Mortal Kombat 1 August 2025 Update Is Live, Here Is What Changed

Mortal Kombat 1 has received a lengthy new update and players can experience the numerous adjustments to different characters’ moves, which aim to improve the balance of the fighting game. While some of the changes are minor, others are sure to shake up the game and may be divisive among the MK1 fan base. NetherRealm Studios has already said that there won’t be any new characters being added to the game at this point, choosing instead to shore up the game’s final balance before the Mortal Kombat 2 movie releases in October.

Below are the extensive patch notes for this new Mortal Kombat 1 update courtesy of WB Games.

MK1 August 2025 Patch Notes

Main Cast Adjustments

• Ashrah
  • Absolving a Sin with Heaven attacks does 30 damage (up from 20)
• Havik
  • The first hit of Flesh Wound (Back Punch, Back Punch) now hits Mid (was overhead) & the 2nd hit is now overhead (was Mid)
  • Increased combo damage scaling after Skab Stab (Away + Back Punch, Back Punch, Front Punch + Front Kick)
  • Destroying Balance (Away + Back Punch, Back Punch, Back Kick) recovery on block and miss increased by 7 frames
• Kenshi
  • Heighten Senses (Back Kick, Back Kick) can now be special cancelled
  • Impaler (Away + Back Punch in Sento Stance) recovers 7 frames faster
• Li Mei
  • Calculated (Back Kick, Front Kick, Back Kick) recovers 7 frames faster on hit
  • (Air) Enhanced Flipping Heel Kick last hit is no longer more negative when Flawless Blocked
  • Sky Lantern detonated by Nova Blast now hits overhead (was Mid)
• Liu Kang
  • Punishing Palm (Front Punch, Back Punch, Front Punch) can be special cancelled
• Rain
  • Water Beam & Enhanced Water Beam starts up 3 frames faster
• Reptile
  • Dr. Wreckyl (Towards + Back Punch, Front Punch, Front Punch) and Kneet Trick (Towards + Back Punch, Front Punch, Front Kick) are now longer more negative when Flawless Blocked
• Shang Tsung
  • Knee Reverser (Back Punch, Back Kick in Young Form) now recovers 3 frames faster
  • Spin Kick (Towards + Back Kick, Front Kick, Back Kick in Young Form) can now be special cancelled and does 50 damage (down from 70)
• Quan Chi
  • Psycho Skull & Enhanced Psycho Skull starts up 5 frames faster
  • Sorcerer Smack (Front Punch) has 2 more frames of blockstun
  • Bow Already! (Back Punch, Front Punch, Back Kick) has 5 more frames of hitstun
  • Best Foot Backward (Down + Towards + Back Kick) now hits overhead (was Mid) and had its hit region adjusted
• Omni-Man
  • Earthquake Stomp (Towards + Front Kick) 2nd hit has 5 more frames of blockstun
• Ermac
  • Behind You releases opponent 10 frames sooner
• Homelander
  • Increased combo damage scaling after Vought Drop, The Seven Slam, & See No Evil (Away + Back Punch, Back Punch, Front Punch + Front Kick)
• Conan
  • Fixed a rare issue that could cause Barbarian’s Blitz & Barbarian’s Blade to sometimes not hit correctly in trade situations
  • Barbarian’s Blitz & Barbarian’s Blade recover 5 frames faster on hit & miss
  • Atlantean Bulwark 4th hit has 7 more frames of hit advantage
• T-1000
  • Multiplanar Laceration (Back Kick, Front Kick, Back Kick, Front Kick, Back Kick) 3rd hit now hits Mid (was overhead)
  • Increased combo damage scaling after Liquiform Suplex & Nasal Pierce (Away + Front Kick, Back Punch, Front Punch + Back Punch)
• Cyrax
  • Capture Foam is now destroyed when hit by other projectiles
  • Close, Mid, & Far Bomb build less meter when performed & do less damage when blocked
  • Bomb Mistwalk builds less meter when performed & does less damage when blocked
• Sektor
  • (Air) Burst Grenade no longer builds meter on miss
  • (Air) Burst Grenade damage is now 50 (was 60)
  • (Air) Burst Grenade & (Air) Enhanced Burst Grenade do less damage when blocked
  • Flamethrower now does 30 damage on first hit (down from 50) and 50 damage on 2nd hit (up from 30)
  • Enhanced Flamethrower first hit now does 50 damage (down from 90) and 50 damage on 2nd hit (up from 30)

Kameo Fighters

• Frost (Kameo)
  • Ice Krash now has 23 frames of invulnerability on wakeup (up from 11)
• Darrius (Kameo)
  • The last hit of Twister Kicks is no longer more negative when Flawless Blocked
  • Twister Kicks now has 29 frames of invulnerability on wakeup (up from 11)
• Jax (Kameo)
  • Adjusted hit region of Ground Pound resulting in significantly increased range
  • Fixed rare issue that could cause Ground Pound to work improperly if an opponent Shang Tsung was interrupted out of Kameo Kopy
• Goro (Kameo)
  • Rearranger (Forward Throw) now does 150 damage (up from 110)
• Stryker (Kameo)
  • Low Grenade Toss, High Grenade Toss, & Full Auto refill rates increased after use
• Sektor (Kameo)
  • Alternate Fatal Blow Attack now hits high (was Mid) and no longer can angle downward
• Scorpion (Kameo)
  • Hell Blades refill rate slightly increased after use
  • Hell Blades recovers 3 frames faster on block
• Sub-Zero (Kameo)
  • Arctic Armor can now absorb infinite hits (up from 4)
  • Kold Shoulder now has 23 frames of invulnerability on wakeup (up from 11)
• Mavado (Kameo)
  • Best Feet Forward & Nindrop refill rates decreased after use
• Tremor (Kameo)
  • When Tremor is interrupted by an attack, he now has a 10 second cooldown (was 3 seconds for transmutes, 6 seconds for moves using meter)

It will be interesting to see how these numerous changes impact the game and whether it will be the final major patch before Mortal Kombat 2. Cyrax getting heavy nerfs will likely please a sizeable portion of players, who previously felt the character was in a strong place in the meta. At the recently concluded Evo tournament earlier this month, Cyrax was the character of choice for SonicFox, the grand finals winner and current #1 Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition 2025 league leader.