Though it’s mostly a fighting game, Mortal Kombat 11 is more than that if you know where to look. Buried in its Konquer menu is the randomized Krypt on Shang Tsung’s Island, a side-dungeon filled with random chests that award cosmetics, concept art, and a large amount of additional fluff in exchange for Krypt Key items.
Navigating the Krypt requires certain key items found either within its halls or in the Kombat Towers and Towers of Time combat trial mode.
This guide provides you with each key item’s location and how to find each of them within the Krypt or Towers.
Kronika’s Epoch Engine, Shao Kahn’s War Hammer
You can’t miss these. You start with the Epoch Engine, so there’s no finding to be done. The War Hammer is straight down the path after you’re greeted by Shang Tsung. Head down to the end of the Palace Entrance area, where it’ll be sitting nice and tidy on a shrine.
Gem of the Living
The first (of many) relatively hidden key items in the Krypt, you’ll find the Gem of the Living in a fallen meteor that lands in the Courtyard on the east side of the island.
To reach the Courtyard, head south through the Forge and west across the Mountain Pass. You’ll cross over a wooden bridge with a door that requires the Dragon Amulet to open (more on that later), and as you turn northward again, you’ll see a line of statues of famous Mortal Kombat characters.
The meteor containing the Gem of the Living will crash through the Raiden statue upon entering the area. Crack it open with Shao Khan’s War Hammer and claim the gem.
Also, there should be a gong nearby, and gongs need ringing, don’t they? It’ll open a nearby door.
Cracked Horn of Motaro
If you traveled east from the central area (left from the War Hammer’s location), you would have run across a door that says you require the Gem of the Living to open it. An item you now have.
Simply place the Gem into the door to open it and you’ll come across a room with a number of chests and a small brook running through its center. Keep moving over the water and toward the opening to your left.
You’ll come across a set of chambers sealed by easily accessible levers. Pull them all, and behind the right-most barred passage is the Cracked Horn of Motaro. You’ll use this key item to enter Goro’s Lair beneath the main island.
The door to the Lair is at the end of the Courtyard, and looks like this once open:
Amulet of Earthrealm’s Protector, Thunder God’s Shattered Staff
The Amulet of Earthrealm’s Protector is the first Krypt key item you’ll find in the Towers of Time activity. All you need do is complete the Tutorial towers, which aren’t too difficult even if you don’t know any of the characters.
The A.I. is slow, inefficient, and generally pretty forgiving. While Kombo guides are for another day, use the Tower Tutorials to practice getting into your Kombos in an actual fight. It’s harder than it seems.
Again, you’ll earn this key item by completing the tutorials, which you should then take to the broken Raiden statue as shown below. Insert the Amulet into the statue’s base to receive the Thunder God’s Shattered Staff, the key item you’ll need to unlock the room where the Dragon Amulet lives.
Fragment of the One Being’s Mind, Heart, and Soul and The Heart of Blaze
After you go through the large door opened by the Cracked Horn of Motaro, you’ll descend an elevator in Goro’s Lair. Once you reach the first large chamber with four Goro statues, you’ll discover a door to your right that requires three separate keys.
These are the Fragments of the One Being’s Mind, Heart, and Soul. They’re another set of Tower of Time/Kombat Tower items. Perform 10 Fatalities, 10 Brutalities, and 10 Mercies respectively to unlock the Fragments, and thus, the door.
Behind it is a flame trap, and behind that is an 80,000 Koin chest. Yes, 80. Thousand. In that chest is the Heart of Blaze. More on how that’s used below.
Kenshi Takahashi’s Blindfold
From the room with the Fragments door, head south until you find Goro’s corpse sitting on his thrown and take the tunnel to your right. You’ll come across an armory with a number of interactibles — these are lore-centric only, with no Krypt usability whatsoever.
Head deeper into the Treasure Room through the hallway on the room’s west side. You’ll arrive in the prisons, and at their back is Kenshi’s corpse. Collect the Blindfold from it.
Oh, and you can use the Heart of Blaze along with the Spear in the small area behind the Courtyard statues to light the bodies in the cage on fire, opening the chests at either side of that area.
Scorpion’s Spear
In Goro’s Throne Room, take the path leading further south, just to his throne’s right side. You’ll end up in the Armory, and at the back of the terminal chamber should be a glowing chain you should recognize as the one attached to Scorpion’s Spear. Touch the glowy metal to acquire the Spear.
Ermac’s Amulet
From Goro’s Throne room, go east. Head all the way to the back of his Dining Hall and take two quick rights to reach the long path on the south side of the chamber.
At the end of the hall is a gate with a pull chain, beyond which is an elevator. Take the elevator up and follow the path out. Once you reach the Lower Pit, Ermac’s body will fall from the sky, impaling itself on a spike. Take the Amulet from the body once the cutscene ends.
Dragon Amulet
First, you’ll need to head to the back of the Dining Hall again, but this time take a left to the door blocking your path.
You need a Skeleton Key to open this particular lock, and these keys are random drops from the numerous chests around Shang Tsung’s Island. You’re guaranteed one of these in one of the chests at the end of the opening hallway — on the left-hand side, pick the final chest closest to the main path. Beyond this one gift, you’re slave to the RNG gods for additional keys.
Anyway, once you’re past this Skeleton Key door, you’ll need to navigate two trap hallways. Don’t worry, they aren’t hard. Take the first left you see once past the second set of traps, and you’ll come across a door you can open with the Shattered Staff. The open door looks like this:
Beyond the door is another room of traps. Take another first left, dodging the swinging pendulums of death, and reach the 20,000 Koin chest. The Dragon Amulet is inside.
Kronika’s Amulet
Beyond the Dragon’s Door is the Kytinn Hive, and you’ll need three amulets to open its door: Kronika’s Amulet, Shinnok’s Amulet, and Cetrion’s Amulet.
You’ll get the first of these — Kronika’s Amulet — as reward for giving 1,000 Koins in tribute to the demon shrine in the Courtyard. You can’t miss the thing. It’s big, gold, and flanked by purple flames.
Shinnok’s Amulet
This one’s tough, primarily because earning it is a grind. You’ll be crafting this item at the Forge using three Ensorcelled key items: the Demon’s Heart, the Dragon’s Heart, and the Skeleton Soul.
Here is the location of each:
- Ensorcelled Demon’s Heart location: Pull down the various hanging bodies scattered about the Krypt with Scorpion’s Spear. You’ll get the item as a random drop.
- Ensorcelled Eye of a Dragon location: Beyond the trap hallway that led you to the Dragon Amulet, instead of taking a left, hand right into a hall with endlessly respawning spiders. Kill them. A lot. The item will eventually drop.
- Ensorcelled Gem of Trapped Soul: Beyond a breakable wall on the right side of the beginning hallway are the Dead Woods. You’ll find a container that needs 10,000 Soul Fragments. When you have that ludicrous sum, you can open the container and take the Soul.
Once you have all three of these key items, go the forge and, at a cost of 60,000 Koins and 1,500 additional Soul Fragments, you’ll receive Shinnok’s Amulet.
Cetrion’s Amulet
Less of a grind than Shinnok’s Amulet — but still a grind — to receive Cetrion’s Amulet you need to perform 50 Fatalities against her in the Tower challenges. Then, go to her head spike in the Courtyard with the statues, spike her head, and receive the item.
Once you have all three Elder God amulets, you can unlock the elevator behind the Dragon Amulet door. What awaits beyond is for you to discover.
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That’s all you need to know about getting all of the Krypt Key items in Mortal Kombat 11. While these might be somewhat of a grind, we do think that NetherRealm’s latest is one of the best entries the franchise has seen in some time. Read our review here, and be sure to check out our fatalities list before you go.
