Hands On: Mortal Kombat Rain DLC

Since his debut in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Rain has been quite a popular character. Many fans were disappointed that he wasn’t included as a playable character in MK9. Thanks to DLC, now everyone can super kick opponents in the face as their favorite ninja once again. Also available are the Mortal Kombat II kostumes for Jade and Kitana free of charge.

As you’d imagine, Rain’s main gimmick revolves around water. For example, when Rain does his teleport he’ll dematerialize into a puddle of water and reappear in the opposite side. The move itself is useful since Rain is almost able to attack or block as soon as he splashes out. It can also be done in the air at any time. The EX version is a bit tricky since it’s actually an attack. It can hit the opponent from anywhere on screen.

[drop2]His projectile is interesting since it traps opponents in a giant water bubble. You can control the bubble for a few seconds and place it in convenient positions for combos. It’s a move that you’re going to use quite often, most likely in the middle of a combo. Rain can also summon lightning over his opponent from anywhere on screen. It’s similar to Nightwolf’s lightning, but Rain’s is actually blockable and it always juggles opponents. I found myself using both the bubble and lightning attack for most of my combos.

Rain’s X-ray, while somewhat weak, is easy to combo into. It’s also possible to continue combos after the move hits, which is an ability not many characters have. However, it’s not easy to do since it’s requires precise timing. It’s going to be nearly impossible to follow up with any moves when playing online due to lag. What’s neat about Rain’s X-ray is that it can be used from anywhere on screen. That will most likely catch a lot of people off guard.

Rain’s best move might be super roundhouse kick, and not just because it looks awesome. This attack can be charged up for a few seconds and you can cancel out of it during that time. This will be a great move for playing mind games with your opponent. It also builds up a significant amount of meter even if you dashed out of it. What’s frightening is that you can cancel his roundhouse kick into other specials. The kick is great to use during combos and it’s possible to follow up with even more attacks after it hits. You just have to remember that your opponent is going to fly to the opposite side of the screen.

Here are some combos that I was able to do after just a couple of hours:

As you can see in the video above, Rain’s combos are pretty easy to do. The reason for that is because he is one of those characters that doesn’t have a different attack when holding the forward direction. If that sounds confusing, let’s use the combo below as an example.

It starts off with front punch, back punch, and forward back kick. Since Rain doesn’t have a forward front punch and forward back punch, you can hold forward while pressing those buttons and it will still register correctly. This means that you can be a bit lazy with the inputs and still pull off the combo. The same concept applies to his font kick and back kick since there is no forward variation of it.

Although I haven’t tested it properly, it seems like Rain has some pretty good anti-air options. One of which is his Aqua Splash special. It’s somewhat similar to Reptile’s EX spit. In fact, it uses the same hit animation. It doesn’t have as good of a range though, and it doesn’t last nearly as long if you’re just throwing the move out. Still, it’s a good option to have.

One of the great things about Rain is his damage output. One of his specials, referred to as H20 boost, temporarily increases his power even more. The only downside is that he can’t block during once activated. The normal version doesn’t really change the damage percentage too much, but the EX version nearly doubles it. You can go from dealing 35% damage to 52%. That’s a huge increase.

NetherRealm did a great job with this character. He’s very offensive and has tons of interesting special moves. His combos are relatively easy to perform, and he just looks awesome. Of all the characters released so far, Rain is the one that’s easiest to recommend. You really can’t go wrong.

As an added bonus, here are Rain’s fatalities and babality.