The Invasion mode in Mortal Kombat 1 is back for a second season, and with it more themed fights, more cosmetics to unlock, and more cryptic klues (clues) to solve. Season 2 of Invasions, the Season of Blood Moon is themed around Nitara (portrayed by Megan Fox) as she attempts to elevate vampires to the ruler of the realms, (or something like that).
Like Season 1 of Invasions, in every stage there will be certain fight encounter nodes that lead to chests here the path is blocked by an obstruction. The only way to remove this obstruction is to try to decipher and solve the clue associated with the encounter.
Read: Mortal Kombat 1 gets Invincible’s Omni-Man in November 2023
These Klues will give you a hint about what you need to do during the fight to unlock the path. They’re all cryptic to some degree, and many clues are anagrams you need to decipher first. If you’re having trouble, this guide should point you in the right direction, and you can rest assured that we have personally verified these solutions first-hand.
Before we begin, it’s also important to note that you can now press L3 to increase your character’s movement speed in Invasions mode – a very welcome new feature. Thanks, NetherRealm!
Mortal Kombat 1 – Invasions Mode Klues Guide – Season 2: Season of Blood Moon
Fire Temple – BODY BLENDER
Towards what feels like the Eastern end of the Fire Temple (the camera keeps turning, so it’s tricky to get your bearings), just to the left of a Tower, you’ll find a node called “Sticks and Stones” with an obstruction to the left.
The Klue for this node is “Body Blender”, which refers to Kenshi’s first fatality, “Blended’. You’ll need to win the fight against Kenshi as Kenshi, and then perform said fatality.
Here’s how you perform Blended: (While up Close: Forward, Down, Down [Triangle or Y])
Fire Temple – SPLISH SPLASH
This one is housed in a node called “Top Killers”, which is a survival match against three of the most vicious fighters in Mortal Kombat lore, at least traditionally – Baraka, Mileena, and Sindel.
Given the clue, “Splish Splash”, it’s pretty easy to work out that you’ll need to use everyone’s favourite water magician Rain for this battle. But what else?
No, it’s not a fatality, you’ll actually need to use any of Rain’s Brutalities to unlock the obstacle here.
Thankfully, every character in the game has very simple default brutality that’s activated by simply finishing the match with an uppercut (Down + [Triangle or Y]) – but make sure you hold down the [Triangle or Y] button here.
Additionally, please keep in mind the uppercut will have to finish off your opponent BEFORE the “Finish Her” screen, and it will only activate if you don’t block in the final round.
So just sure the final blow you deal Sindel in this fight is with that uppercut (remember to hold the button!), and if you trigger the brutality screen, you know you will have done it correctly.
Sun Do Festival – YZARK TIHSTAB
This one is located toward the very beginning of the Sun Do Festival Stage, on a node called “Here We Go” featuring a fight with Reiko and Goro.
Deciphering the phrase here is pretty simple, just read it backwards. YZARK TIHSTAB translates to BATSHIT CRAZY.
Who’s the battiest fighter in all of Mortal Kombat 1? Why, it’s Nitara of course, the vampire who this entire season of Invasions is based on.
To break the barricade, you need to defeat Reiko and perform Nitara’s fatality, Vaternus KomBAT, where she summons a bunch of bats.
It can be performed with the following button combo: (While Mid-range: Down, Down, Back + [Square or X])
Sun Do Festival – OMHE NRU
We stumbled upon this node after coming out of a treasure portal, but you might encounter it in another manner. The node is called “Who’s Next” and consists of a fight with Smoke and Jax.
The clue, “OMHE NRU”, is a bit more complicated than the last word jumble, and is an anagram. The answer? HOME RUN.
You might think this has to do with General Shao and his big hammer, but it actually refers to the Darius Kameo and his fatality, Armed & Dangerous, where he rips off an opponent’s arms and knocks their head off with it.
You’ll need to perform Armed & Dangerous on Smoke to break the barricade. The button combination is: (While Mid Range: Down, Back, Forward, + [R1 or RB])
It’s important to note that the chest behind this barricade is the legendary Windbreaker Talisman. This should be your go-to Talisman to equip. Trust me.
Living Forest – BESOS
Deep into the living forest you’ll find this Klue assigned to the node called “Let’s Get Krazy”, which involves a fight with Geras.
Given all that’s come before, you might think that “BESOS” is an anagram… but that would be too easy, of course. How about a different language?
Turns out, BESOS is actually the Spanish word for “KISS“.
And who in the Mortal Kombat 1 roster has a kiss? Why it’s the Sonya Kameo, of course!
You’ll need to defeat Geras and finish him with Sony’s Kiss fatality. It can be performed by inputting: (While Mid-range: Back, Forward, Down + [R1 or RB])
Living Forest – SPICY KETCHUP
Even deeper into the Living Forest, once you get to the cliff edges with the lovely view, you’ll encounter the klue SPICY KETCHUP on the node called “In The Dark” featuring Reptile.
This one is a bit of a big brain clue. You basically need to realise that Reptile’s green blood is acid (probably?), and that he needs to be smooshed up into just goo. There are a few ways to do this of course, but the correct way is to use the Sektor Kameo’s Brutality, called Fire and Forget.
Unlike Fatalities, you can only perform Brutalities if you’ve unlocked them, so before you can get through this barricade you’ll need to level up Sektor’s Mastery to Level 2 if you haven’t already, in order to unlock Fire and Forget.
From there, all you need to do is make sure that the final hit you deliver to Reptile in the fight is a forward throw (Forward + [L1 or LB]), and then press (Down, Down) while the throw is being executed. Tricky one, huh?
[Update: A reader named Marty has helpfully written in to explain the big brain thinking behind the “Spicy Ketchup” clue – “Cyrax and Sektor are often referred to as Ketchup and Mustard, due to their colours (these nicknames originate from placeholder names given to the cyborgs during the development of MK3). Spicy Ketchup then refers to Sektor (Ketchup) using the Fire (spicy) and Forget brutality.” Thanks Marty!]
Shang Tsung’s Laboratory – EHT GIB GNAK YROETH
On the first floor of Shang Tsung’s Laboratory, in the room straight ahead as you begin this stage you’ll find this clue on a node called “I’m Hip I’m Cool”, featuring Johnny Cage, and located directly in front of a Forge node.
I think this one might actually be a typo on Netherealm’s part. If we read each word backwards, EHT GIB GNAK YROETH translates to THE BIG KANG HTEORY, when I think they meant to make it say “THE BIG KANG THEORY“
Anyway, which character on Mortal Kombat 1’s roster has world-creating powers, and also happens to have the surname ‘Kang’? It’s Liu Kang, of course!
To break through this barrier, all you need to do is defeat Johnny as Liu Kang, and perform his fatality, Double Dragon.
To perform Double Dragon, use the following inputs: (While up Close: Down, Forward, Back + [Circle or B])
(Update: A kind reader called Brian has written in to tell me that this Klue can also be solved by performing Liu Kang’s other Fatality, Black Hole (While up close: Back, Forward, Back + [X or A]). I can’t verify this for myself since I’ve already completed it, but give it a try!)
Tarkatan Colony – PCAM TOBO
Early on in the Tarkatan Colony you’ll likely run into PCAM TOBO, which is located on a node called “Fire It Up” featuring a fight with The Big King Theory himself, Liu Kang.
This word jumble actually requires you to unscramble the anagram AND read it backwards.
What does PCAM TOBO translate to? BOOT CAMP, of course. Naturally, the biggest boot in the whole Mortal Kombat Universe belongs to Jax, who is a Kameo in MK1.
To break through this barricade, finish Liu Kang off with Jax’s Fatality, Big Boot, where he somehow grows to a kaiju-sized man and stomps on your opponent.
Definitely one of the silliest fatalities in the game, it can be performed with the following button combo: (While Far: Down, Foward, Down, [R1 or RB])
Tarkatan Colony – MIND BLOWN
Further along in the Tarkatan Colony you’ll run into the Klue MIND BLOWN on a node called “Heavy Hitter”, featuring Kung Lao.
A little more obscure this one – it refers to Motaro Kameo’s Fatality, which is called Brain Blast, and depicts him jabbing his cybernetic tail into your opponent’s head and using a laser to explode it, somehow. Mind blown!
Hopefully, if you’re playing Season 2 of Invasions you should have put enough time into the game to unlock Motaro. Motaro is the last Kameo you’ll unlock in the game, when your game profile reaches Level 25.
You’ll need to perform Brain Blast on Kung Lao to break the barricade. The button input is: (While Mid-Range: Forward, Down, Down, [R1 or RB])
Tarkatan Colony – ACID REFLUX
Towards the end of your time at the Tarkatan Colony you’ll find this Klue and barricade among the colony itself. ACID REFLUX is attached to a node called “Bad Timing”, featuring Scorpion.
This klue is pretty straightforward. Acid, of course, refers to Reptile. His first fatality, Indigestion, fits this clue perfectly. It’s the one where Reptile turns into lizard form, eats the opponent whole, and vomits them back out again.
So all you need to do is perform Reptile’s Indigestion Fatality on Scorpion
The button combination is: (While Mid-range: Forward, Back, Down, [Circle or B])
Rampart – A4B4D4E4
Up on the walkway of the Rampart, you’ll find this clue as you make your away around. It’s situated on a node called “Get Up” featuring a fight with Li Mei.
So how to decipher this one? Well, if you look at the obvious pattern – A4, B4, etc – you’ll notice something is missing.
C4 is missing. And if you’ve played enough modern military-themed video games, you’ll know that C4 is a type of plastic explosive (isn’t it weird the kind of knowledge video games give to us?).
Who’s got C4 in the Mortal Kombat 1 roster? Why it’s everyone’s favourite tubby cop, Stryker, who is a Kameo character. His fatality, Safety Vest, involves him casually strapping a bunch of explosives to your opponent before blowing them up.
So what you need to do is perform Stryker’s Kameo Fatality on Li Mei. The combination is (From Mid-range: Forward, Down, Forward, [R1 or RB])
Rampart – BRUTAL BUDDY
Located in the second major Rampart area, the BRUTAL BUDDY Klue is once again on the upper walkways of the area, on a node called “Within Reach”. It features a fight with Kitana.
The klue itself, BRUTAL BUDDY, is pretty straightforward – simply perform a brutality with any Kameo character. I performed it with Stryker, for reference.
The easiest Kameo Brutalities to execute, provided you’ve levelled up your Kameo to Level 2, is the throw brutality, which is common to all Kameos. Simply perform a forward throw (Forward + [L1 or LB]) and press (Down, Down) while it’s being executed.
If you managed to complete the Sektor brutality task earlier on in the Invasion, you shouldn’t have any problems here.
Rampart – PHI PHO WIRRAOR
After you obtain the Bloody Fangs by beating this season’s final boss, Nitara, you’ll be able to access the previously locked Blood Gates in each stage.
Behind the Blood Gate in Rampart is a node called “Punchable Face” that features the Klue, PHI PHO WIRRAOR, and a boss fight with Havik.
This one is a bit of a tricky one, and I have to admit that I needed a bit of help to work it out! (Thanks Reddit). The phrase clearly unjumbles to say “HIP HOP WARRIOR”, but the related action isn’t to do with a fatality or brutality as you’d expect.
Instead, you’ll have pick Mortal Kombat 1’s warrior character (that’s Reiko, who’s classified as a “Soldier” on his character page), and you’ll need to jump around a bunch of times during the match. I’m not sure exactly how many times – it’s certainly more than 20!
Here’s a tip: The way I ended up completing this Klue was finishing the fight once with my preferred character, so I could gain access to the adjacent chest. Inside that chest is a talisman called Blood Moonfall which essentially rains 60 meteors onto your opponent and keeps them pinned. It’s great!
I went back to the Punchable Face node and selected Reiko and the Blood Moonfall talisman. When the fight started, I triggered it, and once my opponent was pinned by metors, I jumped constantly in the corner until the meteors were finished. I repeated this once more in the second round, and all up I think I managed at least 100 jumps before defeating Havik.
Hopefully that helps someone!
Sun Do Festival – ROFST BTEITN
This is another Klue that’s only accessible after you’ve earned the Bloody Fangs, and can get past the blood gate in the Sun Do Festival. The Klue is situated on a node called “Who’s Jennifer??” – likely a nod to the film Jennifer’s Body, in which Megan Fox (who also plays Nitara in Mortal Kombat 1) also plays a vampire of sorts. The fight on the node is, of course, Nitara.
The Klue ROFST BTEITN itself is an anagram of FROST BITTEN, and while there are two ice wielders in the Mortal Kombat 1 roster, I managed to break through this one by using the Frost Kameo’s Brutality.
You’ll need to have Frost levelled up to Level 2, which is when her throw brutality, Pin Cushion, is able to be used. It’s a forward throw brutality once more, and is executed by pressing (Forward + [L1 or LB]), and then (Down, Down) while the throw is being executed.
Did we miss anything or get something wrong? Get in touch!
