Mortal Kombat 11 is out now, and it sees the return of a lot of elements from the series’ past, such as the classic versions of characters and Shang Tsung’s actor from the first movie. It also brings back a special move that hasn’t been seen in the series since 1995’s Mortal Kombat 3, the Mercy finishing move. So what is the Mortal Kombat 11 Mercy finishing move, and how do players pull it off? Here’s what you need to do.
What is a Mortal Kombat 11 Mercy move?
The special Mercy move is a finishing move, like Fatality or Brutality. When you’ve beaten your opponent and the words “Finish Him/Her!” appear on-screen, you get the chance to perform a unique finishing move. Unlike the others, Mercy is either a humiliation move… or a second chance. Upon hitting the finishing move screen and inputting the move combination needed for a Mercy move, your opponent will actually gain back a small chunk of health and can continue fighting. Just make sure they don’t beat you…
How to perform a Mortal Kombat 11 Mercy finishing move
While each character has multiple Fatalities with different move combinations to pull them all off, there is only one Mercy move, and only one way to pull it off. This move combination for the Mercy finisher works for all characters, and isn’t actually that difficult to pull off. You’ll first need to defeat your opponent and get to the “Finish Him/Her” text screen of course, then if you’re feeling generous, you can pull off Mercy and give that opponent another shot at defeating you.
To perform a Mercy, stand about mid-distance from your staggered opponent (not too close, in other words), and hold the Stance Change button, which is LT on Xbox One and L2 on PS4. With Stance Change held down, press Down three times, and then let the Stance Change button go. If you’ve done it correctly, the word “Mercy” should appear in massive golden letters on the screen, and your opponent’s life bar will fill up a small about (roughly a fifth of their life bar, which is pretty generous). If it doesn’t work, quickly try again.
If it doesn’t work the second time, oh well, they’ve probably just died. Better luck next time.
Does the Mercy finishing move work with all characters?
The Mercy finishing move is unique in that it’s pulled off in exactly the same way by all characters in Mortal Kombat 11, and it has the same affect when used on all those characters too. If only Fatalities were that straightforward. It’s incredibly easy to pull off too, although honestly you only really want to be using it if you’ve got vastly more health than your opponent, since your character’s health does not reset.
Has the Mercy move been in previous Mortal Kombat games?
As far as we’re aware, the Mercy finishing move has only appeared in one other Mortal Kombat game, and that’s Mortal Kombat 3 for the SNES and Genesis/Megadrive in 1995, as well as the Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 re-release on other platforms. In that game it was actually performed in a very similar way: By holding the Run button, pressing Down a few times, and then releasing the Run button.
However, there are a couple of differences between Mortal Kombat 3‘s and Mortal Kombat 11‘s version of the Mercy finisher. Firstly, in MK3, the Mercy move only returned a tiny sliver of health to your opponent, not the significant chunk in MK11. Secondly, Mortal Kombat 3‘s Mercy was only a prelude to another finishing move: The Animality, which could only be pulled off after you used Mercy and then defeated your opponent a second time.
Does Mercy have any special function in Mortal Kombat 11?
As mentioned above, in the Mercy move’s original (and only other) appearance in Mortal Kombat 3, it was mostly used as a prelude to doing an Animality finishing move. Does Mortal Kombat 11 have a similar hidden Animality finishing move? At the moment however, no such “second” finishing move has been discovered. If you used the Mercy move, all you’re doing it for now is giving your opponent a second chance at defeating you. Or, more likely, you beat them so hard you’re bringing them back to humiliate them a little further.
