Mortal Kombat 11 hasn’t shied away from any of the mechanics that put the gruesome fighting game on the map. With a movie in the works and more games on the way, the series is considered gaming royalty. Mortal Kombat’s main campaigns have always been fun to play, but the addition of The Tower ramped up gameplay to a whole new level. Klassic is an offline mode, while Towers of Time is a virtually never-ending online mode. This guide will walk players through what they can expect from the different Towers in Mortal Kombat 11 and how to survive their challenges.
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Klassic Towers
Mortal Kombat 11 has two different challenge tower modes. Klassic Towers is an offline tower mode that doles out currency and item rewards for clearing a series of fights. There are five Klassic Towers in all: Novice, Warrior, Champion, Endless, and Survivor. Endless is automatically set to Medium difficulty, but the other four let you choose your own difficulty. What’s good about Klassic Towers is that you can replay them however many times you want for currency and rewards, such as Konsumables.
Klassic Towers are a good primer for the Towers of Time, which we imagine is where you’ll spend most of your MK tower time.
Towers of Time is the new Living Towers
Injustice 2 had the Multiverse, and Mortal Kombat 10 had Living Towers. Now Mortal Kombat 11 has Towers of Time, a revolving door tower mode that constantly rotates which towers are available to try. After completing four tutorial Towers, a map will open up with seven different tower islands.
Four of the seven have timers, showing when they will expire and be replaced with new towers. One of those four, as of writing, contains just a single tower, an extremely hard boss battle against Sub-Zero. Though each island typically contains multiple single-player towers, the fourth is set up for cooperative play. We attempted to take down Sub-Zero solo, but he has a ridiculous amount of health. Besting him, or future “boss” towers solo may prove to be a very tall task.
The other three: The Gauntlet, Summoned Towers, and Character Towers, appear to be permanent fixtures. The Gauntlet is an elongated tutorial in itself, teaching you the ropes of modifiers and Konsumables. Summoned Towers are extra challenging events that can only be raised by using Tower Keys, rare items found throughout Tower play. Character Towers unlock via currency and let you earn character-specific items and gear.
Besides the time restraint, the main difference between Towers of Time and Klassic Towers is that you cannot choose your own difficulty. All of the towers outside the tutorial are at least medium difficulty, but each island typically has towers of varying difficulties.
Complete The Gauntlet after the tutorials
We recommend going through The Gauntlet first. There are multiple stages, starting with five towers (one of which is optional) on medium difficulty. The towers slowly ramp up in difficulty via modifiers.
Modifiers are fight- or tower-specific conditions, such as environmental attacks like fireballs, tidal waves, or even a move that turns the screen black every few seconds. Modifiers understandably make battles more trying on any difficulty level. With modifiers in play, you have to worry about more than just your opponent’s attacks. The Gauntlet properly teaches you to adapt. Luckily, losing a fight isn’t the end. No matter where you are in the tower, on the first rung through the tippy top, you can always retry the fight after losing. Your overall score and some rewards are linked to your deaths, but you’ll still earn a ton of rewards for completing towers and full islands, even if it takes you hours on end.
The Gauntlet has pretty great rewards when it comes to Koins and items.
Using Konsumables
Konsumables, the MK spelling of consumables, of course, is a key mechanic in the Towers of Time. Before each fight, you can fill three slots with Konsumables. Some take up just a single slot, but others give you two to three uses before running out. These range from medicinal items that replenish health to projectiles to cameo appearances from other fighters to assist you in battle. They are activated with the right stick.
The game recommends certain consumables based on the conditions of the fight, but we’ve found that it tends to stick to health Konsumables — the kind that replenishes health. While these can be helpful, they are by no means the only consumable you should use. In fact, you might be better off conserving these for fights that you know will be challenging.
Generally, though, you should equip at least one for every fight. You earn them at a quick rate, so you don’t have to worry about running out completely. If you’re having trouble with a tower, try switching Konsumables. It can make a huge difference. Some directly counteract modifiers. For instance, when you’re up against a shadow modifier, you can use a Konsumable that eliminates the effects of Dark modifiers. Rather than fighting in the dark, it will be a normal fight.
That’s the thing, while Konsumables can help you get the upper hand, your main goal in choosing them is often to balance the playing field back to level.
There are also “Whole Tower” Konsumables that work throughout each and every fight. Often times, these stack with single fight Konsumables. Witch Blood, for instance, increases the damage of Blood-based Konsumables.
Visit the Krypt to get more Konsumables
While you get Konsumables from completing towers, the brunt of the ones you’ll earn are found in the Krypt: The first person exploration area littered with treasure chests. Each chest requires currency to open, but you earn currency constantly while playing. If you’re running low on, heading to the Krypt for a treasure-chest-opening session is well worth your time.
Skip Fight tokens can be found in the Krypt
Along with Konsumables, you can also find Skip Fight tokens in the Krypt. While we don’t recommend using Skip Fight tokens simply to breeze through towers to grab the rewards, they can help with particularly-trying battles within towers. Skip Fight tokens are a rare commodity, so make sure the battle actually seems insurmountable before using one.
Pick a main, but don’t be afraid to mix it up
Everyone has a “main” in fighting games. If you’ve played recent Mortal Kombat games, you already have a main in mind. Whether you love their core moves or simply cannot get enough of their fatalities, it’s easy to gravitate towards one character. For towers, it’s helpful to fight with the character you’re most comfortable with. Sometimes, though, modifiers may make it harder to find success with your main. Environmental modifiers that require nimble movements may set up better for a character like Jacqui Briggs than Kotal Kahn.
Also, it’s important to note that you can switch characters during a tower without starting over. So if you’re struggling to win with your main, try one of the other fighters you’re familiar with. You can always refresh yourself by looking at each fighter’s move list in the pause menu. For more detailed looks at each fighter, we certainly recommend heading to the tutorials in the main menu under “Learn.” Sometimes a tower fight may seem impossible until you learn the right combination of moves and combos. The tutorials can help with that.
Your progress carries over to the next Tower instance
While four of the seven tower islands are set to timers, you don’t have to worry about losing progress. We entered a tower island with 30 minutes remaining on the clock and were able to stay much longer than that. Once you exit out of an island, though, it will be replaced by a new set of challenges. Don’t worry — if you completed one or more of the island’s towers, that progress will still be there when the island returns. You cannot, however, exit an in-progress tower and pick up where you left off later. Towers need to be completed in a single run, or else you’ll have to start over.
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