Mortal Kombat 11 Character Tier List

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate introduced a bunch of new content, including three new playable characters, but one of the most impactful changes was regarding Kustom Variations. Previously, players could only use prebuilt Tournament Variations in Kombat League and official Mortal Kombat tournaments, but with the latest update, Kustom Variations are finally allowed. The change allows players to be much more creative with how they chose to play their characters, as you are no longer limited to just three variations. You can essentially mix and match different special moves as long as there aren't any conflict inputs. In that sense, the update indirectly buffed a lot of characters; you can combine all of a character's strong moves into one variation rather than having them split up, or you can add extra moves to come up with new combos. In essence, nothing will be quite the same as before, given the countless possibilities now on the table. 

F Tier

Kronika

Mortal Kombat is designed to be a fairly well-balanced game, and there usually isn't such a wide gap between the strength of different characters. What makes a character stronger than another usually comes down to match-ups, as well as how comfortable a player is with the character or associated playstyle. While the community likes to meme on D'Vorah, there actually isn't a playable character that deserves to be at F tier. Still, we'll include Kronika at F tier for the purpose of a full list, as she's one of the few non-playable characters in MK11 and is generally a pain to deal with when farming Klassic Towers. Fights with Kronika take far more time than with any other opponent: you can't grab her, you can't use Krushing Blows or Fatal Blows against her, her attacks are annoying to block and deal unreasonable damage, and the fight is divided into multiple stages. She simply doesn't play like any other MK character, and that's why she's at the bottom of the list.

E Tier

Shao Kahn, Skarlet, RoboCop, Rambo

The characters placed in E Tier simply aren't overly strong. It's not that they're weak characters; rather, it's that they're not overly strong. This is especially true in the case of Shao Kahn, as nothing in his kit makes him very powerful. He deals reasonable damage, but it's not as though he has incredible combos, easy juggle, particularly strong frame data, or anything of the sort. Generally speaking, if you lost to a Shao Kahn, it's just a case of losing to a better player. Similarly, a good Skarlet one-trick can be annoying to go up against, especially if they know when to punish you, but she didn't benefit too much from the new Kustom Variations. 

D Tier

Kitana, Frost, Baraka, Jade, Sheeva, Mileena, D'Vorah

These characters do slightly better than the last four but are still far from being top tier. Though it may be a little premature to put Mileena in D Tier, no one has fully utilized her as of yet, her kit is definitely strong, but compared to other characters in the cast, it's hard to put her higher up in the list as of right now. While it may be surprising to see D'Vorah at D Tier, she's one of the few characters that really benefited from the Kustom Variations, as some of the combos she can come up with deal ridiculous damage, especially when Krushing Blows are thrown in the mix. She can be very oppressive, especially in the hands of someone like Dominique "SonicFox" McLean (though who isn't dangerous in their hands). 

C Tier

Raiden, Nightwolf, Sonya Blade, Noob Saibot, Spawn, The Terminator, Kollector

The C Tier characters are definitely viable picks, especially at lower skill levels, but they aren't exactly top tier either. When it comes to Spawn or The Terminator, they almost feel like they should be in a league of their own since they play so differently, with slow yet long and damaging juggles. Raiden has plenty of strong special moves, but most of them have overlapping inputs, so he sadly hasn't benefited too much from the new update. Kollector, on the other hand, gains a lot of new possibilities with Kustom Variations and may even become a viable pick later on. A good Sonya player is always frustrating to go up against, but she certainly isn't among the game's strongest characters.

B Tier

Scorpion, Sindel, Cassie Cage, Kabal, Jax, Kung Lao, Rain

Scorpion sadly received a nerf to his Demon Dash, which somewhat brings down his effectiveness. It's also somewhat impossible to play him without Hell Port Cancel as he becomes too predictable, so the new update hasn't been too kind to Scorpion. Still, he can do a lot of damage in the right hands as he's a pretty versatile character. Kabal may feel very strong right now, but he's more of a knowledge check, as he's easy to counter if you know when to block, and he gets out-zoned very easily. Rain has seen a lot of interest at the professional level, although it may be because he's a fun character to play rather than a strong one. Still, it seems as though he's the best of the latest batch, though there's always the potential of being overtaken by Mileena in the future. 

A Tier

Shang Tsung, Sub-Zero, Kotal Kahn, Erron Black, Johnny Cage, Geras, Kano

The line between A Tier and S Tier can get a little blurry, especially as Shang Tsung, Erron Black, or even Kotal Kahn could make the leap upwards. Shang Tsung was already so versatile prior to Ultimate, Kotal Kahn has some of the best juggles in the game, and Erron Black is insanely frustrating to play against if your opponent knows how to zone properly. Still, at this point, these are all excellent characters. Sub-Zero has amazing fifty-fifties and could even be played as a zoner with the new Kustom Variations, so he has only benefited from the new update. Kano was always a pain to face in the past, and it's even more true now. Generally speaking, any of these characters can make your day a living nightmare. 

S Tier

Cetrion, Liu Kang, Jacqui Briggs, Fujin, The Joker

As previously mentioned, the line between A and S Tier isn't well-defined, as a case for Shang Tsung could definitely be made to replace The Joker or Fujin. Still, everyone at this level is extremely powerful and hard to counter. Liu Kang is probably the easiest of the S Tier characters to pick up, though he's also hard to master. Cetrion has an incredibly high learning curve for new players, but her zoning capabilities and Krushing Blows make her top tier, especially with the new combo possibilities. Jacqui can close gaps very easily while dealing insane amounts of damage in a rather short period. The S Tier hasn't changed too much with MK11 Ultimate, as the characters that were strong before mostly just got stronger with the new combo possibilities. Read also the detailed MK11 tier list from the FGC portal Dashfight where you may find tons of interesting information about fighting games.