Game Guide - Glossary Mortal Kombat X Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

The below glossary ids to familiarize you with terms and abbreviations used in this guide, as well as ones that you can come across while playing the game, in the Internet and while watching streams/cutscenes. Learning terminology used in fighting games makes it easier to learn new combos. To organize things, the glossary items have been listed in the alphabetical order.

Air Throw - some of the characters can perform throws in the air.

Anti Air - an attack whose aim is to stop the opponent jumping at you and prevent him from performing an aerial attack.

Armor - some of the attacks come with, the so called, armor, which means that they cannot be stopped by the opponent's attack. Usually, these are the enhanced EX moves.

Baiting - It is about encouraging the opponent to perform a movement or an attack, which you can then use to your own advantage, Baiting is about luring the opponent into a trap.

Battle Cry - Te lines spoken by the individual characters before the fight starts. Usually, it is connected with their backstory or with their attitude towards the individual opponent.

Blocking - clocking the opponent's attacks.

Boss - This is the final opponent that you need to defeat, in order to, e.g. complete the story or beat the tower. Usually, the boss is a much more demanding opponent than the preceding ones.

Breaker - a movement that immediately interrupts the opponent's attack - e.g. if the opponent wants to grab you, or is in the middle of a combo, you can interrupt it and seize the initiative.

Brutality - A showpiece and brutal finishing move performed on the opponent, popular in Mortal Kombat games. Each character has his, or her, own Brutality.

Cancel - the action whose aim is to interrupt own attack, before it is realized, or to cancel any element of the combo, in order to land a different attack. If, for example, you want to land a three-hit combo, where the last blow knocks the opponent away, you can use the cancel action after the second element of the combo, and continue attacking. Thanks to this, you can considerably max out on damage dealt.

Charge - some of the attacks can, additionally, be charged (this goes for projectiles or special abilities). The longer the attack us charged, the higher the damage dealt by the attack.

Chip Damage - damage that you take while blocking.

Combo - chain of the character's attacks, which are organized in the way to make a fluent whole, where an attack seamlessly proceeds into the next one, which does not allow the opponent to have a moment's breath nor defend.

Counter - some of the characters can counter the opponent's attacks, i.e. seize the attack and use the momentum to his own advantage.

Damage - the strength of the attack or the combo is determined by the amount of damage that it deals.

Dash - a quick dash towards the opponent or away.

Faction

Faction kill - after the faction fight that you win, you can use a special killing technique, characteristic for a given faction.

Fatality - The most spectacular finisher that you use at the end of the fight. When you hear the phrase "Finish Him/Her" spoken, you can use this finisher to kill the opponent. There are two types of Fatalities - the easier one, where you only need to enter a combination of 2 keys, and the more difficult ones, where the sequence is more complex.

Frame - a unit of animation. Each strike has a specific number of frames, which determines the time necessary to land the strike. Some of the strikes are faster (they have less frames) whereas others are slower (more frames). Also, the strikes are allotted with a specific number of penalty frames, if they meet a block. This is the time, where your character is exposed to counterattack.

Frame Advantage - This term means that you have an advantage of frames, over your opponent, i.e. you are safe if your attack hits the opponent's block.

Grab - the action of grabbing the opponent and driving their head into an element of the surrounding, or landing a strike. Usually, grabbing ignores the opponent's block.

Guard - You can (or even should) block the opponent's attacks. The opponent's strikes that you block deal little damage, but you need to keep in mind that throws and grabbing ignores blocks. To do well against opponents, you need to get familiar with blocking.

Ground Bounce - strikes thrown in a neutral jump bounce the opponent off the ground, which makes them fly into the air inertly. This is what is called ground bounce and is a prelude for bouncing.

High - blows to the opponent's head.

Hitbox - the area on the opponent's body that can be attacked (Overhead, High, Mid, Low).

Hit Stun - The effect that prevents the oppponent from landing their blow.

Juggle - It is about keeping the opponent aloft, by landing successive blows.

Jump - You can jump forward, backwards or up.

Low - Blows to the legs of the opponent.

Mid - blows to the opponent's chest.

Neutral Jump - a vertical jump, where you can land an attack initial to juggling. There are the following types of Neutral Jump: Neutral Punch, Neutral Kick.

Nerf - weakening, balancing the opponent.

Overhead - blows to the nape of the opponent's head.

Punish - If the opponent performed a faulty action, or has been blocked, you can land a combo, i.e. punish the opponent. This is a punishment for a failed action which makes the opponent vulnerable to attacks.

Re-stand - The effect of standing the opponent up, in a situation in which they would, without any doubt, have fallen on their back. You can use some of the moves to put the opponent back in an upright position, at the moment at which they are dropping to the ground, thanks to which you do not need to interrupt your attack.

Reversal - The countering attack after you have been knocked down. You can then get up and land your blow.

Run

Skin - an alternative skin for your character that you can unlock during the game.

Stamina Bar - the bar directly below the health bar.

Teleport - some of the characters can teleport.

Throw

Trade - A situation, in which both of the fighters land a blow and both of them take damage, as a result.

Wake Up - an action, where the character gets up from the ground and immediately lands the enhanced version of an attack.

Wall jump - on most of the arenas, you can bounce off walls and jump out of the inconvenient situation, behind the opponent's back, i.e. into the center of the arena.

X-Ray - special move, which you can perform after you fill all three bars of the Meter. X-Ray takes up all 3 bars. The sequence cannot be stopped, once launched, unless the initial strike is blocked.

Zoning - keeping the opponent at a bay, using, e.g. long range attacks, projectiles, etc.