Yay!!!
Only floor I needed help with was 196. First time a full-Diamond team has been meaningful. Sub-Zero F5, Scorpion F1, Jade F2 (MK11). Since I don’t have Edenian Bracelets I’ll take this reward, bit unlucky Jade was the character but is chill.
Definitely show of progress. I can actually clear individual boss characters now. Learned a bit of character interaction? Unfortunately need to start reading equips to not throw anymore, but that’s progression. Still missing Spectre’s Burning Vengeance from the tower sadly, but there’s still a few days, at least.
Goes to show Equips really do matter a ton. Sanguine Goddess Bloodspell on COCC has done some terrifying amounts of carry, and the tower-specific Health and Damage Buffs (especially health) made so much of a difference in fights.

Used:
JCKC F7, level 49
JCSB F5 , level 50
COCC FX, level 60
Klassic Ermac F2, level 43
MK11 Scorpion F1, level 33

Started taking the game seriously one month ago. Looked up some guides, made one of my own for beginners.

Tower Start:
JCKC F3, level 30
JCSB F4, level 33
COCC F0, level 49
Klassic Ermac and MK11 Scorpion no notable progression

I got insanely good shop and other drops to max out COCC, turning her from one of my first golds into support card, into my primary DPS carry alongside JCKC.
MK11 Scorpion was used once, on fight 195 if I remember correctly. Shouts to whichever post discussed the fight.
Started taking equips seriously. Specter’s infernal chain (or whatever the rare equip is) and Shirai ryu kunai at very low fusion somehow both worked in a row to save me on 195.
Every other fight I figured out on my own. I struggled on basically every boss fight that’s brought up here past 110, and admittedly made a bunch of poor decisions during several bosses that cost me attempts.
Very glad and proud of my progress. Nowhere near impressive compared to what I see basically everywhere else, but I suck ass at games and I’m happy to have earned this achievement. Also I’m pretty sure Joker is really good so I’m hyped about that

This F2P-centric guide is catered to newer players, players who are rejoining after a long hiatus, or players wanting to start to optimize their progression. Buzz words Beginner's Guide in the big 2026 I guess.

Here's the Discord: https://discord.gg/mortalkombatmobile, which from what I hear will help you learn the game much more quickly than here.

Experienced MK Mobile players: let me know if anything needs to be corrected. I am a relative beginner myself to this, and though I did my best to cobble together something it might not be the most rigorous material. If possible, please provide Characters that are good to prioritize for beginners as well as any Equipment info that would be useful to know. And let me know if I'm missing anything else, because I am very out of my depth here. I will fix the guide to reflect suggestions accordingly for as long as feedback keeps pouring in, or until a makeover is needed.

The most important tip is to just have fun. Yes, there are objectively superior methods to progression if you want to level up and acquire things fast, but ultimately, MK Mobile is a game, and unless you're doing this stuff for a job (even then!) the primary goal is to enjoy the play. It's okay to divert from this guide slightly if there's a character you really really really want to get, or if you just want to hop on and grab a bit of currency from Quests and then sign off. Make sure you can genuinely have fun first, and then grind as much as you want to.

The second most important tip is to reset accounts until you have acquired a Fused MK11 Scorpion by purchasing Beginner's Summons using the starting 200 Dragon Krystal funds (20 Summons). At least Fusion I is recommended.

The third most important tip is to reach level 25. I am not fully certain when Faction Wars opens up, but Faction Wars is amazing for gaining XP. Level 20 unlocks Event Towers, and Level 25 unlocks The Krypt, which are also extremely good resources to tap into.

In terms of video guides, MAND’s playlist from a year+ ago seems to be the most complete and up-to-date guide. I wanted to make a textual guide here; both for myself to learn more in case anything I have here is misled or outright wrong, and for maybe helping out anyone joining (or rejoining) the game.

If you’re not that progressed (which I’ll define to mean “in possession of multiple gold+ cards with at least fusion 3), it is going to be more worth it to start on a new account. The jumpstart that’s baked into the game now will get more value at the start than at a point where the goodies you get will need to play some catchup to the rest of your resources.

All bulleted/listed items are ordered more or less from highest importance to least importance, top-down.

***CHECK YOUR INBOX DAILY FOR FREE HANDOUTS! THESE HANDOUTS ARE STUPIDLY GENEROUS SO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT TO BOOST YOUR PROGRESS***

Currency

Dragon Krystals

• The most important currency.
• Buy out the Beginner's Summon Packs first; dirt cheap and very good odds for great Diamond characters. Of particular note is MK11 Scorpion, which was mentioned above as the second-most important tip for progression in MK Mobile. Additionally, Beginner's Summon Packs come with their own set of Trials whose rewards include a Free random Diamond Character and a Free MK11 Scorpion when you finish opening 50 Beginner's Summon Packs.
• After this, only use Dragon Krystals purchase Character Summons. Make sure you do NOT purchase either Kameo Summons nor Equipment Summons as of this point in time.

Koins

• Upgrading moves is first priority, particularly of Diamond Characters. Second priority is upgrading the Support Cards for characters, then buying Silver Packs for specific equipment.

Souls

• Stockpile these until a “good pack” comes out, then buy those in bulk. Besides hoarding them for deals, use Souls to upgrade passives of good Diamond characters (more on packs to buy/characters below)

Things to Do

The Krypt

• Daily share gives 5 Dragon Krystals, even with loss/quit. All-in on junk boxes for potential additional Dragon Krystals.
• Start on Normal Difficulty.
• Once stronger, make a team that will be able to make to (and beat) the boss of the Krypt for extra Dragon Krystals. Make sure to have like 10k+ Koins to crack Gravestones for currency and especially chests, because those have the chance of containing Dragon Krystals.
• Block Breaker is quintessential.
• Funnel resources into a lead carry, and try to use characters that will give a Heart currency boost if able to. Make sure to use free item boosts on your carry character - they’re only usable in the Krypt anyways, and they’ll be replenished by loot collected during a run and also from Krypt Junk Boxes.
• What I do to clear out the Krypt follows Kaizo Ironmon principle for clearing out dungeons: clear to as much loot as you feel is safe first, then to boss, then do as much cleanup as you’re confident in doing while still being able to beat the boss. Avoid Off-Balance modification unless your auxiliary characters can hold their own. Generally also avoid Empowered and Knock-Out modifications unless confident in your carry/abilities.
• As rule of thumb, for Krypt Normal, Kombat Cup Johnny Cage with Fusion II and Level 20 and upwards can carry if you’re good, and every bit extra helps. For me as a horrible gamer in general, I was struggling up until about Fusion III Level 27 with like 2 Small Force Stones, but was able to finish Bosses with a few skipped Fights at Fusion III Level 19 with a few Force Stones. Heals and HP Boosts as desired. From some preliminary testing Klassic Scorpion can similarly hold his own but with a little more difficulty, and Hanzo Hasashi Scorpion requires Block Break of some sort

All the Towers

• Event Towers, both Normal and Fatal Modes (even losing/quitting gives good participation rewards. You can watch ads to refresh your attempts, and losing can give you a ton of souls and also gold character cards. As such, if unable to progress further/unwilling to try, pause and quit the match as soon as the pause symbol shows and you’ll get rewards. From Fatal Tower I got Covert Ops Cassie Cage and Kombat Cup Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade just from insta-quitting). Speaking of Ads, it’s not the worst idea to do the daily 10 in the Free Offers section of the Shop
• Shao Kahn for Talent (prio points into offense, then support)

Quests

• If you can check in decently regularly, go for quick 1-hour quests for steady income of souls, coins, and other extra goodies.
• In particular, do your best to rush to missions 35, 45, and 49 for 1-hour missions, as these combined will give 27+ souls per hour which is a very good salary. When advanced, 71, 90 and 112 are the ones to do.
• Otherwise, find some longer ones if you’ll be away from the game for slightly longer periods of time (sleeping or a break from the game). For 8 hours, 33, 58, and 62 give Caro's Guidance and at least 15 souls.

Faction Wars

• Quick Battles are a huge source of XP and a decent source of Koins. Get your characters to about level 25 (or more if you want, but definitely stop by the 40 mark if concerned about leveling progression to any extent) and use level-up cards to max out remaining levels.
• I might recommend setting up tower once you’ve unlocked it. Each defense win is 2 million rating which will shoot you up to higher tiers of rewards, and it’s set-and-forget, so you can have some fun mixing-matching and learning synergies, or going haphazardly about making some teams. I had a 3-1 ratio this past season by doing my best to synergize teams with no regard to actual win cons, no equipment, and full offense tree. I would not copy me and instead recommend this, which would probably lead to higher success.

Challenges

• Get multiple copies of a Challenge Gold character! (generally a tier above non-Challenge Gold characters, with exception) Plus you get some goodies along the way. When strong enough, Elder difficulty rewards with Dragon Krystals.
• This is incentive to max out at least one Bronze and one Silver Character to clear out the relevant sub-challenges

Things to Get

The FREE Kameo of Klassic Sub-Zero

• You can get a free Kameo of Klassic Sub-Zero if I’m not mistaken. Get him. NOT the other one. You want some form of immobilization with your Kameo starting out, so freeze or stun etc.
• Do NOT get more Kameos unless you want a second stunner/freezer for a second Krypt team when you’re eventually set up enough for it, and Do NOT upgrade Kameo beyond what’s free (which should be one point in each attack if I’m not mistaken).

Krypt Junk Boxes

• Chance for Dragon Krystals should be all you need to know.

Silver/Bronze Characters in the Character Shop

• They cost Koins only, and is the most viable way of maxing out Fusions of said rarities. Long ago, you were able to attain/fuse most Silver and Bronze cards in the Kollection section. No longer. Prioritize "good" Silver characters (listed below)
• Silver Packs are useful to a fault; I think once you start getting buybacks it's not worth anymore

Packs and Summons

• For Dragon Krystals, max out Beginner's Summons Packs and go from there. For Souls, Elemental Warriors Pack seems undisputed (especially discounted), and *discounted to <400 Souls* Kombat Cup Pack is okay too. Mention to Flames of Summer (especially when discounted). For anything further, I'd personally ask the Subreddit or an MK Mobile Discord if a specific Pack you're questioning is worth purchasing.
• It's generally a good idea to wait for updates and stockpile Souls in the meanwhile to completely buy out good packs when they come. Also learn when discount/special events happen

Characters to Get (disclaimer: don't know many, comment ones I'm missing and I'll add them)

A note that for certain fights with constraints, having at least one maxed-out Bronze and one maxed-out Silver character is recommended

Diamond

• MK11 Scorpion ***ABSOLUTE MUST-HAVE, THE MORE FUSIONS THE BETTER.*** Shreds at insane deficits. So good, in fact, that I believe that it’s recommended to reset accounts until you possess MK11 Scorpion with at least Fusion I from spending on the first Beginner’s Pack Summons.
• Klassic Raiden
• There’s definitely more but that’s all I’m really sure about for now
• Generally good Diamonds but that I don’t know how good they are for Beginners: Injustice 2 Raiden

Gold

• Lizard Baraka (though only available by participating in Fatal Towers and a couple other places)
• Kombat Cup Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade (NOT Cassie Cage)
• Covert Ops Cassie Cage
• Hanzo Hasashi Scorpion

Above are maybe consideration to buy if in shop for Souls, but depends on context. Event packs are better value than buying in the shop so unless you’re really desperate, I would generally recommend against purchasing even those characters in the shop. Exception to Covert Ops Cassie Cage because she is cheaper than other great Gold characters (250 Souls) and so is wickedly good value.

• Klassic Sonya Blade
• Klassic Scorpion (Faction War Store, priority with Rubies is to get Fusion X)
• Klassic Ermac (1 copy for high-HP Bosses)
• Kosplay Jacqui Briggs

Silver

• Kenshi
• Scorpion

Bronze

• Ninja Mime Johnny Cage by a mile
• Next-best stats-wise is Oni iirc, then Sergeant, then Osh-Tekk. Attack descending is then Shirai Ryu, Monk, Saurian, Trooper, and Lin Kuei.

Things to Avoid (at least for now)

• Battle Mode. Rewards not worth it.
• Kameo Packs. Return not good for this point in progression.
• Equipment Packs. Want to obtain the characters first at least; once you're able to consistently get new copies of characters by playing certain gamemodes is I believe the time when it becomes reasonable to pivot from Character purchases to Equipment purchases.
• Most Dragon Krystal Summons/Soul Packs unless you know that they're worth it. If unsure, consult competent veterans first
• Spending Souls in general beyond what was mentioned in the currency section
• Most Faction War Ruby/Krypt Heart purchases

Equipment is important, but I don’t know anything about them. Block break is a general must, especially on your carry if you’re playing a gamemode where health rolls over.
Get good characters (maybe even any character if needed) fused up and prio leveling up those cards. Maybe I’m insane for thinking this but from what I’ve seen, fused cards level up faster than unfused counterparts.
Always pay attention to updates and events and, most importantly, the Inbox. Absolutely obscene rewards for free, do not miss. And yes, I know I already said it. It’s that important.

If you have further questions beyond this, you’re most likely advanced enough that this guide is irrelevant to you. However, the comments section may prove very helpful, if this gets the traction I hope it does. And there's also the Discord linked above.