What is the Best Starter 5-Star in Mortal Kombat Onslaught?
Mortal Kombat Onslaught is finally here! Five minutes into beginning Mortal Kombat Onslaught, the game gives you a free 5-star character. Since your first 5-star is random, players can reroll their account until they get the 5-star character they want. But which character is the best? Let’s find out.
Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and not law. All starter 5-star characters are great and will have value on your roster.
Shadowmancer Noob Saibot
Anyone familiar with games like Marvel Strike Force or Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes is familiar with faction bonuses and team synergies. Mortal Kombat Onslaught has them too.
The best tags in the game right now are far and away Netherrealm and Brotherhood of Shadows.
Quan Chi was the subject of several nerfs, but even now, he’s still very potent on a Netherrealm team. He has quality allies in 4-star Noob Saibot, a very respectable tank, 3-star Scorpion, a strong Warrior with Burn abilities and one of the fastest Specials in the game, Hellfire Scorpion, an Assassin with a lot of Burn, and the missing piece, Shadowmancer Noob Saibot.
Shadowmancer Noob Saibot’s Passive gives his allies a Special Damage Decrease buff. If his allies are Brotherhood of Shadow members, they also gain a Block buff. This Passive is great backline support for his 4-star counterpart. His Special Ability provides a heal and an attack buff to one nearby ally, and if they’re Brotherhood of Shadow, they also get a Critical Chance buff. Also great for 4-star Noob.
His Dark Sickle Auto Ability is nothing special, but his Shadow Assault is the real deal. It can drain an opponent’s Special Meter. At Kombo 3, 20% of the Special Meter drain converts into Special Meter gain for Noob.
Another thing that puts Netherrealm over the top is the Drahmin’s Mask relic. Drahmin’s Mask is a generic Epic relic that anyone can use, but only characters with the Netherrealm tag can make the most of it.
Its effect gives anyone wielding it a ton of Tenacity and HP but also provides active Netherrealm units with a 10% additional HP and Attack. It makes 4-star Noob Saibot extremely tanky and gives him a much-needed Attack boost, and gives the fragile Assassin Hellfire Scorpion much-needed bulk.
Four Drahmin’s Masks will make your team hard to beat, but if you want to be more annoying, you can throw Edenian Kamidogu on Shadowmancer Noob or Quan Chi (Which might not be a bad idea if you decide not to use 4-star Noob, the team’s only Defender).
If you use Scorpion and Hellfire Scorpion alongside him, that’s three ways to disrupt the opposing team’s ability to use their Special Abilities. Shadowmancer Noob’s healing combined with Quan Chi’s Vampirism buffs and Drahmin’s Mask’s HP buffs makes the Netherrealm team’s sustainability and grind game unmatched.
I don’t see any team topping Netherrealm/Brotherhood of Shadows anytime soon, so Shadowmancer Noob is a fantastic investment.
Razor Hat Kung Lao
Razor Hat Kung Lao is not at peak form (Due to the Kirehashi Blade nerf), but he’s still an offensive menace. A handful of characters can reach 25K Attack power and beyond right now, and Razor Hat Kung Lao is one of them. And for better or worse, Attack reigns supreme in this game. Even at Affinity-disadvantage, if Razor Hat Kung Lao has enough Attack, he will slice through enemies.
As a Mind powerhouse, Lao is invaluable for climbing Skarlet Boss Tower (For those oh-so-precious skill tomes) and Goro Tower. None of his tags are viable as a Faction-based team (For now), but he’s so strong that many toss him onto any team, and he can thrive.
RH Kung Lao is no tank, but he has respectable bulk and won’t go down easy if you give him an HP set. Given the gear struggles newer players, especially F2P players, will face in Mortal Kombat Onslaught, Lao’s natural bulk is why I place him above the next character.
Another positive for Lao is his Kombos are not a big deal. Kombo 1 gives him some AOE damage if multiple enemies target him, and Kombo 3 gives him a small heal.
5-star Kombos dupes are a pipe dream for anyone who doesn’t spend money on this game, so if you’re F2P, don’t worry.
Wind God Fujin
Wind God Fujin is a PVE God and an inconsistent PVP God. More on that soon.
The way WG Fujin is supposed to work is he Air Walks and targets the enemy with the lowest HP. Bypassing an enemy’s tanky frontline, he can quickly snipe down annoying backline units like healers.
His kit really shines in things like Liu Kang Boss Tower, Chasm, and even Goro Boss Tower as an Affinity-neutral option. As a 5-star Assassin, his Attack can reach high levels quickly, allowing new players to punch up in content, allowing them to farm better quality resources faster.
But Wing God Fujin has issues. While he has a kit, he doesn’t always follow it. Instead of Air Walking to the enemy with the lowest HP, he sometimes targets someone else, like, say, Razor Hat Kung Lao with 200K HP and 24K Attack, and dies instantly.
And even if he does work as intended, players can easily counter him by putting a low HP Sindel on their team. Unless her Attack is underwhelming, Sindel wins that 1v1 nine times out of ten. Wind God Fujin can be great on Offense but is not necessarily stellar on Defense.
Like Razor Hat Kung Lao, you do not need Wind God Fujin’s Kombos. His Kombo 1 and 3 abilities are situational and can cleanse a debuff on Fujin or purge a buff on an enemy, respectively. These will probably shine more in PVE content where fights go on longer, but for PVP, you want Fujin to annihilate foes quickly.
Undying Shao Khan
Undying Shao Khan is inarguably the best pure Defender in the game and has been since NRS nerfed 4-star Noob Saibot. And NRS has buffed him since then.
Undying Shao’s Special Ability buffs his Defense, the duration of which derives from a percentage of an enemy’s Attack, reflects 20% Melee Damage, and activates an AOE Taunt. Since enemies under the effects of Taunt cannot use their own Special Abilities, Shao’s Dragon Scales might give you enough time to finish off an enemy before they can activate a dangerous Ultimate that might wipe you out. Shao’s Special Ability is especially devastating if you pair him with Goro, whose overpowered Special Ability can burn an entire team. To this day, that’s still arguably one of, if not the best/most annoying frontline defense.
Undying Shao’s passive allows him to revive with as much as 30% of his Max HP. At level 3 and up, his Passive inflicts nearby enemies with an Attack debuff. Upon revival, he also gives himself an Attack buff of up to 45%. If you give him a Wrath Hammer relic (Which isn’t his Fatality relic but might as well be), he can spam his Special Ability immediately after reviving.
Critical Chance does wonders on Undying Shao. His Shoulder Charge Auto Ability inflicts Stun on Critical Hits (For as long as 10 seconds), and Kahn’s Wrath gives his Critical hits Vampirism Damage.
With Shao being the best tank in the game, you might be wondering why I place him relatively low. That’s simply due to how content prioritization works in Mortal Kombat Onslaught. Yes, you want to do well and climb high in Arena, but to do that, you know what you need?
- Good gear
- Good relics
- Ranked up skills
Where do you primarily get gear from? Boss Tower.
Where can you get small relic exp from every day? Level 50 Chasm.
Where can you consistently farm tomes to level up skills? Boss Tower.
Do you know what you need to clear this content? DPS.
Even with a sub-optimally built Arena team, you can still climb to at least Gold, where the Arena Medal farm is decent. That’s good enough for now for new players. To go even further beyond, you need to max out your characters. And that means clearing out PVE content for the best possible farming.
Arctika Sub-Zero
Arctika Sub-Zero is a jack-of-all-trades Defender, capable of functioning as a pure tank, a disrupter, or an offensive tank. That gives him a lot of value but also means his value will primarily depend on what characters you already have. Since gear will be an issue for new players for a while, don’t commit to one path until after you expand your roster a bit. Then, decide which way to build Sub-Zero and stick to it for a while.
Arctika Sub-Zero’s Special Ability deals good damage and can freeze opponents and inflict a Special Charge Debuff. His Frostbite Armor Passive buffs his Defense if two or more enemies target Sub-Zero, and they start suffering from a Special Charge Decrease over time effect. His other Passive, Ice Clone, redirects some damage his allies take onto Sub-Zero, mitigates some of the damage, and can freeze the opponent instead.
His Auto-Ability is yet another source of Special Charge Debuff, which can really make Sub-Zero annoying. At Kombo 1, he has a chance to inflict Pinned after blocking enemy attacks, which also prevents the use of Special Abilities. His Kombo 3 can inflict a potent permanent Attack decrease on an enemy but requires at least 250 Mastery, not a stat most players spec into.
The Lin Kuei tag is not complete yet, but Arctika Sub-Zero does do well with Frost and the recently released MK1 Scorpion. But overall, he’s a Defender you can slot on any team.
Deadeye Erron
Deadeye Erron was extremely overpowered months ago, but NRS slapped him with some significant nerfs. He’s still great, though he needs more buildup than the other characters on this list.
Erron has his issues, but there is merit to picking Deadeye Erron over Wind God Fujin as a primary Body offensive unit. As a backline Support, you don’t have to worry about him rushing in and getting himself killed like Fujin. He needs much more investment than Fujin to reach high Attack, but once you get him there, he’s a lot safer to use.
One of the top players on the Arena ladder uses Deadeye Erron in his firing squad team, and he’s #1 in Arena for a reason. Pairing Deadeye Erron with Frost and Fire Support Jax is his best team setup (For now).
Deadeye’s main selling point is his Passive Ability, Sniper’s Luck. It gives him and all Body teammates a Critical Chance boost. Every time he or a Body ally lands a Critical Hit, they all gain a Critical Damage buff that caps at 50%.
You combine this ability with Fire Support Jax’s Passive Abilities that buff Physical Ranged units’ Attack and give them Quicken buffs when they land Critical Hits (And Frost’s Passive that gives herself Quicken on Critical Hits) to turn Deadeye Erron and Frost into Crit monsters.
The main issue is this is a maxed-out team by an Early Access player with a year of progress over new players with the microtransaction floodgates open. No new player will be able to replicate the success of the top firing squad team without spending a lot of money.
Offensive Support units still don’t have great Relic options outside Epics, but if you’re using the firing squad, a Cryomancer’s Orb is a solid option for Erron (To synergize with Frost’s Icy Strategy Passive). Otherwise, Edenian Kamidogu for the revive or Drahmin’s Mask for bulk.
Deadeye Erron’s Kombos are ignorable. Kombo 1 is basically Deadeye doing an impression of his pre-nerfed self when he could do AOE damage on his basic attacks. It’s handy but not incredible. Kombo 3 needs three or more Marked enemies, and given how combat works in this game, this is not only too tricky to set up but also too situational.