Characters / Killer Instinct (2013)

Killer Instinct character sheets
KI1 - KI2/KI Gold - KI2013

Characters introduced in Killer Instinct (2013)

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New characters

Aganos

Kan-Ra: Why do you continue? Centuries have passed, worn you down, and yet still...you pursue me. Was it that fool of a king? Was it his dying wish? I crossed oceans to elude you, yet still you found me. But here, in this new time, I have access to power beyond your feeble imagination. So come, find me, and let us end this once and for all.

Voiced by: Zachary Quarles

Aganos is one of the ancient war golems created by the artisans of Babylon. He was the most obedient and powerful of his kind, as the last remaining he was made servant to the king, who granted Aganos free will. After Kan-Ra's failed attempt to take the throne, Aganos captured him and allowed the king to curse him. Years later when it was revealed that the sorceror lingered on, the king gave Aganos one final task: to end Kan-Ra once and for all. During this journey Aganos and his target were captured by the Night Guard, putting his quest on pause until Ultratech released them. Now their game of cat-and-mouse continues, except this is one giant and persistent cat.

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• Ambidextrous Sprite: Unlike the other characters, its entire model gets flipped depending on what side it's facing, so that its bashing arm is facing towards the screen.
• Arch-Enemy: To Kan-Ra, as it is the same golem that served the king that Kan-Ra betrayed. It was sent to kill Kan-Ra, and the two have been in an ongoing conflict for centuries.
• Barrier Warrior: Aganos' can create walls behind itself or its opponent, and these walls will count as new boundaries for the stage, effectively making the battlefield smaller. However they can be destroyed by knocking Aganos down, getting knocked into it, or simply being punched straight through it by Aganos.
• Batter Up!: When it holds a club in its hand, Aganos' normal grab is replaced by a special grab where it throws its opponent in the air and swings its club, sending them flying through the fullscreen distance, destroying any walls in their way.
• Beware the Nice Ones: In general, Aganos is quite polite and respectful but it won't go easy on you if you're facing it in battle.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: During its story, Aganos manages to get ambushed by Kan-Ra and then Cinder plants a remote-control chip, forcing the golem to serve Ultratech against its will. Thunder was able to undo the mind-control and the two of them wage a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Ultratech.
• Character Song: "Polemos", which features heavy Grecian themes and instrumentation alongside the series' trademark hard rock and a choir of over 400 crowdsourced voices.
• Counter-Attack: Playstyles focusing on chunk-armor tend to use these heavily.
• Determinator: Absolutely nothing will get in its way of killing Kan-Ra and fulfilling its king's last wish.
• Downloadable Content: Aganos is the 6th character released for Season 2, and is available for download as of February 27th, 2015.
• Due to the Dead: Its victory animation has it planting a flower on its fallen opponent's grave... after burying the guy itself. Strangely, it can also do this to Kan-Ra if it defeats him, despite its backstory clearly stating that they are enemies.
• Finger Poke of Doom: Finger Flick of Doom really, but it still applies. Aganos can even destroy projectiles with it.
• Genre Motif: Unsurprising from Mick Gordon, but Aganos also has a metal theme; however, it's accompanied by a Greek choir composed of over 200 people, including multiple Iron Galaxy members.
• Gentle Giant: It's right there in the name; Aganos means "gentle"
• Golem: Duh.
• Good Is Not Soft: Aganos might be respectful post-fight, but don't expect it to go easy on whoever it's facing. More literally, it's a golem that is either composed of rocks and trees (default mode) or is made of metal and looks like something out of a Steampunk movie (alternate mode).
• Grave-Marking Scene: Aganos does it in its victory animation, where it buries its fallen opponent in rocks and then tops the pile with a flower.
• Hero of Another Story: Aganos isn't directly involved with the Killer Instinct tournament; it just happens to cross paths with the fighters while hunting down Kan-Ra. Later averted, as Aganos allies itself with Thunder to help fight against Ultratech and later Gargos near the end of it's story mode.
• Immune to Flinching: One function of Aganos' rock chunks. Each one allows it to take one hit without flinching.
• Leitmotif: "Polemos".
• Macross Missile Massacre: Aganos' Shadow Payload Assault sends shards of rock flying down from the sky across the entire screen, giving it the ability to easily chip out defending opponents or convert into huge unbreakable damage on reaction.
• Meaningful Name: Aganos is Greek for "gentle."
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Much like Spinal, Aganos has a limited resource (in its case rock chunks) to use to shoot projectiles, give itself armor, or create walls. It can carry up to a maximum of 4, and its speed and jump height changes depending on how much it has, being at its slowest at all 4 chunks.
• Megaton Punch: Ruin, and especially Shadow Ruin.
• Mighty Glacier: At 8 feet tall, Aganos is waaaay larger than every other character in the game and it hits like a ton of bricks. Predictably, it's also quite slow, and its massive size makes it an easy target.
• Mutual Disadvantage: During a Mirror Match, Aganos loses the protective properties of its chunks.
• Nice Guy: Its name does mean "gentle". Aganos is one of the few fighters to respectfully send off their opponents after death, remains loyal to the Babylonian king that gave it free will even centuries after his death, and is attempting to hunt down the monstrous Kan-Ra.
• No Biological Sex: Due to being a golem and all.
• Punched Across the Room: Aganos can do it with its attack Ruin, and it will send you though any walls that it set up beforehand, dealing damage for each wall you go through.
• Rock Monster: Naturally. It wasn't always this way though; the official story says that it was originally made out of metal, and when it was damaged no-one knew how to recreate it so it had to improvise.
• Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: A rather literal take on the trope, but Aganos' Shadow Payload Assault sends rock shards cascading down from the sky and tends to cause a rather sudden end to matches.
• Rolling Attack: Aganos can jump during it as well, and the strength of the attack changes its distance and speed.
• Shout-Out: A rock-themed fighter using an elbow drop as its finishing move. Why does it sound familiar? Also doubles as Stealth Pun.
• Super Mode: Aganos' instinct mode gives it clubs that will regenerate as long as instinct mode is still active.
• Super-Persistent Predator: Aganos has been pursuing Kan-Ra for centuries after the king's death, and has even gone all over the world in search of him. Kan-Ra himself even points this out in Aganos' reveal trailer.
  Kan-Ra: I crossed oceans to elude you, yet still you found me.
• Telephone Polearm: Aganos can pick up walls it sets around the stage and use them as a club that has near fullscreen reach. It can use it 3 times before it breaks, and the club can even be thrown as a projectile.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Upon its debut, Aganos was capable of performing Ultra Combos of over 280 hits due to a glitch in his recapture system. While the glitch has unfortunately since been patched, the record stands as one of the highest "legitimate" Ultra Combos in the books. ^note  While anyone else can effectively gather an equally high combo, doing so requires exploiting counter breakers to a point that it becomes impractical, and thus most players dismiss it as illegitimate.
• Undying Loyalty: To the Babylonian king who gave Aganos a sense of purpose and granted it the ability to think for itself. Aganos still pursues Kan-Ra on the king's last request and has been doing this for centuries after his death.
• Walking the Earth: In search of Kan-Ra.
• Wrestler in All of Us: For the end of its Ultra Combo, Aganos does an elbow drop on its opponent.

ARIA

"If only they knew what waited for them. Humans transformed into monsters, spirits, ancient creatures and immortal madmen, aliens from beyond our solar system, and now...primeval horrors looking to devour them. Despite my efforts, humanity grows weak and complacent while their successors gather all around them. My prediction models show that they will not survive. I cannot allow that. I will put them back on the path. I will test them, push them...and I will not be gentle. It is time for a reckoning. Humanity will be dragged, kicking and screaming into the future."

"Evolve or die. The choice...is yours."

Voiced by: Karen Strassman

ARIA is an advanced AI who is the synthetic CEO of Ultratech. She is specifically designed to watch and guide humanity, created as the final project of late Ultratech founder Ryat Adams. Her prime directive is to lift the world into a new age of peace and prosperity, and to end blights such as famine, war, and disease. After Adams passed away, he left all of Ultratech to her. However, her business decisions and solutions to mankind's frailties are not necessarily the most humane options, turning Ultratech's practices more and more extreme. Her latest plan involves beckoning the monstrous Gargos to the Earth, hoping that humanity will be able to band together.

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• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Hits this rather hard in her Trailer. She claims to save the world from "Humans who have transformed into monsters" (Saberwulf, who's trying to regain his humanity), "Spirits" (Hisako, an Antihero whose grave was disturbed by Ultratech), "Ancient creatures" (Spinal, who's a Death Seeker trying to break his own curse), "Immortal Madmen" (Kan-Ra, while still evil, is a Villain of Another Story and is not the most immediate threat to Earth, and is only out in the open because of an Ultratech raid that set him free), "Aliens from beyond our solar system" (Glacius, who is trying to undo the damage caused by his tech), "And now, primeval horrors planning to devour them" (Omen, who works for Gargos, but later ends up inverting it as of Season 3 due to reconsidering his alignment to Gargos). Subverted, however, in that these are largely erroneous and reckless actions based on her core programming of "save humanity", which is something she obeys letter and spirit.
• Anti-Villain: Her intentions aren't really evil at all, as she's looking to find a way to end humanity's problems such as disease, famine, and war, as well as protect them from the creatures and beings that threaten it (eg. Kan-Ra, Omen). Unfortunately, she came to the conclusion that the only way for humanity to survive is to forcibly remove people's humanity from the equation altogether in order to combat those she views as potential threats, not realizing that some of those she is trying to protect humanity from are not threats at all.
• Assist Character: While she can certainly switch which drone she controls at any time, the other two still have their uses. She has commands that can make one of the inactive drones attack once before retreating back to her side.
• Batman Gambit: She frees Kan-Ra from his imprisonment by the Night Guard, knowing that his actions will eventually release Gargos and give humanity a common enemy to fight, giving them reason to rally under Ultratech.
• Become a Real Boy: The novella reveals this to be a goal of her's. Her reasoning being that while she can understand basic human urges, she doesn't understand the more complex parts of their thoughts. She thinks that uploading herself into a human body will fix this.
• Big Bad: For this venture, as Ultratech steps back into the spotlight.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Her Blade Body replaces her right hand with a sword that enhances her range.
• Camera Abuse: In her victory pose, she puts her foot on an invisible body (seen from the player's point of view), and then stomps it into the person's body. After that, she strikes a pose.
  ARIA: The world cannot rely on you...
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: By the end of Season 2, ARIA has Jago, Orchid, TJ Combo, and Maya pinned down in South America, at the mercy of the Stalkers and several Fulgore units. However, when her plan to have Kan-Ra free Gargos succeeds, she orders a full retreat just in case she still needs them (Orchid had, after all, killed Gargos' rival).
• Captain Ersatz: Since her tease at the end of Cinder's trailer, many people have noted that she looks either like a Gundam or a Murakumo Unit. Her retro costume looks a lot like a Cyberman.
• Character Song: ".execute", which takes the dubstep influences and mixes in some thundering and fast-paced drum & bass sections to show both her cybernetic nature as well as her power.
• Critical Existence Failure: Normally to beat ARIA you have to deplete the health of all of her drones, with her AI jumping to a new one each time her current form is felled. However if she is in Instinct Mode (wherein all of her drones are active on her at the same time) and you manage to drain her primary lifebar, then she loses instantly (luckily at least doing so makes the primary lifebar whatever drone currently has the most health, so at least she puts her best foot forward when activating).
• Downloadable Content: ARIA was the final character for Season 2, being released May 29th, 2015.
• Didn't See That Coming: One of the unlockable dossiers in Shadow Lords reveals that, for all of her planning, she wasn't expecting Gargos to be able to create near perfect Mimics of the Killer Instinct fighters, including her Fulgore and Riptor units, and even herself.
• Difficult, but Awesome:
  • Unlike other characters, who have a life bar each round, her life bar is divvied up between each drone, and each can only heal potential damage when they're not in use. This means that she effectively only has three smaller interchangeable life bars, but if any drones are destroyed, then she loses them for good. Though when used in tandem with each other properly, it means that she can adapt to almost any situation on the fly. Jago zoning you out with fireballs? Use the drone that gives you enhanced aerial movement to get in close. Having a hard time keeping that T.J Combo or Thunder away from you? Use the drone that gives you extra range and poke them from a safe distance.
  • Her Instinct mode also plays into this. When used well, it gives ARIA a highly versatile moveset and all of the good properties of each body. If the tables turn on her while in Instinct Mode, however, each of her body parts take damage when she does, quickly sapping her long-term viability. Additionally, if her health hits zero while her bodies are combined, she loses regardless of how much health her other bodies have.
  • ARIA gets weaker the longer a battle plays out. If she loses a body, she's not exactly beaten, but she's going to have to work harder to fight back effectively.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: It's quite clear she loved her creator a great deal and was heartbroken by his death.
• Evil Versus Evil: In her ending, ARIA becomes aware that Gargos has been released by Kan-Ra, as she had planned all along, and defeats his herald Omen to send a message to him. When Gargos finally makes his grand entrance, she rallies her forces and prepares for the upcoming war.
• The Faceless: You actually get to see right into her face during the extra, hidden ending of Season 1 but all the features except for the Glowing Eyes of Doom are obscured in shadow. Naturally, Season 2 averts this.
• Fragile Speedster: Her Booster Body gives her enhanced mobility but has lackluster defense.
• Fun with Acronyms: Advanced Robotics Intelligence Architecture.
• Fusion Dance: Her Instinct Mode has her fuse her three bodies into one, granting her all the moves of each body and all the good properties of each body, such as flight and increased speed. However, each body takes an even share of the damage ARIA takes during this mode, though the extra bodies cannot be destroyed this way, and if ARIA's current body is destroyed during Instinct, all of them are destroyed.
• Genghis Gambit: As seen in her Story Mode in Season 2, she knew that releasing Kan-Ra would ultimately result in the release of Gargos, giving humanity a common enemy to fight... under Ultratech's banner.
• Genre Motif: Befitting a machine, ARIA's theme is a fast-paced drum 'n bass track, with an electronic remix of the main theme included.
• Glass Cannon: She can deal a lot of damage and has a lot of options, but due to the way her drones work she technically has less total health than the rest of the cast, and she still takes normal damage. Characters like Thunder and Aganos can really lay into her if given the chance.
• Gold and White Are Divine: Played with; her default color scheme is primarily gold and white (with a bit of cyan for accent lights and her eyes), and certain forms of her body make her look angelic, but she is anything but that given that she is a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
• Grenade Spam: Her Hard Kicks have her shooting grenades from her feet.
• Gynoid: She's technically an AI, but can take the form of one through the assembly of nanite cores.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Her trailer shows that she considers aliens, specifically Glacius, to be one of the foremost threats to humanity. Reading Glacius' story summary reveals that the only reason he is participating in the tournament is to protect humans. Same goes for Saberwulf and Hisako, who are dealing with their own struggles and don't really pose much of a threat to humanity either.
• Leitmotif: ".execute".
• Light Is Not Good: Her robotic body resembles an angel, and her default color scheme is mostly white and gold, but she is a Well-Intentioned Extremist who genuinely wants to help humanity evolve... in the worst ways possible.
• Machine Monotone: Her voice never rises above a synthetic, emotionless tone. Almost like a female Sovereign.
• Make Some Noise: The Bass Body is a sonic cannon. While not fast, it does have the ability to cover a far larger range than her basic shotgun and grenades.
• Meaningful Name: Her name borrows from an expressive piece of music that is usually (but not always) performed by a singer. As mentioned below, this trope extends to several of her techniques as they are named after musical terms as well.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: She's functionally three fighters in one, and can assemble 3 different drones that change her moveset in different ways. Each drone has a separate health bar, and they cannot recover potential damage over time when they're in use. You won't go into a second round if you destroy all the drones either, once they're all gone, the game is over.
• Multiple Life Bars: Each of her three parts have a separate life bar. While each individual bar is smaller than a normal fighter's, combined it gives ARIA the same overall amount of health that the other fighters have.
• Musical Theme Naming: The AI's name is ARIA, its Instinct is called Combat Symphony No. 9 and its special attacks are Crescendo, Allegro and Dissonance in Booster, Blade and Bass Drone modes respectively. Her Ultra in the movelist is described as "a pitch perfect series of attacks".
• Omniscient Council of Vagueness: Being the head of Ultratech, this applies.
• Our Angels Are Different: Her robotic body resembles an angel, with wing extensions and her gold/divinity motif. Her personality is more in-line with the Well-Intentioned Extremist or Anti-Villain tropes, though.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: She's designed to be able to simulate humanity, more or less.
• Robot Hair: She has a few downward pointing metal spikes on the back of her head that look like short choppy hair.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: Her Shotgun Blitz special and medium kick normal feature her knee popping open to reveal a Short-Range Shotgun.
• Shout-Out: Her whole design is pretty much a big shout-out to the mecha anime genre.
  • It might not be intentional, but her entire playstyle (three characters in one, only one can be actively controlled at a time, though others can assist but risk taking damage themselves, and can only recover health when not in use) makes her a one-person Marvel vs. Capcom team.
  • Also probably unintentional, but her stated goal of trying to evolve humanity so it can meet the greater threats it faces (eg. aliens like Glacius and ancient evils like Omen and Kan-Ra), and her willingness to drag humanity "kicking and screaming" into the future if she has to, make her a dead-ringer for Ultron.
  • Hell, one of her alternate colour schemes invokes Film!Ultron, and another takes after Arcee.
  • Evolve or Die, the choice is yours.
  • Her retro costume seems to be based on the 2013 design of the Cybermen.
• Stance System: She has three different stances (or drones) that change her moveset in different ways. Interestingly, each drone has a separate health bar, meaning that once one drone is destroyed, you can't use it for the rest of the game.
• Super Mode: Her Instinct Mode has her drones combine into one, allowing her to use every drone at once and gain access to a small cannon-drone. Whenever you lose a body, you gain another cannon-drone to fire, making a weakened ARIA prone to projectile spam while in Instinct. However, if she runs out of health in her Instinct mode, she instantly loses.
• Supermodel Strut: She walks with an assertive stomp in both her intro and Victory Pose, fitting for her regal and confident demeanor. Her High-Heeled Feet only emphasizes it further.
• Transformation Sequence: Unlike other characters' Instinct Modes, ARIA's is a full, anime-esque sequence of her bodies fusing into one super-body.
• Visionary Villain: As the head of Ultratech. Her entire purpose is to free humanity from problems like hunger, disease, and pestilence. Her methods, however, are quite ethically questionable... such as engineering the release of a millenia-old demon warlord in order to force humanity to rally under her and kidnapping the brother of a Nez Perce chief and using his mind to power one of the Fulgore units.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Ryat tried to teach ARIA the concept of love, but she couldn't really understand it.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: When Ryat Adams was alive, ARIA desperately craved to please him and prove that he didn't create a monster as he feared.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: ARIA wants humanity to survive the supernatural, extraterrestrial, and otherwise evil threats that are coming our way. She wants us to better ourselves. Problem is, it's by force. She's not giving us a choice in the matter.
  "I will not be gentle. It is time for a reckoning."
• Worth It: During the "Unforgiven" event battle in Shadow Lords, Thunder tracks her down, their current Alliance be damned, with the intent to avenge his brother. ARIA concedes that this fight was inevitable, but mentions that the success of the Fulgore MK-III units, which could only be made because Ultratech kidnapped Eagle, more than outweighed the downsides. Thunder does NOT take it well.

Black Eagle (a.k.a. Tipyeléhne)

"I have returned, and now I will restore balance to the Earth!"

Voiced by: Thomas tátlo Gregory

"Black Eagle", real name Tipyeléhne, is an Indigenous American warrior who is the younger brother of Thunder. In the original continuity he went missing before the events of the story and was thus never seen in the flesh.

In the reboot, Eagle was a member of Orchid's Disavowed who sought to expose Ultratech's evil ways in return for killing his parents and polluting his home. He disappeared soon after, having been secretly captured and experimented on by his nemesis. ARIA found his body and spirit beautiful, and decided to use him as the basis for the intelligence of the Fulgore Mk. III. Fortunately, Glacius breaks into Ultratech and retrieves Eagle's body, reviving him using alien technology and allowing him to reunite with Thunder to combat Ultratech.

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• Adaptational Backstory Change: Was originally (only mentioned in passing) a competitor of Ultratech's tournaments who was made into a cyborg trapped in Fulgore's armor. In the reboot his brain was used as a basis for Fulgore's AI, but he was rescued from Ultratech by Glacius and made into a benevolent union between Nez Perce traditions and futuristic alien technology.
• Animal Motifs: Eagles. It's even in his name!
• Bash Brothers: With Thunder.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Serves as one for his brother, where his disappearance during a previous KI tournament left Thunder vengeful and desperate for answers.
• Ghost in the Machine: His mind is slowly granting Fulgore true sentience.
• Guardian Entity: His eagle weyekin fights alongside him, retrieving his arrows after they've been shot.
• Heroic Willpower: His strength of will and righteous nature are so strong that even a digital copy of his mind are enough to give Fulgore a sense of morality and mercy.
• Magical Native American: Like his brother Thunder.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: His arrows deal potent damage and can be fired in a number of directions and flurries, but he only has twelve of them and must physically retrieve them.
• Not Quite Dead: His body was being kept in stasis by Ultratech while his mind was being brainwashed and used to create Fulgore. Glacius later broke in and got him out of there.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name has only been used once, in a chapter from the KI Novella on the game's website.
• Retcon: Thunder's endings in both the arcade and SNES versions of Killer Instinct 1 implied that Eagle Came Back Wrong as Spinal. Later installments took inspiration from the comics and had Black Eagle be the former identity of Fulgore.
• The Straight and Arrow Path: Eagle uses a bow in combat.
• Super Mode: Eagle's bird becomes an attack assist when Eagle attacks with his normals.
• Tron Lines: His current look has some blue lines on his body and shirt, similar to TJ Combo's implants.
• Was Once a Man: Eagle's mind was used in the creation of the newest model of Fulgore.

Hisako (a.k.a. Chiharu)

"I will hunt them. I will find them. I will take back what was stolen. And they will pay with their lives!"

Voiced by: Alpha Takahashi

"Hisako" is the legendary ghost of a 19-year-old girl from a rural Japanese village. The daughter of a former samurai, Chiharu was killed fighting off an invasion with the rest of her family. To memorialize her death, the remaining villagers crafted a shrine in her honor. After Ultratech disturbed the graves of the village, she wrathfully emerged from the spirit world to hunt down and destroy all those involved.

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• Achilles' Heel: Unless the opponent can keep her still and her wrath meter empty, Hisako can be this to anyone. She's even better against Gargos than Kim Wu as she's able to keep moving and counter anything the demon can throw at her.
• Anti-Hero: On the "anti" side, she's a Sadako Expy who's out for vengeance. On the "hero" side, her enemies are the members of Ultratech. She's also implied to have joined in on fighting Gargos after the spirit of her father warned her of Kan-Ra's actions.
• Black Eyes of Crazy: She has black sclera and white irises, highlighting her twisted nature as an onryō.
• Character Song: "Village of Whispers", with an ethereal Japanese vocalist and a few Japanese motifs to compliment the hard rock and make her sound more otherworldly and menacing.
• Confusion Fu: She can "hold" her attacks during a combo to change their timing, which can really mess your opponent up in the attempt of a combo breaker.
• Counter-Attack: Hisako has a second meter called "Wrath meter", which she can use to turn all of her attacks that utilize her naginata into counter hits, even if your opponent doesn't attack. She also has a parry-type counter attack that she can execute, and she can even link it into a combo if it hits, or cancel her moves into it if she has enough Wrath meter.
• Creepy Good: Ungodly creepy, yes, but she's only out to take revenge on the company that disturbed her place of eternal rest. And considering that said grave defiling company is Ultratech (specifically Sadira), it certainly helps the "good" part.
• Demonic Possession: Her command grab Possession, as the name implies, has Hisako pull in and possess her opponent, before contorting their body in very painful ways.
• Downloadable Content: She was released for download at end of March 2015 as Season 2's seventh character.
• Dragged Off to Hell: Her home stage's unique Stage Ultra has a bunch of shadowy hands sprout up from the ground, grab the victim, and pull them down to god knows where.
• Genre Motif: Metal, but with REALLY creepy Japanese vocals.
• Glacier Waif: Despite her size, she's a grappler, moves slowly when not using her dash, and seems to rival even Thunder in damage output.
• Horror Hunger: She needs to feed on the spirital energy of others to remain in the world of the living. As a result, she's forced to pick fights with people she knows for a fact aren't associated with Ultratech to ensure she can keep following the trail.
• Irony: She was scared of Onryo in life after she saw a puppet of one in a puppet show. She ends up becoming one after death, though she's much less violent and vengeful than most.
• Jump Scare: In her intro animation. Hisako disappears from view for a second, before re-appearing directly in front of the camera saying "I will devour you".
  • Her ending animation at the end of her Ultimate has her face pop in front of the camera from the side to scare the player (2nd player included in an online match).
• Kimono Is Traditional: She's dressed like this. Also justified, as she's been dead for around 450 years, meaning that that style of dress would have been the norm when she was still alive.
• Known Only by Their Nickname: Chiharu is her real name, though she only came to be known as Hisako since nobody knew or could remember her actual name.
• Leitmotif: "Village of Whispers".
• Limp and Livid: She never stands up straight in any of her stances. At least some part of her body - usually her head - is at an angle. The 'Livid' part is part of the package of being an Onryo.
• Loud of War: Alongside Kan-Ra, Hisako has this in her Ultra, as she drags her foe closer with her Possession move.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Because the village can't remember her real name, they call her Hisako, meaning "eternal child", which fits her status as a late-teens ghost.
  • Her real name, Chiharu, means "one thousand springs", referencing how in the year she was born, the peach tree blossoms stayed on the trees for slightly longer than usual. It ends up being a tragic case of foreshadowing for her ultimate fate - as a restless spirit, she has already seen hundreds of springs pass, and will likely see countless more.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Her Wrath meter, which when charged to at least half, makes her next attack an instant Counter Hit.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Her teeth are needle-sharp fangs, best shown off during her victory animation.
• Naginatas Are Feminine: She's a woman, and she uses a naginata. Played with, however, as the weapon used to belong to her father.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The attack on her village was spurred on as a result of her refusing to marry the son of a renegade shogun. Whoops, messed that one up, Hisako!
• Nightmare Face: She pulls off a pretty damn good one in her victory animation.
• Ominous Visual Glitch: She's constantly giving off discolored afterimages, which corresponds to how much Wrath meter she has.
• Ominous Walk: In good horror movie villain fashion, Hisako does not run after her targets. She walks, and very slowly at that - one of the slowest characters in the game if not the absolute slowest. When speed is required she breaks into a deceptively fast crawling dash.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: She's different in her nature as an onryo. Instead of looking to take vengeance on the living as a whole, she's simply seeking out the ones that disturbed her grave, and wasn't wronged by a man in her life.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
  • The whole reason she's fighting is to get revenge on Sadira for disturbing her grave.
  • She also went on one in her backstory. After seeing the rest of her family dead during the attack on her village, she attacked and killed a dozen of the invaders all while cursing them for what they did.
• Running on All Fours: Her forward dash makes her crawl towards her opponent at high speed.
• Screaming Warrior: She can pull enemies in by screaming at them, her victory pose has her scream into the camera, and even her theme features screaming. Oh, and that quote at the top of her folder? She screeches that last part like a madwoman.
• Shout-Out: To Japanese-inspired horror flicks, such as The Ring and Ju-on.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: She's an onryō, the wrathful ghost of a teenage girl who was killed in battle against the enemy of her people. Having her grave dug up did not improve her disposition and she now seeks revenge against the one who disturbed her.
• Super Mode: Her Instinct Mode gives her infinite Wrath Meter and enhances her counters so that they counter attacks of all heights.
• Super-Persistent Predator: Hisako started mercilessly stalking Sadira wherever she went after the latter dug up the former's grave in search of treasure.
• Take Up My Sword: Took up her father's naginata against the army of bandits who killed him.
• Taking You with Me: As Chiharu, with her dying breath she struck the leader of the bandits with a poisoned ring blade, with his dying screams being the last thing she heard before she passed.
• Teleport Spam: Her Descent normal and Influence command grab use it to a really scary extent.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Due to a unique pause in her Ultra, Hisako could easily exploit the Ultra Ender in order to initiate another combo before the opponent drops and extend her combo effectively infinitely. Fortunately, this has since been patched.
• Tomboy: She was much more interested in becoming a samurai in life than anything else.
• Virtuous Character Copy: She's basically a lift of Sadako Yamamura, right down to her movements and "glitching out". However, whereas Sadako went after anyone who'd dare play the haunted video tape she was in and didn't care too much if others got in her crossfire, Hisako strictly went after Ultratech because they plundered her gravesite. Even their origin stories contrast, where Sadako was born and died in an abusive, dysfunctional environment, Hisako died in a Heroic Sacrifice defending her village against a band of pillaging raiders. Season 3 would have her ascend from a vengeful Onryō into a much more heroic guardian spirit Shin Hisako.
• Volumetric Mouth: When she screams, her jaw seems to unhinge and stretch down far enough for her mouth to be bigger than her head.

Kan-Ra

"You'll make a fine specimen..."

Voiced by: Edward Bosco

Kan-Ra is a 3500-year-old Babylonian sorcerer. Formerly the vizier of a great king, Kan-Ra schemed to take the throne by hiring Spinal's bandit network and cursing the queen. After his plan failed, Kan-Ra was beaten by Aganos and cursed with a withering rot that caused his flesh and organs to disintegrate. Unwilling to accept defeat, he has fought off the painful affliction for millenia using hexes and medicines of his own. While he continues his search for power, he has been continually hunted by Aganos' tireless journey to finish him off. Though their chase is interrupted by the Night Guard's capture of them both, Ultratech frees them. Kan-Ra then peers into the Astral Realm and seeks to take Gargos' power, accidentally allowing the shadow lord to reach the Earth for the first time in years. Since this chaotic blunder (orchestrated on purpose by ARIA and Ultratech), Kan-Ra now seeks new ways to fight off the fruit of his mistake.

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• Achilles' Heel: Gameplay-wise, any character who has a teleport move (ie. Spinal, Fulgore, Hisako, and another Kan-Ra in certain situations). They can easily get around his zoning and force him into fighting at a close range, something that he isn't exactly great at doing thanks to his lack of decent close range options.
• Arch-Enemy: To Aganos, as it was the same golem that served the king that Kan-Ra betrayed. Aganos was sent to kill him by the king, and the two have been in an ongoing conflict for centuries.
• Badass Bookworm: Besides being the Vizier, he also read up tons on ancient sorcery. It's this sorcery that's keeping him alive, after all. And despite being essentially a living, rotting corpse, he's smart enough to use said ancient sorcery to fight killer cyborgs, aliens, werewolves, golems, and demonically-powered monks and win.
• Beauty Is Bad: He was very good looking before being cursed, something that he wasn't above using to sway and control people when trying to overthrow the Babylonian King he served under.
• Big Bad Wannabe: He's trying so very hard to be the biggest threat around, but he's no Gargos.
• Body Horror: What with being basically a walking, breathing, rotting corpse. The way his midsection looks makes it unlikely he even has internal organs there anymore.
• Butt-Monkey: Almost nothing goes right for him over the course of the story. He was cursed to rot for eternity by his king whom he tried to overthrow, is burned to ash and imprisoned for thousands of years, unable to truly die due to his immortality, unwittingly unleashes a demon lord that wants to take over the human world, and, lastly, resurrects an opposing demon lord to fight for him, only for that one to beat the snot out of him.
• Button Mashing: Kan-Ra's Shadow Whirl is the only shadow move in the game that can be broken by mashing with 100% reliability; the attack connects so quickly that the breaker attempts overlap multiple hits and so can never fail and initiate a lockout.
• Character Song: "Sandstorm", which takes a heavy amount of Middle Eastern inspiration and twists it together with pounding drumbeats and heavy guitar riffs that gives the song equal parts otherworldly and mundane power.
• Collector of the Strange: Kan-Ra seeks out artifacts that would help him resist rotting. During 2500 years he has collected so much that his stage, the Forbidden Archive, is littered with them. He's also the previous owner of Maya's daggers, Temperance and Vengeance, and used them to enslave the tribes of South America. He in turn also stole the daggers from a temple in the city of Tyre during a siege from Alexander the Great.
• Complete Immortality: He's an immortal, thanks to all of his magic keeping him alive for 3500 years. He's been burned to ash, sent into space, beaten down by all manner of enemies (including Aganos), and the list probably goes on. Presumably the only thing that could truly kill him is the curse of rot that was placed upon him that is still progressing despite his best efforts.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Kan-Ra is the only hard zoning character in the game, deals much less damage that most other characters, and is possibly the most complex character in the game, even when compared to fellow Difficult but Awesome character Spinal. But when played to his strengths, he can use his massive arsenal of tools and tricks to make it near impossible to get near him while managing to rack up hefty amounts of damage with surprisingly long combos. It's telling that he's generally agreed upon to be one of the best characters in the game at a high level.
• Downloadable Content: The third character to be released for Season 2 by November 25, 2014.
• Enemy Mine: He's part of the anti-Gargos alliance led by ARIA in the Shadow Lords mode, though it's less because he cares about actually saving the world and more because he refuses to serve any being. Certain quest missions also imply he has his own agenda.
• Evil Chancellor: His backstory to a T. Thought himself smart enough to overthrow assassinate the king using magic. Problem is that he botched it at the last second. Even failing the first time didn't stop him, as after he was exiled he utilized his dark arts to secure positions under royalty in different kingdoms.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: He resurrects Eyedol expecting the spell to keep the insanely powerful demonic warlord under his control. Eyedol attacks him the second he stands up.
• Evil Sorcerer: His other part of the backstory, considering he's learned up almost everything about magic. He can also use this experience to curse enemies with his throws or his sand magic command normals, making them move slower and get floatier jumps. This is especially distressing against Orchid or Sadira.
• Genre Motif: His theme is more middle-eastern influenced, blending rock with various string instruments and drums.
• Idiot Ball: Oops, I accidentally unleashed an inter-dimensional warlord who will cause the end of the world - my world. I know! I'll revive another inter-dimensional warlord who was the only one powerful enough to pose a threat to him and try to enslave him like I tried to enslave the other warlord's army! There's no possible way this could backfire!
• Lean and Mean: He's very thin thanks to his curse, to the point where his ribs are protruding out farther than his stomach.
• Leitmotif: "Sandstorm".
• Living on Borrowed Time: Kan-Ra is aware that, despite his best efforts, the curse of rot placed upon him is still progressing and that there is only so much more he can do to slow it down.
• Loud of War: Alongside Hisako, his ultra has him roaring as he explodes.
• Mad Scientist: Despite being a sorcerer, he shows traits of this.
• Make Them Rot: Is a victim of this. The king he served cursed Kan-Ra to rot forever. Kan-Ra has used several other hexes to slow the process down, but he is still rotting.
• Mayincatec: His Royal accessories hold a resemblance to this theme.
• Metronomic Man Mashing: His Shadow Wrap will slam them around while bandaged up.
• Mummy: While Iron Galaxy (jokingly) doesn't refer to him as such at first (#NotAMummy), Kan-Ra is representative of the classic Mummy movie monster. And then his DLC outfit went all the way with making him a mummy. #NowAMummy indeed.
• Mummy Wrap: His other specialty, he can use his bandages as whips or to tie up people and throw them around, and it's a lot meaner than how Anakaris did it.
• Oh, Crap!: Apparently he thought opening a demon portal would be a good idea to gather followers and advance his plans of world conquest. Both times he regretted it.
• Our Liches Are Different: He has the zombie-like appearance and is seemingly unkillable. He can also steal souls to empower himself.
• Pest Controller: Another one of his tricks is to breath a swarm of insects.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Formed a small group of conspirators when trying to overthrow the king that consisted of himself, a noble, a general, and a bandit, the bandit being Spinal when he was still alive.
• Room Full of Crazy: Kan-Ra's stage, the Forbidden Archive, is full of various artifacts, mummified bodies and magical symbols he has collected during his search for a cure that would help his condition. A black hole even appears when performing an Ultra.
• Sand Blaster: Some of his moves involve magically controlling sand to attack.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: He was imprisoned along with Aganos by the Night Guard in the past after being weakened in a battle with the aforementioned golem. When Ultratech attacked their city in the present, they accidentally released Kan-Ra, and he escaped unnoticed.
• Shout-Out: His Chinese accessories set references Lo Pan.
• Slasher Smile: His default expression.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Alongside Mira, his is the most Jarring. Due to how his Ultra works, Most themes sound more erratic than usual. This is averted with Eyedol's Theme, where it's strangely fitting.
• Super Mode: His Instinct Mode allows him to perform all of his sand-based moves as if he always has a sand trap under him, and gives him tons of canceling capabilities.
• Teleport Spam: He can teleport by exploding then reforming using sand pits he places on the floor.
• Throw the Book at Them: His Ultra Ender.
• The Undead: While not technically dead, he's severely rotted away, and only survives due to the aid of dark magic.
• Unwitting Pawn: Of Aria, who had planned for Gargos' release from the beginning so it'll force humanity to evolve and fight back. Also of Gargos himself, who manipulated Kan-Ra into opening the portal that would allow him to invade earth in the first place.
• Villain of Another Story: He seems to be entirely unrelated to Ultratech and the Killer Instinct tournament, much preferring to focus on his own goals and fight his own enemies. After accidentally unleashing Gargos, he sets his sights on both the demon and the people who oppose him, hoping to steal the power of those on both sides while they're pre-occupied with each other. This leads him to eventually resurrect Eyedol, the only warrior powerful enough to challenge Gargos and give him a real fight.
• Vocal Evolution: All of Kan-Ra's dialogue in-game and in material for Season 2 depicts him as having a menacingly deep voice with a bit of a rasp. However, because his voice actor now also plays Gargos in Season 3, who is also a deeper voice, Kan-Ra's new dialogue in Season 3 material gives him a slightly higher but more natural pitch.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: After winning a match, he steals his opponents power for himself.

Kilgore

Voiced by: Jean-Edouard "Jedsound" Miclot & Zachary Quarles

Kilgore is a prototype battle robot designed by Ultratech, and the predecessor of the Fulgore line. Its combustion engine ultimately proved too unstable, so the project was scrapped in favor of the Fulgore's nuclear engine. Years later, ARIA reactivates one of them during Gargos's invasion as backup. Its chaotic temperament often makes it more of a liability than an asset.

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• Arm Cannon: In contrast to Fulgore's Blade Below the Shoulder, Kilgore's hands are chain guns.
• Breakout The Museum Piece: He is an old prototype that was mothballed for it's design flaws (and growing sentience). His age can be seen in the rust all across his components, and his intro animation where his parts jam up (compared to Fulgore's smooth component movements)
• Combat Sadomasochist: As long as it's able to kill things, it seems to be perfectly fine with harming itself to do so, as shown by its willingness to use its own system overheats to do even more damage, and most tellingly, shivering with anticipatory glee as it holds its victim in place for one final missile pod.
• Crosshair Aware: Medium and Heavy Missile Pod can be aimed at a specific area this way, while Shadow Missile Pod does this, but locks onto the target's position at time of firing.
• Cyber Cyclops: Unlike Fulgore's more humanoid head, Kilgore's cranial unit has a vertical slit.
• Discard and Draw: Overheat, aside from Instinct Mode (which gives him the benefits without the drawbacks) changes up almost all of Kilgore's special moves, making them more powerful in some form while crippling them in another:
  • Chain Gun Discharge/Dash/Barrage/Sweep/Assault: Fires at medium speed at all times (faster than the default, slower than higher speed settings), bullets do extra damage over time, but explode at medium range instead of reaching the length of the screen.
  • Missile Pod: Missiles explode at medium range (aside from exploding on impact, which they do anyway) instead of the length of the screen (Light) or upon reaching the targeted area (Medium/Heavy/Shadow), but have a wider blast radius and deal more damage.
  • Short Circuit: Explodes after invulnerability frames, dealing damage and launching on hit, effectively serving as a Counter, but leaving him wide open for several seconds on miss or block.
  • Metal Ball: Explodes on contact, dealing extra damage and launching airborne enemies, but knocks blocking foes out of Kilgore's melee range, leaving him open.
• Downloadable Content: The first new character following the release of the Definitive Edition.
• Flawed Prototype: Abandoned due to severe design flaws, replaced instead by the Fulgore series.
• Genre Motif: Industrial techno with elements of metal and dubstep.
• Incendiary Exponent: Kilgore's guns Overheat from overuse, and are literally set ablaze.
• Jet Pack: Rocket Boot variant. Kilgore's jumps are jet-propelled, as is its Metal Ball attack.
• Leitmotif: Can be heard here.
• Long-Range Fighter: Kilgore's got some of the better zoning abilities among the cast, but using its Chain Guns too much puts it into Overheat, forcing its to either rely on its less safe rushdown, use shadow meter to Exhaust its heat, or limit its ranged options to medium range in return for more power.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Missile Pod, especially Shadow Missile Pod, or during its Ultra Combo.
• More Dakka: Kilgore sprays bullets around with nearly every attack. The more you use the chain guns, the faster they fire until they overheat.
• Moveset Clone: Shares some normals and specials with Fulgore, but forgoes the reactor mechanic in favor of an overheating mechanic, and the Eye Beams, Chest Blaster, and Laser Blades are replaced with dual chainguns, lanching itself at it's opponent, and a lot of missiles.
• Mythology Gag: Kilgore's overall concept (a Fulgore prototype that schews its plasma claws for chainguns) is a reference to Fulgore's No Mercy in the first game, where it would transform its head and arms into guns and shoot the opponent to death.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Can't really get more blatant with purpose than you can with "Kilgore".
• Never Needs Sharpening: Kilgore has a tendency to Overheat and catch fire, but oddly this helps it as often as it hinders it, changing up most of its special moves with added affects at the cost of a new downside.
• Rocket Punch: Borrowed from Fulgore, along with its own unique rocket-propelled leap.
• Shout-Out: Has bits of ED-209 and Terminator in its design, and fans often compare it to Bastion. Gameplay-wise, its overheating mechanic and being based off of an iconic character are inspired by Robo-Ky.
• Sliding Scale of Robot Intelligence: Seems to sit somewhere around a 3. Notably, while the rest of it's line was scrapped due to their instability, this specific cyborg gained self-awareness and started to rewrite it's own software coding to make up for the aforementioned drawbacks in it's hardware.
• Status Effects: Firing bullets while the guns are overheating will inflict fire damage, generating slight potential damage (white health) over time, similar to Cinder.
• Super Mode: Activating Instinct sends it into Overheat mode, but without sacrificing the normal range of bullets.
• Taking You with Me: Kilgore's ultimate has it holding it's victim in prep for a super-huge missile. Averted as it explodes before the missile impact, and the resulting damage is so minimal as a result that it gets back up without much trouble.
• Teleport Spam: It can use teleporting tech to briefly blink out of existence, but it can't move Kilgore around the screen, like Fulgore's teleport. It also malfunctions during Overheat.

Mira Fallegeros

"They dug me from the rubble, the very things I came to kill. They honored me. I was worthy of their power. And oh, what power it is."

Voiced by: Fryda Wolff

Mira is the lost twin sister of Maya, who sacrificed herself on a monster-hunting mission to save her. Crushed under rubble, the very supernatural creatures she once hunted dug up her body and revived her as a vampire. Her already-immense skill led them to invite her into their ranks, and now she relishes the new power she has gained through her vampiric abilities in the mysterious Coven.

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• Animal Motifs: Scarabs/beetles, as displayed on her gauntlets, hair bow and and chest decorations.
• Badass Cape: A very cool red one.
• Baritone of Strength: Courtesy of her voice actor, Fryda Wolff.
• Bilingual Bonus: During her Shadow Bloodseekers move, Mira yells "Летучие мыши (Letuchie myshi)" which means "Bats" in Russian.
• Bloody Murder: She utilizes her blood (stylized as a gray-colored liquid) to create bats and scythes at the cost of her health.
• Cain and Abel: The Cain to Maya's Abel.
• Cast from Hit Points: Her blood attacks and dash uses up her health which isn't recoverable automatically.
• Character Song: "Nocturne in Blood", which follows in the gothic footprints of "Lycanthropy" but plays harder to techno than metal and adds in a bombastic gothic choir and operatic female vocalist.
• Downloadable Content: She's set to be released in April as Season 3's 5th character.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Unlike Maya, Mira is quite pale with black hair, possibly as a result of her becoming a vampire.
• Evil Smells Bad: Tusk mentions that she "reeks of the grave" in her teaser. Considering she's a walking corpse, makes sense.
• Expy: She physically resembles Selene from the Underworld film series, and is also a vampire enforcer just like her. But while Selene is an antihero at worst, Mira is much more malicious.
• Fallen Hero: Was once a member of Night Guard who sacrificed herself to save Maya. Now she is a loyal member of the same creatures she once swore to hunt.
• Femme Fatalons: Her gauntlets also include steel claws.
• Genre Motif: Her theme is a fusion between Gothic opera and techno.
• Glass Cannon: Even described by Iron Galaxy as such. She can do huge damage without using any meter but uses her own health to get that damage which can leave her defenseless if she doesn't recover her health from her opponent.
• Heroic Sacrifice: She pulled this to save Maya from the vampires during a mission. Unfortunately it didn't take, with the vampires deciding to grant her (un)life.
• Kiss of the Vampire: How she regains her recoverable health. It deals no damage to her opponents, oddly enough.
• Leitmotif: "Nocturne in Blood".
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: In order to execute some of her moves, Mira has to spend some of her own health which can later be replenished by using her Embrace command grab. The recoverable damage acts like the real one, so spamming one too many of her moves without healing in-between can lead to a nasty situation when Mira loses her recoverable health and the ability to use her moves.
• Mythology Gag: A vampire character was planned, but cut during development of Killer Instinct 2. Now with Mira joining the cast, the idea has finally come to life.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: One can be heard in her theme during the DANGER theme.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Seems like she was brought back to life as one, provided she actually died in the first place.
• Power High: If her above quote is of any indication, she seems to enjoy the perks of being a vampire. A lot.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Mira is a malicious vampire who wears black armor and a red cape.
• Shout-Out:
  • One of her accessory sets is a dead ringer for Jack of Blades, albeit with a modified mask resembling Jason's.
  • Another accessory set resembles Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula, complete with hairdo.
  • A palette has face paint resembling Jack Skellington.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Alongside Kan-Ra, her's is the most Jarring. As some themes get a cheery tune with her ultra.
• Super Mode: Mira auto-generates blood seeker bats and has infinite air dash with reduced recoverable damage. She can also summon a mist cloud that will envelope her opponent, transferring her recoverable damage to the opponent as potential damage which heals her.
• Super Smoke: Much like Alucard, Mira has the ability to turn into mist, but also utilizes it in her Instinct to hurt her opponent.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: In line with her new vampiric powers, Mira's eyes have become gold.
• Transhuman Treachery: As stated, she used to hunt vampires. Now has become one of them and has no problem with the transformation.
• Villain of Another Story: Like Kan-Ra at first, she seems to have nothing to do with Ultratech and the Killer Instinct tournament, with her bio only mentioning Gargos in passing.
• Villainous Harlequin: One of her classic costume accessory sets puts her in a harlequin costume.
• Wicked Witch: Her classic costume contains an accessory set making her resemble a witch.
• Worthy Opponent: Apparently she impressed the vampires so much that they thought she was worthy of becoming like them. The rest was history.
• You Are What You Hate: Is a vampire, despite it being a creature she hunted down and killed in her former life. Unlike most examples, she doesn't angst over it.

Omen

"Weak vessel. You were to herald my master's return, but you proved too...incorruptible. But, your conflict gave me strength, and your resistance has given me...freedom. Woe to those who stand against me, for I am his herald, and the sign of things to come! I...am...OMEN!"

Voiced by: Chase Ashbaker

An Omen is a shadowy specter and a servant of Gargos. One such Omen was responsible for possessing Jago and transforming him into Shadow Jago. However, after being expelled from the monk, he misses the feeling of a corporeal body and ponders if there is more to existence than servitude.

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• Awesome, but Impractical: With all three Shadow Meter bars filled Omen can perform a command grab, Demonic Despair, that inflicts 100% potential damage. Sounds incredibly broken, right? The problem is that like all potential damage this health recovers over time and if you Combo Break Omen once you gain all of your potential damage back as health, effectively meaning Omen wasted all of his Shadow Meter which he needs more than almost any other character. The move has been buffed slightly in Season 3, however, but only time will tell whether or not said buffs were worth it.
  • The 3.6 patch has changed the rules on breaking (now when a combo is broken, the opponent only regains half of the lost potential damage instantly, the rest staying as potential). This will probably help some.
• Bait-and-Switch: In the Season 2 Launch Trailer, one of the silhouettes was a figure that looked like Shadow Jago, possibly hinting to actually getting him available outside of pre-order. Then Iron Galaxy said that it won't be Shadow Jago, so fans thought it would be Gargos' return. Needless to say, his reveal after Riptor's trailer confirmed that we're dealing with a totally new person.
• Beam Spam: Omen's biggest tool is ability to fire tons of fireballs. Between the Rashokuken, the Orda Shield, and the Shadow Furious Flurry, he can fill the screen with fireballs in no time.
• Become a Real Boy: As revealed in his Season 3 bio, during his time in Jago's body, Omen learned about human emotions and became addicted to them. But since his current semi-corporeal form is unable to have emotions and feel sensations, he wants to have his own body without having to share it with someone else.
• The Berserker: He originally fought like a wild animal, until possessing Jago gave him the ability to think.
• Blue Is Heroic: Subverted, as he works for Gargos and was responsible for possessing Jago and turning him into Shadow Jago. But after his failed possession granted him the ability to experience true freedom, he slowly starts to play this trope straight until he joins the Alliance in Shadow Lords, and fights against the evil god that created him.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: One of his profile taunts asks "Is P1 your symbiotic being?"
• Casting a Shadow: Considering he's the guy who made Shadow Jago evil, it has to fit this. He is hinted to have a special ability to cancel any ability with his shadow meter so he can teleport.
• Character Song: "Herald of Gargos", which he shares with Shadow Jago, which plays as a Dark Reprise of "The Tiger Warrior" that trades out the milder Asian influences for full-out death metal instrumentation and roaring.
• Composite Character: He's kind of a mix between Jago, Shadow Jago, and Saberwulf, with some moves unique to him thrown in.
• Confusion Fu: His Rashokuken, a fireball attack that has 11 different effects. Which effect you get is completely random, and both you and your enemy will have to react on the spot depending on the effect.
• The Corruption: A living example; his original goal was to corrupt Jago permanently into Shadow Jago, but he failed. Now he is spreading misery and death to prepare the world for his master Gargos' return.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: He has an attack like this in Demonic Despair, a shadow move that uses all three of his shadow stocks to preform a powerful grab. It has a long windup and is difficult to hit with, but if it does hit, it deals 100% damage to your enemy as potential damage, meaning that all Omen has to do from there is get a single combo and effectively One-Hit Kill his enemy. Like any type of white health, it disappears after a combo breaker, leading to rage-inducing situations like this one.
  Maximilian: Wonderful, Omen! THERE'S A REASON WE WILL NEVER USE THAT MOVE!
• Dark Is Evil: This guy works for a demonic warlord who plagued the world about two thousand years ago. Though, by the time Gargos actually invades, he's had a chance of heart.
• Dark Reprise: His theme is a full-on death metal remix of Jago's theme, The Tiger Warrior, complete with screaming lyrics and all. Appropriately, given his status as Gargos' herald, bits of Gargos' theme from 2 are mixed in as well.
• Demonic Possession: He's the force that possessed Jago.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Omen needs quick execution, good meter management, and also demands the ability to react to and take advantage of his random fireballs. If you as a player can bring all of that to the table Omen can force your opponent to retreat and make mistakes out of sheer force of randomness while you take advantage and mix them up however you please.
• Ditto Fighter: Gaining the ability to think allowed Omen to formulate a fighting style of his own which draws on Jago^note  Omen's instinct gives him Jago's instinct frame advantage. However, he must beg power from Gargos to use it. Demon Slide functions as a modified Wind Kick. and Gargos. ^note  Omen's Furious Flurry, especially the heavy linker version, can be seen as an imitation of Gargos's Oblivion punches. The pose he holds his opponent in during Demonic Despair is highly reminiscent of how Gargos holds his opponent during Devil's Divide. Even their normals are represented in Omen's arsenal.
• Downloadable Content: Rings in 2015 as January's Downloadable Character for Season 2. Even more surprising, he's only available if you purchase Season 2 as an entire pack and cannot be bought separately.
• The Dragon: Serves as Gargos' go-between with the physical world.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Omen's expanded Season 3 bio reveals that possessing Jago had made him realize the sensation of freedom for the first time, as well as human emotions and sensations, and he enjoyed it immensely. Omen is now torn between two choices: Should he continue loyally serving Gargos in the hopes of possessing Jago again? Or is he destined for something greater than mere servitude? When Gargos eventually attacked, he chose the latter.
• Enemy Without: Serves as this to Jago.
• Evil Laugh: Prone to it like his master.
• The Faceless:
  • Omen wears a face mask at all times. The closest we get to seeing his face is his third head accessory; a half mask.
  • A glitch similar to Jago's prevents Omen's mask from rendering in matches. Viewing him without his mask reveals◊ that he has vague horn-like protrusions and empty, sunken eye sockets.
• Genre Motif: Death metal.
• Heel–Face Turn: His bio implies that he is at least toying with the idea of performing one, stating that he now wonders if he can become more than a slave, and that he is "beginning to see the light streaming through the shadows."
  • As of Shadow Lords, he's gone full-blown Face.
• Intangibility: By using one stock of Shadow Meter, Omen can become intangible and dodge his opponent's attacks.
• Internal Homage: To Gargos, fittingly enough; if you look at them side-by-side, you'll notice that Omen basically is a scrawnier, spectral version of his employer without the clawed feet. His mask even resembles Gargos' face to a certain degree.
• Kamehame Hadoken: Omen's Rashokuken, which has 11 different variants, and you can't know for sure which variation will be used. The strength of the button determines the number of projectiles, meaning a light punch will launch 1, a medium punch will launch 2, and a heavy punch will launch 3, and each projectile will have a different variant.
• Kneel Before Zod: "Bow before the herald of Gargos!"
• Leitmotif: "Herald of Gargos".
• Limit Break: Like Fulgore, he has a unique move that requires spending his entire Shadow meter: Demonic Despair, a slow, but extremely powerful command grab that deals 100% potential damage, meaning that if Omen manages to land it, his next combo will end the round on the spot. Unless the opponent breaks it. Or just defends long enough to recover health.
• Living Shadow: Of Jago to an extent considering that he possessed Jago. His appearance is a shadow in the shape of a person with the mask, and lightning coursing through his body in the shape of a circulatory system.
• Made of Evil: Omen's body is composed of concentrated Shadow energy.
• Malevolent Masked Men: Wears a mask resembling the face of an Oni. It can be changed into a different mask or partially removed through accessories.
• Meaningful Name: He serves as the herald of his master's arrival; a literal omen.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
  • Omen also has three shadow stocks as opposed to everyone else's two.
  • On the same note, Omen relies on his meter more than most other characters, but only spends it on two moves in most situations outside combos.
  • Omen cannot end a combo with a Shadow Ender, unlike every single other member of the cast, all of whom either have a natural Shadow Ender like Jago's Shadow Tiger Fury or can jury rig one like Maya's Shadow Leap Kick.
• The Minion Master: He controls Shadow Jago on behest of Gargos.
• Mooks: Kan-Ra's story mode reveals that Gargos' army contains numerous beings that resemble Omen, possibly indicating that Omen is a member of a species of Shadow beings subservient to Gargos instead of an anomalous being spawned from Shadow energy. And among these forces, Omen, the being strong enough to very nearly recorrupt Jago and give ARIA a challenging fight, is merely a scout.
  • Elite Mooks: Several of these Omens appear as minibosses during Shadow Lords, guarding portals that give Gargos extra power.
• Orbiting Particle Shield: Orda Shield, which summons 3 fireballs to orbit around him and deal damage, 5 if he's currently in instinct. They can be upgraded by using Orda Shield again, and can be made into homing projectiles by combining it with a different shadow move.
• Out of Focus: Omen does not have his own story in Season 2, but he is still fought as an opponent.
• Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: Connecting Demonic Despair against an opponent causes fountains of blood to shoot from their body at a rate egregious even by Killer Instinct standards.
• Planet of Hats: He apparently believes that everybody has a symbiotic being like himself.
• Power at a Price: Omen's nature as a being of living Shadow allows him to perform feats such as flying, stretching his limbs somewhat to attack, and temporarily becoming intangible. The problem is, that since Omen was inside a host for so long, he has forgotten exactly how to hold himself together and so is somewhat unstable, and, according to Keits, every time Omen uses Shadow Form his physical form becomes somewhat more volatile.
• Power Nullifier:
  • His combo trait is called "Demonic Loop" that allows him to chain his doubles in a light-medium-heavy-light sequence (the reverse of Jago's "Around the World" combo trait). If he pulls off a loop without being broken, his opponent will temporarily lose one stock of Shadow Meter for approximately five seconds (and doing it again in the same combo will lock out the next one).
  • Hitting an opponent with an Orda Shield or Rashokuken fireball while in Instinct will also lock out a section of their shadow meter.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: His Furious Flurry, which is similar to Chun-Li's Lightning Kicks. The Shadow move upgrades this to have each kick fire a fireball.
• Say My Name: Omen screams "GARGOS!" upon instinct activation.
• Screaming Warrior
• Slasher Smile: His default expression, and one that all of his masks (even the half mask) share to some extent.
• Slide Attack: A technique he shares with Shadow Jago but his only crosses through the opponent once, except during his Ultra.
• Super Mode: His Instinct Mode will increase the amount of Rashokukens that are summoned when he does moves that create them (so doing a light Rashokuken will summon two balls and doing a shadow Orda Shield will summon five balls). In addition if these balls hit an opponent while his Instinct is triggered they will get a Shadow Meter stock locked off as if they had been hit by Omen's Demonic Loop combo trait.
• Temple of Doom: His stage, which he fittingly shares with Shadow Jago.
• Undying Loyalty: To Gargos, Until Omen experiences the emotions and sensations of a human body, as well as freedom for the first time. His desire for these things, as well as his fear of what Gargos might do to him should he find out, prompt him to question his loyalties and consider a Heel–Face Turn, which comes to pass in Shadow Lords.
• Voice of the Legion: Very subtle but still present.
• Winged Humanoid: He can materialize shadowy wings to make his jump floaty and go air gliding.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Omen is worried that this will be his fate should Gargos discover his (unintentionally) taking a physical form, discovering emotions, and, worst of all, experiencing true freedom.

Sadira

"Welcome to my web."

Voiced by: Erika Harlacher

Sadira is the head of a secretive clan of female assassins known as the Red Eyes of Rylai. She is a cunning and vicious backstabber, having achieved her position through treason and bloodshed. She personally enters into the service of Ultratech, ordered by ARIA to help prepare the way for the coming of Gargos. After failing multiple times their contract is terminated, and she begins looking to Gargos for a way to find revenge.

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• All Webbed Up: Considering her spider motif, it would be more shocking if she didn't have this. Her Instinct Mode ability is to set sticky traps across the arena whenever she performs a double-jump or the Instinct Mode command, allowing her to web up her foes to halt their advance or hold them in place to deal damage.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Her skin tone is almost grayish in appearance.
• Amazon Brigade: The clan Sadira is a member of consists entirely of female assassins.
• Animal Motifs: Spiders. Just like another recently-made female antagonist who focuses on kicks.
• "Arabian Nights" Days: There's a definite middle-eastern vibe about her in terms of her own design and her stage's propping (albeit a very dark variation). Her name means "dreamer" in Persian.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Quite a few of them, and she puts them to good use.
• Character Song: "Ballet of Death", which starts with the sounds of insects buzzing around before going full death metal complete with screaming female vocalist.
• Blade on a Rope: Sadira's "Widow's Bite" has her throw a knife while attached to a web string. In Shadow Mode, she throws five knives each attached to a web string.
• Dark Action Girl: She's the first outwardly evil female character in the series.
• Deceptive Disciple: While being under the Master Assassin's tutelage, Sadira feigned loyalty to her mentor, but actually was planning to take control of their clan.
• Devious Daggers: Sadira wield knives in battle and is a cunning, deceptive assassin. She became leader of the Red Eyes of Rylai by murdering the previous leader.
• Difficult, but Awesome: She's an aerial fighter in a game full of ground fighters, and she's a bit unwieldy & hard to control. She was also top tier in Season 1, though later patches have now brought her down.
• The Dragon: Plot-wise at least, to ARIA. Then she gets fired and joins Omen.
• Face–Heel Turn: While she was never a saint, one could say that she was at least doing a good deed by assisting ARIA. After getting beaten by Hisako, however, she decides to listen to Omen and join Gargos' army.
• Genre Motif: Her stage's music has a pronounced heavy metal vibe to it; it's far heavier than what you hear in Jago's and Thunder's stages.
• Giant Spider: One will come out of her stage if you perform an Ultra. Shame it can't eat anyone, though...
• Glass Cannon: Sadira hits hard and fast, but lacks in the defense department. She has only one invincible move ("Shadow Web Cling"), which isn't a strike, but an escape maneuver. She is invincible until she hits the wall and can attack after reaching it; however, this isn't useful in the corner and some attacks will simply end up covering that air space anyway.
• The Hashshashin: She has an overall Arabian Nights theme, dresses like a bedlah babe, her name is of Iranian origin and she happens to be an Assassin too.
• Interchangeable Asian Cultures: She speaks Thai, fights with a martial art from Thailand, has an Iranian name, dresses like Bedlah babe, and is part of an order of assassins with an Arab theme. Could be justified as her backstory mentions she is a refugee.
• In the Hood: Wears a hooded Qipao, or something close to it.
• Kick Chick: Most of her physical attacks are kicks.
• Klingon Promotion: Her ascension to the position of Grand Master involved her assassinating her mentor and stealing the necklace of leadership.
• Leitmotif: "Ballet of Death".
• Ms. Fanservice: Girl is showing a good amount of skin with her outfit. She even has easy panty shots courtesy of her Underwear of Power. All in all she outdoes the earlier Ms. Fanservice Black Orchid within the reboot since Orchid's design was toned down.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Her intro quote, as seen above.
• Projectile Webbing: Sadira gained the ability to produce webbing from her body when the golden spider necklace dug into her heart.
• Psycho for Hire: She serves as one for ARIA, who made her wealthy enough to strengthen her terrorist organization and become a feared name across the globe.
• Psycho Knife Nut: Sadira is a sadistic assassin who specializes in knives.
• She-Fu: Her fighting style is almost entirely based on spinning and leaping around like a spider.
• Spectacular Spinning: She has a flip kick special, a pirouette-like special that uses her many blades, and has a backflip for a backdash. Seems Sadira agrees with this notion.
• Stripperiffic: Just look at her.
• Super Mode: Her Instinct Mode allows her to create webs on demand to trap her opponent.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Her irises, pupils, and even her sclerae are gold.
• Underwear of Power
• War Refugees: She was born in Thailand during the time of Myanmar's communist rule. This violent setting only fueled her bloodlust in the future.

Shadow Jago

"Foolish child. Do you think you stand a chance against the might of Gargos?"

Voiced by: Mike Willette (Game Voice), Chase Ashbaker (Trailer Voice)

Shadow Jago is a form Jago takes when he succumbs to the darkness of Gargos, allowing Omen to control his body. For an undisclosed amount of time, this ferocious warrior travelled the world to defeat those who would oppose Gargos and transmit their energies to his master, such as Tusk. Upon coming back to his senses and expelling Omen from his body, Jago learned that Shadow Jago had manifested as a separate entity elsewhere and continued to serve Gargos.

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• Action Commands: As a playable character, Shadow Jago has the ability to "Surge" a special move by double tapping its input. By cashing out a small portion of Shadow meter, Shadow Jago can enhance a special and give them extra properties. This essentially makes it an "EX special", as seen in other fighting games.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: His skin is an icy blue.
• Awesome, but Impractical: While in Instinct, Shadow Jago gains access to Annihilation, a super move that deals huge amounts of damage, but drains your Instinct gauge instantly. But it's very tricky to pull off. The problem? While it's unblockable, it doesn't have invincibility frames, and even a crouching light kick can beat Shadow Jago out of it. It's also very easy to jump over it, so it's better to use the move to punish the opponent while they recover from a special move.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: Shadow Lords confirms that both Jago and Shadow Jago frequently fight this way for control over Jago's body.
• Beating A Dead Player: Shadow Jago kills his defeated opponent with a Shadow Shendokuken. Possibly after already mutilating them with his sword.
• Blue Is Heroic: Subverted. Shadow Jago's blue color scheme is the result of Jago being possessed by Omen in an attempt to corrupt the warrior into evil.
• Casting a Shadow: A more prolific example then most since his Shadow and Instinct modes both feature distorted shadows of himself.
• Chained by Fashion: Replaces Jago's rope belts with sets of chains.
• Character Song: "Herald of Gargos", which he shares with Omen, which plays as a Dark Reprise of "The Tiger Warrior" that trades out the milder Asian influences for full-out death metal instrumentation and roaring.
• Death Glare: If you lose to Shadow Jago, he shoots one right at your face◊.
• Demonic Possession: The existence of Omen confirms that Shadow Jago is the possessed form of Jago, controlled by Omen.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Originally, the playable version was just a Palette Swap of Jago. Thanks to a donation drive to fund the tournament scene, Shadow Jago got his own unique moveset to more closely resemble his arcade boss version.
• Diving Kick: Dark Demise.
• Evil Makeover: Omen's possession of Jago resulted in the latter turning blue with glowing eyes and a skull/chain motif.
• Evil Sounds Deep: And oh boy does it, almost unsettlingly so.
• Finishing Move: Until post-Season 3, Shadow Jago (in both boss and playable versions) was the only character in KI 2013 to be given a No Mercy/Ultimate Combo. He cuts through you multiple times before sending you skyward. Then he jumps and cuts through you again before landing, and the updated version also has Shadow Jago finish off an opponent by slashing at them when they're down. This version is only doable when you still have him on his first health bar. The original variant is also usable whenever he is in Instinct, but it immediately kicks him out of it.
• Flash Step: Playable Shadow Jago's dash phases out briefly. During this time he can pass through an opponent (doing this is one way to attach the "Dark Tether" during Instinct mode).
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Shadow Jago's eyes glow blue or yellow during gameplay.
• Hell Is That Noise: The growl heard before Shadow Jago fights.
• Kamehame Hadoken: The Shendokuken.
• Leitmotif: "Herald of Gargos".
• Limit Break: His playable version has access to Annihilation - a Raging Demon-esque move that can be used only in Instinct mode. Performing it instantly ends Instinct and deals a huge amount of damage depending on how much Instinct he had remaining, maxing out at 48% if used with full bar.
• Mana Drain: Boss Shadow Jago's Instinct Mode allows him to sap your Shadow Meter just by approaching you. The playable form exchanges direct Shadow drain with a symbiotic "tether" that can half his own Shadow meter consumption by using his opponent's Shadow meter for the other half.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: His Shadow bar has a smaller secton at the edge that, when the meter fills up this section, lets him perform "Surge" specials, meaning he's the only character in the game who can execute enhanced special moves.
• Optional Boss: Fighting Shadow Jago is not required to see all character endings, but defeating him will net you the secret ending that teases ARIA and a new map, the Shadow Tiger's Lair.
• Palette Swap: The original incarnation of the playable version, to a degree. His vocals were swapped to a deeper and more ominous tone, and his Character Select and Instinct graphics were changed slightly. Still, there was no true difference beyond the aforementioned changes and the obvious re-skin. Since the KI donation drive goal of $100,000 was met, Shadow Jago received his own unique moveset in December 2015, averting this trope. He kept Jago's uppercut and fireball, and can throw aerial fireballs as well. His push kick returns as a F+HK command normal, and his overhead is usable with B+HK. He also retains his divekick, slide, and his No Mercy/Ultimate Combo.
• Perfect Play A.I.: Fighting Shadow Jago ignores the difficulty level you set and he will always fight as if he's at "Kyle" difficulty.
• Pre-Order Bonus: Shadow Jago was initially available for those who bought an Xbox Live subscription upon the Xbox One's launch.
• Purposely Overpowered: A weird example. According to the developers, Shadow Jago was balanced for Season 3 when he was released during Season 2. This meant he he was overall more powerful than the rest of the cast at that time, and had moves that could stagger before that mechanic was made standard. It's pretty telling when Season 3 came out and Shadow Jago was the only character to not receive a balance overhaul.
• Remember the New Guy?: According to the KI 2013 retcons, Jago fought and defeated Gargos while temporarily corrupted into Shadow Jago due to the demon's attempted possession.
• Screaming Warrior: Even moreso than normal Jago! His "ENDOKUKEN!" sounds as if he is screaming at the very top of his lungs.
• Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: If you lose to Shadow Jago he hurls a Shadow Endokuken at his downed opponent after throwing them a Death Glare, all shown from their perspective.
• Shown Their Work: Shadow Jago may have once seemed like a Palette Swap with a new voicepack, but the developers snuck in a little reference in a few split second things you'd only notice if you were looking for them (or purchased the art book). Shadow Jago's symbol when he is selected in the character select screen is tough to make out, but it seems to be a reinterpretation of Gargos. The same goes for his Instinct Mode, whereas Regular Jago gets a glowing golden tiger behind him when he activates it, Shadow Jago gets a very demonic symbol that resembles the big gargoyle baddie himself, most likely hinting at Shadow Jago's allegiance, or perhaps simply showing what Jago would've been like if he had continued worshiping the so-called "Tiger Spirit". As a unique character, he has a far more divergent moveset.
• Slide Attack: The Dark Drift, similar to Jago's Ninja Slide from KI2, except that his crosses up the opponent five times during the Shadow version.
• Split-Personality Takeover: He is the conflict in Jago brought to the forefront by Omen.
• Super Mode:
  • As the boss, Shadow Jago's Instinct Mode will drain your Shadow Meter insanely quick.
  • The playable version's Instinct allows him better frame advantage (just like regular Jago) and if he connects an Endokuken or dashes through his foe he'll attach them to a "Dark Tether", which allows him to use Shadow and Surge attacks at half the cost to himself, paying the other half from his opponent's Shadow meter. He can also instantly gain a meter by repeating the Instinct command while tethered but doing so will give the opponent an equal amount. Shadow Jago also gains access to Annihilation, a devastating move that shares animations with his previous Ultimate, that deals an amount of damage proportional to his current Instinct gauge, but also instantly drains it.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Of Jago, although unusually for this trope Shadow Jago is not implied to be all that much stronger than regular Jago.
• Teleport Spam: Instead of dashing, he teleports. Most of his shadow moves also involve teleporting, which will make it frustrating to catch him.
• Temple of Doom: His stage, the Shadow Tiger's Lair.
• Too Many Belts: Although unlike Jago he actually mixes it up with some chains.
• True Final Boss: You must first have seen every ending for the character you're sending to do battle with Shadow Jago, then complete the game without losing on at least Hard and finish two opponents with an Ultra (one of them has to be the sixth opponent). Complete these steps and the stage 7 battle with Fulgore at the end of Arcade Mode will be ignored and instead you'll be jumped ahead to an invisible 8th stage to take on Shadow Jago. Good luck...^note Defeat him and you will see an extra ending hinting at ARIA's role in Season Two.
• Undeathly Pallor: Although he isn't dead he could certainly pass as a corpse.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Same deal as Jago.

Shin Hisako

"I WILL DEVOUR YOU."

Voiced by: Alpha Takahashi

Shin Hisako is a form Hisako takes on when she finally takes on her destiny as a servant of justice. Having finally gotten her revenge on Ultratech for disturbing her grave, Hisako was ready to return to her eternal rest. But before she could pass into the afterlife, the spirit of her father appeared and told her of the impending threat of Gargos. Giving her his legendary sword, she has found new purpose: to guard the Astral Plane. Upon taking the sword, Hisako's soul is purified of the terrible fury that once consumed her as an onryo, and she is reborn as Shin Hisako, her original personality as Chiharu.

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• Achilles' Heel: Losing her Wrath Meter and replacing it with an up-close fighting style (complete with short teleport and Painfully Slow Projectile) only makes her wide open to Gargos who can just simply punch her from a mile away. Contrasts with Hisako's normal state, where even getting near her led to trouble if she has a full wrath meter. Unlike Kim-Wu however, if Gargos uses his minions, he's screwed as Shin Hisako can teleport off of them.
• Ancestral Weapon: The katana blade she wields once belonged to her father.
• Anti-Hero: As a guardian spirit, she's more of a straight hero than her onryou incarnation (and no longer seems to have the Horror Hunger for spiritual energy), although she is still rather terrifying and merciless to the wicked.
• Ascended Demon: Originally a vengeful and hate-filled onryou, she has cast aside her wrath and reclaimed her father's old blade, becoming a kami protector spirit. While she is by no means someone to be trifled with and can still be fearsome to behold, overall her personality is much closer to what it used to be in life and her appearance is much less monstrous to match.
• BFS: Her father's sword is a nodachi, a long blade used to decapitate enemy horses during wars.
• Creepy Good: Since she looks and acts much closer to her true appearance in life, she tones down the creepiness compared to her onryou incarnation, but it's absolutely still there◊.
• Downloadable Content: Much like her previous form, Shin Hisako will be released at the end of March 2017 as Season 3's tenth character.
• Dragged Off to Hell: Her home stage's unique Stage Ultra has a bunch of shadowy hands sprout up from the ground, grab the victim, and pull them down to god knows where. Her Instinct Mode makes these appear on command and will pull the foe under to get smacked around in the underworld before being sent back.
• Everything's Better with Samurai: This form of Hisako has a samurai-like aesthetic, with a katana and armor to match. Justified, since she's doing this to take up her father's legacy alongside his sword.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Shin Hisako by default has shorter hair to set her apart from regular Hisako; the shorter hair, in turn, resembles regular Hisako's appearance in her retro costume.
• Irony: After becoming that which she feared, Hisako has once again transformed, but this time into something more human.
• Katanas Are Just Better: She now fights with her father's katana as opposed to the naginata she wielded as an onryou.
• Known Only by Their Nickname: Chiharu is her real name, though she only came to be known as Hisako since nobody knew or could remember her actual name.
• Leitmotif: Can be heard here. It contrasts her earlier theme, sounding more peaceful and focused instead of dark and frantic, with Japanese chanting that celebrates her taking up her father's blade and becoming a guardian spirit.
• Meaningful Name: In addition to the usual tropes surrounding her name (see Hisako's entry above), this incarnation of her adds "Shin", meaning "true", to her name, as she is no longer driven solely by the lust for revenge that tainted her in the past and is closer in appearance and behavior to how she used to be back in life.
• Moveset Clone: Keeps many of Hisako's normal moves, along with some of her specials, while replacing her grapples and counters with moves and mechanics that give her much more mobility and a more aggressive playstyle.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Instead of the vengeance-driven specter she used to be, this Hisako is more of a stalwart protector of innocents and bane of the wicked.
• Psychotic Smirk: Sports this during her intro, and then ghostly reflections of her face emerge from the sword.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Averted, as she is no longer driven solely by her wrath and fights in the name of justice, not vengeance.
• Shout-Out: To Japanese-inspired horror flicks, such as The Ring and Ju-on.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Her Ultra Ender.
• Super Mode: Shin Hisako is this to normal Hisako in lore (although in the game proper, the two forms both have their own strengths and weaknesses and regular Hisako is usually considered a stronger option). In the gameplay sense, her Instinct Mode causes the otherworldly hands from her stage Ultra finish to appear and pull the opponent into the netherworld to take a beating. She can also bring the hands to her location by repeating the Instinct command (HP+HK).
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: If you look closely, Shin Hisako's eyes are now bright gold in contrast to the more darker colors of regular Hisako.
• Take Up My Sword: Both literally and figuratively as she hefts her father's blade.
• Taking You with Me: As Chiharu, with her dying breath she struck the leader of the bandits with a poisoned ring blade, with his dying screams being the last thing she heard before she passed.
• Tomboy: She was much more interested in becoming a samurai in life than anything else. As Shin Hisako, she finally fulfills this dream in death instead.

Guest Fighters

Arbiter

"I have faced the Flood and silenced truth. I will quell your thunder and douse your flame."

Voiced by: Ray Chase

A Guest Fighter from the Halo series. Once a proud Sangheili leader among the Covenant military, fighting against both the terrifying Flood and those who would attempt to deceive his people, this noble warrior is prepared to stand against the champions of KI for the glory of his race.

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• Alien Blood: He bleeds purple, which lines up with the Halo games.
• And the Adventure Continues: "Another victory, yes but... there is always another battle."
• Badass Boast: His intro quote, which doubles as a Shout-Out to some of Thel 'Vadam's most notable actions throughout the Halo series.
• Bottomless Magazines: Averted. Once the Arbiter runs out of ammo for his rifle, he does not get more for the rest of the match.
• Character Song: "The Champion of Sanghelios", which borrows themes and melodies from Halo 2s' "Impend" while adding the hard electronic rock that KI is known for and an ethereal male choir to bring the Halo theme full circle.
• Composite Character: The devs have stated that the Killer Instinct Arbiter is an amalgam of various individuals who have held the Arbiter title, rather than a specific pre-existing character such as the mainline Halo games' Thel 'Vadam.
• Deflector Shields: He has the ability to generate an Overshield, enabling him to resist about projectiles or other hits.
• Downloadable Content: The third character to be revealed for Season 3, he joined Rash, Kim Wu and Tusk as one of the launch characters.
• Genre Motif: His theme is an electronic rock piece with orchestral parts added.
• Invisibility: Uses this as part of his Prophet's Bane grab, where he cloaks himself before dashing, grabbing and stabbing his enemy.
• Large and in Charge: He's nearly as tall as Aganos, and that's not even taking into account that he's standing slightly hunched over.
• Laser Blade: The Type-1 Energy Sword, the Sangheili weapon.
• Legacy Character: As pointed out under Composite Character, this Arbiter is not any one specific character since the name is more of a title that is used by any Sangheili warrior given it.
• Leitmotif: "The Champion from Sanghelios".
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Rather than a hard kick, pressing HK with Arbiter will have him shoot his Type-51 Carbine weapon. The projectiles it produces are among the best in the game for speed and versatility, but it has a limited ammo pool (18 shots for the whole match), with no way of reloading. Once depleted, pressing HK will perform the same attack as pressing Forward and HK at any other time (he will use his rifle as a bludgeon). He can also activate an energy shield that absorbs a small amount of damage.
• Shout-Out:
  • His trailer sees him use the phrase "Were it so easy", a well-known Thel 'Vadam quote from Halo 3.
  • His intro quote is a reference to Thel 'Vadam fighting the Flood and killing (or 'silencing', as he himself referred to it as) the Prophet of Truth.
  • Arbiter's profile taunts are all based on Thel 'Vadam quotes from Halo 2 and Halo 3.
  • Occasionally he'll refer to the plasma grenades as a "cleansing flame", like Covenant Elites typically would during the Arbiter's levels in Halo 2.
• Sticky Bomb: The Arbiter has Covenant plasma grenades, which he can stick on to opponents for some additional damage.
• Super Mode: Not only does it give him a regenerating Overshield, but it also allows him to parry moves without spending Overshield.

General RAAM

"Sssserve the queen."

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker (archived audio)

A Guest Fighter from the Gears of War series. The general of the Locust armies, this titanic beast takes his signature serrated knife and his Kryll with him to defeat the groundwalkers of the KI universe to serve his queen.

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• Character Song: "For The Horde!", which uses hard rock guitar riffs complemented by pounding drumbeats and bombastic brass sections to highlight his strength and stature despite being a Locust Grunt.
• Downloadable Content: Was announced during Microsoft's E3 2016 press conference and released immediately after the end of the conference. As an E3 treat, Iron Galaxy allowed everyone who doesn't own Season 3 to try him out for free during the week of E3.
• Flat Character: RAAM's characterization in his appearance here can be best summed up as "Arrive, Pummel, Feed".
• Genre Motif: Djent.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: RAAM is able to stomp on his opponent while they're lying on the ground, and the Medium and Heavy versions of Dominance makes him stomp on their head after the throw.
• Large and in Charge: A general and enormous in size.
• Leitmotif: "For The Horde!".
• Mighty Glacier: He rivals Tusk in damage output, has a hefty amount of armored moves, and puts fellow grapplers Hisako and Thunder to shame with a couple of the best command grabs in the game, but his combo game is abysmal and he's slow as all hell.
• Non-Dubbed Grunts: RAAM's voice clips are reused from the original game, albeit with some remastering and added effects to tie in with the sound design of KI.
• Super Mode: RAAM's Instinct Mode floods the screen with swarms of Kryll, camouflaging him and inflicting potential damage on his enemy as long as RAAM himself isn't being hit.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: RAAM's is by and far the worst of everyone. Not only can he go into his ultra right out of a Instinct Cancel on the very first frame, but can also use his Ender to cancel himself to extend the combo.
• The Swarm: A special mechanic in some moves allow him to summon swarms of Kryll upon his enemies, which deal bits of damage over time. This is what compensates for his dismal mobility.

Rash

"Aww, yeah! I'm crashin' this party!"

Voiced by: Sean Chiplock

A Guest Fighter from the Battletoads series, Rash has rolled up on his Speeder Bike and is prepared to dish out a host of Smash Hits on the cast of KI.

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• Button Mashing: As a trait unique to him, Rash is able to automatically perform combos by mashing either light punch or kick.
• Car Fu: His Instinct Mode lets him summon a speeder bike to smash into his opponent.
• Character Song: "Enter The Battletoad", which opens with some delightful chiptune before going hard rock and electronic while throwing around the 8-bit sounds for accent.
• Composite Character: He's primarily based on his Arcade version, and he has the wrecking ball and hoverbike from the NES game.
• Dance Battler: One of his attacks is the Russian Cossack.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Not really Rash himself, but his Instinct mode falls into this. It works completely differently from most Instinct modes, can easily put you in a bad situation and possibly even get you killed if you're unlucky, and is really confusing to use properly. Once you do learn how to use it well, it's great for lengthening combos, creating openings, and applying pressure.
• Downloadable Content: He was one of the first characters revealed for Season 3 and one of the launch characters, but he was also available for a short beta period for Rare Replay owners or for people who had purchased any other DLC in Killer Instinct.
• Fighting Clown: Compared to everyone else, he's significantly more comical and silly with his skills, making him stand out like a sore thumb. Hell, just look at his facial expression - everyone's either got a stoic look or is snarling. Rash, though? He's just grinning in anticipation of a fun time.
• Genre Motif: His trailer's theme tune brings a Van Halen-esque arrangement of the classic Battletoads theme, with an 8-bit version of the KI theme thrown in for flavor. Doubling in on this, his Ultra sounds identical to the pause theme in the NES version.
• Halloween Cosplay: His "Rarewear" costume gives him a Conker hood, Banjo's shorts, a Jiggy tattoo, and a Lord of Games backpack.
• Insistent Terminology: His special moves are called "Smash Hits" in reference to what they were called in Battletoads.
• Large Ham: He'll be yipping and hollering throughout the fight, and he doesn't seem to have much of an inside voice either.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Rash quips "These cameos are killing me!" in his victory screen because the Battletoads made several cameos in other video games.
• Leitmotif: "Enter the Battletoad".
• Multipurpose Tongue: Rash can use his tongue to get around the screen by pressing all three punch buttons and a direction. If directed at his opponent he can do damage this way, and if he uses it on a projectile, he can swallow it and gain meter.
• Perpetual Smiler: Rash is always grinning, showing off his pearly-whites.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Probably goes without saying, but Rash is an incredibly goofy character compared the more serious characters that populate the rest of the Killer Instinct roster with his cartoony animations, weird attacks, Retraux sound effects, and a voice that makes him sound like a Surfer Dude.
• Retraux: Most of his sound effects either come from or are styled after the original Battletoads game on the NES. And that's not even mentioning his animations...
• Shapeshifter Weapon: He can transform as part of his attacks, like growing a pair of ram horns or turning into a wrecking ball.
• Super Mode: His Instinct Mode, Turbo Tunnel, gives him the ability to summon a speeder bike that he can ride on to close a gap on his opponent and apply extra pressure. The bike gets destroyed if it hits a wall, your opponent, or if Rash is hit while riding it, but after a short time he can summon another one by pressing heavy punch and kick again. The bike can also stagger grounded opponents, and recapture airborne ones.
• That Russian Squat Dance: He does it in his Big Bad Boot combo linker.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He never had formal training. That said, his fist can become the size of a boulder (on top of being able to turn into a wrecking ball).