The VSBA: Reaper VS Noob Saibot

 

Introductions

“You cannot die until you have suffered the same way I have suffered, until you have known complete despair, and you will, I promise." - Slade Wilson”


For some death is not the end, only the start of something, much, much more grim. Their fates were thought to be sealed, instead, it brought them a new life, one where they are one with the very darkness they once opposed. Will Reaper’s Code of Violence let him crush Bi-Han or will Noob Saibot destroy Reyes in a brutal battle of Mortal Kombat. Find out in this edgy DEATH BATTLE!


Gabriel Reyes: Talon’s Black-Robed Grim Reaper from Overwatch


Noob Saibot: The Fallen Grandmaster of The Lin Kuei from Mortal Kombat

Before We Begin…

For Reaper, we will be looking at both Overwatch Games and their associated media such as trailers, comics and novels.


For Noob, we will be looking at both mainline and side Mortal Kombat games, comics, and other media. We will also be looking at Mortal Kombat 1, as the character of Bi-Han stays mostly consistent with his prior portrayals in both the Midway and NRS timelines. In the case that the verdict changes or any major additions are included upon the inclusion of The New Era we will make that as clear as possible. All things pertaining to the New Era will be marked with (NE). We will also be looking at Bi-Han’s feats from before he became Noob Saibot, across all three timelines, as his capabilities as a Wraith should be either comparable or superior to his time spent as a cyromancer. 


We have also decided not to include Smoke, from the times Noob-Smoke was a character. 


We would also like to Credit Matchup Madness's Rammatra VS Adam, Loka's Doomfist VS Sundowner, H1's Engineer VS Torbjörn and G1^2’s Scorpion VS Wolf. Also Credit to the Overwatch Wiki it was very helpful


Violence Warning!

It's a Mortal Kombat character lmao, expect blood and gore

Background

Reaper

“What is Talon, really? A means to an end. A broadsword to crack the scalpel of the unscrupulous. 

A code of violence, a domain for the Reaper.”


Born in Los Angeles, Gabriel joined law enforcement at a young age, even graduating early. In the LAPD He participated in hundreds of Violent Crime Arrests. Reyes fast-tracked his way into a detective posting, where he was able to hone his already keen sense of observation and talent for information-gathering. He came to realize that sometimes, the quieter work was essential to unravelling larger issues. However, despite all of his work in the force, the crime rate never seemed to decrease, leading him to believe that he would have to get to the source of the problem to truly destroy it. In his twenties, Reaper joined the military hoping for a change of pace. Reyes did well and became known as a Mustang, working his way up through the ranks before obtaining a senior officer's position, then veteran status, and was highly respected. He helped topple a number of authoritarian regimes but watched in dismay as mega-corporations took control and repeated the same abuses just to maximize profits. Time and again, Reyes watched as the innocent suffered while the elites escaped prosecution. Eventually, Gabriel landed himself a position in the Soldier Enhancement Program that augmented his physical capabilities. 

Reyes was still part of the Soldier Enhancement Program when the Omnic Crisis began. He helped coordinate multiple early troop movements in response to Anubis's attacks and fought fiercely against the proposal that all large urban meetings be ceded to Anubis. It was during one such committee meeting that Reyes learned that both his parents had been killed in an assault on Los Angeles. Reyes became depressed, blaming tactical decisions he'd taken part in for the loss of his parents. He continued to train with other SEP candidates, but those who knew him during could tell that Reyes had become unfocused. He remained standoffish towards his fellow candidates, as he was aware of the probable outcomes that most of them would experience


However, Reyes did end up befriending one fellow candidate—Jack Morrison, designated Soldier: 76. Despite their different backgrounds, Reyes and Morrison became fast friends, and Reyes provided Morrison with emotional support as they both endured the seemingly endless barrage of medical experimentation. Eventually, the pair were invited to join a task force created by the United Nations, Overwatch. While Reyes was not the first person to be approached to lead its strike team, he was the first person to accept, thus becoming the first person to be recruited into Overwatch. The efforts of Overwatch ended the Omnic Crisis and after some restructuring, Reyes became the leader of Blackwatch, in which he enlisted some questionable figures such as the criminal Cole Cassidy and The Scientist Moira. Over time a rift between Reyes and Morrison began to form after Reapers continued questionable actions. The conflict hit its breaking point not long after the forming of the terrorist group Talon when Reyes executed Antonio and was put on suspension. Eventually, Overwatch was destroyed and with an explosion that killed both Gabriel and Morrison, or so the world though.


Reyes barely survived the blast, and woke up to find Dr. O'Deorain standing over him. As Reyes drifted in and out of consciousness, Moira explained how she’d overloaded his body with a cocktail of experimental chemicals—an enhanced version of the substance that had first given him the ability to manipulate his form. She claimed he'd been so close to death that she was left with no other option. Reyes lay on the gurney, feeling a sense of indescribable detachment—as if his body were made of a silky molten metal that flowed between various states of matter. In one moment, he was flesh and blood; the next, he was a cluster of black smoke, aware of every molecule and yet terrified of losing command of it. Reyes was left in a state of agony, and it was now much harder for him to control his anger, but thanks to O'Deorain, he was alive. Dr. O'Deorain's procedure had amplified his powers but had significantly destabilized his ability to control them. Reaper would eventually join Talon, an organization he once fought against, his pain and anger had clouded his judgement to the point he believed that the only way to destroy the evil in this world was through Talon, Through a Code of Violence.

Noob Saibot

"A deathly shadow. In life, I was called Bi-Han."


The world of Mortal Kombat holds many unique factions and clans spread across the realms of creation. Some fight for the well-being of the realms whilst others seek to cause disarray. Amongst these groups, the clans known as the Shirai Ryu and Lin Kuei were known for their animosity against each other; this is where the tale of Bi-Han, also known as Noob Saibot, the fallen Lin Kuei warrior turned deadly wraith begins. The cryomancer was originally known as Sub-Zero, and was tasked with many different missions, being one of the clan’s most skilled and cunning assassins; the most vital of which eventually being to steal a scroll known as the Map of Elements. 


He was given this task by the Lin Kuei’s Grandmaster, who had received a request from the sorcerer Quan-Chi to steal this artifact in exchange for the extermination of the entire Shirai Ryu clan. Bi-Han was up for the task, however he hit a speed bump along the road; the Japanese ninja known as Scorpion had been given the exact same task. Sub-Zero and Scorpion faced each other in a brutal fight that resulted in Bi-Han defeating and killing the yellow-clad ninja. Bi-Han would go on to complete another set of tasks revolving around retrieving Shinnok’s amulet (unbeknownst to him) that would aid Quan-Chi in freeing the former Elder God. 


To atone for his mistakes, the Thunder God Raiden sent him to the Netherrealm to retrieve the amulet back and prevent Shinnok from being freed, which would condemn the realms to annihilation. Fortunately, Bi-Han was an exceptional fighter, able to make his way through both the Elemental Gods defending the Temple of Elements, and the demonic forces of the Netherrealm, ultimately succeeding in defeating Shinnok and delivering the amulet to Raiden. However, Raiden warned Bi-Han that his soul was tainted with evil, and that he was heading down a dark path. 


Afterwards, Bi-Han was tasked with another important mission; the assassination of the sorcerer Shang Tsung, which he was to do at the Mortal Kombat tournament. The blue-clad Cyromancer was ready to fulfill his task, until he encountered a familiar face. The ninja Scorpion has returned from the dead as a spectre of the Netherrealm and was ready to kill Bi-Han to avenge his family and clan. The two fought, and this time Scorpion came out victorious. However, no sooner would Bi-Han come back to haunt the other kombatants as a servant of the Netherrealm. He would work for the Brotherhood of Shadow, and spy on the events taking place at the invasion of Earthrealm back to his superiors. He would also secretly work for Outworld’s leader, Shao Kahn, as requested by the rulers of the Netherrealm. Noob’s efforts would prove fruitless however, as both his masters would eventually go on to be defeated. 


Without anyone to serve, Noob would attempt to build his own empire. He started by exploring the abandoned fortress of Shao Kahn to find the cyborg ninja Smoke. He decided to reactivate his nanotechnology and repair his body. With smoke by his side, he would attempt to forge a legion of assassins loyal only to him. He eventually plotted to scheme against his brother and attempted to kill him with Smoke and a clan of shadow stalkers. While he did fail, Sub-Zero decided he would not leave his beloved brother as a corrupted wraith, and would proceed to try to save him. This leads us to the final battle of Armageddon, of which Noob, alongside every other kombatant, was a participant in, leading to the timeline getting reset back to the original three games. This is where Noob’s original story ends, however, his story in the reboot goes along a pretty similar way. 


In the rebooted timeline, Bi-Han still died at the hands of Scorpion. However, he came back as Noob Saibot far sooner. He still remained a wraith, and served both Outworld and the Netherrealm. He went on to assist Quan-Chi in creating a Soulnado for Shao Kahn, but would be defeated once again by his brother, the original Sub-Zero, as well as Nightwolf. He was sucked into the massive Soulnado and was presumed dead…


However (and expect this to happen a lot in MK) Noob didn’t stay dead. He returned during the conflict with Kronika and the time merger, as one of her allies. He planned to help Kronika reset the timeline to create a new era, and fought against past rivals Scorpion and Sub-Zero, but ultimately lost, putting an end to his schemes. Despite this, Kronika was actually successful in resetting the timeline, but not before Fire God Liu Kang was able to defeat her, seizing control of the Hourglass and crafting a new era filled with peace and tranquility…


This New Era that Liu Kang crafted wouldn’t stay peaceful for long though. Liu Kang crafted new destinies for every kombatant in the series, some good, some bad. Among these new destinies was Bi-Han’s, who was actually not too dissimilar from his original portrayal. He still grew up to be a powerful Lin Kuei assassin, however, the Lin Kuei were now founded with the goal to protect Earthrealm against other threats. Bi-Han eventually grew frustrated with how Liu Kang was holding back his clan from reaching their fullest potential though, and eventually betrayed Earthrealm, opting instead to become one of its enemies. He allied himself with Shang Tsung, and fought against Kuai Liang once again, only this time, Kuai Liang held the mantle of Scorpion. 


After becoming a fugitive on the run and taking control of the Lin Kuei, attempting to transform it into something twisted and corrupt, Bi-Han would eventually come up with the idea to begin the cyber initiative; a process that the Lin Kuei ninjas would undergo to become stronger more perfected versions of themselves using cybernetic enhancements and technology. He was tired of the Lin Kuei being shackled by Liu Kang’s demands. After proper preparation and planning, Bi-Han stormed Kuai Liang and Harumi’s wedding, with fellow Lin Kuei warriors Sektor and Cyrax by his side.


While Bi-Han failed in his plan to get his revenge on Kuai Liang for being a traitor to the Lin Kuei, he gained a second opportunity to seize back power and control when a Titan version of Havik invaded Liu Kang’s timeline to spread his influence and chaos over the multiverse. During this, Bi-Han tried attacking Havik, but got captured and ended up being killed and transformed into the wraith he was in the previous timelines. As a wraith, Noob fought on Havik’s side, until Earthrealm’s warriors were able to defeat Bi-Han and restore his mind to its original state. He would go on to assist in defeating Titan Havik, but wouldn’t stay on the side of Earthrealm for long, as his greed for power and ego eventually got out of control, causing Liu Kang and Geras to put an end to his rampage.

Noob would go on to be imprisoned by Liu Kang, before Sektor eventually broke him out, with her main motivation being to find ways to revert Bi-Han to his old self. However, she was shocked to see that Noob felt enriched by the randomness and chaos infused into his soul. Noob Saibot is now formidable and lethal than ever before, and with the Lin Kuei at large, Earthrealm will never be safe.


 


Intelligence / Experience / Skill

Reaper

Reaper has a background in a variety of sectors, in which he has excelled. Starting off in Law enforcement he was a talented detective before he moved on to the military where he dismantled many corrupt governments and corporations. His talents landed him a top spot in the soldier enhancement program where he too excelled. The Omnic Crisis once again allowed him to showcase his ability by helping coordinate troops. His time in the program let him hone his skills in his preferred type of missions, small ones where stealth and strategy were key. Reyes was one of few to actually survive the SEP and afterwords he was one of the first choices to be offered the role of Overwatch’s Strike Commander. Overwatch was a global program, organized by the UN meaning his skills were some of the best on the globe. Reyes did not excel in a leadership position and when he ended up in Blackwatch, he once again could thrive. During an Operation gone south, Reyes and his team of Genji, Moira and McCasissidy managed to pave their way through the city against unending waves of Talon Soldiers, ranging from massive tanks to snipers. By the end of the mission, they had likely taken on hundreds of soldiers. After the fall of Overwatch and the “death” of Reyes, Reaper continued to excel at stealth and infiltration, abusing his new gaseous form to great success. 


Reaper’s fighting style centers around getting close but staying out of melee range, which is easier said than done. Reaper uses his Wraith Form and Shadow Step to position, and reposition himself, abusing the invulnerability of Wraith Form in particular to keep himself in that sweet spot and avoid punishment if he screws up. His kit also lends him well to flanking as the combo of Shadow Step and Death Blossom can annihilate unprepared foes.

 Noob Saibot

Bi-Han is one of the most skilled warriors in all the realms, seeing as he has fought in several tournaments of Mortal Kombat. Tournaments of Mortal Kombat are events involving top fighters from across the realms. Only the best of the best are able to compete in them, and before becoming Noob Saibot, he was the grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, a group of incredibly skilled assassins revered for their stealth. 


Bi-Han has fought with some of the best fighters in the Mortal Kombat verse. He killed Scorpion, a ninja known specifically for his blindingly fast and deadly skill. He has gone toe to toe with his brother, Kuai Liang, aka the second Sub Zero, and has even taken on several powerful and skilled Gods of the verse. Among his victories is Shinnok, an Elder God who quite literally contributed to the creation of the universe, fought in a centuries long war, and has fought Raiden in a fight that caused Earth to be plunged into centuries of darkness. Suffice to say, but the scope of Bi-Han’s competition and the scale of the fighters he’s defeated is absurd. Noob is also generally fluent in unique fighting styles and is able to effectively wield a variety of weapons (seen below). Noob is proficient in the following fighting styles: 


  • Hapkido: A very strong fighting style, Hapkido is known for its powerful, quick, and deadly strikes. It mixes long-ranged attacks with close-ranged throws to consistently keep the opponent on the defensive, from both ranges.

  • Pi Gua: Pi Gua is all about landing tricky and fast low blows, which mixed with Noob’s swift agility, allows him to get the jump on his opponent. 

  • Monkey: Also known as the Monkey Fist fighting style, this style is a Chinese martial art that utilizes ape or monkey-like movements to catch the opponent off guard.


In the New Era, Noob’s skill is much the same in regards to his prowess as a Lin Kuei warrior, but arguably even greater than before. He’s able to defeat Titan Havik, a feat far more impressive than his victory over Shinnok. Especially considering Havik’s chaotic nature has allowed him to defeat many other Titans. Titan Havik’s Chaos now flows through his veins and grants him that same fighting capability, which also adds a level of unpredictability to his fighting style, enhancing it even further. 

Equipment / Weapons

Reaper

Mask

The mask is a specialized breathing apparatus that resembles a white jack-o-lantern with narrowed red eye slits. The mask connects to Reyes's armour and has a comms. system, which can receive audio feeds, and amplify Reyes's own voice (his sinister laugh is a case in point). It is apparently customizable, able to have functions such as a HUD, a gas filter, and an omnidirectional comms system connected to a GPS

Hellfire Shotguns

This is the velocity for the Nerf gun btw


Reaper’s signature weapons are his pair of Hellfire Shotguns that he uses simultaneously. They fire at a rate of roughly once per second, have an effective range of 10 meters after which their damage falls off and hold 4 shots each. Reaper uses these weapons to great effect and doesn't even have to reload them in a traditional way instead dropping his old guns and pulling a new pair out of seemingly thin air. 

Grenade Launcher

In the original Overwatch Cinematic, Reaper is shown to have access to a grenade launcher. It seems to be capable of firing rapidly and its grenades explode on impact. The grenade launcher gives Reaper a weapon with greater range than his shotguns. There is no explained reason as to why this has not been seen since but it was likely something scrapped from his in-game moveset.


Hacking Device

Reaper possesses a hacking device that when attached to just the outside of Winston's server, would allow him to collect the data of the location of Overwatch members.

Noob Saibot

Sickle

The signature weapon of Noob during the events of MK11, he keeps it intruded in his chest. The sickle can also be duplicated to be used by Noob’s Shadow Clones. It can be used in moves such as:



Axe

A small axe included as part of Noob’s moveset in UMK3 and MKT

Scythe

The primary weapon Noob used during his appearance in MK4. It can also be thrown at enemies.

Shurikens

Noob embraced his ninja heritage and used throwing shurikens during his couple of appearances in the 3D Era. (Lin Kuei are technically Assassins but whatever). Moves involving his shurikens include:


  • Dark Assassin: Noob shoots out a barrage of shuriken, which can also be used as an assist. 

Ninja Sword

Another Ninja weapon Noob used, this time during the events of Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition. It’s a sword, what else can be said? He uses it in several of his attacks and it shares similarities with Scorpion’s Ninja Sword

Troll Hammer

A hilariously named Sledgehammer made of stone, which was paired up with Noob due to his name. It still hits fucking hard.


Kunai

A weapon Noob stole from his killer which he uses to spear his opponents towards him. Get Over Here!

Powers / Abilities

Reaper

Physiology

Reaper's body is in a state of its very cells constantly dying and regenerating. His condition leaves him in a state as close to death as physically possible, and allowing him to come back from near-death experiences, such as the explosion that led the world to believe he was dead. The Liquid Moira injected into Reyes to save him from said explosion is the source of his powers, This gives him the ability to regenerate from being disintegrated by Winston and considering Reaper himself has described this as a constant cleansing of his molecules, meaning you can argues that he can regenerate from that, his very molecules (Which are smaller than cells


Damage Passive

Since Reaper is a member of Damage Role, whenever he hits an enemy the healing they receive is reduced for 2 seconds. 


The Reaping

Reaper heals himself for 35% of the damage he deals to his opponents. It does not seem to matter the source of said damage meaning it should work for his melee attacks, shotguns, and even grenade launcher.


Wraith Form

Reaper can transform himself into a cloud of black mist. In this gaseous form, he cannot be harmed and has increased mobility. This works well in tandem with the rest of his kit and he uses it to great effect. Despite all this, it is not without flaws and he is unable to attack in this form.

Shadow Step

Reaper dissolves into mist and teleports to an area in his line of sight. While this is an excellent tool for repositioning, it has a notable startup time that leaves him vulnerable.

Death Blossom

Death Blossom is Reaper’s Ultimate ability. Reaper creates a cloud of black smoke before he begins rapidly firing his shotguns in all directions. During this ability, Reaper doesn't need to reload his weapons and even seems to fire in multiple directions almost simultaneously.

Resistances

Sleep Manipulation: Shrugged off Ana’s Sleep Dart

Potential Biological Manipulation: Given that Reaper’s Body is constantly dying, it reasons that affecting his biology would be highly difficult, if not impossible

Noob Saibot

Shadow Clones

Noob’s partner in crime, Saibot is a shadowy clone that has 25% of Noob’s health. At maximum, Noob can summon up to 9 clones, which are also shown to be semi-intangible against bullets (although, they were hurt by bullets seconds later). These clones can be turned into liquid which can be used to summon the clones inside the opponent. He is very versatile with using them, with such moves as:


Energy/Fire Manipulation

Noob Saibot is able to create projectiles out of energy and use them to fight from a distance against his opponents 


Invisibility

Finding an image for invisibility aint easy lmao


Noob Saibot is able to turn invisible in order to sneak up on unsuspecting victims and land lightning-quick blows, such as what he did to Scorpion in MK11. 

Portal Creation

Noob is capable of opening and closing portals. He can use these portals for many uses, both offensive and defensive. Noob can integrate his portals into brutal kombos, launch them at people, open multiple portals to effectively duplicate his weapons and attack from a range, close a portal to cut opponents in half, or even let gravity and two portals make them fall infinitely. He’s also able to use these effectively for mobility, even chaining multiple portals into each other


Soul Manipulation

Noob is able to manipulate souls to a certain extent. In MK9, he is seen assisting Quan-Chi with his Soulnado spell, being visibly shown to contribute the energy needed to extract the souls of the poor victims. Additionally, in MK11, he is stated to be capable of consuming souls (also stated here, likely literal). This is fairly consistent with soul-based attacks such as the Soulnado doing nothing more than empowering him after he absorbed it in his supposed death at the end of MK9. 


Fatalities/Brutalities 

The Klassic finishing move of a Mortal Kombat character, Noob has a selection of fatalities, brutalities, animalities, and more to use on his unfortunate victim.



Noob also has several brutalities featured in MK11 and MK1, which are simply based off his pre-existing special moves and combo strings:



X-Rays/Fatal Blows 

Noob’s Ultimate attacks. X-rays are performed by utilizing all 3 bars of meter, while Fatal Blows can be used when on low health. These supers involve a flashy Kombo of brutal strikes like the one seen above. Over the years, Noob has shown to be able to perform several different types of fatal blows. 


Resistances 

Soul Manipulation and Minor Transmutation: States that he lacks a Soul, survived the Soulnado, even claiming that it simply made him stronger, and is able to reside in the Netherrealm both in his human and wraith state via his corrupt heart, despite the Netherrealm having disastrous effects on the soul. The Netherrealm also technically morphs the form of a human to that of a disfigured demon. 

BFR: Is able to both teleport and create portals, allowing him to escape any sort of Battlefield Removal the opponent may attempt.


Forms

Reaper

Shigakiri

Def standard

Noob Saibot

The Batman Who Laughs

Also very standard tbh

Stats

Reaper

Overall

  • Exceeded in the LAPD, military, and Soldier Enhancement Program

  • Master of infantry and extraction

  • Was brought back from the brink of death by Moira

  • Has taken on armies and won

  • First Strike Commander of Overwatch

  • Helped end the Omnic Crisis

  • Fun as fuck to play




Power

Speed

Durability

Noob Saibot

Overall

  • Held the Original Sub-Zero mantle for years 

  • Defeated pre-Spectre Scorpion, the four Elemental Gods, Quan-Chi, and Shinnok as Sub-Zero, and as Noob Saibot defeated Kuai Liang and Goro 

  • Got The ESRB formed

  • Became the first secret character in the franchise, going on to make several more secret appearances 

  • Was restored by Quan Chi, who turned him into a Wraith

  • Successfully stole Shinnok’s Amulet

  • Served Kronika and aided her in restarting the timeline 

  • [NE] Was the Lin Kuei’s Grandmaster for years

  • [NE] Started The Cyber initiative

  • [NE] Was “Perfected” by Titan Havik

  • [NE] Defeated Titan Havik and his army of fusion fighters 

Power

Speed

Durability

Scaling


Reaper

Talon

While Reaper is by no means Talon’s strongest member, there is a way to scale him to some of its strongest members. Baptiste was able to beat Mauga in a fight (although Mauga did not want to harm him) and Mauga stalemated Doomfist. The scaling chain is not the most concrete but Reaper’s ability to match even an enraged Winston means this is at least somewhat consistent



Overwatch

Reaper has consistently held his own with some of Overwatch’s top tiers, namely Winston. Winston is likely one of if not the strongest members of Overwatch, especially while enraged. We also know characters like Tracer are not so much faster than the rest of the cast that they cannot scale as Doomfist has hit her.


Omnics

Reaper has fought against countless Omnics over the years meaning he scales to some of even their strongest members. We also see that Genji as well as Mei/Tracer are able to harm even Omnic Titans, and they should be in the same ballpark as Reyes



Other Heros

Noob Saibot

The Ninjas

As one of the primary MK Ninjas as both Sub-Zero and Noob Saibot, Bi-Han has taken on many of the ninjas in combat including Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang) and Scorpion, and thus should also be comparable to plenty of the other miscellaneous ninja kombatants present in MK’s roster


Gods

There are many Gods present in MK’s universe, the most important of which Bi-Han has actually directly fought. In Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, Bi-Han is able to fight several elemental gods. One of these includes Fujin, a God who continues to show up in future entries as he becomes a more established character. The two even fight again in MK11, and intro dialogues suggest that everything that happened in Mythologies even occurred the same way. Bi-Han also defeated Shinnok by the game’s conclusion. Given all this, it stands to reason he should get scaling to feats performed by the Gods and Debatably even The Elder Gods of the verse.



Other Kombatants

Amongst MK’s vast array of unique characters, Bi-Han is definitely one of the strongest, given his power set and abilities allow him to take on some of the stronger characters in Mortal Kombat’s hierarchy. Because of this, there’s no question he’d undoubtedly scale to some of the lower to middle-tier Kombatants in MK. 


Titans (NE)

Introduced in MK11, a Titan (also known as the Keeper of Time) is the almighty wielder of the Hourglass of one’s respective timeline. They have dominion over time and destiny, and the title is representative of the highest level of power one can achieve in the MK universe. This may have you asking how a wraith such as Noob Saibot could possibly scale to such a threat. Well.


In Mortal Kombat 1, after his death by Titan Havik’s hand, Bi-Han undergoes his transformation of becoming Noob Saibot, a being intent on spreading chaos and malice. However, he is defeated by Earthrealm’s heroes, who proceed to free him from Havik’s control. This frees the chaos from Bi-Han’s mind, restoring his original personality. After some motivation from Sektor, Bi-Han takes on Titan Havik’s forces, culminating in a battle between the disgraced defender of Earthrealm and the Cleric of Chaos, and Bi-Han emerges victorious. Considering Bi-Han’s transformation into Noob Saibot allowed him to fight, defeat, and even kill Titan Havik. 


Taking that into consideration, Noob should reasonably scale to any of the higher end feats performed by Titan variants of characters within the story, including the Keeper of Time for the main timeline after the previous one Kronika’s death, Fire God Liu Kang.


Weaknesses

Reaper

Reaper is not mentally stable, his body is in a constant state of dying and by extension, Reaper is in constant agony. This leaves Reaper constantly angry over even the smallest things. Reaper is by no means happy with how his life has ended up and grapples with what he has become, even hallucinating. While Reaper’s arsenal is deadly, it does have its flaws. Reyes is unable to attack while in his Wraith Form. Death Blossom is a commitment, if out of the way of his fury, an attacker could take advantage of it.

Noob Saibot

Bros getting freaky


Bi-Han does not necessarily have any obvious weaknesses however he is not without flaw. He often serves as a pawn and fails to realize that he is on the losing side of large conflicts. He’s also just not a range fighter and while that’s patched up by his portals, it’s still a flaw. Additionally, he doesn’t have the best track record of the MK roster, as he still has racked up a fair number of losses across his fights in the series. 

Before The Verdict

Does Reaper Scale to The Sigma Male?

Scaling Reaper to Sigma is weird. Explained above is the somewhat shaky scaling chain of Reaper → Baptiste → Mauga → Doomfist → Sigma. Beyond the aforementioned lack of context on how Baptiste beat Mauga, we don’t actually know if Doom scales to Sigma. Sure Doomfist is his superior in Talon, but that doesn’t mean he’s stronger. Sigma is insane so strength isn’t exactly required to keep him under control. This being said scaling Reaper to Sigma with his good showings against Tanks like Winston and OR-15s means it is not an unreasonable high end. 

MFTL+ Overwatch for the 1 Billionth Time


This comes up in pretty much every Overwatch blog and it centers around Tracer Blitzing Omnics (Reaper himself has a somewhat similar showing so the idea that the processing speed of Omnics is so much greater than everyone else's speed sorta lacks evidence). The feat itself is quite blatant and you could likely argue it's an outlier on the principle that it's thousands of times faster than other showings in the verse (where other characters above the Omnics consistently pull off far less impressive speed feats), but it doesn't have any real arguments against it beyond that.

The feat is fairly simple: Omnics are able to perceive a picosecond timing difference between the rhythms they play their music at. This means their perceptions would necessarily have to be MFTL+. However, this would only be important if characters were able to outspeed their perceptions. Well..

It turns out Tracer is able to do exactly that, as she is able to blink around an entire street faster than the Omnics are able to keep up. This means that Tracer must have MFTL+ reactions, and since Reaper is consistently able to keep up with Tracer and her blinks, that he would also scale to this level of speed. Your mileage may vary on whether or not this level of speed itself is consistent within the Overwatch verse, as the closest feats are able to achieve to this are around low FTL, but generally speaking, the feat and scaling to the feat should be just fine. 


When Did MK Get So Cracked?

It might be somewhat shocking at first that characters other than Titans, Elder Gods, or Shao are dishing out and scaling to cosmic feats, but The Gods like Raiden, Fujin and Shinnok are on that level and Noob has incredibly blatant and consistent scaling to them. This level of power and tiering for MK characters was relatively unheard of years ago, but over time standards have not only changed, but the overall story and narrative of MK shifted as well.

For reference, up until 2019, MK was thought to be a fairly grounded series. Sure, the series had supernatural elements as well as larger stakes at play with climaxes such as MK9’s and MKX’s, but the story usually didn’t present such a massive focus on its larger-scale threats. With MK11 however, all that changed. We were introduced to the concept of Titans, beings who were believed to be above even the Elder Gods. This idea was expanded upon even further in the game’s post-launch DLC expansion titled Aftermath, as well as in the next mainline entry, MK1. 


With the introduction of Titans, beings at the very top of the totem pole in MK’s hierarchy, the series started becoming  more cosmic in its scale. Characters would consistently mention the alternate timelines of which Titans ruled in the MK Multiverse, and eventually, characters would begin to become threats to these timelines, especially in the newest entry MK1, which makes its main conflict a Multiversal conflict having to do with alternate timelines clashing and being threatened, in more ways than one. 


Surprisingly, however, the MK series has always had a precedent for cosmic scales of power, even as far back as during the original entries. In UMK3, the main threat had to do with Shao Kahn threatening the souls of Earth and planning to merge whole realms together, something that would inherently net cosmic levels of power. Additionally, in MK Deception and MK Armageddon, we get introduced to various bits of lore that make the series inherently cosmic in scale, such as the Elder Gods’ past war against the One Being, which would have involved killing him and splitting him into the realms that make up the infrastructure of MK’s cosmology, as well as Armageddon having its main threat cause the obliteration of all realms in a possible ending. We even see through various Armageddon endings the different ways characters would use Blaze’s (the fire elemental) power to reshape and remake realms, as well as getting a preview of the context of Blaze’s destruction being absolute and including everything within the MK cosmology.

Overall, there shouldn’t be too much discourse over the reliability or consistency of MK as a franchise being able to achieve cosmic levels of power, as that level of power has been seen in the series many times prior to the newer games, with the modern entries simply reaffirming the the verse’s top dogs do indeed yield cosmic levels of power. I mean hell, Liu Kang is literally creating black holes with the snap of his fingers. I think the verse has given up being discreet about how cosmic it can really get.

Titan Scaling But Not Toxic

Titan scaling as a subject is typically met with pretty stern opposition for characters other than Titans. The conflict surrounding it hinges on the potential that any and all characters in MK11 and MK1 scale to them (which is at least somewhat implied to an extent)

Basically, what happened in MK1’s story mode is that in the third act, it is revealed that the MK timeline was splintered off into an incalculable amount, with each timeline representing a different outcome of the fight for the Hourglass. Different timelines hold different keepers of time, and the keeper of time is based on the character in particular who defeated Kronika and gained control of the Hourglass in that respective timeline. In MK1, we see Titan variants of Kitana, Kung Lao, and Raiden ally themselves with Liu Kang; essentially signifying that there exists a possible future where each of those characters is capable of fighting Kronika, killing her, and seizing control of the Hourglass. Liu Kang mentions this in story dialogue by pointing out to Kitana that in other timelines, characters such as Kano could have even become Keeper of Time. This is overtly referencing the events in the MK Legends movie Snow Blind, where Kano goes on to become Keeper of Time after defeating Kronika in his ending in MK11.

But well, what does this all mean? It essentially means that every major playable character present in MK11 should have the theoretical capability to fight and defeat a Titan. Whilst the main timeline we follow sees Liu Kang be the ultimate victor in the fight for the Hourglass, MK1 confirms that it's not the only possible outcome. The possibilities are truly endless, as any character has the strength to ultimately become a titan by the end of their story. This opens the doors to basically every major MK character being able to achieve Titan scaling, however, for the sake of this blog specifically, those arguments won’t even be necessary, as Bi-Han in the story is able to directly match and defeat a Titan, meaning any argument that this level of power would be inconsistent with his power is essentially negated. 

Verdict

Stats

Stats are pretty simple here and we will be breaking down how they measure up with and without The New Era.


Regardless of the continuity one thing that is incredibly clear is the monstrous gap in power. Reaper's high ends have him measuring up to feats in the City-Mountain range, peaking with Sigma absorbing multiple explosives and converting them to energy. This is very impressive and lets him beat out lower-end feats like Raiden’s Temple Blast, Sub Zero’s Storm, or Tremor’s Earthquakes. Where Noob has him beaten is his showings against the gods such as Shinnok. Realm Merging feats from Shinnok or Shao completely blow anything seen in Overwatch out of the water. The absolute lowest estimate realm merging can get is multi solar system level, considering the various statements that realms encompass more than just the planet, with them being more so individualized macrocosms that have their own space-time flow and are able to extend past regular solar systems, and Titan Scaling furthers this gap even more so to the point where Reaper’s Attacks go from doing negligible damage to doing effectively none. There is no reasonable interpretation of the amount of power these characters have that does not leave Noob with an enormous advantage.


To go further in-depth, there are several avenues for Noob to rank higher in power than Reaper. The Elder Gods being capable of splicing the One Being into several distinct parts, something that would require some portion of Universal AP, and Noob would scale through him matching gods such as Fujin and Shinnok. Blaze is another entity present in the MK games whom Noob would scale to, and his power can be used to remake all the realms or even create whole constellations. In terms of Titan Scaling, Titans are consistently able to perform Universal to Multiversal level feats which would utterly crush Reaper in terms of an ap comparison. Fire God Liu Kang and Shang Tsung’s initial clash in their Aftermath bout split the primary timeline into an infinite amount, Titan Scorpion threatened to burn the main timeline down to ashes, Titan Sub-Zero threatened to turn every timeline into a frozen ice age, and Titan Raiden is able to channel the energy of an infinite amount of Jinseis. Even feats as simple as Cetrion growing to the size of a planet or Liu Kang creating a black hole with a snap of his fingers would be enough to outdo Reaper in pure strength here. Strength certainly goes to Noob Saibot, and fairly easily at that. 


Speed is actually an interesting topic as Noob has two completely different ends between the continuities. Reaper should reasonably scale to Tracer blitzing Omnics which comes to over 60,000 times the speed of light. Compared to the handful of feats Noob scales to in the relativistic range, Reaper is running laps around Noob. Of course, this is disregarding possible higher ends in terms of realm sizes, which could buff the speed given for feats such as realm merging from Shinnok or realm destruction from Blaze, but in any case, it ends up not mattering once again due to the New Era, as speed is the one place where including the New Era actually has notable implications.

Through the feats the Titan versions of characters are able to perform, infinite timelines would be affected all within short timeframes, implying an infinite level of speed. For example, Havik remaking all timelines in his image and merging all of them together would necessarily need to be infinite in speed, and the same would apply to feats such as Sub-Zero freezing over all timelines, or Raiden using the Jinseis to cause an explosion that would spread throughout all timelines. Liu Kang and Shang Tsung’s clash caused infinite timelines to form, and thus their energies would need to expand at that level of speed. Lastly, characters such as Titan Shang Tsung and Titan Nitara are implied to be able to traverse the entire multiverse for the sake of their master plans anyways, meaning that at the end of the day, these TItan variants would need to have some degree of infinite speed. 


While some may ask how the attack speed of the Titan characters’ feats would scale back to them, or the other Gods, it's fairly simple, MK characters are consistently able to keep up with each other’s energy and magic based attacks. Kronika has used the Hourglass to amplify her own attacks and also used it to empower several Revenants during MK11’s story, as well as Cetrion, and Liu Kang is still able to keep up with them. Additionally, Liu Kang is able to react to Kronika’s energy attacks, and Cetrion’s elemental projectiles. Raiden and Shao also consistently trade blows and react to each other’s magic based attacks. The point essentially being that the energy used for all of these feats aren’t exactly something these characters are unable to react to, as they’re consistently shown to fight at those speeds anyways. As such, the Infinite Speed Feats from Titans turn Reaper’s advantage around and actually allows Noob to do the Blitzing.


Regardless of the inclusion of the New Era, Noob’s Power difference is several orders of magnitude higher than Reaper’s and far more oppressive. Including the New Era causes Noob to gain an infinite advantage in all stat corners and utterly dominate the trinity. Stats goes to Noob Saibot in spades. 


Arsenal and Abilities

Both characters have pretty unique and interesting arsenals. Noob’s Weapons are far more effective at melee ranges, between his sickle, hammer and more. Reaper excels in longer range weaponry, given his Hellfire Shotguns, of which he’s straight up able to summon an indefinite amount of if he needs to. He also wields a grenade launcher which could hold some value depending on who he’s fighting. Unfortunately for him, his weapons do him no good against Noob. To put it simply, the Hellfire Shotguns are not strong enough to pierce Noob, given he has no issue fighting and taking hits from opponents who can hit with the force of an infinite multiverse. I don’t think simple bullets are gonna do much to him when the gap in power is so ludicrously large to the point of being straight up incalculable. Additionally, while the Hellfire Shotguns may have some special properties in terms of their ability to decay living objects and affect the souls of its targets, Noob actually counters that effect due to his resistance to soul hax. Given Noob can survive a Soulnado, a powerful magic tornado of souls too dangerous for any mortal soul to be nearby, there’s not much reason to believe some pesky bullets would do much to him, especially given the scale these Soulnados can operate at and who exactly is creating them.

Reaper’s biggest advantage is his longevity, between his regeneration and Health Steal he’s going to be holding out in any sort of battle of attrition. Specifically, Reaper’s regeneration is able to help him regenerate from being incinerated by Winston’s Tesla Cannon.In general, what is probably the biggest question in this matchup is whether or not Noob has ways to actually get past Reaper’s utterly insane regeneration. Even with such an insane stat gap, Noob’s arsenal doesn't lend itself to that level of destruction to leave nothing left of an opponent. Most of his kills are various forms of ripping and tearing and he doesn't exactly have the ability to create massive explosions. There’s potential that certain abilities may just barely be large enough AOE to let him take out Reaper in a single hit and there is potential for a succession of attacks to let him get all of Reaper. It is hard to tell exactly how reliable of a win con this would be so it’s best to look at stuff more concrete.


Noob has access to at least some amount of Soul-related magic, while he needed help to create a full-on Soulnado with Quan Chi, that was for all of Earth's Souls, which should number at least in the Billions. Reaper is only one soul to target and should be far easier. Noob himself is actually fairly proficient in dark magic, able to utilize soul manipulation himself, albeit not as well as sorcerers such as Shang Tsung, Quan-Chi, or Shao Kahn. This is also consistent with his ability to absorb the Soulnado and use it to empower him, completely mitigating it. While Noob doesn’t usually do this in combat, he has not been in a situation where he has to kill the unkillable, but the unkillable is a minimal threat to him. He could also probably consume Reaper’s Soul but how he does this is incredibly unclear.


It is worth noting that there is technically no timeframe behind Reaper’s primary regeneration feat, meaning its a bit of a stretch to argue Reaper would be able to just magically reform himself from that level of destruction within seconds, but regardless of the potency of it, we haven’t see it do anything such as allowing him to survive full destruction of his body to the point where no traces would be left. Noob should easily be capable of replicating this effect. He has full body-scale projectiles that would be able to engulf Reaper completely and destroy him, and several of his brutalities involve either reducing his opponent to nothing using his more esoteric attacks or even using his ability to weaponize portals to skin an opponent and leave them trapped forever. BFR is a skill that Reaper hasn’t shown the capability of escaping, and it's something that would be beyond what his capabilities with teleportation are normally shown as. As an aside, despite having some vague arguments for dura bypassing that would fail against Noob, Noob has a few options of his own that Reaper has no way to defend against. Noob is able to weaken Reaper’s resources as his Ghostball attack is able to drain an opponent’s power meter, and he’s also able to disable an opponent from blocking against attacks.


This is all also setting aside the fact that generally speaking, Noob has superior versions of all of Reaper’s abilities. While Reaper is able to turn intangible via Wraith Form, and thus become impervious to damage, it usually is shown to have a limit, and Reaper is still able to get hit and consistently hurt despite having this pretty OP ability. Likewise, Noob is also able to turn intangible via liquifying his body, and his clones can alter their density to also achieve the intangibility effect, or even be altered to become more solid, and thus tougher to destroy. Another one of Reaper’s big abilities is his teleportation, which Noob also beats out in spades. Noob has more flexibility with where exactly he teleports to, can do so with portals (which he can also use for other applications, such as avoiding attacks, added mobility, or cutting off Reaper’s limbs), etc. 


Another interaction worth bringing up is Saibot. Using his clone Noob can attack from multiple angles, especially when he creates multiple of them (he can create up to nine).This is another time when the get-out-of-jail-free card that is Wraith Form helps Reaper greatly. Additionally, Reaper’s Death Blossom is a great option when Noob tries to get the jump on him with clones or even portals. However, Death Blossom isn’t impossible to work around, as Noob can solidify his clones, or even open a portal below Reaper’s feet to cut him off.

Tertiary Factors

These character’s skill sets really don’t overlap in any way that matters. Reaper's specialty is as a Soldier, utilizing firearms and tactics to flank or outmaneuver his opponents. Reaper's skill is fundamentally tied to his tactical ability as well as his aim. Noob’s skill is primarily martial arts-focused, between his various styles and weapons he is mainly a straight-on fighter. The only real overlap is their stealth and assassination capabilities where they are mostly comparable, and hold no relevant edge over each other in this debate. Noob’s skill is ultimately on a way higher scale than Reaper’s given his victory over Shinnok (also Havik ofc) who is older than the universe, but Reaper’s Tactical skill is more relevant to the range game they are playing. Noob generally speaking has seen a far wider array of opponents in his fights, and thus has far better experience fighting esoteric beings and opponents as opposed to Reaper. 

Summary

Reaper

"You can't escape death."

Advantages

  • Completely blitzes without the New Era

  • Wraith form makes him hard to hit

  • Death Blossom deals with shadow clones and teleportation

  • Regeneration and healing make him difficult to put down, but not impossible…

  • Bullet Induced Necrosis means any damage he deals will last…

  • More relevant Skill Set

  • It's in the refrigerator


Disadvantages

  • Far weaker than both versions

  • Massively outsped with New Era

  • Fairly limited kit compared to Noob

  • Many abilities leave him vulnerable

  • Less skill overall

  • …Regeneration is not potent enough to counter the infinite stat gap

  • …But cannot do any significant damage


 Noob Saibot

“Death is the coldest ice.”


Advantages

  • Demolishes in the stat trinity with The New Era

  • Far stronger in both continuities

  • Greater variety of abilities

  • Shadow Clones give him an enormous numbers advantage

  • Far more weapons

  • Could likely get past Reaper’s Regeneration with Soul or Portal shenanigans 

  • Superior skill and experience fighting unique opponents 

  • Peak design (He’s so edgy)


Disadvantages

  • Slower without New Era

  • Struggles to put Reaper down even with the stat gap

  • Skills are less relevant to the fight dynamic

  • Sexism


Reaper - (0) (Bro could not escape death)


Noob Saibot - (3) TripleCx3, Momoura, Tru

Conclusion

This ultimately comes down to the insane stat gaps at play, had Reaper been in the same league as Noob he would have had a good shot at taking him down between his Regen and Necrosis but Noob's overwhelming power gap and additional speed gap with the new era means that his options to get past Reaper’s insane longevity, is practical and reasonable. Noob takes this regardless of the inclusion of MK1, with the inclusion of MK1 simply closing the book on this match.


Looks like Reaper was the real noob in this fight 

The Winner Is Noob Saibot

Next Time

Oh the Places You'll Go

Please Message me at @triplcx3 if you are interested in joining but please note we are gonna be somewhat selective (Mainly for The Battle Cats Side) sorry!
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The VSBA: Reaper VS Noob Saibot

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