Key Highlights:
- Complete guide covering Conan’s Fatalities, Animality, and Brutalities in Mortal Kombat 1.
- Platform-specific inputs with Input Distance and Execution Difficulty ratings for Fatalities and Animality.
- Brutality requirements include Fighter Mastery ranks, parry conditions, charged attacks, hidden variations, Seasonal Store Brutalities, practical execution advice and video guide.
Quick Links:
Conan the Barbarian joins Mortal Kombat 1 as the sword-wielding Cimmerian warrior based on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appearance in the 1982 film. His fighting style is deliberately physical, combining heavy sword strikes, command-grab Kombos, defensive counters and charged attacks rather than supernatural powers or elaborate technology.
Conan has two character-specific Fatalities, the No Bull Animality, The Klassic and seven character-specific Brutalities. Five unlock through Fighter Mastery, while Phoenix On The Sword and Black Tears are available through the Seasonal Store.
How to Perform Conan’s First Fatality in MK1 (Secret Ingredient)
Input Distance: Close to Sweep Distance
Execution Difficulty: Easy
- PlayStation: ⬅️, ➡️, ⬇️, ⬜
- Xbox: ⬅️, ➡️, ⬇️, 🅧
- Nintendo Switch: ⬅️, ➡️, ⬇️, 🅨
Secret Ingredient has Conan force the opponent towards a bubbling cauldron before cutting off their arm and driving his sword through their mouth. He throws them into the liquid, allowing the flesh to dissolve before lifting the remaining skull from the cauldron on the end of his blade.
The Fatality works from directly beside the opponent out towards Sweep Distance. I recommend using Sweep Distance as the reference point because it gives you room to enter the Back, Forward sequence cleanly without risking stepping too far outside the activation window.
How to Perform Conan’s Second Fatality in MK1 (Cleave Of Doom)
Input Distance: Close to Sweep Distance
Execution Difficulty: Easy
- PlayStation: ⬅️, ⬇️, ⬅️, 🅧
- Xbox: ⬅️, ⬇️, ⬅️, 🅐
- Nintendo Switch: ⬅️, ⬇️, ⬅️, 🅑
Cleave Of Doom has Conan bury his sword into the opponent’s upper body before forcing them to their knees. A second downward strike cuts through the other side, allowing Conan to lift the severed head and neck away from the body.
Cleave Of Doom shares the same Close-to-Sweep working range as Secret Ingredient. Leaving a small amount of space between Conan and the opponent is therefore enough for either Fatality.
Important: Conan can also perform the Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Winter Fatalities if they are unlocked on the player’s account. These seasonal Fatalities are not unique to Conan and can be performed by other playable fighters.
How to Perform Conan’s Animality in MK1 (No Bull)
Input Distance: Sweep Distance to Full Screen
Execution Difficulty: Easy
- PlayStation: ⬇️, ⬅️, ⬇️, 🅾️
- Xbox: ⬇️, ⬅️, ⬇️, 🅑
- Nintendo Switch: ⬇️, ⬅️, ⬇️, 🅐
No Bull transforms Conan into a huge bull after he throws his sword into the ground. The animal charges the opponent, impales them on its horn and repeatedly throws their body around before using Conan’s embedded sword to slice through them.
The Animality has a far larger working range than either Fatality. Once Conan is approximately Sweep Distance away, No Bull remains available across the rest of the arena, including Full Screen.
The bull is also a natural fit for Conan’s fighting identity. Rather than relying on speed or precision, the transformation centres on raw physical strength, momentum and brute-force attacks.
For the animal transformation used by every other playable fighter, see our complete Mortal Kombat 1 Animality guide.
All Conan Brutalities in Mortal Kombat 1
Conan has The Klassic and five character-specific Brutalities unlocked through Fighter Mastery. Slaughtered Serpent, Devil In Iron, Hall Of The Dead, Wound Of Doom and Mountain Of Power unlock at Mastery Ranks 1, 4, 7, 11 and 18 respectively.
Two additional Brutalities, Phoenix On The Sword and Black Tears, are available through the Seasonal Store and sit outside Fighter Mastery progression.
Conan also has a hidden victory-pose variation that works after every character-specific Brutality except Slaughtered Serpent. During his victory pose, hold Down with either Flip Stance or Block to make Conan flex his chest.
- PlayStation: ⬇️ + L2 or ⬇️ + R2
- Xbox: ⬇️ + LT or ⬇️ + RT
- Nintendo Switch: ⬇️ + ZL or ⬇️ + ZR
The Klassic
Unlock Requirement: Available by default
- PlayStation: ⬇️ + 🔺
- Xbox: ⬇️ + 🅨
- Nintendo Switch: ⬇️ + 🅧
Final Hit: Uppercut
Additional Condition: Hold Back Punch during the Final Hit.
Conan performs the traditional Mortal Kombat Uppercut, using the hilt and blade of his sword to remove the opponent’s head.
Keep Back Punch held as the Uppercut connects rather than tapping and releasing it normally.
Slaughtered Serpent
Unlock Requirement: Fighter Mastery Rank 1
- PlayStation: L1 or ⬜ + 🅧
- Xbox: LB or 🅧 + 🅐
- Nintendo Switch: L or 🅨 + 🅑
Final Hit: Trust In Steel (Back Throw)
Additional Condition: Hold Up during the Final Hit.
Slaughtered Serpent modifies Conan’s Trust In Steel Back Throw. Conan throws his sword into the air, drives a knife through the opponent’s chin and catches his falling sword before cleaving their body apart.
Begin holding Up once the Back Throw starts and maintain it through the finishing portion of the animation.
Brutality Variation: Instead of holding only Up, hold Up + Back Punch immediately after initiating the Back Throw to trigger the universal MK11-style Screen Throw Brutality.
This is an important point because both finishers begin from the same Back Throw. Holding only Up produces Slaughtered Serpent, while adding Back Punch triggers the Screen Throw branch.
Devil In Iron
Unlock Requirement: Fighter Mastery Rank 4
- PlayStation: 🔺, 🔺, ⬜ + 🅧
- Xbox: 🅨, 🅨, 🅧 + 🅐
- Nintendo Switch: 🅧, 🅧, 🅨 + 🅑
Final Hit: Cimmerian Skewer
Additional Condition: Hold Down during the Final Hit.
Devil In Iron turns Conan’s Cimmerian Skewer Kombo into a Brutality. After driving his sword through the opponent, Conan violently removes the blade before chopping their head from the body.
Complete both Back Punch attacks and the Throw input normally, then maintain Down as Cimmerian Skewer reaches its finishing hit.
Cimmerian Skewer behaves like a high command grab at the end of the Kombo, so it can miss opponents who are jumping or ducking. Make sure the opponent is standing when you attempt the finishing sequence.
Hall Of The Dead
Unlock Requirement: Fighter Mastery Rank 7
- PlayStation: ⬇️, ⬅️ + ⬜
- Xbox: ⬇️, ⬅️ + 🅧
- Nintendo Switch: ⬇️, ⬅️ + 🅨
Final Hit: Camel Counter
Additional Condition: Hold Back Punch during the Final Hit.
Hall Of The Dead requires Conan to kill the opponent with Camel Counter. Instead of attacking directly, Conan must successfully parry an incoming strike before his counterattack crushes the opponent’s head.
This makes Hall Of The Dead fundamentally different from most Brutalities because you cannot simply perform the move whenever you want. The opponent has to attack into Camel Counter for the Final Hit to occur.
Camel Counter does not catch Low or Jump attacks, so I would set the Brutality up while the opponent is standing and favour situations where a normal grounded attack is likely. Once the counter activates, hold Back Punch through the retaliatory strike.
Wound Of Doom
Unlock Requirement: Fighter Mastery Rank 11
- PlayStation: 🅧, 🔺, ⬜ + 🅧
- Xbox: 🅐, 🅨, 🅧 + 🅐
- Nintendo Switch: 🅑, 🅧, 🅨 + 🅑
Final Hit: Spellbreaker
Additional Condition: Hold Down during the Final Hit.
Wound Of Doom modifies Conan’s Spellbreaker Kombo. He forces the wounded opponent to their knees, repeatedly hacks into their neck and finally pulls their head free.
Enter Front Kick, Back Punch and Throw normally, then hold Down as the final portion of Spellbreaker connects.
The Kombo produces substantial pushback during ordinary play, but the Brutality condition is tied entirely to its Final Hit, so no special distance setup is required once the opening attack connects.
Mountain Of Power
Unlock Requirement: Fighter Mastery Rank 18
- PlayStation: ⬅️, ➡️ + 🅾️
- Xbox: ⬅️, ➡️ + 🅑
- Nintendo Switch: ⬅️, ➡️ + 🅐
Final Hit: Berserker’s March
Additional Condition: Hold Back during the Final Hit.
Mountain Of Power turns Berserker’s March into a finishing charge, with Conan ending the sequence by chopping the opponent’s head from their body.
There is a small directional transition worth remembering here. The special begins with Back, Forward, but the Brutality requires Back to be held when the attack lands.
Enter ⬅️, ➡️ + Back Kick normally, then return immediately to holding Back while Conan advances. Trying to keep Forward held after activating Berserker’s March will not satisfy the finishing condition.
Seasonal Store Brutalities
Conan has two additional Brutalities available through the Seasonal Store. Phoenix On The Sword and Black Tears sit outside his five Fighter Mastery unlocks and remain usable once acquired.
Phoenix On The Sword
Unlock Requirement: Seasonal Store
- PlayStation: 🅾️, 🔺, ⬜ + 🅧
- Xbox: 🅑, 🅨, 🅧 + 🅐
- Nintendo Switch: 🅐, 🅧, 🅨 + 🅑
Final Hit: Flesh Is Stronger
Additional Condition: Press ⬇️, ⬇️ during the Final Hit.
Phoenix On The Sword modifies Conan’s Flesh Is Stronger Kombo. Instead of throwing the opponent away normally, Conan impales them on the hilt of his sword.
Complete Back Kick, Back Punch and Throw normally, then enter the two Down inputs during the finishing portion of the Kombo.
Only two Down presses are required, so there is no benefit to repeatedly mashing the direction. Entering them deliberately once Flesh Is Stronger has connected gives you a cleaner and more reliable input.
Black Tears
Unlock Requirement: Seasonal Store
- PlayStation: ⬅️ + Hold 🅧
- Xbox: ⬅️ + Hold 🅐
- Nintendo Switch: ⬅️ + Hold 🅑
Final Hit: Destroyer’s Boot
Required Form: Fully Charged
Additional Condition: Continue holding Front Kick through the Final Hit.
Black Tears requires Conan’s fully charged Destroyer’s Boot. The powerful thrust kick tears directly through the opponent’s torso and splits their body apart.
This is not the normal Primal Knee. Front Kick has to remain held long enough for the attack to become Destroyer’s Boot, so releasing the button early gives you the wrong move and cannot trigger the Brutality.
I recommend beginning the charge while the opponent still has enough health to survive any incidental contact, then letting the fully charged kick deliver the Final Hit. Treat the charge itself as part of the Brutality setup rather than something to improvise at the last second.
Conan Fatalities, Animality, and Brutalities Video Guide
Deathmule’s Mortal Kombat 1 Conan the Barbarian showcase covers Secret Ingredient, Cleave Of Doom, No Bull and Conan’s Brutalities alongside his other finishing animations. It provides a useful visual companion for the inputs and activation conditions above, particularly Hall Of The Dead and the fully charged Black Tears.
As one of Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns’ three guest fighters, Conan sits naturally alongside Ghostface and the T-1000. All three joined through Kombat Pack 2, making our Ghostface and T-1000 finisher guides the natural next stops in the character network.
For the complete playable roster in one place, see our Mortal Kombat 1 Finisher Guide, which brings together every character guide covering Fatalities, Animalities and Brutalities.
