For Sonya, Demolitions and Covert Ops. I'm still not at a position with Special Forces where I can make a solid judgment.
1. 50/50 mix ups
Demolitions: 8/10 Standard high/low 50/50, but bolstered by the fact grenade followups can make them safe.
Covert Ops: 10/10 If you have to block her, you are probably going to get hit.
2. Pressure
Demolitions: 7/10 needs to reload, so loses pressure after every knockdown. However, grenades have the ability to be used as frame-traps, so long as Sonya doesn't become predictable.
Covert Ops: 5/10
3. Neutral game and footsies
Demolitions: 8/10 b1 and f1 are really good buttons. Fast run, and tossing a grenade mid screen every now and then gives her solid control. Up-close buttons are a mixed bag though. d1 is 8 frames, good enough. d3 and d4 have uber-low-to-the-ground hitboxes that make them get beat out by alot. Good speed though.
Covert Ops: 6/10 Has all the advantages and disadvantages above, but doesn't have grenades which allow her to sort of "footsie zone" in demo. Also doesn't really have good juggles off her normals if the opponent jumps out.
4. Defensive options
Demolitions: 5/10 armor is ehhh. It gets the job done in a pinch, but is definitely behind the armor of most other characters. Backdash is the same. Gets the job done, but meh. The saving grace here is X-Ray. Granted, it's an enormous risk, but the payoff is huge.
Covert Ops: 7/10 EX Parry is super solid. In most cases it doesn't rise to the level of EX launchers other characters have, but there are some ways where it's even better than those (It stuffs alot of moves that would normally break armor, since it parries the first hit)
5. Zoning
Covert Ops: 2/10 Can't zone at all. Has a projectile, which is better than nothing, but thats it.
Demolitions: 4/10 Can't really "zone" but can sort of "footsie" zone by tossing some grenades out. Allows her to control some space.
6. Anti-zoning
Covert Ops: 8/10 Good walk speed, good run speed, divekick, EX arc kick. Has alot of tools to deal with zoning, or at least make it difficult to zone her.
Demolitions: 8/10 Same as the above. Grenades sort of work as counter-zoning tools but that often is a waste of the resource.
7. Damage output (10/10) –
Covert Ops: 3/10 Pretty lacking in damage output. She excells on opening opponents up, but she needs to do it many times.
Demolitions: 8/10 Solid damage output. Rating increase further because it's meterless, though it does require grenades.
8. Meter Gain/Need
Covert Ops: 9/10
Demolitions: 9/10
Neither of these variations are meter dependent at all. The only reason she's not a 10/10 here is the utility she gets from meter can be somewhat limited. X-Ray and Parry are awesome, but still gambles. Honestly, I once considered using a block breaker. I didn't, but I still considered it.
9. Movement (10/10) -
Covert Ops: 8/10
Demolitions: 8/10
Good walk speed, great run speed, a divekick, and EX arc kick generally lets Sonya get where she needs to be. Backdash, despite not being great, will still get the job done.
10. Air Control (10/10)
Covert Ops: 7/10 Good at jumping in. Decent at stopping the opponent from jumping in. Is a bit lacking in her ability to trip guard safely.
Demolitions: 8/10 Same as Covert Ops, but grenades are also probably the best thing in the game to deal with strong njps (think FerraTor, Takeda)
Summary:
Two really solid variations. Demolitions tends to score much better than Covert Ops, but these are extremely complimentary variations. Covert Ops handles alot of matchups that Demolitions struggles in, even if Demo excels in more areas overall.
![[me]](/data/avatars/m/34/34187.jpg?1423943359){kind=avatar}