I like Ethereal Mileena. But compared to Tanya it's woefully underpowered.

People seem to gravitate to Cryomancer Sub-Zero, but I favor Grandmaster.

The only variation that I think gets slept on a lot that I play with is maybe Demolition Sonya, and maybe Ninjutsu Scorpion, Inferno and Hellfire seem to be the go to for him.

I mostly see Cryomancer for Sub-Zero, and occasionally Grandmaster. I tend to favor Cryomancer myself because of how offensive it is. I almost never see Unbreakable, which surprises me considering how defensive it is, so I find people are sometimes caught off-guard when I put it on.

All I see for Scorp is Inferno, since it's easy for no-talent ass-wipes to abuse the fuck out of it. Sometimes I see Hellfire, never see Ninjutsu.

Mileena - it's always Ravenous. I never see Spectral.

In general, the only opponents I encounter online are:

Scorp, Sub, Ermac, Ferra/Tor, Jason, Kitana, Mileena, Kung Lao and Liu Kang.

I rarely see any other character, period.

I use Pumped Up with Jax but I think people prefer Heavy Arms because of the rocket abuse?

I use Unbreakable with Sub-Zero. I still haven't work on combos or anything but considering the defense boost is fast you can usually end combos with it before your enemies gets up. The Icewall is also a good way to protect yourself from rush-ins.

I only use Piercing for Mileena. I love those weapon variations that gives you ton of normal combos instead of special moves. Mileena is just brutal with this and the low sai throw is an added bonus.

I use Lasher with Takeda because the specials look insane but I know people prefer Shirai Ryu. That's all I see online.

I use Venomous D'Vorah because the constant damage chipping and spray of acid look beautiful. The dripping acid looks great with her alternate.

No competitive/decent player uses Johnny Cage at all, but his a-list variation is less than a useless, real waste of time. At least stunt double and fisticuffs have a chance.

Demolition Sonya and shotgun jacqui are other good examples.

I tried going with Johnny because I'm really good with him, but he's too easy to counter for skilled players. A-List is phenomenal against AI opponents, and you can, if you are skilled enough, trick online opponents with the delays on his shadow moves in A-List. It's my favorite variation.

Fisticuffs I'm trying to master - the 1,2 punch combo which can be endlessly repeated can easily corner trap an opponent, and i'm surprised I don't see it more often.

And regarding mileena - I meant to say Piercing is what I see most often, rather than Ravenous.+

I prefer Kotal Kahn's Sun God variation, most people use War God. It's not a variation that makes it very clear for beginners, but once you know how to use it it's awesome. It's all about gauging when to sacrifice your own health, building up your meter and specials, there's no other character quite like it.

Also almost always use Ninjutsu when I play Scorpion. It's really easy to use because there are so few specials to choose from and you get the added range from his swords.

I don't see mournful kitana too often. I tried it out and it's quite enjoyable! As for ethereal Mileena. Eh.

Yeah, there's an added strategy to Sun God where you can actually regain the health you sacrifice to powerup.

I think that's why people mostly use Kotal's War God and Quan Chi's Warlock. Their other 2 variations require more strategy to be used at their full extent.

I feel you with Ninjutsu Scorpion. Like I said earlier, I love weapon based variations where you have a few special moves to help you link great weapon combos. It annoys me a bit when characters have 7 or 8 special moves all with different properties. You get lost in the shuffle quickly.

Most definitely, I go Sub Zero Cyromancer all day as well. And I pretty much only use Bone Shaper Shinnok now that I think about it.

Brawler. I'll just leave that here.

I use no variation Reptile

If you'd slap a ninja outfit on Heavy Weapons Jax, he'd be hands down the most abused character on-line. So many zoning options, it's really a scrub's dream come true since Noob Saibot.

I'm a big fan of Kenjutsu Kenshi but most of what I've heard indicates it's by far his weakest variation.

Ninja outfits always make things better. and that is not even sarcasm lol I am a sucker for ninjas/masked characters hehe

Everyone should have ninja DLC like in Dead or Alive. I'm sure there's lots of colors to go.

I use Mournful Kitana, Necromancer Shinnok, Sorcerer Quan Chi, Ethereal Mileena, Unbreakable Sub-Zero, Demolition Sonya, and I'm working on High Tech Jacqui. So yeah, I've taken a shine to a lot of the underused variations.

But then again, I'm one of those players that plays for fun and doesn't try to go for popular flowchart patterns for wins.

I play all of Sub-Zero's variations, but 90% of the time its always grandmaster. i am a lore junkie i do it because, his GM style reflects his role as the leader of the LK, and older wiser warrior.

This is kind of funny, because he throws human shaped ice blocks around. It's a little bit foolish when you think about it but I see where you're coming from.

Unbreakable is like junior Sub-Zero. He hasn't perfected his ice powers but he can use them to defend himself.

Cryomancer is a well-trained assassin Sub-Zero using offensive ice weapons.

Grandmaster Sub-Zero is the perfect blend of both.

I can't play online anymore (just used up my two day trial ), so I'm not really sure which variations are "unpopular", but interesting topic nonetheless.

Do any of the Erron Black players here main Gunslinger? I personally prefer Outlaw or Marksman because I'm finding the standoff stance hard to work with. I'm working on it though, but I just can't pull away from the rifle shenanigans that is Marksman for too long.

Ninjutsu is my main variation for Scorpion. Have also just began utilizing the joys of Displacer Raiden (Thunder God was my main)

Other than that, Sun God Kotal, Spectral Ermac, and High Tech Jacqui fit my fancy.

you make great points. I agree.

Haha I changed my mind and picked him up based solely on that string. It's so hilarious, and quite often people have no idea what to do once they start getting hit, and use a Breaker. Also the Brutality for it is fucking A.


I use Commando Kano a lot. Never, ever fought a Commando Kano online. I think it's his most fun variation, and plays drastically different than my other characters, which I appreciate.

Throwing an ice clone on your opponent is hands down the most satisfying move in MK history, so yeah, Grandmaster is definitely my go-to variation with Subbie. I just hate that it takes two separate inputs to do so.