Key Highlights:
- Complete guide covering Geras’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, final-hit conditions, hidden variations, and Seasonal Store Brutalities. Features mastery tips, platform controls, and video guide.
Quick Links:
As Sentinel of the Hourglass, Geras is the immortal guardian responsible for protecting Liu Kang’s New Era. He retains memories of the countless timelines he witnessed before being reconstructed by Liu Kang and fights using time manipulation, the Sands of Time, and immense physical strength.
Geras has two character-specific Fatalities, the Hippo-Kritical Animality, The Klassic, five Brutalities unlocked through Fighter Mastery and two additional post-launch Brutalities. This Mortal Kombat 1 guide covers every current finisher along with its inputs, working distances, Final Hits and execution conditions.
How to Perform Geras’s First Fatality in MK1 (Sandstorm)
Input Distance: Jump Distance to Full Screen
Execution Difficulty: Easy
- PlayStation: ➡️⬇️⬇️🅾️
- Xbox: ➡️⬇️⬇️🅑
- Nintendo Switch: ➡️⬇️⬇️🅐
Geras creates a violent sand vortex around himself and his opponent. The spinning sand tears through the victim before Geras finishes the Fatality by smashing what remains of their body into the ground.
Sandstorm is often given a generic Mid distance in simpler movelists, but I played and found it has a broader working range from Jump Distance through to Full Screen.
From testing out the fatality myself, I found there is very little reason to crowd the opponent for Sandstorm. Backing up to at least Jump Distance gives the Fatality a large execution window and removes most of the positioning guesswork.
How to Perform Geras’s Second Fatality in MK1 (Temporal Execution)
Input Distance: Close to Sweep Distance
Execution Difficulty: Easy
- PlayStation: ⬇️➡️⬅️⬜
- Xbox: ⬇️➡️⬅️🅧
- Nintendo Switch: ⬇️➡️⬅️🅨
Geras opens a temporal portal and pulls another version of his opponent’s severed head and spine into the present. He uses it as a weapon before the Fatality folds back through time, with another Geras completing the same grisly sequence.
Temporal Execution is usually labelled as a Close Fatality, although its current working window extends out to Sweep Distance.
The time-loop presentation is more than visual decoration. The severed remains introduced earlier in the Fatality are effectively produced by the execution that follows, turning the animation into a self-contained temporal loop that fits Geras’s control over time.
Important: Geras 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 Geras and can be performed by other playable fighters.
How to Perform Geras’s Animality in MK1 (Hippo-Kritical)
Input Distance: Sweep Distance to Full Screen
Execution Difficulty: Easy
- PlayStation: ⬅️➡️⬇️➡️
- Xbox: ⬅️➡️⬇️➡️
- Nintendo Switch: ⬅️➡️⬇️➡️
Geras disappears into the sand and transforms into a hippopotamus. He charges at his opponent, catches them in his mouth and crushes the victim before their severed head is expelled as the animal roars.
Hippo-Kritical works from Sweep Distance through to Full Screen, giving Geras another finisher with a much wider activation range than the generic Mid label found in some move lists.
Unlike many returning Mortal Kombat fighters, Geras does not have a classic Animality to recreate. He debuted in Mortal Kombat 11, long after Animalities disappeared from the main series, making Hippo-Kritical his first Animality.
For the animal transformation used by every other playable fighter, see our complete Mortal Kombat 1 Animality guide.
All Geras Brutalities in Mortal Kombat 1
Geras has The Klassic and five character-specific Brutalities unlocked through Fighter Mastery. From Another Time, Time Will Tell, Sand Of Time, Just Rip It Off and Unstoppable Force unlock at Mastery Ranks 3, 5, 7, 10 and 15 respectively.
Right On Through and Time Warp were added later, bringing Geras to eight currently usable Brutalities when The Klassic is included.
The Klassic
Unlock Requirement: Available by default
- PlayStation: ⬇️ + 🔺
- Xbox: ⬇️ + 🅨
- Nintendo Switch: ⬇️ + 🅧
Final Hit: Uppercut
Additional Condition: Hold Back Punch during the Final Hit.
Geras performs an Uppercut coated in sand, removing his opponent’s head with the spine still attached.
The Klassic is available without progressing through Fighter Mastery and uses the standard universal Uppercut requirement.
From Another Time
Unlock Requirement: Fighter Mastery Rank 3
- PlayStation: L1 or ⬜ + 🅧
- Xbox: LB or 🅧 + 🅐
- Nintendo Switch: L or 🅨 + 🅑
Final Hit: Outside Help (Back Throw)
Additional Condition: Press Down, Down, Down immediately after initiating the Back Throw.
Geras opens a portal during his Back Throw and retrieves Shao Kahn’s Wrath Hammer from another timeline. He repeatedly strikes the opponent with the weapon until their head is destroyed. The animation deliberately echoes Shao Kahn’s treatment of Geras in Mortal Kombat 11.
Timing matters more than speed once the animation is underway. Start pressing Down immediately after initiating the throw rather than waiting for Geras to open the portal.
Brutality Variation: Instead of pressing Down three times, hold Up + Back Punch immediately after initiating the Back Throw to trigger the universal MK11-style Screen Throw Brutality. The opponent is hurled towards the camera and cracks the screen.
Because both Brutalities originate from Geras’s Back Throw, the follow-up input determines which finisher activates.
Time Will Tell
Unlock Requirement: Fighter Mastery Rank 5
- PlayStation: ⬇️⬅️🔺 or ⬇️➡️🔺
- Xbox: ⬇️⬅️🅨 or ⬇️➡️🅨
- Nintendo Switch: ⬇️⬅️🅧 or ⬇️➡️🅧
Final Hit: History Lesson or Follow-Up Exam
Required Position: Geras must be in the corner.
Additional Condition: Hold Back Kick during the Final Hit. The command grab must throw the opponent away from the corner.
Geras uses History Lesson or Follow-Up Exam to throw the opponent towards the centre of the arena. He kicks their head against the stone wall before a second impact destroys it.
The corner requirement is more specific than simply standing near the edge of the stage. Geras must use whichever command grab sends his opponent away from the corner, not deeper into it.
I found the easiest way to think about Time Will Tell is to ignore which command grab you normally prefer and focus on the direction the opponent will travel. If the grab would push them further into the corner, use the opposite version and continue holding Back Kick through the finishing animation.
Sand Of Time
Unlock Requirement: Fighter Mastery Rank 7
- PlayStation: ⬜, 🔺, 🔺, L1 or ⬜ + 🅧
- Xbox: 🅧, 🅨, 🅨, LB or 🅧 + 🅐
- Nintendo Switch: 🅨, 🅧, 🅧, L or 🅨 + 🅑
Final Hit: Shattered Sands
Additional Condition: Press Forward, Forward, Forward during the Final Hit.
Geras completes Shattered Sands and holds his opponent in front of a representation of the Hourglass. The victim is reduced to sand and absorbed into it.
NOTE: Shattered Sands switches sides before the finishing throw. The required Forward, Forward, Forward is therefore based on Geras’s new facing direction after he turns around, not the direction that was Forward when the Kombo began.
For example, if Geras begins on the left side of the screen facing right, the Kombo eventually places him on the opposite side. What began as the Back direction on your controller becomes Forward for the Brutality input.
I found the most reliable approach is to wait for Geras to switch sides and begin the finishing portion of Shattered Sands, then tap towards the direction he is now facing three times. Trying to memorise a fixed left or right input makes this Brutality unnecessarily confusing.
Just Rip It Off
Unlock Requirement: Fighter Mastery Rank 10
- PlayStation: ⬇️➡️🅾️
- Xbox: ⬇️➡️🅑
- Nintendo Switch: ⬇️➡️🅐
Final Hit: Sandstorm
Additional Condition: Hold Down during the Final Hit.
Geras catches the opponent inside Sandstorm, with the rotating sand stripping the flesh from their body until only the skeleton remains.
Just Rip It Off has a useful execution advantage that simpler Brutality lists often omit. The regular, Close and Far versions of Sandstorm can all trigger the Brutality, provided the attack delivers the Final Hit and Down is held.
That means changing the special move’s placement to catch the opponent does not lock Geras out of the finisher.
Unstoppable Force
Unlock Requirement: Fighter Mastery Rank 15
PlayStation: ➡️ + ⬜, 🔺, L1 or ⬜ + 🅧
Xbox: ➡️ + 🅧, 🅨, LB or 🅧 + 🅐
Nintendo Switch: ➡️ + 🅨, 🅧, L or 🅨 + 🅑
Final Hit: Slab Returnal
Additional Condition: Hold Forward during the Final Hit.
Geras completes Slab Returnal and drives the opponent through his summoned stone wall, destroying their body on impact.
Unstoppable Force does not require a particular distance, corner position or meter resource. Enter the Kombo normally and continue holding Forward once the Throw input has been registered.
Geras Seasonal Store Brutalities
Geras received two additional Brutalities after his original Fighter Mastery set. Right On Through and Time Warp are separate from the five Mastery unlocks and appear in the current finisher inventory.
Right On Through
Unlock Requirement: Seasonal Store
- PlayStation: ⬇️⬅️🔺 or ⬇️➡️🔺
- Xbox: ⬇️⬅️🅨 or ⬇️➡️🅨
- Nintendo Switch: ⬇️⬅️🅧 or ⬇️➡️🅧
Final Hit: History Lesson or Follow-Up Exam
Required Position: Geras must not be in the corner.
Additional Condition: Hold Front Punch during the Final Hit.
Geras performs History Lesson or Follow-Up Exam before the lariat portion of the command grab destroys the opponent’s upper body.
Right On Through is essentially the positional opposite of Time Will Tell. Time Will Tell requires Geras to use the command-grab family from the corner, while Right On Through cannot activate while Geras is cornered.
That creates an unusual pair of Brutalities from the same two special moves. In the corner, hold Back Kick and throw the opponent towards centre for Time Will Tell. Outside the corner, hold Front Punch for Right On Through.
I found treating them as one combined command-grab system is considerably easier than memorising them as unrelated Brutalities: corner equals Time Will Tell, open stage equals Right On Through.
Time Warp
Unlock Requirement: Seasonal Store
- PlayStation: ⬅️➡️⬜
- Xbox: ⬅️➡️🅧
- Nintendo Switch: ⬅️➡️🅨
Final Hit: Time Stop
Additional Condition: Hold Forward during the Final Hit.
Geras catches his opponent with Time Stop and reduces their body to sand. He then snaps his fingers, causing the remaining figure to collapse into dust.
Time Warp uses the regular Time Stop special move and does not add the corner positioning or multi-input timing found in several of Geras’s Fighter Mastery Brutalities.
Enter Back, Forward + Front Punch and continue holding Forward as Time Stop delivers the Final Hit.
Geras Fatalities, Animality, and Brutalities Video Guide
CJR Gaming’s current Mortal Kombat 1 Definitive Edition Geras showcase includes The Klassic, all seven character-specific Brutalities, both Fatalities, Hippo-Kritical and the universal Seasonal Fatalities.
The video is particularly useful for seeing the directional change during Sand Of Time and comparing the different positioning requirements of Time Will Tell and Right On Through.
In Mortal Kombat 1’s New Era, Geras serves as the immortal guardian of Liu Kang’s timeline, while Shang Tsung becomes directly connected to the threats that Geras is tasked with containing. You can explore our Liu Kang and Shang Tsung finisher guides for their Fatalities, Animalities, and Brutalities.
