Ever since his debut in Deadly Alliance, Kenshi quickly became a welcome addition to the franchise and beloved by MK fans. Now, the iconic blind (thanks to Shang Tsung) swordsman has made his way into the latest Mortal Kombat game via DLC, and this time, he’s changed up his fighting style a bit.
Kenshi still wields the ancient sword, Sento, and he combines its speed with his telekinetic abilities to bring down enemies with ease. Telekinetic slash performs downward sword strikes and can be performed at short, medium, and long ranges. The use of this attack is quite useful no matter what stance the opponent takes. There is also an upward telekinetic sword slash, labeled Rising Karma, which is good for juggling, but it is only effective within the sweeping distance. Covering the defensive bases, players have access to Blade Reflect. This is a downward slash that causes no direct damage itself, but is instead used to redirect enemy projectiles back at them as long as your timing is spot on.
From here, Kenshi’s speciall moves shift more toward the Noob Saibot side of things. Spirit Charge is extremely similar to Noob’s Shadow Charge. Spirit Charge projects an image of Kenshi that slides in to hit the opposing player low. Probably the best special move Kenshi has at his disposal is the Tele-Flurry. This is a three hit combo where Kenshi, once again, projects himself in front of the opponent and proceeds to pummel them. Although similar to Noob’s combo attack, this one doesn’t have a distance restriction. While this is perfect for catching juggled opponents with, it also allows Kenshi to get in close to enemies who are trying to create distance without him physically moving his body. Tele-Flurry will come in handy since Kenshi is unable to teleport his physical body near his target. Chances are people will see this as a spam attack (fingers crossed that I’m wrong). To be perfectly honest, I found this attack coupled with Spirit Charge to be nearly unstoppable on the ladder. Goro and Shoa Khan couldn’t combat it in any way. Hopefully, people won’t overuse this tactic online.
Moving on. Let’s dive into Kenshi’s X-Ray. To initiate the move, Kenshi throws his sword across the screen, making this X-Ray efficient at nearly any distance. Once the sword skewers its target, Kenshi teleports to the injured combatant and fractures their skull with a blow from the hilt of his sword. It’s not over yet however. The blade is then turned over back to its deadlier side and the wounded victim takes on upward slash through the chest and back to the head.
Now on to the best part. Finishers. The first finisher involves Kenshi telekinetically slamming an unfortunate character into the screen three times (which cracks the screen and leaves one of their eyeballs behind) before he decides to cut them diagonally right in front of the players face. The second fatality is sure to rival the devastation factor of the first. Using telekinetics (his main crutch if you haven’t noticed yet), he pulls in his defeated opponent and suspends them in front of himself. Kenshi then throws Sento over the suspended character’s head and it lodges itself into the ground. A single force push later and his enemy is sent skidding across the ground and through the sword, leaving him in two distinct pieces.
Kenshi’s move set is quick, deadly, and allows him to partake in the action from a distance. His lack of movement-based maneuvers can leave for some unfortunate openings if the tele-attacks fail to strike true, but he is still one of the easier characters for newcomers to pick up. Overall, Kenshi fits right into the 2011 roster without revealing any unfair advantages. Let’s hope the same can be said about Rain when he releases next week.
