Mortal Kombat was once the premier fighting game, but there was a period of about a decade, when the series seemed to have lost its way. Too much focus was paid to its multimedia spin-offs at the cost of the quality of its games. Mortal Kombat X was the game that helped pull the fatal fighting franchise out of its slump, reintroducing a whole new generation of gamers to the bone-crunching violence and captivating gameplay the series was once known for.
Mortal Kombat X is an impressively well-balanced fighting game—every character can work in a competitive multiplayer situation. Of course, as with any fighting game, there will always be clear standouts among the pack. We’ve put together this Mortal Kombat X tier list to show you how we’d rank the characters that make up the game’s roster. If you’re new to the game or want to improve your rank, this tier list will help you know which fighters are the “best.”
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Mortal Kombat X fighter tier list
Mortal Kombat X is fairly unique among fighting games in that nearly all its characters are viable in competitive multiplayer. What separates them is the strength of their variations, which are distinguished by the availability of “cheesy” or “spammable” tools in their kit.
To create this tier list, we first ranked each variation individually, then averaged the scores of all of each character’s variations. The final list is the result of those calculations.
General rules of thumb for what these tiers mean:
- S-tier characters are those whose variations are all very good. You can’t go wrong with any of them.
- A-tier characters also have excellent variations, but they tend to have one that’s far worse than the other two.
- B-tier characters generally have one great variation and two mediocre ones. They’re still viable picks, but you might get bored spamming the same variation over and over.
- C-tier characters have at least two weak variations and one good one. However, that one good variation lacks the “cheese factor” that many of the better variations have. You’re almost always going to have a better time playing as another character.
Now, let’s get to the full tier list. You can see how we’ve ranked the Mortal Kombat X fighters in the following image:
Mortal Kombat X variation breakdown
Below is the full list of all variations that we analyzed to generate the above image:
| Fighter | Variation | Tier |
| Ermac | Mystic | S |
| Mileena | Ethereal | S |
| Shinnok | Boneshaper | S |
| Liu Kang | Dragon’s Fire | S |
| Raiden | Displacer | S |
| Scorpion | Hellfire | S |
| Jacqui Briggs | Full Auto | S |
| Ermac | Master of Souls | S |
| Mileena | Piercing | S |
| Shinnok | Imposter | S |
| Cassie Cage | Hollywood | S |
| Tremor | Crystalline | S |
| Triborg | Sektor | S |
| Kitana | Royal Storm | S |
| Jason Voorhees | Unstoppable | S |
| Triborg | Smoke | S |
| Kitana | Assassin | A |
| Cassie Cage | Brawler | A |
| Jason Voorhees | Relentless | A |
| Tremor | Aftershock | A |
| Triborg | Cyrax | A |
| Reptile | Deceptive | A |
| Sonya Blade | Covert Ops | A |
| Takeda Takahashi | Lasher | A |
| Alien | Acidic | A |
| Kano | Commando | A |
| Kung Lao | Buzzsaw | A |
| Quan Chi | Sorceror | A |
| D’Vorah | Brood Mother | A |
| Goro | Dragon Fangs | A |
| Tanya | Dragon Naginata | A |
| Predator | Hish-Qu-Ten | A |
| Leatherface | Butcher | A |
| Kitana | Mournful | A |
| Liu Kang | Duelist | A |
| Jason Voorhees | Slasher | A |
| Reptile | Nimble | A |
| Scorpion | Inferno | A |
| Sonya Blade | Demolition | A |
| Takeda Takahashi | Ronin | A |
| Alien | Konjurer | A |
| Kano | Cutthroat | A |
| Quan Chi | Summoner | A |
| Sub-Zero | Grandmaster | A |
| Ferra/Torr | Ruthless | A |
| Bo’ Rai Cho | Dragon’s Breath | A |
| Ermac | Spectral | A |
| Mileena | Ravenous | A |
| Shinnok | Necromancer | A |
| Liu Kang | Flame Fist | A |
| Cassie Cage | Spec Ops | A |
| Tremor | Metallic | A |
| Raiden | Thundergod | A |
| Reptile | Noxius | A |
| Sonya Blade | Special Forces | A |
| Takeda Takahashi | Shirai Ryu | A |
| Kung Lao | Tempest | A |
| Sub-Zero | Unbreakable | A |
| D’Vorah | Swarm Queen | A |
| Jacqui Briggs | Shotgun | A |
| Goro | Tigrar Fury | A |
| Tanya | Pyromancer | A |
| Kenshi Takahashi | Possessed | A |
| Kung Jin | Shaolin | A |
| Sub-Zero | Cryomancer | B |
| Kenshi Takahashi | Balanced | B |
| Kung Jin | Ancestral | B |
| Johnny Cage | A-List | B |
| Bo’ Rai Cho | Bartitsu | B |
| Erron Black | Gunslinger | B |
| Raiden | Master of Storms | B |
| Kung Lao | Hat Trick | B |
| D’Vorah | Venomous | B |
| Goro | Kuatan Warrior | B |
| Tanya | Kobu Jutsu | B |
| Kenshi Takahashi | Kenjutsu | B |
| Kung Jin | Bojutsu | B |
| Predator | Hunter | B |
| Leatherface | Killer | B |
| Johnny Cage | Fisticuffs | B |
| Erron Black | Marksman | B |
| Kotal Kahn | Sun God | B |
| Scorpion | Ninjutsu | B |
| Alien | Tarkatan | B |
| Kano | Cybernetic | B |
| Quan Chi | Warlock | B |
| Predator | Warrior | B |
| Leatherface | Pretty Lady | B |
| Johnny Cage | Stunt Double | B |
| Ferra/Torr | Vicious | B |
| Kotal Kahn | War God | B |
| Triborg | Cyber Sub-Zero | B |
| Ferra/Torr | Lackey | C |
| Kotal Kahn | Blood God | C |
| Jacqui Briggs | High Tech | C |
| Bo’ Rai Cho | Drunken Master | C |
| Erron Black | Outlaw | C |
As you can see from the table above, all characters at least have one decent variation, making every fighter viable in a matchup. Achieving that kind of balance is impressive for any game; more so for a fighter!
That was our Mortal Kombat X tier list. Now that you know which variations are the most effective, it’s time to jump into the game and start grinding those ranks. Good luck!
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