Mortal Kombat 11 is finally (and properly) nerfing Geras

You’ve booted up Mortal Kombat 11. You’re feeling confident, you think your combos can cause some real damage if they connect and you want to try them out in the ultimate showdown against some other fella from who knows where on this planet. Then it happens. Out of all the characters they could pick, they choose Loud Noise Geras, the current scourge of online.

Why wouldn’t they though? Geras is an absolute unit and a powerhouse, able to wreck your day with a variety of abilities that allow him to chop massive swathes of green off of your health bar. He can punish players in an instant, his Krushing Blows are absurd and he combines offense with speed to dish out extinction level event amounts of pain. Even with a few nerfs since Mortal Kombat 11 launched last year, Geras still holds the top dog spot in the overall online rankings. Nerf Geras is essentially the rallying cry of our generation.

And that nerf is finally happening! Again! In a new patch, Netherrealm have added some molasses to Geras that throw in extra startup frames to some of his moves. Frames are essentially a unit of time within fighting games, cells of animation that quickly telegraph what attacks are coming from characters and allow a player with fast reflexes to plan for the impact of that move.

Geras will now see his Matter of Time combo utilise 25 startup frames of data, recover three frames slower and thus strip some efficiency from the overall attack. Here’s the full breakdown on how he’s being rejiggered:

• Titan Charge (Getup / Block Attack Up + Back Punch) now has 9 startup frames (up from 6)
• Time Splash (Jump Down + Back Punch) now has 5 less frames of blockstun
• The Deathless Giant (Towards + Back Punch, Front Punch) now has 4 more frames of hit advantage, 5 less frames of recovery on hit, and its cancel frame occurs 1 frame later
• Matter Of Time (Towards + Back Punch, Front Punch, Back Punch) now has 25 startup frames (up from 20) and recovers 3 frames slower
• Sand Trap and Quick Sand causes 5 less frames of blockstun when it is Flawless Blocked
• Temporal Advantage hit region slightly adjusted when opponent is in a combo

Will Geras be any less potent in Mortal Kombat 11? Not exactly, but his power won’t be overwhelmingly over the top either, creating a nice balance overall. That and I’m laughing in Shao Kahn over here as my boyee still slaps thanks to his recent buffs that prove that it’s always hammer time. Netherrealm has also adjusted several other characters across the board, including Johnny Cage, Skarlet and the Terminator. Here’s a quick look at how they’ve been patched:

• Cetrion – Far H2 P0rt now costs 2 bars of Defensive Gauge (up from 1)
• Cetrion – The visual effects of Hell’s Wrath when Amplified now disappear properly when it is projectile destroyed
• D’Vorah – Fixed a rare camera issue during the Fatal Blow cinematic while on the right side on Kharon’s Ship
• Erron Black – Adjusted the hit region of Quick Shot (Getup / Block Attack Up + Back Punch)
• Erron Black – Bounty Bash (Back Punch) now recovers 3 frames faster on block
• Erron Black – Deal In Lead (Back Punch, Front Punch) now has 5 more frames of blockstun and 5 more recovery frames slower on block
• Frost – Cryogenic Crown now does 3 damage (up from 1), has decreased combo damage scaling, and has 2 more active frames
• Jacqui Briggs – Fixed an issue with several Kombo Attacks that allowed them to be cancelled into Wall of Justice (Fatal Blow) during their first 3 startup frames
• Jade – Heaven’s Heel (Getup / Block Attack Up + Back Punch) and it has 1 less recovery frame and had its hit region slightly adjusted
• Johnny Cage – High Forceball & Low Forceball now have 11 startup frames (up from 9)
• Johnny Cage – Rise And Shine (Getup / Block Attack Up + Back Punch) now has 9 startup frames (up from 7)
• Kitana – Adjusted the hit region of Fanning Out (Getup / Block Attack Up + Back Punch)
• Kitana – Purge The Weak (Away + Front Punch, Back Kick) now hits mid
• Kitana – Fixed an issue with several Kombo Attacks that allowed them to be cancelled into Deadly Game (Fatal Blow) during their first 3 startup frames
• Kotal Kahn – Mehtizquia Cut now has 2 more active frames, 3 less recovery frames, and causes 5 more frames of blockstun with increased pushback when not Flawless Blocked
• Kotal Kahn – Fixed rare issue that could cause Kotal Kahn to move quickly across the screen if he cancelled an attack into Coatl Parry with precise timing while in close proximity to an opponent performing a Breakaway
• Kung Lao – Possessed Hat now throws two projectiles at the opponent
• Noob – Adjusted the hit region of Wraith Boot (Getup / Block Attack Up + Front Kick)
• Skarlet – Adjusted the hit region of Bloody Boots (Getup / Block Attack Up + Back Punch)
• Skarlet – Bloodport Far now costs 2 bars of Defensive Gauge (up from 1)
• Skarlet – Fixed a rare camera issue when successfully parrying an attack with Dagger Dance
• Skarlet – Fixed a rare issue that could cause Skarlet to be unable to duck Sindel’s Back It Up (Away + Front Kick, Back Kick, Back Punch) high attack in certain circumstances
• Sub-Zero – Adjusted the hit region of Chilled Heel (Getup / Block Attack Up + Front Kick)
• Shang Tsung – Screaming Soul Amplify is now correctly affected by projectile destroying moves
• Shang Tsung – Fixed issue with being unable to perform Spare Time or Lost Time while morphed into Geras after the first round
• Sindel – Fixed an issue with several Kombo Attacks that allowed them to be cancelled into Edenian Royal Decree (Fatal Blow) during their first 3 startup frames
• Sindel – Low Star Screamer Amplify is now correctly affected by projectile destroying moves
• Terminator – Fixed an issue with several Kombo Attacks that allowed them to be cancelled into Chill Out (Fatal Blow) during their first 3 startup frames
• Terminator – AI will now correctly use “Terminate” ability

Beyond that, you’ve got the usual adjustments to the overall game, more recipes for the Krypt and stage specific tweaks. You can grab the update right now on PS4 and Xbox One, with PC, Switch and Stadia patches arriving later on. Don’t forget that early access to the Joker kicks off on January 28, with a full rollout on February 4. Let’s put a smile on that face!

Last Updated: January 24, 2020