Guide - Special Forces (UPDATED 25/10) Colby's guide to Special Forces

[Ninequads93]

She pretty much gets harblockables off anything that is safely canceled into low kami for ex 11,b332,b14...

Why is this really good? She can do a 50/50 if it gets blocked cancel into low kami run in b14 into mb ring toss get drone out safely again if it hits, in the corner she gets full combo

 

[colby4898]

She pretty much gets harblockables off anything that is safely canceled into low kami for ex 11,b332,b14...

Why is this really good? She can do a 50/50 if it gets blocked cancel into low kami run in b14 into mb ring toss get drone out safely again if it hits, in the corner she gets full combo

I'm not sure I would consider that a hard to blockable myself because you can pretty much do that midscreen. Low kami blocked guarantees a b3 or a b1 which means whenever you block a low kami you have to guess a 50/50. I think this is just the same in the corner after 11 kami. Once you block the kami it's just a 50/50 rather than a hard to blockable I think.

 

[colby4898]

Where as I would consider this a hard to blockable because of how quick the overhead and low happen and it's not just a 50/50 after blocking the low kami.

 

[Ninequads93]

I'm not sure I would consider that a hard to blockable myself because you can pretty much do that midscreen. Low kami blocked guarantees a b3 or a b1 which means whenever you block a low kami you have to guess a 50/50. I think this is just the same in the corner after 11 kami. Once you block the kami it's just a 50/50 rather than a hard to blockable I think.

Yeah true I was hesitant on calling it a harddblockable but they still have to block low then overhead which is really gud

If they have slow armor she blows right through it

 

[Ninequads93]

Where as I would consider this a hard to blockable because of how quick the overhead and low happen and it's not just a 50/50 after blocking the low kami.

Btw u should b able to do f4 park drone after njp to get a bit more dmg

 

[colby4898]

Btw u should b able to do f4 park drone after njp to get a bit more dmg

njp f4 park 2134 is the same damage as the one I used btw. (19%)

 

[Ninequads93]

njp f4 park 2134 is the same damage as the one I used btw. (19%)

Hmm maybe you can sneak a 12 in there

Njp f4 park drone 12 ,2134

 

[colby4898]

Hmm maybe you can sneak a 12 in there

Njp f4 park drone 12 ,2134

I wasn't able to but if you can it's quite tight timing I think.

 

[Kris.Hornett]

Hey Colby just curious about these two combos...

[jip d4] b14 dd1 213 4+Block njp b2 12 12 2134 (39%) [35%]
[jip d4] b14 dd1 213 4+Block njp b2 12 12 213 bf4 (41%) [36%]

Is using the drone park a necessary tool in SF or is it just for style?

 

[Ninequads93]

Hey Colby just curious about these two combos...

[jip d4] b14 dd1 213 4+Block njp b2 12 12 2134 (39%) [35%]
[jip d4] b14 dd1 213 4+Block njp b2 12 12 213 bf4 (41%) [36%]

Is using the drone park a necessary tool in SF or is it just for style?

Not really it scales a lot and leaves u negative on block only real benefit I see for it is keeping your drone so you can end in spark and break wakeup armor but if u train yourselves you can react and cancel accordingly whether the opponent gets hit(use kamikaze) or blocks use spark making park relatively useless

 

[colby4898]

Hey Colby just curious about these two combos...

[jip d4] b14 dd1 213 4+Block njp b2 12 12 2134 (39%) [35%]
[jip d4] b14 dd1 213 4+Block njp b2 12 12 213 bf4 (41%) [36%]

Is using the drone park a necessary tool in SF or is it just for style?

The only use it for it is for the one hard to blockable set up I found. Other than that useless.

 

[YoloRoll1stHit]

Why can't she start the game with a drone....why demolition has 3 grenades at the beginning?

 

[colby4898]

Why can't she start the game with a drone....why demolition has 3 grenades at the beginning?

Probably becuase the drone is on a timer, and the grenades are just a one time use. Same reason why Deceptive doesn't start invisible or Summoner doesn't start with a bat etc.

 

[Pan1cMode]

So Sonya can go for an armour break setup after her overhead in the corner:

b14~(BLK+2), 121, 12, 12, 2134 (30%); (BLK+2)

From there she can break any armour in the game with either her overhead or her low. The overhead gets like 16% damage while the low essentially gets full combo (with b33u4).

You do sacrifice ~6% for this setup but it's actually pretty decent. If they're gonna delay wakeup (which they will do after having their armour broken a few times) you can just go for the straight 50/50.

I tried for ages to get a full combo off the overhead option but just couldn't figure out a way to do it

 

[Pan1cMode]

Something like this?

I end in 213 blk +2 instead of 2134 blk-2 does yours cover all wakeup options? Just interested

Yes it covers all wakeup options. Beats reptile and Lao spin with the right timing.

It's essentially the same as the b33u4 one, just off her overhead.

Cool video, but it's not really related at all to what I was talking about? Also, can't Lao poke out of that?

 

[colby4898]

Yes it covers all wakeup options. Beats reptile and Lao spin with the right timing.

It's essentially the same as the b33u4 one, just off her overhead.

Cool video, but it's not really related at all to what I was talking about? Also, can't Lao poke out of that?

I find the over head more unreliable, because it's faster than b3 it can whiff if you don't delay it long enough.
b33u4 can also be unreliable to combo off if they git hit by the homing missile as well as the string, so I sometimes go for b33212 so I get another block+2 on knockdown.
121 also works and gets a full combo, but if they block and dont wake up it's obviously not a 50/50 and I don't believe it lasts long enough to cancel into a drone special on block, where as b33212 does. Although cancelling the first hit of b33212 does take some practice.

 

[Ninequads93]

Yes it covers all wakeup options. Beats reptile and Lao spin with the right timing.

It's essentially the same as the b33u4 one, just off her overhead.

Cool video, but it's not really related at all to what I was talking about? Also, can't Lao poke out of that?

LOL I posted the wrong video my bad

Meant to post this one

 

[Pan1cMode]

LOL I posted the wrong video my bad

Meant to post this one

Yup it's similar to that but just off the raw overhead. Also, you break the armour with the first hit of the 50/50 so it's actually a 50/50. Instead of hitting them with the second hit of the b33 string.

 

[Pan1cMode]

New special forces hard to blockable.


So I was testing stuff and I realised that low kamikaze has hella active frames. This means you can use it as a meaty and then hit with b1 ~1-2 frames after leading to a true hard to blockable in the corner.

The setup I found was b14~(blck+2), 12, b2, b4; (blck+4), b14~bf2(ex)

This setup has the added benefit of breaking all armour too .

If the opponent delays wakeup they can avoid the hard to blockable, but they'll still get tagged by the 4 (of b14) into bf2(ex) which means you're still safe. If they try and armour, it gets broken and you actually get a full combo since the b14 acts as if they're standing. I was able to break the armour on tempest ex spin with the right timing (I wouldn't consider it practical against armour faster than 10 frames though because at that point the timing becomes near frame perfect. 10 frames and above there is definitely some leeway)

What do you guys think?


EDIT: Also before anyone asks, b4 is a hard knockdown so there's no tech rolling this.

 

[Ninequads93]

New special forces hard to blockable.


So I was testing stuff and I realised that low kamikaze has hella active frames. This means you can use it as a meaty and then hit with b1 ~1-2 frames after leading to a true hard to blockable in the corner.

The setup I found was b14~(blck+2), 12, b2, b4; (blck+4), b14~bf2(ex)

This setup has the added benefit of breaking all armour too .

If the opponent delays wakeup they can avoid the hard to blockable, but they'll still get tagged by the 4 (of b14) into bf2(ex) which means you're still safe. If they try and armour, it gets broken and you actually get a full combo since the b14 acts as if they're standing. I was able to break the armour on tempest ex spin with the right timing (I wouldn't consider it practical against armour faster than 10 frames though because at that point the timing becomes near frame perfect. 10 frames and above there is definitely some leeway)

What do you guys think?


EDIT: Also before anyone asks, b4 is a hard knockdown so there's no tech rolling this.

Sounds dirty as hell especially if you can combo after the ex bf2

 

[Pan1cMode]

Sounds dirty as hell especially if you can combo after the ex bf2

Unfortunately you only get the combo if they try and armour, or if they block the low kamikaze but not the overhead hit.

 

[colby4898]

Unfortunately you only get the combo if they try and armour, or if they block the low kamikaze but not the overhead hit.

Sounds cool and I'll chenck it out, but if you can't combo off of it you're not gonne get much damage, it could just be worth going for the mixup and getting ~35% if hit and some homing missile pressure if you guess wrong. Cancelling blocked strings into homing missile can be really hard to deal with in the corner.

 

[ShadyHeart]

Been trying to learn special forces lately since I've only been using CO variation and it's boring that it's the only variation I can play. I've been using 121 drone call to end combos in the corner instead of 2134 drone call because 2134 drone call doesn't guarantee a B1/B3 right? The opponent can tech roll after a 121 but it's the corner so it doesn't matter.

What are my best options while running in with a homing missile from the drone? My opponents won't stop getting smacked by the thing and falling over so B14/B332 never works and I don't know what the best options are otherwise. I could 12 but it seems like there should be better options.

 

[Youphemism]

Been trying to learn special forces lately since I've only been using CO variation and it's boring that it's the only variation I can play. I've been using 121 drone call to end combos in the corner instead of 2134 drone call because 2134 drone call doesn't guarantee a B1/B3 right? The opponent can tech roll after a 121 but it's the corner so it doesn't matter.

What are my best options while running in with a homing missile from the drone? My opponents won't stop getting smacked by the thing and falling over so B14/B332 never works and I don't know what the best options are otherwise. I could 12 but it seems like there should be better options.

Uh if it's in the corner it actually matters more because they end up right beside you after a tech roll meaning you can get punished more easily. May as well just end in 2134 drone call because it usually gives you a better advantage. It doesn't have to guarantee a B1/B3 but if you do drone call BLK+2 after the call they're less likely to try and hit you so you can go for a 50/50.

If I'm sending out a drone from full screen I usually just zone them and force them to come in, but that's just the way I play and I guess it can be matchup dependent depending on how good their projectiles are. If you want to run in then you could use F2/F2B1 or even whiff a divekick to get in then 50/50 them if they respect the missile.

 

[ShadyHeart]

I found a way to end a combo into a drone call and still have enough advantage to guarantee a B1/B3 even if they tech roll unless they armor through it. If they jump they get knocked down by the B1/B3.

I've found a few ways of varying difficulty and damage. The highest damage and hardest one is B332 > low kamikaze > B2 > njp > F4 (first hit only) > drone call. It deals 31% damage and beats sub-zero's regular slide so it should beat almost all wake up specials (I didn't check how fast his slide start up is but I assume it's among the fastest in the game). The 2nd highest damage way I found is just B332 > njp > F4 (both hits) > drone call for 30%. The easiest and most advantageous way is to just do B332 > njp > F4 (first hit only) > drone call but it only does 27% iirc. You can get a CO Sonya style loop of overhead/low guesses after knocking them down with the advantage of having a +3 on block overhead option and low kamikaze free mixup on block option, the drawback being you deal significantly less damage. Maybe there is a higher damage way to end in F4 while the enemy is high up in the air?

I also found a 42% meterless corner combo starting with B332 but it's quite hard. B332 > low kamikaze > njp > F4 > 12 > 12 > 121 leg grab. If you do EX leg grab it deals 44% and I assume if you do jip > divekick starter it will be around 46%. I couldn't actually do the combo with jip and divekick because it's too damn hard for me. doing 12 > 12 > 121 > leg grab after the F4 is very difficult. If you time the F4 wrong you will either drop the combo or not have the enemy up high enough to do the part after without getting rid of a 12.