The eight clans of Ink Clans

A clan is the side you lead: the look of your fighters, their twelve names, the three finishers they can use when they capture, the ultimate a crowned fighter unlocks and the way they go down when they lose a fight. It is not a different set of rules.

By Leonel Meque · Updated 7 October 2026

Clans and sides

Every match has two sides: one starts at the bottom of the board and always moves first, the other starts at the top. The HUD names each side by its clan, with a row of hearts for the fighters it has left.

Against the computer you always play the bottom side, so you always move first, and the computer is given a random clan different from yours. In pass and play, two people share a device and must pick two different clans. In an online match the host picks a clan and moves first, and the guest picks a different clan when taking the free seat.

The clan has no effect on the checkers. A Sumo man steps and jumps exactly like a Ninja man, every clan crowns on the same row, and the computer opponent does not play differently against any of them. The rule set you choose decides how the game plays; the clan decides what it looks and sounds like. The rules guide covers the five rule sets.

What happens when you capture

Each capture becomes a short fight between the two fighters involved. In a full-length fight the camera swoops in, a VS card appears, and the two trade two or three quick exchanges of jabs and crosses. The attacker throws most of them, but the defender gets a few in, and either side can land a hit, block or dodge; each fighter has three hearts in the fight HUD. None of it matters to the result. The attacker always wins, because on the board the capture has already happened. Then comes the finisher, and the defender is knocked out in their own clan's style.

Nearby fighters from both sides turn to watch and cheer while a fight is on. In a capture chain the fighter turns toward the next jump under a COMBO x2! word, and the count goes up with every jump.

How a finisher is picked

Each clan has three finishers. The Finisher choice setting decides who picks. With Surprise me, the default, the game picks one of the three at random for you. With Ask me, a chooser appears on each capture showing every option with its one-line description. The computer always picks at random.

A fighter that reaches the far row is crowned and becomes a master, with a gold crown, a cape in the clan colour and longer headband tails. Masters move both ways and add the clan's ultimate to their options, marked with a star in the chooser. On Surprise me, a master picks the ultimate 60% of the time. Before an ultimate, a full-screen card shows its name and the fighter's title, for example "Kage, Ninja master".

The Fight length setting changes how much of this you see. Full plays everything. Short drops the VS card and cuts the warm-up to a single exchange. Off replaces the fight with a quick one-punch knockout, a sensible choice for a long International game. Speed up, during a fight, plays it at four times the speed.

Knockouts and highlights

The knockout belongs to the losing fighter's clan. Ninjas splat into ink, Karatekas, Storm Ninjas and Nak Muay crumple into paper balls, Sumo are pressed flat and float away, Samurai are torn to scraps, Monks fold into paper airplanes and Capoeiristas pop into confetti. Every knockout makes nearby fighters stagger; the bigger finishers throw the defender further and widen that stagger.

When a match ends with fights on and nobody forfeited, the best capture of the game is replayed at reduced speed under a Replay stamp. Captures score higher when they are part of a chain, when they take down a crowned fighter and above all when they are an ultimate, so a master who takes a king in the middle of a combo is a strong candidate for the replay.

The eight clans

Each page below describes what the clan looks like, what every finisher and the ultimate actually do on screen, how its fighters are knocked out, and how the clan plays in badminton, where clans do have different powers.

• Ninjas: Silent, quick, never where you expect.
• Karatekas: Clean technique and big kicks.
• Sumo: Heavy, unstoppable, shakes the whole board.
• Samurai: Paper armor and a brush-stroke blade.
• Storm Ninjas: Spiky-haired lightning kids in purple gi.
• Monks: Shaolin-style kung fu monks with a bo staff.
• Nak Muay: Muay Thai fighters: knees, elbows and clinches.
• Capoeiristas: Acrobatic Brazilian fighters who kick like they dance.

Play Ink Clans