Today, we got our first look at Mileena, who might be the final character for Mortal Kombat 11. Mileena is the most fan-requested character in the game and the sister of Kitana herself. Just like in our previous breakdowns of Rambo and Rain, we will go over the trailer and see what information we can get from it.
The trailer begins with a cool Easter egg as we see Mileena killing Kitana’s palanquin bearers from her intro. From her voice and her stance, we can see that Mileena is more animalistic and feral than her previous incarnations. This element definitely shows in her gameplay as well. We start off with Mileena’s standard jumping overhead that she has had in other games. Her standard wheel kick leads into a follow-up hit; then, she flips over Kitana’s back onto the other side. This appears to be one complete string and is a great tool for her to escape the corner.
Next, we see her infamous teleport with three follow-ups. The first hits in front, then directly on top of the opponent’s head that causes a knockdown. She then grabs the opponent off the ground and throws them, putting her on the other side. This is another great tool to force the opponent into the corner if your back is against the wall. It’s even more so if the opponent is hurling projectiles at you from midscreen, as the teleport is great for reacting from that range. It might even have a bit of standard invincibility, or at least projectile invincibility, from what we see in the trailer.
Revenge is a dish best served skewered
Mileena’s forward throw appears to cause a Krushing Blow on counter hit. Next up is some revenge for Mileena fans as the stage switches and D’Vorah becomes the next victim for Mileena’s punishment. D’Vorah is the one who killed Mileena in the story of Mortal Kombat X, so having her beaten up in the trailer is a nice nod from the developers. Mileena is also sporting a different version of her costume where she wears a very Shao Kahn-like helmet. The first thing we see is Mileena canceling an air normal into her air sai projectiles. Anyone who has played as or against Mileena should be very familiar with this.
We then see something new as Mileena does a Sub Zero-style slide under a projectile from D’Vorah that is meter burned for extra damage. Then, the move is meter burned again for a teleport into extra damage. There aren’t many double meter burn moves in Mortal Kombat 11, so it is always interesting when one pops up. This is going to make throwing a projectile from mid-screen very dangerous against Mileena.
With two bars of offensive meter, she can easily convert one mistimed fireball into some big damage. This move also puts Mileena on the other side and it becomes very clear that NetherRealm wanted to make sure that Mileena had many ways to escape the corner. This should be great news for players of Mortal Kombat 11, as corner pressure is extremely oppressive in the current version of the game — no more free corner pressure for characters like Jacqui against Mileena.
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
We then see a low-hitting spin move that causes a knockdown. Depending on how much advantage this leaves Mileena at, this could be a great blockstring ender. Then, we see her very cinematic-looking back throw. Next up is the game’s favorite punching bag, Kotal Kahn, against Mileena in a third costume sporting a very Cyberpunk hairdo with a shaved side. Her classic Blanka (or Kano, depending on your preference) balls make their return as well. The first one goes up and under, causing a pop-up. This can then be meter burned to roll back quickly to the other side. This extra juggle time allows Mileena to follow up with an easy combo ender.
Then, we see something very interesting. For the first time in any of her appearances, Mileena can now turn invisible. Well, almost invisible, that is. She disappears into a puff of purple smoke that can be very easy to miss if the opponent is not paying attention. It does leave enough on-screen so that the player, as well as the opponent, can still basically see where she is. It will be interesting to see if using a special move will bring her out of this invisibility mode. Going invisible and then into that double meter burn slide would be very powerful if not. Kotal’s suffering ends with a meter burn low-hitting sai projectile that causes a Krushing Blow on counter hit.
Moving back to her dear old sister, Mileena does a two-hit sai swipe that converts into a hit grab that lets Mileena roll to the other side. Again, another great way to escape the corner. Mileena then fires off her mid-hitting sai projectiles, which can be meter burned to hit, then hit low. Something that I am sure is going to hit a lot of people online during the first week after her release.
What if a sai was a shark?
We then get to see what looks like an actually pretty effective punish combo after Mileena blocks an unsafe Square Wave from Kitana. She takes a small step forward into what appears to be a standing 3 or 4. Then, she wheel kicks into ball and meter burns the ball to juggle into another string, followed by a second wheel kick that causes a Krushing Blow. It is nice to see a practical combo in a trailer like this.
Back to D’Vorah now — we see a low into a flip kick that causes a pop-up into a follow-up move that we haven’t seen before. Mileena grabs D’Vorah in mid-air, stabs her above her head, and slams her back into the ground. It is a very cool looking combo extension that is probably a great way to end meterless combos. It also leaves Mileena mid-screen at the perfect distance to keep applying pressure.
We then see another new special move where Mileena sends a sai into the ground that moves forward like a shark and causes a pop-up on hit. This move is then meter burned to have the sai come back down and slam D’Vorah back into the ground. This move doesn’t seem to have a lot of utility at first glance. But if you don’t want to commit to a slide to punish a projectile, it is a decent substitute.
A D’Vorah themed pin cushion
D’Vorah then makes the mistake of doing a wakeup meter burn roll forward right into Mileena’s new command throw. She grabs D’Vorah, then she imitates button mashing on her face with her sai. Then, she meter burns for one last big stab that causes a Krushing Blow. That’s not before checking her nails first though, of course. Mileena jumps over a projectile and punishes Kitana with an air normal into a two-hit string. It appears to hit low and causes a knockdown.
Kitana tries to respond with her own teleport, but she gets blocked and punished with Mileena’s Fatal Blow. This is where we really get to see this feral side of Mileena in action as she stabs, bites, and rips the throat out of her dear sister. She must have learned that from Rambo. Lastly, we see Mileena’s first Fatality. She spins in the air, sais extended, and rips into Kitana like a wheel spinning out over roadkill. It is very gruesome and very cool looking, like a Blanka ball from hell.
Mileena looks to be a very powerful character with great combo options, lots of ways to escape the corner, and extremely effective pressure. She also has a myriad of ways around the opponent’s options from avoiding fireballs to teleports. Mileena is always a strong character when she shows up in a game and this looks to be no different.
Is that a Jojo reference?
The Mortal Kombat 11 Mileena DLC will launch on November 17. Two DLC characters, Rain and Rambo, launch alongside her. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate will also drop on the same day which provides all the content the game has to offer in one package, as well as being an upgrade for next-gen consoles. If you own Mortal Kombat 11 on Xbox One or PlayStation 4, you can upgrade to Ultimate for free on PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S.
Published: Nov 5, 2020 03:34 pm