Mortal Kombat 1 Character Tier List
Agree? Cast your vote
Blind ballot: the order is shuffled and the community's answer stays hidden until you've rated an entry — your take, not an echo. One vote each, change anytime. Rate as many or as few as you like. No account needed.
As of Jul 29, 2026 (December 2025 Hotfix), the community ranks Shang Tsung, Havik, Peacemaker, Johnny Cage as the best picks (S tier) in Mortal Kombat 1 Character Tier List, based on 152 entry ratings from 5 unique voters.
December 2025 Hotfix just dropped and the ballot reset — weekly movers pause while the new meta settles.
This tier list ranks all 35 playable Mortal Kombat 1 fighters on the current December 2025 hotfix, the last balance patch NetherRealm shipped — the meta has been frozen for months, so placements here reflect a settled game rather than a moving target. Kameo fighters are a separate roster and are not ranked on this board. Opening tiers blend the EventHubs community rankings, which score the full roster, with two tournament-player lists released after that patch, from Shujinkydink (Apr 13 2026) and Xandderr13 (Apr 25 2026). Those sources disagree more than usual, and the disagreements are the interesting part: Havik, General Shao and Nitara are pro favourites the ladder rates near the bottom, while Kenshi and Baraka rank near the top with the crowd but split the pros sharply — one puts Kenshi in his second-best group, the other has him near the bottom. Kameo pairings shift many of these matchups, so treat the opening tiers as a starting point and vote them where you think they belong.
One vote per entry (change anytime), recency-weighted so the list tracks the current patch, minimum votes before ranking, re-tabulated live. No win-rate scraping, no single expert. Full methodology →
As of Jul 29, 2026 (December 2025 Hotfix), voters put Shang Tsung, Havik, Peacemaker at the top — the best Character in the current meta, from 152 entry ratings by 5 unique voters.
As of Jul 29, 2026 (December 2025 Hotfix), the community ranks Shang Tsung, Havik, Peacemaker, Johnny Cage, Cyrax as S-tier, based on 152 entry ratings from 5 unique voters.
It is community-voted: every player gets roughly one vote per entry (changeable anytime), votes are recency-weighted so the list tracks the current patch, entries need a minimum number of votes before being ranked, and results re-tabulate live.
Stays live and re-tabulates as votes come in. ?theme=light · &compact=1
