Mortal Kombat 11: Shang Tsung DLC - Fatality Inputs, Secret Transformations & More Easter Eggs

Shang Tsung makes his glorious return in Mortal Kombat 11, and he’s the first of the DLC fighters arriving in the latest bloody game in the series. This Shang Tsung is played by a returning Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa — the same awesome character actor that portrayed the evil wizard in the Mortal Kombat (1995) film. He isn’t just a stunt-casting either, Shang Tsung performs all his classic moves, and even gets to throw out one-liners based on his movie performance. Yes, the legendary exclamation “Your soul is mine!” returns as a victory animation.

And that’s just scratching the surface. Shang Tsung is full of Easter eggs, and here we’re going to explain everything you need to know about this DLC character. You can instantly unlock his secondary Fatality by performing the input listed below — or you can transform into a variety of different ninjas from the series past during your victory pose. Nothing is revealed in game, so it’s all about experimenting. Let’s get started.

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Shang Tsung DLC – Fatality Inputs, Secret Transformations & More Easter Eggs

Shang Tsung is full of secrets — and he starts with his movie costume already unlocked. You can access it from the Kustomization menu right away — it’s a perfect fit for his “Your Soul Is Mine!” victory pose. There are plenty of other worthwhile secrets you can access right when you unlock him.

The main ones are his fatality and his unique brutality transformations. Using a special power, Shang Tsung can transform into his enemies briefly, and steal their moves — while transformed, Shang Tsung can even perform brutalities from whatever characters he’s turned into! Unfortunately, you won’t be able to steal any fatalities.

How To Perform Shang Tsung’s Second Fatality:

Shokan Reborn: Back, Forward, Back, 4 [Circle / B]

For this fatality, Shang Tsung resurrects a famous Shokan from the series — not, it isn’t Goro. Instead, it’s Kintaro! He has a fully model and everything. He’s probably the dorkiest of all the Shokans in the series, so this might be the last time we see this character from the series’ past referenced.

Even better, performing this fatality once will unlock it permanently in your movelist.

How To Transform Into Ermac, Smoke, Noob Saibot or Rain

Whenever you win a battle, Shang Tsung will transform into his opponent. If you input a special command, he can also transform into one of four ninjas — Smoke, Noob Saibot, Rain or Ermac. Most of these characters don’t appear in MK11, and they’re all palette-swapped ninjas of the past. If you want to blow the minds of your opponents online, here’s how to transform into one of these secret characters.

To transform into your opponent, you need to use the Essence Thief brutality.

Essence Thief Brutality: Final Hit from Forward+Throw.
- Tap 4+1 [Circle + Square] Rapidly

Yes, really. You need to rapidly tap 1+4 to transform. Normally, you’ll become your opponent, but if you press even more buttons, it’s possible to become one of the four ninjas listed above.

How To Transform Into A Ninja: After activating the Essence Thief brutality, wait for the Brutality screen — the lights will dim and spotlights will appear. Now hold Stance Change + Block and press one of four direction buttons.

Ninja Transformation – Essence Thief Brutality:
- Hold Stance Change + Block and Up/Down/Left/Right.
Ermac: Hold Right
Smoke: Hold Left
Rain: Hold Up
Noob Saibot: Hold Down

That’s just one of the many little secrets Shang Tsung is hiding up his sleeves. You can also unlock costumes showing off Shang Tsung’s old man form that appears in the Krypt, or pull off old-school fatalities in the form of brutalities. He even repeats more movie dialogue during intros. He’s a jam-packed character, and you can watch him in action in the video above.

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