Ninjas are a popular archetype in the Mortal Kombat series and for good reason. Masters of martial arts, stealth, and often possessing otherworldly powers these warriors are expert assassins.
There are a lot of ninjas in this series and many are extremely powerful, some even capable of holding their own against the very gods of the universe. The fighters on this list aren’t ranked by their popularity or strength in-game, but in terms of their power and capabilities according to the lore.
15 Tanya
Being from the realm of Edenia, Tanya naturally comes with a long lifespan and an affinity for magic given their divine lineage. Her turn to the dark side by worshipping Shinnok, allying with the Brotherhood of Shadow and Shao Kahn, has given her further training and powers.
Tanya is a highly skilled fighter that wields pyrokinetic abilities in battle. She can also reflect projectiles with her weapons and teleport across the battlefield. The only reason she doesn’t rank higher is that her pyrokinetic powers are lackluster when compared to other ninjas.
14 Takeda Takahashi
Takeda Takahashi is an apprentice to Scorpion, which essentially makes him Scorpion-lite. He uses similar fighting styles and is very skilled with bladed whips. He also possess the unique ability to infuse himself and his weapons with plasma.
In addition to this raw potential he can also read minds, teleport, and move objects with his mind. While he shows incredible promise, he’s still young and inexperienced. With time he could quickly rival his master Scorpion and other ninjas, but for now he comes up a little short.
13 Cyrax
Cyrax is one of the three cybernetic ninjas created to be a master assassin that unquestioningly follows orders. However, he retained some of his humanity however and allies himself with the good guys. He loathes his own existence, which arguably this makes him less effective in fights compared to his peers.
Like the other cybernetic ninjas, he is equipped with powerful tech and weaponry. He has an energy net that can stun targets, long-range explosives to bombard enemies, and even a teleportation device to travel the realms at will. He can even break his body down piece by piece to relocate short distances before coming together again.
12 Sektor
Sektor is another cybernetic ninja, though unlike Cyrax he has completely abandoned his humanity. This makes him the most perfect assassin that the Lin Kuei clan could have ever hoped for. It also makes him a fierce opponent in battle, as he will not hesitate or show mercy.
He comes equipped with homing missiles, teleportation, and a flamethrower in battle. Sektor is also constantly upgrading his components to milk his combat potential even further, and can even control an army of robots. His only weakness is that he’s utterly devoted to his creators, even to his own detriment.
11 Reptile
Hailing from the realm Zaterra, Reptile is a Saurian. He serves Shao Kahn as a begrudging assassin seeking a way to free his people from the warlord’s grasp. His abilities to turn himself and others invisible, corrosive breath, and his noxious form that exudes a toxic cloud makes him a fierce opponent.
The reason he ranks low is that he suffers a major weakness. The longer he’s away from his queen, the more primitive he becomes and he breaks down mentally. If he goes too long without being in her presence, he loses his ability to utilize cunning and strategy.
10 Frost
The protégé of Sub-Zero, Frost may not be as strong as her mentor by any means, but she’s a lot stronger than most. She isn’t capable of freezing others, but she makes up for it by using her powers to create weapons and launch projectiles.
As of Mortal Kombat 11, she’s also received several cybernetic upgrades that allow her to control an army of cyborgs. These upgrades also increase her already impressive speed, strength, and agility.
9 Rain
Rain is a demigod hailing from the Edenia realm and is extremely powerful. He’s able to tap into the elements of water and lightning to accomplish astounding feats. He can propel himself and others through pressurized water streams, summon storm clouds to block out the sun, and call down lightning to zap his foes. Rain can even trap enemies in a water sphere that gives him some control over their bodies.
But perhaps his interesting power is the ability to liquify himself to move rapidly across the environment. This would be great for stealth, evading attacks, or avoiding detection in any body of water.
8 Skarlet
Called the former champion of Outworld by Shao Kahn, Skarlet is a being comprised entirely of blood. This gives her terrifying powers that allow her to launch blood-projectiles at opponents and form them into weapons. An unusual ability allows her to liquify into blood and form into a solid structure to evade or attack opponents.
On top of these incredible maneuvers is her impressive regeneration. In the comic for Mortal Kombat X Mileena shattered both of her legs, but Skarlet was able to recover from the injury thanks to her blood state.
7 Smoke
Smoke is a demonic being called an Enenra comprised of smoke. He has augmented his powers with nanotech and cybernetics. These allow him to move at incredible speeds, turn invisible, and bombard his enemies with smoke that can blind them and make it hard to breathe.
His demonic nature allows him to turn into a cloud of vapor that enables him to move quickly and evade attacks. The smoke he exudes can also become extremely hot, to the point of burning his opponents.
6 Triborg
Triborg is a cybernetic ninja accidentally created by the Cyber Initiative faction, and arguably the most powerful cybernetic ninja. Where Cyrax retains his humanity and Sektor is loyal to his creators, Triborg operates on the sole agenda of eradicating all life in all realms of existence.
He was created when the minds of Sektor, Cyrax, Smoke, and Cyber Sub-Zero were copied and fused into one cyborg body. His body is capable of taking on the appearance and capabilities of the minds that made him. This means anything that Cyrax, Sektor, Smoke, and Cyber Sub-Zero are capable of, he can replicate.
5 Tremor
Tremor is a beast. He’s taller then most other characters, bulky, and possesses incredible strength and durability. He’s capable of manipulating various minerals in the ground, causing earthquakes. Additionally, he summon rocks to attack or defend, and can coat his body in various substances such as rock, crystals or even molten lava.
This makes Tremor a veritable juggernaut, capable of dramatically improving his durability and ripping apart the ground his enemies walk on. He’s also said to be immune to heat and burning of any kind, which in theory would make him suited to fighting in the Netherrealm.
4 Scorpion
Speaking of the Netherrealm, the undisputed champion of this hellish place is Scorpion. Reborn thanks to his own vengeful spirit and Quan Chi’s vile magic, Scorpion is a wraith capable of wielding the hellfire that now simmers in his body to hurl projectiles and coat his body in flames.
He can also summon various beings such as Hellspawns which are weaker versions of himself, self-destructing demons, and floating skulls to shoot projectiles. But his greatest ability is an immunity to death, as he resurrects in Netherrealm. He can also create portals to travel between the realms, and his powers improve the longer he’s in the Netherrealm.
3 Sub-Zero/Kuai Liang
The cryomancer Sub-Zero is a fearsome force of nature, and his powers only seem to grow stronger over time. He possesses the ability to create and channel ice out of thin air. This allows him to launch projectiles, craft weapons, and create a stationary duplicate of himself to act as a decoy.
His greatest power is the ability to freeze the air around him and solidify the water content in his opponent’s bodies with merely a touch, and then shattering their frozen bodies with an attack. His powers are already formidable, but with The Dragon Medallion, they become even more impressive.
2 Noob Saibot
Noo Saibot was the original Sub-Zero, before he was killed and sent to the fifth plane of Netherrealm. He’s returned as a shadowy specter with terrifying powers, stripped of his humanity. He can turn invisible, teleport through the shadows, and use the darkness to improve his own powers or minimize the effectiveness of others’.
Perhaps his most powerful ability is the ability to craft a phantom of himself using shadows to fight at his side or perform followup attacks. He’s also capable of morphing into an oily-substance. A good indicator of his power is the fact that he wishes to remain in the hellish Netherrealm and rule over it.
1 Ermac
The strongest ninja in the Mortal Kombat mythos would have to be Ermac, a being comprised of a legion of warriors’ souls that were captured by Shao Kahn in various wars across the realms. Their combined knowledge and powers now live within Ermac. This being is theoretically capable of augmenting his powers even further by absorbing or incorporating even more souls into his collection
He’s also a master of telekinesis, using his mind to physically manipulate his opponents. Ermac can also travel between the realms at will. His only weakness is losing the bond between his souls by spending too much time in the Netherrealm; however, he negates this with a Soul Stone he keeps in his possession specifically for this reason.
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