I chickened out and set it to beginner. I'm a pussy.

Look at his dumb ass face. He looks like a man baby at haloween.

Ya, he's even worse than Kintaro and Goro (although not by much) in the cheap department. Take advantage of his arrogance, though, he will pose and laugh or make fun of you and that's generally a good time to strike.

Play keep away from him, try to always do ranged at whichever point you fight him. With Raiden it's easiest because he can teleport so with raiden just teleport behind him whenever he throws his hammer or does an attack. With Lui Kang you want to just cheese the shit out of him and hope he taunts you a lot or the round could take a while.

Any tactic you use on him won't be easy- he's cheap, almost entirely unblockable, his super does 53% dmg out of the box, most of his attacks (especially with his hammer) stun you, and when hes attacking he cant be knocked back, knocked down, or interrupted at all. Just keep at it, and don't try to be fancy but do the opposite (cheese like crazy) and you'll get through it. Remember to never try to block him, too. You can't; if he hits you its going to hit unless you evade.

Ya- he sucks, but this is what worked for me. Every time I fought him it took me about 5 tries (give or take).

Shao Khan & the ogres (Goro/Kintaro) are all cheap as hell in this game, even more so in the story mode. At least in the arcade mode on the lower difficulties he doesn't have the hammer to throw so he's a little more manageable. Best to just keep backing up til he taunts you then jump in to uppercut/kick or if playing someone with a teleport/charge move just rush him then. For the ogres best to just jump kick. What gets me about all three of them is that sometimes there is a yellow flash after hitting them so they are resistant to knockdown & other times it's not there. At least with Shang Tsung in the arcade ladder he'll use a move to give him that yellow shield but for Shao Khan or the ogres it's just so inconsistent.

Really hate Shao Khan though for spamming the flying up attack as well as the rushing dash attack a lot btw.

Fyi on the story mode you can go into the options to reduce the difficulty & doesn't seem to affect the koin rewards, I was playing on the default difficulty for a while & when I dropped it down to make it easier on me the amount didn't seem to change.

Shao Kahn is pretty scary, and that laugh is incredibly creepy and fucked up.

i once was 3rd round with shao kahn. and he got me in the hammer infinite. just kept throwing hammer so i was stunend till i died. FUKING RAGED

" I chickened out and set it to beginner. I'm a pussy. "

I was raging pretty hard at the end of story mode... until I remembered teleport existed. Just spam the fuck out of teleport and uppercut whenever he throws a projectile or taunts. After losing about thirty times, I won on the first or second try using this strategy. What I found odd was how the two three-on-ones and fight with Liu Kang really didn't bother me at all playing as Raiden, who was a completely new experience to me. Had some problems with the first one, but I just blitzed the second. Then Liu Kang was just a case of offense. Same with the double boss handicap [Goro / Kintaro].

Personally, I feel like the second hardest fight in the game was the first fight with Kitana, where you're up against Johnny Cage and Smoke. Hated that shit. Also, human Sub-Zero was a real pain to play as. In all I found the story mode tolerable in difficulty on default; definitely a lot of fun. Though, I wouldn't agree with Jeff that it had some big twist in it near the end, which I was waiting for, except slapping you in the face with sequel-bait.

Personally I think Goro is a bigger asshole with his 53% x-ray.

Oh, and I felt Shao Khan was actually a really good final boss. Dude is cash with his sex slaves and taunting - how can you not love that? Not to mention he just explodes when you beat him in ladder.

"

I don't mind his hammers so much as his fucking spears.

 

"

" Don't you mean 'The I Hate Shao Khan Klub' BABOOM Oh yes I did "

I discovered fairly quickly how to beat him easily. I hate resorting to cheapness, but considering how cheap he fights, I felt it was justified to give him a taste of his own medicine. Long range projectile spamming works beautifully. Just be prepared to quickly dodge spears pretty often.

I beat Shao Khan earlier countering his X-Ray with Johnny Cage's. It was the single most satisfying thing I've ever done in a video game. Repeated nut shots FT... wait, maybe not >_> Repeated Nut Shots TO SOMEONE ELSE, especially if it's Shao Kahn or Goro, FTW.

" @Sanious said:

" @TeflonBilly said:

" Shao Kahn is cheap as Hell in this game and I had to resort to being cheap and cheesing it as well.

Didn't feel like you used any of the skill you had accrued over the course of the game and rather you just cheating the AI.

Big blemish on a rather great endgame

"

This is how I feel. When I got to the end of story mode I was so pissed at it and felt like it really dropped a few notches because of how terrible cheap and unnecessarily hard he was. I like difficulty when it's actual difficult, not when it's cheap. And I hate resorting to having to cheap it out just to win. "

I love when people say "I like difficulty when it's actually difficult not cheap" because what they really mean is "I consider myself someone who is skilled at video games but this was too hard for me therefore I will come up with reasons as to why its cheap."  "

i disagree with that statement their are many ways you can make a game hard and having the AI being cheap is one of them. Old school games were good at giving us cheap difficulty or simple difficulty of you get hit you die. In this age i would think we have grown out of that and can make AI smart and realistic and the player having to learn and adapt. This is not easy on a programers standpoint because you have to code all AI behaviors.  it's easier to give the computer AI god powers followed by an achilles heel of sorts like a weak point or a pattern that the player has to pick up on.

So on the game at hand for the most part the fights are of skill and you knowing when to attack and block. Now with shao kahn they could have easily made him much stronger but he followed the same rules every other fighter does. But what they did was give him god mode and having him taunt as his achillies heel. Also using cheap tactics work too well vs fighting him normally. 

Cross ups with simple combos or keep him at range and out get him with the projectiles, you end up fighting him so many times eventually you will become totally familiar with all his attacks.

Hate that motherfucker.

Shao Khan is not THAT bad. Like others have noted, long-range spamming of projectiles works perfectly fine along with timed teleports (if your character has one) whenever he does a move involving the hammer. However, a much simpler strategy is to just keep doing basic cross-up punch combos.

In fact, for beating Goro and Kintaro, they also fall quite easily to cross-up punch combos. Kintaro is a little harder because he has an anti-air throw (or a regular throw that just has incredible priority and distance), and Shao Khan has his jumping headbutt for anti-air, but if you get a clear jump over him in time for the cross-up, you won't get hit and it's easy enough.

Using these techniques I was even able to clear Challenge Tower level #269 (Stryker vs. Army of Shao Khans), #275 (Ermac vs. Army of Goros), and #300 (all bosses + Mileena) quite easily. I chose Kung Lao for #300 because his combos are ridiculously easy with good pop-up along with jump kick + dive kick combinations, which is easy to pull off after doing a cross-up. In fact, the only combo you need with him after a cross-up punch is FP, BP, FP, BP, special spin attack, jump kick + dive kick.

" @Bloodgraiv3 said:

"

I don't mind his hammers so much as his fucking spears.

 

"

His hammers are way worse, completely unblockable and you have to jump (i think) I have to game his ass everytime, projectile spamming does the trick obviously. But i find occasionally if you are feeling saucy, constant jump in punch to uppercut can work. By far his most ANNOYING move is that damn upward shoulder charge that he likes to spam on every close jump.Then again this is by far an approvement from the classics, i've never been able to beat him. The only time i ever did was in 3.So yeah Eff Shao Kahn! "

All I did was shoot projectiles constantly to win, and an occasiona X ray.

*Ahem* 

EFF SHAO KHAN!

Am I in the club now?

I beat the arcade ladder on expert last night, and the Shao Kahn fight took me probably ten times as long as the rest on the matches combined. So fuck that guy.

But what is fun in running the ladder with Stryker on beginner. You can just shoot him in the face all day and there's nothing he can do about it. So cathartic.

Projectile spam and teleports are your best friends! :D

" Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.   "

I go Cobra Kai on him and sweep the legs over and over.

The bosses, Shao Khan especially, are downright easy.  Mileena or Sub-Zero at the upper tiers of the ladder are much more challenging.  I can beat Khan on Ladder up close and personal, least of all with a mix of that and a mix of projectile spam.  My boy Stryker made him his bitch.

Ha .... try beating him on the 300th floor of the challenge tower ..... he gets constant regeneration and you become weak , also knock back work a lot less nay dare I say almost never work , and you get to fight him after defeating an overpowered Goro , Kintaro and half naked Mileena .....IN THE SAME FIGHT !!!!!!.... try winning that :'(

Eh. I always like Kahn as a villain, just hated fighting him. 

Took me forever to find out a tactic that let me beat Shao Kahn, cheap motherfucker. I don't even want to imagine him on the 300th floor of the challenge tower.

Shao Kahn is responsible for most of the wear and tear on my tourney joystick. It holds up fairly well to fist slammings.

Nıhahahahahhhaaaa... (Shao Kahn laughing)  Don't make me laugh...
Shao rulez =)

" @Gouglas said:

" Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.   "

this. A million times this.  "

I cannot beat this motherfucker as Johnny Cage. Anyone have any tips?

" Ha .... try beating him on the 300th floor of the challenge tower ..... he gets constant regeneration and you become weak , also knock back work a lot less nay dare I say almost never work , and you get to fight him after defeating an overpowered Goro , Kintaro and half naked Mileena .....IN THE SAME FIGHT !!!!!!.... try winning that :'( "

If I could join twice, I would. Fuck that guy in his stupid cheap ass face. That being said, anyone got any story mode tips with raiden to beat him? I'm practicing alternating heaven hands, spark kicks>electric fly, and teleport to uppercut but I keep getting my ass handed to me. Someone give me a simple way to cheese victory on med?

" @GorillaSalad said:

" @Gouglas said:

" Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.   "

this. A million times this.  "

seconded. "

Glad I was home alone while fighting him. While wearing headphones I threw out many F bombs and couldn't gauge how loud I was. 

Uh, Shao Kahn is so easy. Duck to avoid spears, jump to avoid hammers, stay far enough away so he can't do a charge. When he stops to taunt, do a quick hit-and-run combo and then back off before he gets the chance to recover and corner you.

" @thebatmobile said:

" @GorillaSalad said:

" @Gouglas said:

" Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.   "

this. A million times this.  "

seconded. "

Exactly. Tried to do intelligent tactics before but that proved futile. Got pretty far by spamming lightning bolts and jumping over his hammer and doing the electric fly midair on him though. "

" @Verit said:

" @thebatmobile said:

" @GorillaSalad said:

" @Gouglas said:

" Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.  Teleport, Uppercut.   "

this. A million times this.  "

seconded. "

Exactly. Tried to do intelligent tactics before but that proved futile. Got pretty far by spamming lightning bolts and jumping over his hammer and doing the electric fly midair on him though. "

I tried this, and still can't beat him. I don't know if maybe you guys are fighting him on easy, and that's why this works, but it doesn't work on medium difficulty. For me, half the time it works, but the other half of the time I'll come out of the teleport, just to have him turn orange, block my uppercut, and then do a 3 hit combo on me that still manages to take away 30-40% of my health. I spend the whole fight trying to stay back, and wait for him to throw a projectile, then teleport and uppercut, but it just doesn't work enough for me to win. I maybe get him to half health before he beats me. "

Has anyone beaten the...

" Has anyone beaten the...

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Army of Shao Kahns???

"

I cheese the fuck outa boss characters. Cheeeeesseeeeeeee

Shao Kahn pretty cheap, but not as bad as he was in the MK3/UMK3/MKT days. Now that is cheap!

Sit in the corner, jump over hammer, duck under spear, projectile, repeat. Most boring fight in the game.

as raiden, you can just teleport behind him every time he starts to do an attack and combo him.

How did you guys beat him in the MK Story line? Haven't had big issues until now, but i hate playing Liu Kang and i just can't seem to find the right cheese technique to beat him.

Is he even harder when you play as Raiden? Felt so good to finally beat him as Liu Kang.