (for the 14% combo) on hit or 1 (for the grab) on block. It goes on and on. Oh yeah, she still has a projectile and her db4, a parry, and an air grab for comboing after air vs air counter hits.

I think I've found my main.
 
cashthesehands

cashthesehands

monster masher
Digging special forces so far, as others have mentioned the b1, b3 shenanigans have been great. Still need to work on the mind game for getting the parry out; seems like she should be able to cripple any kind of rushdown with a few well-timed parries.

Going to spend some time with demolotion today, the biggest concern I have there(and with Special Forces) is combo potential. Going to be tough goings without that cartwheel(any one else still inputting her old cartwheel from mk9?)

Def feeling like the one so far.
 
Espio

Espio

Kokomo
HDTran said:
Hi @Espio, how are you getting your offense started in this variation? The drone setup alone seems very crippling and if you tag drone setup at the end of juggles, you're sacrificing what seems to be a large amount of damage for a low-damage character. That paired with the fact that she can't seem to create great mix-up that even lead to those standard combos seems like a huge detriment in Special Forces variation.
Click to expand...
Her forward 2 is one of her best normals in footsies, good chip, neutral on block, can be cancelled into specials and great range to boot. I was playing it more as a space control build, but I agree, setting it up can be tricky. I try to pressure with her safe strings like back 3,3,2 leaves them standing and her I believe it's forward 4,4, which is neutral.

I honestly feel like Sonya was designed with her covert ops/MS/parry variation as a central focus and (I dunno if this is true for demolition, but it seems to be for Special Forces) . In Covert Ops she has more combo potential whereas Special Forces has her mix up strings, but they don't lead to high enough damage.

I wish cartwheel was a universal special so she could have the same combo potential across all variations, that reason alone is why this variation is lacking in combo damage then add to that the fact that the low damage she gets are FCP and it's discouraging for people who want to explore other variations. Having to take risks for your mix ups is fine if the risk reward is reasonably equal for both sides.

Then her MS options have mix ups of low/overhead/grab built into them too so when you couple that with her universal mix ups, it makes sense that those other mix ups aren't safe, but when you remove MS in her other variations it no longer makes sense and becomes a huge hindering situation to keep the frame data 100% identical across variations.

It annoys me because her drone is really good, lots of frame advantage, low, overhead options, but the lack of damage, lack of safe options and setting up the drone hold this variation back just in my opinion. It still might be workable, but I am disappointed about her combo options in SF.
 
lslick

lslick

Stole this pic from Doombawkz :P
Espio said:
Her forward 2 is one of her best normals in footsies, good chip, neutral on block, can be cancelled into specials and great range to boot. I was playing it more as a space control build, but I agree, setting it up can be tricky. I try to pressure with her safe strings like back 3,3,2 leaves them standing and her I believe it's forward 4,4, which is neutral.

I honestly feel like Sonya was designed with her covert ops/MS/parry variation as a central focus and (I dunno if this is true for demolition, but it seems to be for Special Forces) . In Covert Ops she has more combo potential whereas Special Forces has her mix up strings, but they don't lead to high enough damage.

I wish cartwheel was a universal special so she could have the same combo potential across all variations, that reason alone is why this variation is lacking in combo damage then add to that the fact that the low damage she gets are FCP and it's discouraging for people who want to explore other variations. Having to take risks for your mix ups is fine if the risk reward is reasonably equal for both sides.

Then her MS options have mix ups of low/overhead/grab built into them too so when you couple that with her universal mix ups, it makes sense that those other mix ups aren't safe, but when you remove MS in her other variations it no longer makes sense and becomes a huge hindering situation to keep the frame data 100% identical across variations.

It annoys me because her drone is really good, lots of frame advantage, low, overhead options, but the lack of damage, lack of safe options and setting up the drone hold this variation back just in my opinion. It still might be workable, but I am disappointed about her combo options in SF.
Click to expand...
Yeah you pretty much hit the nail on the head....I sat in training mode for a good minute looking at Spec Forces and the damage output in that variation is =[ ....However, a lot of other characters seem to have that problem when it comes to their other variations. Just look at Jacqui's High Tech for example, she has a special move that leaves her at +3, unblockable ground pound. But then you look at the damage and it's pretty much just =[...lol
 
S

Slayhawk84

Yup, still a noob.
There are exactly 0 Sonyas in the top 100 ranked PvP, on PS4 anyway. Are there any on xbone or PC?

First Sonya player in the top 100 ranked PvP gets my undying loyalty.
 
HDTran

HDTran

Just a guy.
Espio said:
Her forward 2 is one of her best normals in footsies, good chip, neutral on block, can be cancelled into specials and great range to boot. I was playing it more as a space control build, but I agree, setting it up can be tricky. I try to pressure with her safe strings like back 3,3,2 leaves them standing and her I believe it's forward 4,4, which is neutral.

I honestly feel like Sonya was designed with her covert ops/MS/parry variation as a central focus and (I dunno if this is true for demolition, but it seems to be for Special Forces) . In Covert Ops she has more combo potential whereas Special Forces has her mix up strings, but they don't lead to high enough damage.

I wish cartwheel was a universal special so she could have the same combo potential across all variations, that reason alone is why this variation is lacking in combo damage then add to that the fact that the low damage she gets are FCP and it's discouraging for people who want to explore other variations. Having to take risks for your mix ups is fine if the risk reward is reasonably equal for both sides.

Then her MS options have mix ups of low/overhead/grab built into them too so when you couple that with her universal mix ups, it makes sense that those other mix ups aren't safe, but when you remove MS in her other variations it no longer makes sense and becomes a huge hindering situation to keep the frame data 100% identical across variations.

It annoys me because her drone is really good, lots of frame advantage, low, overhead options, but the lack of damage, lack of safe options and setting up the drone hold this variation back just in my opinion. It still might be workable, but I am disappointed about her combo options in SF.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your insight @Espio, I thought I was totally missing something and I came to the same conclusions. Yeah, I think Special Forces Sonya is a wash. Really, after seeing Fatal 8 and playing against good/patient Kenshis, Scorpions, Kung Lao, etc. I just don't think she has the stuff to cut it. Like she isn't able to play the same game as those characters or even force them to play her game. Getting multiple opportunities is great, but she needs too many of them and against some characters, they can just close the book on her all of the time I feel. Fighting Kenshi zoning with it just seems impossible. Drone options would have have been great if she could catch stray hits more easily or if the drones attacks always at least provided a standard pop-up state.

Right now, Special Forces Sonya seems like an early Hakan that actually has very little to unlock.

Also, I totally agree that Sonya was probably designed around Covert Ops, but I'm not sure how good that kit is.
 
chuco_

chuco_

Noob
Going to mess around with Covert Ops Sonya. Her military stance reminds me of my dear Harley Quinn's Tantrum stance.
 
KH_Seraph

KH_Seraph

ҜømbÄŦ Ħøu&Ŧøπ
After playing with Sonya... I gotta say, I fell in love. Everything about this character screams swaggy. I love the play style of covert ops, the fact you can easily combo out of her xray and ex parry, her 50/50s and military stance pressure. She has a lot of tools to help deal with the cast in the game in this variation alone, and doesn't need to spend meter to do her damage midscreen or in the corner, which let's you use it for breakers or wakeup armor.

I want to get into demo and drone variations to see what kind of dirt I can dig up....I always swear by Liu, but so far I think I found a new main in this game.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.