'Mortal Kombat X' Android Challenge Mode walkthrough: How to get Dark Empress Kitana as a freemium player

It's finally the turn of the princess of the otherworldly realm of Edenia. This time, she takes on a darker persona as the Dark Empress Kitana, which makes her part fo the NetherRealm category of characters in "Mortal Kombat X Android.

Gone is the obviously beautiful princess, and replaced by a dark sorceress with long nails, a Maleficent-like scale armour-outfit that's far more conservative than her three other skins in "Mortal Kombat X."

For freemium players who want to get Kitana's newest skin, here are a few tips to watch out for when playing the challenge. There's still over two weeks to do this, which can make it an easier ordeal.

The new NetherRealm Challenge

As per the usual "Mortal Kombat X" Android challenges, players will need to go through five towers in two DIfficulty modes, Normal and Hard. The conditions that players need to meet do not change with the difficulty, but the level of the characters' strength and health escalate dramatically.

The first three towers will require the usual tiers of characters. The first tower will require an all-Bronze tiered characters, the second will allow both Silver and Bronze tier characters and the third stage will only allow Silver-tiered characters.

The final two tiers are specialised for every challenge. This time, the fourth tower requires that at least one NetherRealm character to be on the team. Finally, on the final tower, which rewards both Souls and Dark Empress Kitana once it is cleared, players will need to play every round with one Reptile character.

Best characters to use

Old time players, even the freemium ones, will not have a hard time getting through the two modes. A max fused Reptile can be advantageous, thanks to his DoT attacks. A trick is taking advantage of Reptile's specials and passives.

There are three available Reptile characters in “Mortal Kombat X” Android. The easiest to get is Silver Reptile, who has a very useful one-bar Special that delivers poisonous effects.

While the other two Reptile Kards are already Gold tiered, there is still the interesting glitch that remains unpatched for “Mortal Kombat X.” Long-time players may have had the luck of opening one of the many Kard Packs from hard-grinded Koins to find a Gold Nimble Reptile.

Ever since “Mortal Kombat X” has been released, players have already reported getting Nimble Reptile in the Kard Pack. This can be a great advantage, not only in adding more Reptile cards to play with. According to testimonials and tested games, players can actually fuse Nimble Reptile to the max fusion just from buying Kard Packs.

Of course, the catch here is that players will need to grind a lot and keep on buying Kard Packs. The chances of getting a Nimble Reptile is still slim, but there is still a chance to get Nimble Reptile every now and then and level him up for a more powerful attacker.

Nimble Reptile’s stats are not to sneeze at either. His passive alone gives him a great advantage as an Outworld teammate, as he boosts the health of all Outworld teammates by 30 percent. Pairing him with the likes of a Gold Mournful Kitana, who gives one bar of Power at the start of each round, will make him a pretty good fighter. It helps that his Acid Puke also poisons the enemy, which helps as a DoT attack.

A good tip to keep in mind when playing through the fifth tower is to make use of Outworld characters. While Silver Kenshi or the Cage family has always been a favourite for their staple power, they do not boost Reptile’s stats since he is not in either Martial Artist or Specs Ops category.

There are powerful Outworld characters to choose from. Silver D’Vorah has a good three-part passive fit for a defensive stance, Kotal Kahn can boost attack power and for those who are lucky enough to get Klassic Kitana, she boosts recovery for Outworld characters by 30 percent.

Is Dark Empress Kitana worth getting?

The short answer is yes. Her passive can be very powerful when used at the right moment. Revenant Servant, her passive, allows Dark Empress Kitana to enslave an opponent that she defeats. The enslaved opponent will fight for her once per match.

Developer NetherRealm Studios did not make this into an all-powerful passive either. The enslaved opponent will not have a passive ability or an equipment. Sadly, she also cannot be used against Bosses, as they are immune from this passive.

Her basic health is 850, and attack is at 1,050. Premium players already had the chance to get her before anyone else thanks to Early Access. Ths is actually still offered, though premium players may want to take advantage of the offer, as it stands to expire in less than a week.

Apart from Dark Empress Kitana, the entire challenge for “Mortal Kombat X” is a goldmine for Souls and Koins. This is especially beneficially for freemium players who have yet to get any powerful cards to battle against the Outworld Princess.

"Mortal Kombat X" Dark Empress Kitana on mobile (Credit: YouTube/CrystalClown96)