Avoid the Mortal Kombat 11 grind and microtransactions with our guide to getting koins and clearing the Krypt

The initial reaction to the Mortal Kombat 11 grind and microtansations was far from positive, and NetherRealm Studios made changes almost as soon as the game released. Fighting through the Tower of Time is still pretty tough, as is getting koins while wandering through the Krypt can leave you feeling unsatisfied with the rewards. Which isn't great considering gear and unlocks are some of the best parts of Mortal Kombat 11. 

If you want to reduce the Mortal Kombat 11 grind and avoid microtansations then we've put together a list of tips to help you get the most out of Mortal Kombat 11. Have funs, get koins, and unlock sweet gear. 

Play through your favorite fighters character specific tutorial

Take the time to play through your favorite fighters tutorial and go over specific moves, combos, and nuances . You may not learn much if you're a veteran of Mortal Kombat, but finishing each one nets you a unique skin. It's one of the only easy ways to get a skin and you shouldn't pass up the opportunity.

Just navigate over to the tutorial section on the main menu and find the fighters you're interested in. It should only take a few minutes. The rest is self explanatory.

Play through the story mode first

The story mode is a huge blast to play through and it only lasts around five or six hours. You'll gain rewards after each fight that include minor items, a fair amount of koins, and a few other unlocks. I racked up over 80,000 koins after my first playthrough. Not a ton of dough in the long run, but it's good enough for a handful of chests in the Krypt. 

Explore the Krypt to gain thousands of koins

The Krypt is a third person explorative adventure all it's own. You'll walk around through basic environments, open chests with koins earned in other modes, and solve basic puzzles. 

You can unlock tens of thousands of koins from opening up new areas in the Krypt. If you walk to the left in the second room you'll find a breakable wall. Smash through it with the hammer, walk up to the giant gong in the centre of the area and hit it. You'll net an easy 25,000 koins from that alone. There are several other similar tasks you can do to earn similar amounts as well. 

Focus on unlocking fatalities in the Krypt

Chest throughout the Krypt all have various costs ranging from cheap 1,000 koin boxes to more luxurious 15,000 koin diamond studded jewellery containers. The more you spend on the chests, the more likely you are to get a better item. Spend more than 10,000 koins and you have a better chance at grabbing a skin while spending less might only net you cosmetic items, artwork, fatalities, brutalities, and other minor items. 

There are some random elements involved when opening them so it still could be a struggle to get a specific skin. The best you can do is adjust how much you spend based on what you're after. 

Grab character specific gear by playing through the tower

Everyone wants to deck out their character to make it unique and personal, no one wants to waste time unlocking chests that give you something for Kitana. You've always had a fancy for Kano and you want gear for him. Luckily, you can unlock character-specific gear like skins, helmets, intros, and victory scenes by playing through each character-specific tower. 

The towers are quite the steep challenge though, the balance patch helped ease some of the over-the-top enemy AI but it's still not a walk through the park. Even you're AI fighters will have hard time finishing everything off. 

Try going through the advanced tutorials to help you improve your game before gunning for those precious skins. 

You can get skip tokens in the Krypt

Skip tokens help you pass up difficult fights in the tower of time. They are extremely rare but can be found within the Krypts chests and other pickups. If you're trying to take on a especially tough tower, give the idol outside the warrior shrine 1,000 koins. It always has a change to spit out a skip koin, but it isn't guaranteed. 

AI fighters can fight through towers for you

If you want to sit back and watch someone else fight through a tough tower fight for you then tap out. You can choose 'AI fighter' during the character select screen and get some help from the computer. You can design the AI's look and style through the AI behaviour option. This is a nifty way to farm loot if you don't mind sitting on the couch for a few hours. All you'll need to do is hit the continue button when prompted. 

Be sure to check for awards if you play offline

Mortal Kombat 11 doesn't require an constant connection to enjoy, but you won't be able to redeem your rewards unless you connect to the internet. If you play through several story missions while offline, for example, you'll need to jump over to the notifications tab in through the kombat kard menu. You can then redeem any rewards you gained while playing offline quick and easily. It's a simple thing that's easy to forget.

Feeling generous? Check out our guide on how to do Mortal Kombat 11 Mercy finishers!