Mortal Kombat 11 - Best Methods to Get Soul Fragments, Hearts and Skeleton Keys

There are three items in Mortal Kombat 11 that are essential for opening hidden areas of the krypt and unlocking the best loot boxes. They are Soul Fragments, Hearts and Skeleton Keys. This guide explains the best ways to get all three.

I have described the three currencies in this order for a particular reason. Soul Fragments should be the easiest currency to find out of the three whilst Skeleton Keys are an extremely rare reward that's seen infrequently.

Let's start by focusing on Soul Fragments.

Soul Fragments

Soul Fragments are the green circular items with a skull on the front. They are essential for opening the many Soul chests (Soul Vaults) in the Krypt. These chests have a glowing green colour to match the green of the actual currency. They typically cost 100 Souls to open, but some can be as much as 2000 and there's even a 10,000 chest.

Soul Fragments lie in between Koins and Hearts in the "rarity hierarchy", providing moderate rewards from their associated chests. Souls are easier to obtain than Hearts but harder to collect than Koins in MK11.

Best ways to get Soul Fragments

Soul Fragments come from a variety of sources:

Performance Rewards after fight - scales depending on points earned, typically 10 Souls per win.
Augment Bonus Rewards after fight - using particular Augments attached to your characters gear during a fight. Remember to Kustomize your character pre-fight and attach available Augments to your gear slots.
Konsumable Rewards after fight - using Tower Konsumables during a Tower fight can grant rewards afterwards.
Clearing debris and opening new areas of the Krypt - using Ermac's Amulet, hitting gongs or just opening gates will reward a small dose of Souls.
Daily Rewards - open the Kombat Kard section from the main menu and check the daily challenges. These can reward Koins (10K) and Souls (50+) and must be manually claimed.
Complete the puzzle in The Sacrifice area of the Krypt - rewards 500 Souls.
Random reward from chests - chests have a chance to reward a small number of Souls (5-10).
Completing Towers - check the rewards on offer first.

Let the CPU do the hard work

If you're feeling lazy and simply want to grind Souls with no effort except pressing the odd button every 5 mins then choose a Klassic Tower mode, Survivor or Endless, and let the CPU play for you on Very Easy difficulty. Liu Kang seems to be a good CPU fighter and you'll earn 10 Souls every 2-3 mins, possibly more if you pop a Tower Konsumable. It's possible to leave your console on in the background, watch TV and press the button once every 2-3 mins and come back later to check your progress. Not exciting but reduces the grinding feel slightly.

Hearts

Hearts are the red currency icon that's used to open Heart chests in the Krypt. These chests have a glowing red head on top that must be smashed off using the hammer first. Heart chests cost either 100 or 250 and offer several high level rewards inside.

Best methods to get Hearts

There aren't any shortcuts to earn Hearts quickly but these methods are the most consistent:

Perform Brutalities and Fatalities during fights - 1-2 Hearts per match.
Pull down hanging bodies in the Krypt using Scorpion's Spear - 1-2 Hearts per body.
Tower rewards - check the rewards offered for each Tower, both Klassic and Towers of Time.
Use Tarkatan Cannibal's Blade Konsumable in Tower mode - Heart rewards are doubled. Applies to whole Tower.
Use Heart of Argus Konsumable in Tower mode - bonus rewards for each Brutality. Applies to whole Tower.
Open Krypt chests - chance to earn 5-15 Hearts

Let the CPU do the hard work

As mentioned above, if the grind feels too much then let the CPU play for you. Go for an Endless or Survivor Tower and press the controller button every 2-3 mins to progress to the next fight. Combine this with a good Konsumable for double Heart rewards and you can in theory let the CPU perform fatalities after each match while you watch TV, read a book or do something else.

Skeleton Keys

Skeleton Keys are one of the rarest items in the game and sadly one of the items you wish you had more of. Many of the locked doors (gates) in the Krypt require Skeleton Keys to open. There are at least 10 of these doors (that I've seen so far), both above and below ground. Some doors simply lead to Soul or Heart chests but others open new areas to the Kytinn Hive, Raiden's Door and even Reptiles secret statue.

Best methods to get Skeleton Keys

There is only one way to get Skeleton Keys and that's via RnG inside the Krypt. You must open as many chests (of differing varieties) and use the Shrine in an attempt to earn Skeleton Keys. There is just no other way! Unlike Souls and Hearts you can't let the CPU win Skeleton Keys for you.

Konsumables can help

You can decrease the pain slightly by using some of the Krypt Key Item consumables. These include:

Ash of the Red Dragon - summons a meteor to hit the ground which sometimes contain important items when smashed.
Sindel's Wedding Ring - reduces the cost of opening chests for about 60 seconds (although it only halves the cost).
Kia's Spiked Club - increases rewards from smashing jars and other objects in the Krypt.
Scavenger's Lock Pick - open a chest without spending any money.
Kronosphere - refills some chests for free.
Mystery Bundle - generate free random loot when consumed.
Naknadan Charm - increase the chance of earning valuable items from the Shrine.