Most underplayed variations.....

[WATCHD0G]

Spectral Ermac and Dualist Liu kang are pretty much the only two character variations that I have yet to face online.

you fought a hat trick kung lao?

 

[lionheart21]

you fought a hat trick kung lao?

Yeah, but so far, its only been one player that I've seen using them.

Also like how fitting your avatar is for that post.

 

[WATCHD0G]

Yeah, but so far, its only been one player that I've seen using them.

Also like how fitting your avatar is for that post.

yeah i am trying to learn him but i don't have my own PS4 yet. the struggle is real but i think that there has to be a use for him

 

[iMileena]

A variation i never seen online would be ronin , unbreakable , kotals totem thingies, kj toy varition , jade variation , and i never see people play as brood mother at ALL

 

[SaSSolino]

necromancer and boneshaper shinnok.

xSmokex plays boneshaper quite well, but he's the only one I know of and I've never found nobody online with him.

necromancer is considered really bad, but his zoning is decent and he still has that mad shinnok pressure with meter.

both variations are really underrated imo.

dualist liu kang, commando kano, hattrick lao, blood god kotal and non-shirai ryu takeda are also really underplayed.

 

[WATCHD0G]

As soon as i get my own PS4 i will make it my mission to main or at least get good with an underused variation right now i am looking at hat trick lao and commando kano

 

[Lumpymoomilk]

Most variations are underplayed not because they are bad but because the other variations are just much better.
Who's going to play Ninjutsu Scorpion when all that gives you some extra combo options where hellfire lets you control the entire screen.
Everyone uses Bojutsu Kung Jin because most people would rather have a multi hitting armored launcher and great range than fancy magic arrows.

 

[YoloRoll1stHit]

If those magic arrows act like green arrow, that variation may be able to compete with bojutsu

 

[TarkatanDentist]

Ancestral!Kung Jin definitely feels like a variation with a ton of potential tbh - those meter-stealing arrows in particular could mutilate certain characters.

At any rate, Fisticuffs!Johnny Cage is another one that never gets used (although I can appreciate why).

 

[Fallen_sektor]

lackey, my favorite char in the game, its like a mini bane, beautiful armor, idk why people dont use him
hat trick, no one would dare using this variation having high damage tempest and crazy zoning buzzsaw
stormlord, dont know why yet
ninjutsu, nothing compared to the other 2
unbreakable, no hammer, no clone
commando, no options, terrible mixups, terrible grabs, both grabs whiff on crouch

 

[True Grave]

Necromancer Shinnok is underplayed for a reason

It's because people have yet to witness the hand squash

 

[virtiqaL]

I think there are underplayed/unexplored variations and then there are variations that really seem to not have much of any use.

For Takeda, I can see the use of Ronin in some matchups, but Lasher seems completely useless to me. It seems as though some variations in this game were thrown in without much thought because they had settled on this idea of 3 variations per character.

 

[Farpafraf]

Shinnok - Necromancer and Bone Shaper
Liu Kang - Dualist and the other one without the run cancels
Ermac - All of them
Kano - Commando and Cutthroat
Sonya - The one where the drone can be stationary and the one where you can throw grenades
Takeda - Ronin and Lasher
Ferra/Torr - Ruthless and Lackey
Jax - Wrestler and Ruthless
Kitana - Mournful
Kung Lao - Hat Trick
Goro - Dragon Fangs and Tigrar Fury
Erron Black - Gunslinger (that's the name I believe?)
Kung Jin - Shaolin and Ancestral
Scorpion - Ninjutsu (that's actually kinda shocking)
Sub-Zero - Unbreakable
D'vorah - Swarm Queen and Venemous
Mileena - Etheral and Ravenous
Jason - Relentless
Raiden - Displacer and Master of Storms

Maybe online but many of the variations you mentioned see quite a lot of competitive use especially Swarm queen D'Vorah, ruthless Jax and MoS Ermac.

 

[BoromiRofGeo]

im surprised anyone even thinks that there is something more underplayed than 'mac's spektral or mystic.

 

[Genei Jin]

its not underplayed if these variations are crap.

ex:
hat trick lao and spectral ermac. why would you purposely handicap yourself using these crap variations? ermac gains nothing, you cant even ex his torpedo move.

i can understand when a character has slighly weaker variations with different tools (ancestral and shaolin kj), but if the variations are fundamentally flawed and brings nothing to the table, then its not underplayed.