The Lin Kuei Tower is a time-limited tower event consisting on 200 battles which awards Koins, Souls, Equipment, exclusive Tower equipment and Gold characters. The battles get progressively harder. When the tower is beaten, it rewards the player with a random diamond Sub-Zero and both of Kuai Liang's set equipment: Bracers and Scepter (when tower has appeared 1st time) so that the diamond Sub-Zero can perform a Brutality if both are equipped.
Event duration:
1) 12/13/2019 - 02/17/2020
2) 02/15/2021 - 03/08/2021
3) 02/09/2023 - 03/28/2023
Mechanics[]
Every battle gives a random reward which involves Koins, Souls, Equipment and Gold characters too, even if the player loses. After every boss battle, a gold card is guaranteed as reward (if the player wins). However, the drop rate of good rewards is quite lower than in Tower of Horror.
Also, this tower is one of the game modes which has exclusive equipment. In other words, along this mode were introduced equipment pieces which can be obtained only by playing the Lin Kuei Tower, and their effects are almost useless outside it. This is first game mode where characters wear equipment, such as all bosses and regular characters from battle 160 and on. These equipment pieces are the following:
- Uncommon: Kuai Liang’s Bracers, Ice Bomb and Frozen Mummy.
- Rare: Cryomancer Armor, Frost Axe, and Ice Gloves.
- Epic: Frost Mask, Frost Orb, Kori Blade and Kuai Liang’s Scepter.
Boss Battles[]
The Lin Kuei Tower introduces unique Boss Battles where the mechanics are similar to Relic Hunt but in reverse: the remaining health of the boss is carried on the next battle, since all LKT boss battles are timed. This is done because the bosses are intentionally hard, due to the highly-fused equipment they wear, and by the final stages they come in teams. The Lin Kuei Tower exclusive equipment, like the exclusives from Tower of Horror, have very high boosts within the Tower, rendering both bosses and players more powerful when they wear them. Also, it seems that the A.I. the characters of this tower have is more aggressive than the characters from Faction Wars or Battle Mode.
The characters involved in boss battles are all Lin Kuei warriors, such as all variations of Sub-Zero and Triborg. The first boss is Sub-Zero/Prime, being the first and only silver boss in the game, then follow all the gold tier Sub-Zeroes, Triborgs and finally diamond SZs. After that, the bosses come in pairs, following the same order except the silver Sub-Zero, and finally the bosses come in trios, being the very last battle all three diamond Sub-Zeroes (Sub-Zero/Circle of Shadows, Sub-Zero/Kold War, Sub-Zero/MK11) with all their stats and LKT equipment maxed out.
The Brutality[]
Shao Kahn/Konqueror was the first and only character to get a finishing move (done through his Special Attack 2 on certain conditions) before the introduction of the Lin Kuei Tower. It adds to equipment pieces named after Sub Zero’s real name: Kuai Liang’s Bracers and Kuai Liang’s Scepter. When a diamond Sub-Zero wears both pieces at the same time, he will be able to perform a Brutality in a combo ender when there is one opponent remaining and it is under 25% health, through a 40% chance.
The Kuai Liang’s Bracers, being an uncommon tier of equipment, can be rewarded in any battle won or lost, however the Scepter is only guaranteed when beaten the wholw tower (at the end of battle 200) and it’s the only LKT equipment outside the pool of possible rewards from the common battles; the other epics have a drop rate (very low) from any point of the tower.
Strategy[]
ATTENTION! The information below appropriates mostly for the 2019 version of LKT! 2020 version has different battles.
This is the hardest tower ever, so using a full FX60 team with good synergy is a must. This is a game mode where the equipment and Talent Tree matters as much as the synergy of the team. Here is a spreadsheet with recommended talent points which are helpful for LKT too.
- Tanya/Treacherous is the heroine of the Lin Kuei Tower. Having her in the team is both a lifesaving and an obligation. Her passive makes her special attacks and X-Ray attacks break one equipment piece at time; and considering that not only bosses wear equipment, but every character from battle 160 to 200, she is the best addition possible to the team.
- Sonya Blade/Kombat Cup is another helpful integrant for the team. She can keep out certain fighter out of the match so the player can kill the other two before focusing on the disabled one. This is helpful for the tougher battles to avoid certain characters to keep regeneration power to later come with an X-Ray attack.
- Equipping your team with LKT equipment as they drop must be done as soon as possible. Those pieces give the characters boosts only available within this tower, and will make the battles a lot easier as this equipment is being fused.
Since the tower is highly difficult, dealing with certain teams requires more attention, better and very different strategies. Below are certain cases where the majority of players struggled the most:
Boss Battles[]
Boss battles without the aid of Tanya are almost impossible. She can be equipped with the Wrath Hammer or the FX Bloody Tomahawk to start with one bar of Power. Also, she can have Kitana/Mournful and Kung Jin/Shaolin as partners at the same time of the Wrath Hammer so she starts the match with an X-Ray ready. However, do not perform the X-Ray, but the SP1 three times instead, so she can break three equipment pieces at once. It is advised to equip Kitana and Kung Jin since they're a little bit weak for this tower.
Avoid using slow characters such as Mileena, Baraka or Kano, because the AI is aggressive and won’t have mercy on the player. It’s better to use characters that are both fast and do Power Drain such as Johnny Cage, Kenshi or Triborg/Smoke (LK-7T2).
A team made fully of Triborg is also a good idea, since they have a great synergy between all of them and the fact that Triborg/Smoke and Triborg/Sub Zero (LK-520) distribute their power draining and freezing to all their partners makes them ideal for latter battles.
Jade/Day of the Dead is known for her Ghost Shield that reflects all damage of Special Attacks and X-Rays. Will make boss battles significantly faster.
If surpassed the tower one time, one can take the advantage of a Brutality in a boss battle, specially against Sub-Zero/Grandmaster or those who are equipped with Frost Orb.
Battle 180[]
This Boss Battle consists on three Gold Sub-Zeroes: Sub-Zero/Cryomancer, Sub-Zero/Klassic and Sub-Zero/Grandmaster. The factor that makes this battle difficult is the huge amount of health Sub Zero/Grandmaster has and his resurrection give him a lot of health back; if he is not killed completely, he will reappear in the next battle and will spawn an ice clone again, and again if not killed yet. The most effective strategy is the following:
- Shinnok/Bone Shaper + Datusha. Shinnok gains +25% attack when Sub Zero resurrects and Datusha will give him three times more damage if it’s FX at the same time. This weapon and some LKT exclusive equipment with damage boost will make this fight a lot easier.
Battle 194[]
This will pass in history as the most difficult battle in MK Mobile ever. It’s made of a full MK11 team composed of Scorpion/MK11, Jade/MK11 and Kabal/MK11. Thanks to Jade, all DOTs will heal them and every time one is knocked out, Kabal will enter with a free Fatal Blow; not to mention that the team is enraged so they regenerate power a lot faster, and they have fused LKT equipment as well. With their Special Attacks being unblockable and Kabal having multiple free Fatal Blows, this is indeed a brutal battle.
The strategy is the following: DO NOT USE ANY DOT, AVOID DEALING FIRE, BLEED OR POISON. KILL KABAL FIRST. Also, it is highly recommended to use only power drainers if possible.
- Sonya Blade/Kombat Cup + Johnny Cage/Kombat Cup + the talents Revenant and Weak Point Attacks. Sonya can disable one of those enemies (Scorpion is recommended) and her SP2 dealing Fear on the other can bring the opportunity to face Kabal, so Johnny enters and snares him with his SP1. A third integrant for this team could be Kenshi/Balanced (power drainer and gives 1 bar of power to everyone) or Kenshi/Elder God since his attack pattern is good and has suitable stats at FX60.
- A Triborg team, except Triborg/Sektor (LK-9T9) (fire DOT will heal the MK11 team). Smoke will distribute the Power Drain to his mates’ Special Attacks and Triborg Sub-Zero will give them Congelation too. Only SP1 recommended.
- Strike force team: all three of them do power drain, Johnny on SP1, Cassie on Tag + slow (very useful against Kabal) and Scorpion on Tag and when a teammate is about to get knocked out.
- Terminator/Dark Fate and/or Jade/Assassin because they can evade X-Rays/Fatal Blows and Special Attacks respectively, and both can cripple.
Tower of Horror vs Lin Kuei Tower rewards[]
Refreshing the tower does not worth it, unlike ToH. It can be an investment if there is a need to fuse gold characters (the drop rate is ~6% better), but it isn’t recommended because the good rewards drop rate is really low and the boss battles will inevitably require more than one battle, thus making done refreshes be wasted. Unless having the opportunity to win boss battles and the tougher ones (194 for example) in one shot, it is not worthy to spend souls on refreshing the tower.
Below there are a few tables comparing drop rates between both towers, in similar progress:
| Tower of Horror | Characters | Souls | Koins | Upgrades | Equipment | Support | Battles |
| Count | 66 | 106(2,376) | 325(960,601) | 524 | 197 | 108 | 1326 |
| % | 5% | 8% | 24% | 40% | 15% | 8% | 100% |
Rewards dropped during 1326 battles on ToH.
|
Tower of Horror |
Epic | Rare | Uncommon | Common |
| Count | 8 | 68 | 81 | 40 |
| % of Total Drops | 0.6% | 5.1% | 6.1% | 3.0% |
Classification of dropped equipment from ToH.
| Lin Kuei Tower | Characters | Souls | Koins | Upgrades | Equipment | Support | Level Up | Battles |
| Count | 151 | 108 (2,443) | 329 (981,414) | 444 | 235 | 118 | 19 | 1404 |
| % | 11% | 8% | 23% | 32% | 17% | 8% | 1% | 100% |
Rewards dropped during 1404 battles on LKT.
| Lin Kuei Tower | Epic | Rare | Uncommon | Common |
| Count | 3 | 102 | 77 | 53 |
| % of Total Drops | 0.2% | 7.3% | 5.5% | 3.8% |
Classification of dropped equipment on LKT.
| Exclusive Equipment | ToH | LKT |
| Count | 80 | 71 |
| % of Total Drops | 6% | 5% |
Courtesy of u/TarkatanAccountant.
Walkthrough[]
Here is a playlist containing videos of all battles of Lin Kuei Tower.