The newest support hero Kiriko in Overwatch 2 has immediately found a huge number of fans after the release. We will teach you everything you need to know about Kiriko's abilities and the best ways to use them.
Kiriko is the newest support hero in Overwatch 2. Her unique abilities, the interesting backstory and her overall ninja theme makes her a well-designed character. Kiriko is in general not too difficult to play, but the path to becoming a true Kiriko pro requires a lot of practice and skill. There are, a few tips and tricks that will help a lot if you keep them in mind. In this guide, you will learn everything you need to know to get better at playing Kiriko.
Overwatch 2 Kiriko Abilities
Kiriko is not only a very reliable support hero, but can also deal a lot of damage... if you have good aim at least. Here are her different abilities and the best tips on how to use them.
Healing Ofuda
Channel a burst of 5 healing talismans that can seek targeted allies. The talismans will glow yellow if they are following an ally, and glow blue if not. If that is the case, allies can still collect the healing talismans manually. They will refill within 2 seconds after each burst and heal 13 HP per talisman.
Kunai
Kunai is one of the most famous weapons for Ninjas. In Overwatch 2, it is a thrown projectile that deals increased critical damage. The Kunai attack has 12 ammo and needs one second to reload. It deals 40 damage on the body and is incredibly deadly when hitting headshots, with 120 damage. The Kunai are incredibly precise and fly in a straight line. The difficulty about headshotting though, is that they obviously aren't as fast as a gun, so dealing headshots on a moving target is quite hard with Kiriko.
Swift Step
Kiriko can teleport herself to her team in any given situation. Especially for a supporter, it is very important to get from one place to another quickly. Other than Mercy's Guardian Angel ability, where she flies towards a targeted ally, Kiriko's Swift Step is much faster and more effective, because it allows her to teleport herself to her allies over a very long distance of 35 meters and even through walls.
Protection Suzu
Kiriko can give her teammates or herself 1 second of invulnerability and permeability, enough time to survive Junkrats ultimate, although it will be pretty hard to time. Affected allies are even cleaned of all negative effects, like freezing, sleep or Sombra's hack.
Kitsune Rush
Kiriko's ultimate ability Kitsune Rush is definitely one of the best support ultimates in the whole game, if not the best. The Spirit Kitsune will run forward and reveal a blue path. Anyone going on that path will receive 50% more movement speed, 50% increased attack speed and a 50% shorter reload time and a three-times faster cooldown for 10.5 seconds. In other words, Kiriko's ultimate makes her team about twice as powerful.
DOs And DON'Ts When Playing Kiriko
If you want to be a real pro with Kiriko, here is a list of both simple tips that'll help if you're a beginner, but also more advanced ones, that will make you seem like a top 500 player.
- Switch between Healing Ofuda and your Kunai as often as you can. When playing a support hero you should really focus on healing, but after channelling your healing talismans, they're going to need 2 seconds to restore. In that time, you can try hitting a nearby target with your Kunai.
- Always aim for the head. The Kunai deals 3x more damage on the head, so make sure to always keep your crosshair on that level.
- Predict your enemies' movement. Kirko's Kunai is not particularly fast and therefore takes a little longer to hit the opponent than a gun. To hit the enemy at long distances anyway, you should not aim directly at them, but rather in their movement direction.
- Be careful against D.Va. Playing as Kiriko, when the opponent's team has D.Va, isn't always a smart idea because she can destroy Kiriko's healing talismans with the defence matrix, just like she does with Moira's Biotic Orbs.
- Kiriko's swift step cleanses her of most negative effects and makes her invulnerable for a short moment, which can be used to dodge D.Va's Self-Destruct or Junkrat's RIP-Tire.
- Use Protection Suzu on endangered teammates. Protection Suzu not only makes your allies invulnerable but also non-physical, that means, that any form of impact attack like Reinhardt's Charge, will go right through them.
- Protection Suzu is useful if your allies are in close combat because it will slightly knock back the enemies surrounding your allies.
- Don't place the Kitsune Rush in front of larger objects like cars, because they will block it.
- Only use Kitsune Rush when most of your teammates, or ideally all of them, are present.
Hopefully this guide will be helpful for you. Kiriko is one of the harder heroes to learn, but if you practice enough and follow our tips, you will soon be a pro.
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