Kung Lao was part of Mortal Kombat 11's 25 character starting lineup, and was available to play upon the game's release back on April 23, 2019.
The Shaolin monk first joined the fray back in Mortal Kombat 2 in late 1993, and has been a series regular ever since.
He is revenant in Mortal Kombat 11, meaning he looks essentially undead his standard appearance. His skin is gray and cracked, his eyes are glowing red gems, and his armor is primarily black and grey with some dark red highlights. He still wears is trademark hat, which has jagged, buzzsaw blades around the brim in this instance.
Kung Lao is a rush down character, through and through. He fires off flurries of rapid hits in his strings, which tends to make opponents clam up and block a lot. As such, he benefits off of performing many throws as a natural counter. His Z-Hat special is great for controlling space and can be amplified to be plus on block. His Spiritual Guidance special gives him meterless combo extensions that make getting hit even scarier for foes. One of his biggest advantages, however, is simply in his forward jump 3, which has an amazing hitbox relative to the rest of the cast and allows for combo on hit.
Despite being known for throwing his hat, Kung Lao has fairly weak zoning. He really wants to be up in your face in Mortal Kombat 11, and when he's not, he's usually losing. This means zoning characters who can get the upper hand on Kung have a real advantage.
Kung Lao is a fairly strong option in MK11 and is usually occupies a mid-high position on tier lists. He doesn't have a ton in the way of unique rush down, but he's one of the better characters who approach the fight in this way. You might see him ranked in the middle of tier charts, but often he'll float up to around the top 15 area.
Kung Lao is for players who want to go crazy on opponents with tons of rapid fire strikes and juggles for days. He turns up the offense to 11, which is extremely fun, but you'll need to have some tact in your approach as he cools off quickly when foes manage to gain some distance.
