Liu Kang/Circle of Shadow

Rarity	Type	Base Stats	Price	Unlock
Diamond	Netherrealm/Martial Artist	Attack: 1440 Health: 1340 Toughness: 1380 Recovery: 1280 Power Gen: 100%	N/A	Circle of Shadow Pack, Elite Netherrealm Elder God Pack, Elite Martial Artist Pack

Strategy

Circle of Shadow Liu Kang is one of the most powerful damage dealers in the game. To utilize his passive, starting power from characters and equipment such as Kung Jin/Shaolin or Wrath Hammer are recommended to perform a critical special attack (preferably SP2), quickly outnumbering the enemy team right at start of the match. Unblockable basic attack equipment are suggested to make use of his lethal blow after the starting stun.

Interactions

Please note that battles are highly situational: this section only mentions cards that have mechanics that, for any reason, are particularly effective with/against, or particularly ineffective against Liu Kang. Having a card that "counters" Liu Kang does not mean it is always a good choice.

Good With

• Circle of Shadow Characters.
• Scorpion/Ninjutsu & Sub-Zero/Cryomancer: Liu Kang gains 30% Attack boost from Scorpion and 30% Health boost from Sub-Zero.
• Kung Jin/Shaolin, Wrath Hammer, Bloody Tomahawk, Kung Lao/Circle of Shadow & Scorpion/Hellspawn: Liu Kang gains 1-1.5 bars of power at the start of a match.
• Noob Saibot/MK11: Noob Saibot gives Netherrealm teammates +50% Critical and Lethal Attack damage.
• Shinnok/Vengeful, Bo' Rai Cho/Dragon Breath, Kung Lao/Hat Trick & Kung Jin/Standard: All of these characters can increase Liu Kang’s Critical Chance, further demolishing opponents even after his match starting part of his Passive wears off.
• Sub-Zero/Circle of Shadow: Sub-Zero gives Circle of Shadow teammates Lethal Blow chance, which further increased in Faction Wars with Liu Kang.
• Moloch's Ball and Chain, Bi-Han's Tormentor & Princess Guard equipments: These equipments increase Lethal Blow chance.

Good Against

• Strike Force characters.
• Kenshi/Elder God & Kitana/Assassin: Although these characters are immune to crit, they are still vulnerable to Lethal Blow attacks.
• Sonya Blade/Kombat Cup: Liu Kang deals the most damage at start at the match, so locking his tag won't affect his passive much. Although she is immune to stun, she isn't immune to crit.
• Characters with tag-in attacks and effects: He can prevent the likes of Liu Kang/Flaming Fists or Scorpion/Inferno from dealing too much damage to him by simply snaring them with his Special 1.
• Jade/Assassin and Jason Voorhees/Relentless: The stun at the start of the match will guaranteed that Jason can’t evade his first special attack along with Jade or her Assassin teammates.

Countered By

• Poison and Incurability debuffs: These debuffs make sure that Liu Kang can't heal from his lethal attacks.
• Assassin characters.
• Cassie Cage/Undercover: Cassie Cage deals 20% more damage against Netherrealm characters including Liu Kang.
• Jacqui Briggs/Cybernetic & Scorpion/Hellspawn: Both these characters take less damage from Netherrealm characters, which include Liu Kang. Scorpion is also immune to critical damage.
• Jacqui Briggs/Kosplay: Jacqui's Tremor, Ermac and Reptile variations have advantages over Netherrealm and Martial Artist characters, which include Liu Kang.
• Jade/Klassic: Jade and her Klassic teammates are immune to Snare.
• Johnny Cage/Strike Force: Johnny and his fellow Strike Force teammates deal 10-30% more damage against Netherrealm characters, which include Liu Kang.
• Liu Kang/Fire God: Fire God Liu Kang can gain Dragon Fire from Circle of Shadow Liu Kang's Fire.
• Liu Kang/Klassic, Raiden/Dark & Jade/MK11: All of these characters heal from Liu Kang’s Fire Attacks with Jade spreading this to MK11 teammates.
• Kabal/MK11: Kabal can reflect Liu Kang's Stun from his MK11 teammates.
• Kenshi/Ronin & Combat Shotgun: Both the character and equipment piece deal more damage against Martial Artists, including Liu Kang.
• Kintaro/Shokan Warrior: Kintaro and his teammates take reduced damage from Liu Kang‘s Fire Attacks.
• Scorpion/Kold War: Scorpion is immune to Liu Kang's Fire attacks.
• Sonya Blade/Kombat Cup: Sonya and her Kombat Cup teammates are immune Stun. They are still vulnerable to Liu Kang's crit, however.
• Tremor/Aftershock: Tremor and his Martial Artist teammates gain unblockable chance against Netherrealm characters, which include Liu Kang.
• Maxed Ice Bomb equipment: This equipment's FX effect freezes the opponent at the start of the match, which the duration exceeds Liu Kang's Stun, rendering his passive's first part useless.

Abilities

Here are Liu Kang's abilities.

Ability	Classification	Description	Usage
Overwhelming Darkness	Passive	When Liu Kang starts a match, he has 100% critical hit chance and his opponent is stunned for 3-5 seconds. In Faction Wars, 25-35% chance for Lethal Blow. Lethal Blows heal all Circle of Shadow teammates for 5-15% of the damage dealt. Circle of Shadow Characters do 10% more Damage versus Strike Force Characters.	Beginning of Match
Dragon Fury	First Special	Medium Damage + Snare	Quick Tap
Dragon Fireball	Second Special	High Damage + Fire	Quick Tap, Target
For The Shaolin	X-Ray	Extreme Damage + Fire	Tap

Support Cards/Equipment

Here are Liu Kang's support and equipment cards.

Card	Classification	Description	Picture
Bicycle Kick	Attack	3-33% Bonus Attack
Ally: Bo' Rai Cho	Health	3-33% Bonus Health
Earthrealm Champion	Recovery	20-220% Bonus Recovery
Red Headband	Equipment	25-45% Recovery boost. [Liu Kang] 25-35% Unblockable chance on basic attacks. [Fusion Level X] 20% Power generation boost.
Champion's Leather Bracers	Equipment	300-1200% Recovery boost. 30-75% Chance of Lethal Blow immunity. 80-600% Max health boost. Shirai Ryu Tower only. [Liu Kang] [Set] If this is equipped alongside Champion's Nunchaku, any DIAMOND Liu Kang gains a 40% chance to perform a Special Combo Ender dealing massive damage. If the last opponent is under 25% health, a Brutality is performed instead of the Special Combo Ender, ending the fight immediately. [Fusion Level X] 50% Damage boost when wearer is affected by Fire.
Champion's Nunchaku	Equipment	10-40% Chance to apply Fire on basic attacks. 30-100% Damage boost against Outworld Characters. 150-600% Damage boost. Shirai Ryu Tower only. [Liu Kang] [Set] If this is equipped alongside Champion's Leather Bracers, any DIAMOND Liu Kang gains a 40% chance to perform a Special Combo Ender dealing massive damage. If the last opponent is under 25% health, a Brutality is performed instead of the Special Combo Ender, ending the fight immediately. [Fusion Level X] [Liu Kang] When a teammate tags in, Liu Kang throws Dragon Fire from the sidelines, dealing 500% of his basic attack damage with 50% chance to apply Fire.

Stats

These stats are the final damage, health, toughness and recovery at level 50, per Fusion rank, with ALL support cards, and without any equipment. With Update 1.18, Fusion 8, 9, and 10 have been added. The Fusion 10 stats are for level 60 characters.

Rank	Attack	Health	Toughness	Recovery
Normal	11,108	19,248	8,004	23,757
Fusion I	16,662	28,871	12,006	35,635
Fusion II	22,216	38,496	16,008	47,514
Fusion III	27,770	48,119	20,010	59,392
Fusion IV	33,324	57,743	24,012	71,270
Fusion V	38,879	67,367	28,014	83,149
Fusion VI	44,433	76,991	32,016	95,027
Fusion VII	49,987	86,615	36,018	106,906
Fusion VIII	55,541	96,239	40,020	118,784
Fusion IX	61,095	105,862	44,022	130,662
Fusion X	72,395	136,873	52,164	154,829

Prior to Update 2.0, these are his original stats as a Gold Character.

Attack	Health	Toughness	Recovery
1150	1075	1100	1020

Gallery

Card Render

War Banner Backgrounds

War Banner Icons

Old card as a gold

Trivia

• Prior to Update 2.0, his passive was Overwhelming Darkness: When Liu Kang starts a match he has 100% CRITICAL CHANCE and his opponent is stunned for 3 seconds. In Faction Wars, 25% chance for Lethal Blow: +250% DAMAGE.
• Prior to Update 2.0, he was available in the Faction Wars Store and costed 1,600 Blood Rubies.
• Prior to Update 2.4, he was known as Liu Kang/Dark Emperor.