Mortal Kombat 1 roster: all the new and returning characters

(Image credit: NetherRealm)

With release here, picking your Mortal Kombat 1 character is critical to preparing for the tournaments ahead. NetherRealm Studios has unleashed the latest cast on us, and through rigorous study and preparation we've concluded that there are many ways to eviscerate, vivisect, crush, and be just plain mean to your enemies with Mortal Kombat 1's combatants. Plus we've got the new Kameo system to consider, which lets you call in a separate group of characters to assist you.

Mortal Kombat 1 is here in the second half of one of the best years ever for fighting games, and looks like a refinement on the cast from Mortal Kombat 11, which started at 25 and eventually featured 37 fighters by the end of all its DLC. If you’re ready to start practicing your combos and fatalities, prepare yourself by checking out all the characters in with Mortal Kombat 1.

Mortal Kombat 1 characters: all the confirmed fighters

Mortal Kombat 1 - Official Gameplay Debut Trailer - YouTube

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Most of the usual suspects are here, and there may even be more with future Mortal Kombat 1 DLC. If past success is any guide, there are likely to be expansions and DLC characters aplenty. The team at NetherRealm Studios has talked about reimagining each of the characters and their move-sets, which could make some of these old favorites feel like fresh fighters. Here's who you'll find so far:

Ashrah
Baraka
General Shao
Geras
Havik
Johnny Cage
Kenshi
Kitana
Kung Lao
Li Mei
Liu Kang
Mileena
Nitara
Raiden
Rain
Reiko
Reptile
Scorpion
Sindel
Smoke
Sub-Zero
Tanya

Mortal Kombat 1 characters: pre-order exclusive fighters

Shang Tsung — (Image credit: NetherRealm)

There’s one fighter only available as a pre-order bonus:

Shang Tsung

If you want to get your hands on the tournament hosting and soul-snatching sorcerer, you’ll have to have pre-ordered Mortal Kombat 1 for the chance. Even ancient villainous sorcerers have to get paid—I guess they don’t accept souls at Golden Corral.

Mortal Kombat 1 DLC characters

The first DLC for Mortal Kombat 1 is the Kombat Pack, which adds gritty superheroes Omni-Man from Invincible, Homelander from The Boys, and Peacemaker from The Suicide Squad alongside a few returning Mortal Kombat characters.

Ermac
Homelander
Omni-Man
Peacemaker
Quan Chi
Takeda

Mortal Kombat 1 Kameo characters

Kombat Kast 1 - Let's Discuss Kameos - YouTube

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New to MK1 is the Kameo system, which lets you call in an ally from the Mortal Kombat pantheon of past-and-present characters for an assist. Some fighting game veterans may be familiar with similar systems from the Marvel vs. Capcom series and others, but Mortal Kombat 1 isn't a tag fighter where you can swap to controlling your Kameo; they're purely there as a tool for you to call in at the right time.

So far, Kameo fighters include the following supporting cast:

Cyrax
Darrius
Frost
Goro
Jax Briggs
Kano
Kung Lao
Motaro
Sareena
Scorpion
Sektor
Shunjinko
Sonya Blade
Stryker
Sub-Zero

There are also a few DLC Kameo characters coming as part of the first DLC, the Kombat pack:

Ferra
Khameleon
Johnny Cage
Mavado
Tremor

Sarah is a contributor for PC Gamer, formerly of TechRadar Gaming. With five years of experience writing freelance for several publications, she's covered every genre imaginable and probably a few she made up. She has a passion for diversity and the way different genres can be sandboxes for creativity and emergent storytelling, and loves worldbuilding. With thousands of hours in League of Legends, Overwatch, Minecraft, and countless survival, strategy, roguelike, and RPG entries, she still finds time for offline hobbies like tabletop RPGs, wargaming, miniatures painting, and hockey.