Killer Instinct's Newest Fighter Isn't Cinder, She's Returning Character Maya

The dagger-wielding, Amazonian princess Maya is returning to Killer Instinct, developers Microsoft and Iron Galaxy announced during their Evolution Championship Series 2014 panel in Las Vegas.

They went on to explain that Maya's fighting style will be a high-risk, high-reward one centered around a pair of daggers--dubbed Temperance and Vengeance--which she can use as projectiles and "juggle off of her opponent's face."

Maya's daggers will level up as she lands consecutive hits, and when they reach max level they will become an unblockable bouncing projectile. Reaching this point will be tricky, however, as Maya can also lose one or both of her daggers if she misses her opponent--thus resetting the dagger's level. Maya's punch buttons are tied to different dagger commands, and when she loses a dagger the corresponding punch button becomes the equivalent kick button instead.

Maya's announcement flies in the face of rumors that Cinder would be the next addition to Killer Instinct's roster after a brief teaser was shown at the end of TJ Combo's announcement trailer.

New character announcements aside, Microsoft and Iron Galaxy also teased several new changes coming in season two of Killer Instinct. Among those are updates to the game's jailing system, such as improved stat tracking and a system that only penalizes the disconnecting player, as well as air counter breakers to further enhance the game's combo system.

Killer Instinct was released exclusively for the Xbox One last year, and recently underwent a developer swap from Double Helix to Iron Galaxy, the details of which you can read about in our recent TJ Combo feature.