SCVI Sophitia Pre-release Overview & Analysis

HolyCarp

[14] Master
I was lucky enough to play the latest build of SC6 this weekend (20th-22nd July), so I thought I'd share what I found. The majority of this won't be new to returning players since she plays so much like her previous iterations, so I'll try to focus on changes and SC6-specific stuff.

First, I’ll get the subjective part out of the way and give my opinion on Sophitia based on initial impressions in this build. As usual, she feels like a really solid character with no obviously exploitable weaknesses. In her current state, she’d probably be similar to how she was in previous games, in that she isn’t exactly broken, but thanks to her wide variety of high utility, low risk tools and incredible punishment game, she should have good matchups across the board.
They've toned some of her tools down, such as TAS B now being unsafe and not half life at tip range, but it still serves its purpose for punishment. Not to mention her guard damage is amazing and she generally just has an answer for everything.

Note that everything in here is subject to change, given that this write-up is based on an incomplete, pre-release build.

Punishment
I actually just assumed her key punishment tools (AA, AS B and TAS B) would be the same as in previous games and didn't explicitly test the impact frames. Therefore, some of these numbers are not confirmed and may be off by 1 frame.

i12: AA
i13: KK (this is a NC that does more damage than AA)
i14: AS B
i15: TAS B

Pressure
4B: this move is as cheap as ever. It racks up the guard damage and is incredibly safe on block, where Sophie still has plenty of options such as movement into whiff punish (backstep TAS B can yield a LH even against a whiffed 2A), GI, 6A+B aGI, jumps, or even, y’know, blocking.
1K: chip damage and general annoyance poke, KND on CH. This move also seems to pass the “guts” threshold, or is less affected by it, so 1K can close out rounds where 2K wouldn’t be enough to KO.
66B: huge guard damage, -2 on block with pushback, really strong delayed option to punish panic GI attempts.
4B: I know I already mentioned this one but honestly, it's worth listing twice.
44A: mid horizontal with TC frames, which converts into a lot of damage vs step, and is only -4 on block.
GI: Having access to such a high damage i15 gives Sophie a very strong GI game.
Pokes: AA, BB, 2A, 6K (i16 with CH combo) 22K, 7_8_9K, 3K, 4K, etc.

Oki
1K: catches all roll directions
3K: catches all roll directions (looks like Pyrrha’s 4K)
4B: catches left rolls, safe enough that you won’t get punished if it gets rolled
66B: catches right rolls

Mid-range game
Sophitia has really good movement in general, and the fact that TAS B gets LH as a whiff punisher is very oppressive. Your opponent will be forced to play more conservatively at range, giving you more freedom to dictate the spacing and pace of the match.
66A: Advancing mid horizontal with TC, -11 on block (not much pushback), enemy is BT on hit.

Lethal Hits
TAS B: whiff punish vs horizontals
66A+B: anti-backstep (maybe CH in general?)
44B: post-GI
1[K]: anti-GI
A+B: anti-GI
TAS AB: anti-GI
AS K: vs ducked highs
44B+K: (whiff punish??)
66A+G: After 5 successful GIs

Soul Charge buffs
TAS B: more range and safer
2BB: second hit gains SC TAS B properties
B+KB: second hit gains SC TAS B properties
44AB: second hit can be manually inputted and is a GC
4AB: second hit is a GC
BBBB: Last hit is a GC
4A+BB: Last hit is a GC
236AAB: same as Pyrrha's 236A BE (not sure if this also applies to 4AAA)

Combos
66B, TAS B, 4B
66B, 662BAK (slightly better oki but less meter build)
CH 44AB, TAS B, 4B
Basically anything that sends them somewhat upwards, TAS B, 4B
CH TAS AA, AS B:4
LH TAS B, AS B:4

Misc:
TAS still has STC frames, but they felt less reliable than in SC4 to me
TAS B is now -14, you may now need to actually think before throwing this move out
TAS K is now + on block
BB still has ridiculous tracking to one side
6BB and 6AA may have some useful applications to aGI the second part of certain strings. This would allow you to get guaranteed damage if they complete the string, but still punish (if not cause a force block) if they don’t complete the string.
4AB is now a NC, but the second hit is ~-16
The second hit of TAS AA (and TAS AB) can be stepped to your right, but shhhh
66B+KAB ROs to your left (without a followup). You get this string for free if you can 6A+B aGI a 2A.
B+K seems slightly less evasive than before and is -13 on block
After 22A+B (her old 33B), the BT B+K requires a slight delay. Press it too early or late and it won't carry them backwards as far.


Bit of an info dump, but I tried to organise it with headers.
Hope that helps!
 
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HolyCarp,

Thank you so much for all of your hard work and for getting us insight on Sophitia! Btw you were badass in the footage!
 
Last edited:
HolyCarp,

Thank you so much for all of your hard work and for getting us insight on Sophitia! Btw you were badass in the footage!
No problem at all.
Tbh, I just wanted to make a note of everything I found before I forgot it all, so decided may as well try to make it presentable for 8WR.
 
To add on to Lethal Hits, TAS AB cause LH vs a GI or RE and her 44B+K can lethal hit on Kilik's 3K (fast TJ). Pretty sure 66A+B lethal hit is for anti-backdash.

Video example of 44B+K LH
 
To add on to Lethal Hits, TAS AB cause LH vs a GI or RE and her 44B+K can lethal hit on Kilik's 3K (fast TJ). Pretty sure 66A+B lethal hit is for anti-backdash.

Video example of 44B+K LH
Nice catch with 44B+K, I've updated the original post.

I've seen a lot of GC attacks get LH on a GI. Is it possible that all GCs get lethal vs GI, or do we know any examples that don't?
 
Nice catch with 44B+K, I've updated the original post.

I've seen a lot of GC attacks get LH on a GI. Is it possible that all GCs get lethal vs GI, or do we know any examples that don't?
Yes, most Break Attacks don't lethal hit beyond 5A+Bs
 
@HolyCarp What's your opinion on 6BB and 6AA auto GI attacks as moves to be used regularly and not just to stop stances and strings? Pretty sure 6B aGIs verticals and 6A aGIs (low and s-slow) horizontals. They both TC. 6A has more range and I think some tracking but the followup isn't NC. 6BB is NC with okay damage. Both of the first hits are safe, I think. The idea is to use these moves as regular pokes in the neutral game or at disadvantage to keep up pressure and control, being a little bit under i20, so interrupting really slow or delayed stuff (like break attacks), and being protected from highs in both cases and either stopping 2As or verticals. Further, you can mix up whether you finish the string or not, which will invite the sort of pokes that these aGIs are trying to counter. Adding A+B and regular GI may cover the rest of the options that may come at you.

I basically spam the auto-GI attacks in the match in the background of this video here, probably over-doing it, but you can see how it works:


Only problem is the damage can be small with 6A or if you stop at 6B. You're in a good spot to 1K or throw them after, though. Stepping and then doing these moves seems to work well at low disadvantage, -2 or maybe -4 or better. One could use these after hitting with 1K, after having 4B blocked, after getting hit by most moves (+4 on hit is most common in IV-V), or after stopping a string such as 4A, 2B, B+K, 6A, 6B, A, B, 66B+K, anything.
 
@HolyCarp What's your opinion on 6BB and 6AA auto GI attacks as moves to be used regularly and not just to stop stances and strings? Pretty sure 6B aGIs verticals and 6A aGIs (low and s-slow) horizontals. They both TC. 6A has more range and I think some tracking but the followup isn't NC. 6BB is NC with okay damage. Both of the first hits are safe, I think. The idea is to use these moves as regular pokes in the neutral game or at disadvantage to keep up pressure and control, being a little bit under i20, so interrupting really slow or delayed stuff (like break attacks), and being protected from highs in both cases and either stopping 2As or verticals. Further, you can mix up whether you finish the string or not, which will invite the sort of pokes that these aGIs are trying to counter.
I really liked 6BB and 6AA.
Throughout my weekend of playing, I was occasionally using them against obvious strings with good success (I think you can see me do it once in my set with Kayane). These moves could probably eliminate some fear advantage shenanigans with incomplete strings since you can aGI and attack at the same time, stuffing both their options. I'm looking forward to seeing how these moves get used.
And like you said, having TC and an aGI on a safe string will make it really good for the neutral game so I'd agree they have tons of potential for use outside of purposely trying to aGI stuff.
Adding A+B and regular GI may cover the rest of the options that may come at you.
I'm guessing you were referring to her old A+B (now 6A+B) and not the GC? Gotta say, I don't like her new A+B.

A couple of quick notes on that video:
1:24 - holy BBB tracking
3:53 - unless you just messed up the timing, looks like we don't get a 2A reset after LH TAS B
5:59 - CH 1K into TAS AA as a tech trap is pretty cool

Yes, most Break Attacks don't lethal hit beyond 5A+Bs
It doesn't seem completely uncommon though.
I know Zas has a second LH break attack that isn't his A+B. I've also seen Sieg's SCH (B) lethal and wondered if the opponent tried to GI.


Finally, a couple more things I forgot to mention in my first post:
-TAS K is now + on block
-I'm not sure if we'd already reached this conclusion, but it really looks like TAS B only lethals against whiffed horizontals. Seems to convert into the AT when punishing whiffed verticals.
 

I'm not sure if this was already mentioned in another post, but at 3:36 of this new gameplay footage, we see that Sophitia can do TASB B. Whether or not she can access this outside of her soul charge state I still don't know. But I thought it be good to point out.
 

I'm not sure if this was already mentioned in another post, but at 3:36 of this new gameplay footage, we see that Sophitia can do TASB B. Whether or not she can access this outside of her soul charge state I still don't know. But I thought it be good to point out.
That was me, pretty sure she can do it with TAS B:B whenever. Landing the B JF was a lot easier than landing the 4.

Also yeah when you’re in SC just mash TAS B it’ll land eventually.
 
That was me, pretty sure she can do it with TAS B:B whenever. Landing the B JF was a lot easier than landing the 4.

Also yeah when you’re in SC just mash TAS B it’ll land eventually.


Thank you so much for the confirmation! Btw I loved how well you played on both battles that were uploaded to YouTube!
 
Thank you so much for the confirmation! Btw I loved how well you played on both battles that were uploaded to YouTube!
Omg stop lol thank you! Sophie was so much fun to play. Like HolyCarp and Signia both said her new 6AA and 6BB are definitely useful. One thing that I needed to do a lot more was T/AS cancel into grab, but I was having trouble getting the timing down. Nothing a little practice mode won't help haha but yeah Sophie is definitely a lot more fun this time around. She's got some new tricks up her sleeve, especially if you aGI something with 6AA and you can go into TAS for TAS B or AB and mix with a throw.

Her guard gauge game is really good. I should've used 66B more but even without that I was consistently breaking peoples guards lol looking forward to using her again at Summer Jam. Her overkill game is pretty good too again, since 66B literally sends them all the way across the screen lol
 
That was me, pretty sure she can do it with TAS B:B whenever. Landing the B JF was a lot easier than landing the 4.

Also yeah when you’re in SC just mash TAS B it’ll land eventually.



Can someone explain what is this new TAS B:B? In the vid on the time stamp discussed above (3:36) i see Sophie doing a TAS B, followed by a second one. Is this it? What purpose does it serve?
 
Can someone explain what is this new TAS B:B? In the vid on the time stamp discussed above (3:36) i see Sophie doing a TAS B, followed by a second one. Is this it? What purpose does it serve?

In SCV, PO's DNS B could hit opponents on the ground in certain scenarios: after 22B, 4B, CE on an airborne opponent. Sophitia got the CE effect for free with TAS B and retained PO's kinda-grounded hit. When buffered right every launcher > TAS B > TAS B is a combo I think.
 
Can someone explain what is this new TAS B:B? In the vid on the time stamp discussed above (3:36) i see Sophie doing a TAS B, followed by a second one. Is this it? What purpose does it serve?
Possible wall splat or RINGOUT potential.


In SCV, PO's DNS B could hit opponents on the ground in certain scenarios: after 22B, 4B, CE on an airborne opponent. Sophitia got the CE effect for free with TAS B and retained PO's kinda-grounded hit. When buffered right every launcher > TAS B > TAS B is a combo I think.
66B, TAS B, TAS B is a combo, but only in SOULCHARGE mode. Otherwise, looks like 66B, TAS B, 4B is your BnB when not in SC.
 
Oh damn, that sucks. I assumed it'd combo always based on SCV and LS. Ah well.
Still could be. Game isn't released still and Sophitia in particular, doesn't seem to have a lot of testing. Myself included. So it's still a possibility, and her BnB could be different by the time the game comes out.
 
The B variation to her ASB and TASB should be tested around, to see what you can get out of it, I don't think anyone has done it outside of trailers.
 
Yeah, I'm guessing we'll just have to wait for actual testing to see if that actually works. I'm guessing her T/AS B hitting a BT opponent still results in no AT? Always wondered what the logic behind that was.
 
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