Almost always a given in Mortal Kombat, Sonya Blade was unsurprisingly part of Mortal Kombat 11's initial roster and thus has been playable since the game dropped on April 23, 2019.
Dropping back with the original MK on October 8, 1992, Sonya is an original Mortal Kombat character and the very first female fighter in the series. She actually took some time off between MK1 and the later versions of Mortal Kombat 3, but has been a consistent regular ever since. Sonya is inspired by the karate champion and movie actress, Cynthia Rothrock, and named after one of Ed Boon's sisters.
Sonya is decked out in her Special Forces gear and clearly ready to go in Mortal Kombat 11. Her default outfit sees blue as her primary color as it characterizes her hat, vest, and undershirt. She also wears dark green and black leather pants along with plenty of practical combat accessories, including boots, weapon holsters, and more.
Sonya has always been known for her gymnastic approach to physical combat, often using her legs kick, toss, or wrap around enemies. She's also able to toss out plasma projectiles and use gadgets like drones to fight from farther distances, but her overall game plan in MK11 is to use overhead/low mix ups to open up opponents.
Herein lies the reason Sonya doesn't tend to make it too high up on most pro player tier lists: she's a gambler. The mix ups she plays are also somewhat on herself, as when they're blocked correctly they're often unsafe and leave Sonya open to being countered.
She also does not have very strong mid attacks that lead into combos, but instead relies on highs (which can be more easily stuffed/evaded) to begin most of her sequences. This means that Sonya players have to routinely make choices between using mid attacks to keep foes corralled or using combo starting highs that are more easily evaded.
A long time staple of the MK series, Sonya Blade represents both an interesting individual fighter as well as a key member of the old guard as they contrast with newer Mortal Kombat characters (like Sonya's daughter, Cassie).
