Overwatch 2 Kiriko guide: how to use the newest support hero
In Overwatch 2, Kiriko is the final hero to round out the starting roster in competitive play. The third Japanese character in the game, this new support brings high healing power with amazing lethality.
Kiriko is the first new support character to be added to Overwatch in almost three and a half years, so her introduction is a pretty big deal for support players. However, she was never part of the Overwatch 2 beta, so she’s brand new for Overwatch 2’s launch.
Overwatch 2 heroes are more difficult to play, and Kiriko relies on that side of the equation. It is perhaps one of the most complex and difficult supports in the game to master.
That’s fitting, too, as she shares a lot in common with Genji, one of Overwatch’s most difficult yet highly rewarding DPS heroes. In fact, the game’s developers told us that it was designed from the ground up as a support that Genji players would love to play.
But how does that possibly work for a healer? Why might she be so difficult to master and how does she fit in with other Overwatch 2 characters? Well, she has an intriguing kit that involves deliberate and well-timed execution. It will be tough in the hands of inexperienced players, but learn it and you can keep your entire team from dying to an ultimate with just one ability. Here’s what you need to know to get closer to mastery.
Overwatch 2 Kiriko
Overwatch 2 Kiriko: Story and background
There is a duality at the heart of Kiriko. The young ninja has adopted two philosophies, both from matriarchal forces in her life. Her grandmother taught her about spirituality and community, as well as her ancestral history with the Kanezaka Shrine. This connection has even given her a ghost fox to accompany her.
On the other hand, her mother is a demanding and disciplined ninja who is all about taking action and standing up for what is right. Her mother also taught Genji and Hanzo, and Kiriko trained alongside them, meaning she has a strong connection with the Shimada brothers.
However, in the present, after the downfall of the Shimada clan and the rise of other less morally criminal organizations, Kiriko converges with a group of gifted young individuals known as Yokai who are trying to protect the streets of Kanezaka.
Overwatch 2 Kiriko: Gameplay Breakdown
Kiriko is another “combat support” like Baptiste, Moira, and Zenyatta. Like these heroes, she can deal a lot of damage and in certain cases even surpass her DPS counterparts, but at the cost of healing your team.
More than other support heroes, Kiriko is all about precision and timing. She has a very high skill cap with her abilities being closer to Genji than others in her class. That’s fitting too, as Kiriko spent some time training with the cyborg ninja when he was younger.
The dev update even states that Kiriko inherited the kunai that was originally Genji’s weapon in early tests. She is fast and furious, and in the top tier she will be very powerful in the hands of players who master her, potentially propelling her to the top of the Overwatch 2 leaderboard. Expect growing pains before you get to that point, however, as she’s not as receptive and playable as most other supports.
Primary Fire: Healing Ofuda
Healing Ofuda is a powerful healing ability and is Kiriko’s primary support aspect. When she uses the ability, Kiriko throws two ofuda at once, and she has ten before she has to “reload,” meaning you can fire off five heals in one turn. However, the reset doesn’t take too long.
Think of it like Moira’s Healing Gas, except it can track your allies at long range. The healing is again interrupted when she needs to “reload”, but she also doesn’t need to recharge her healing ability like Moira does.
Tips and Tricks
- Kiriko is a decent healer for airborne heroes like Pharah and Echo, as the healer Ofuda tracks decent distances. Now you don’t have to play Mercy for your Pharah every time.
- Although they heal a lot, the Ofudas are a healing projectile, meaning they don’t heal instantly and take time to reach their target. Expect damage to come.
Secondary Fire: Kunai
Kiriko can certainly heal a lot, but she also has tremendous lethality and can finish off opponents if you have the ability to click heads. This ability to kill comes from her secondary fire, her kunai.
The kunai can be superb in the hands of a skilled player, but can also be underwhelming if you lack the mechanical skills to make the most of it. This ability can hit for increased critical damage, meaning you can compete for kills with other DPS heroes if you’re accurate. If you can’t hit heads, it deals overwhelming body shot damage, meaning you might be better healed.
Tips and Tricks
- Like Baptiste and Moira, Kiriko is a balancing act of deciding when to heal and when to attack. Go for kills, but don’t leave your tank without your massive healing power.
- Assist your DPS players in killing tanks. Tanks generally have larger heads, so dealing more damage to them should be easier.
Skill 1: Quick step
Swift Step works like a blink of an eye and is unique to Overwatch. When Kiriko activates the ability, she can teleport to another player. While some will liken this to Symmetra’s teleport, it seems to work more like a Sombra beacon… only when the beacon was another player.
Interestingly, this ability allows Kiriko to blink through walls and surfaces. Even if you can’t see your injured tank, you can reach it almost instantly. The blink distance is also generous, meaning Kiriko is perhaps one of the most mobile heroes in the game, able to appear anywhere on the battlefield in the blink of an eye.
Tips and Tricks
- Just because you can blink at an injured ally doesn’t mean you should. Blinking at someone in an unwinnable situation will only kill you as well. Show restraint and only participate in fights you can win.
- This is another way Kiriko can help support heroes in the air, as she can blink up at them and then hit the battlefield as she falls.
Ability 2: Protection Suzu
The Protection Suzu is an exceptionally powerful ability and, when timed correctly, can turn the tide of battle in an instant. This ability makes Kiriko and her allies invincible in a medium radius and cannot take damage for about a second.
Baptiste’s Immortality Field has been controversial since its release, and this ability doesn’t mitigate damage in any way. The downside here, however, is that the Protection Suzu only lasts for a very short time and has a relatively long cooldown, so you have to choose just the right moment to save yourself and your team.
Tips and Tricks
- This is an incredible ability against instant damage. It can completely negate Junkrat’s hoop, a hit with a Genji Blade, a rein charge, a Soldier Helix missile, or anything else that could kill you or a player. Just time it well, as the attacker can easily wait off the ability.
- This ability also purges debuffs like anti-heal from you and your allies.
Passive: Wall Climbing
Kiriko has learned from her training days alongside Hanzo and Genji. Spending time with the Shimada brothers means she has adopted their passivity, the ability to climb walls.
This works as you can imagine since it already exists in the game. Kiriko can scale vertical surfaces for a few seconds, unlocking new areas to access and new approaches that other heroes just can’t.
It’s also a nice narrative nod to her relationship with Genji and Hanzo.
Tips and Tricks
- Sharing this passive with Genji and Hanzo makes her a great partner for both of them. You and your DPS partner can climb to higher ground and act as a separate squad to create crossfire with the rest of your team.
Ultimate: Kitsune Rush
Kitsune Rush is a very powerful ultimate that charges your team in many different ways. It’s like a combination of multiple support ultimates… as long as your team can stay in a tight space.
When Kiriko casts the Kitsune Rush, a metaphysical road appears in a straight line in front of her (which can go up and down). It is marked by torii arches and their spiritual fox walking along them. When you and your team travel this path, everyone benefits from movement speed, attack speed, reload speed, and cooldown reduction.
That’s a lot of buffs, and makes this an exceptionally useful ability… in the right circumstances. They can only move in a straight line and are pretty much limited to the Ultimate’s range, so it’s only good if the terrain is right.
Tips and Tricks
- This is an excellent introductory ultimate. Especially when you need to break through a bottleneck, this will give you and your team an exceptionally powerful boost to conquer the space.
- Think about which DPS this is a good fit for and who benefit greatly from an increased rate of fire like Soldier, Ashe, Cassidy and others.