Ed Boon, creative director of all things Mortal Kombat, made it clear that Mortal Kombat X will feature more new characters than any previous installment in the series. This was evident in the E3 demo, which featured six characters, four of them brand new to the franchise. One (or should we say two) of these characters is the tag team duo of Ferra and Torr (shown as Ferra/Torr in-game).
Ferra is the smaller female who sits on Torr’s large shoulders. Many of Torr’s attacks use Ferra as a weapon, or Torr will hold down the opponent while Ferra attacks. There are many situations in which Ferra gets knocked off Torr’s shoulders, but it doesn’t seem to impact the tag team at the moment. Ferra quickly runs back to Torr and climbs onto his shoulders to resume her duties.
Like every other character in MKX, Ferra/Torr has three different fighting styles you can choose from when selecting the character. The three styles are Ruthless, Vicious and Lackey. While we haven’t seen a great deal of fighting in these styles, we know enough to get a basic idea of how each fighting style plays so you can begin to see where this character fits in your preferred play style.
The main draw of the Ruthless fighting style is that it gives Ferra/Torr the Pain and Gain ability. When activated, Ferra stabs Torr, which causes him to inflict more damage with each attack. The ability drains approximately 10 percent of your health gauge, but the increased damage seems more than worth the loss of health.
Vicious focuses more on projectile-based combat, as Torr throws Ferra towards the opponent. There are several different types of attacks using Ferra, one that hits low and another that has a high arcing trajectory that could work as an anti-air attack, or just a follow-up attack during a juggle. At the very least, the Vicious fighting style gives Ferra/Torr more range and zoning options that will likely come in handy against certain opponents.
The last fighting style is Lackey, in which Torr fights alone and Ferra watches from the background, never interacting with the opponent. This fighting style turns Torr into more of a grappler character. He gains new throws that inflict significant damage, and his normal attack inflicts more damage than those of the other two fighting styles. However, the damage boost comes at the loss of his ranged attacks from Ferra. At the very least, he has a rolling attack that helps with movement, but it’s too early to know how safe that rolling attack will be, especially when used to close in on an opponent.
Stick with Prima for more Mortal Kombat X strategies in the months ahead.
