Overwatch 2: Kiriko Guide (Tips, Abilities, and More)

This article is part of a directory: Overwatch 2: Complete Guide to Heroes (And Other Tips and Tricks)

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Kiriko is the brand-new support that was dropped with Overwatch 2. Hailing from Japan, she boasts one of the most powerful kits players have seen on supports so far. She's got some incredible utility in the form of a teleport, as well as the first real cleanse option that Overwatch 2 has gotten.

Kiriko is no pushover for a support hero either. A skilled Kiriko can easily pump out damage with incredible lethality against low-health heroes. This guide will go over all of Kiriko's abilities and provide a few tips on how to maximize her effectiveness.

Kiriko's Playstyle in Overwatch 2

Kiriko has an interesting playstyle that is unlike a lot of other supports in Overwatch 2. She's quite flexible in the way she can be played as her kit really allows her to get up close to the teammates she is helping. She's not quite as aggressive as Lucio is, but she doesn't just sit in the back lines like Ana. With her teleport ability, Kiriko tends to be all over the place, helping those in need.

Kiriko tends to be the support that can really pull a player out of a bad situation, as she can teleport to the injured ally, pop a Protection Suzu on them for a brief invulnerability buff and heal them up with hopefully escaping.

Kiriko's Abilities in Overwatch 2

Healing Ofuda

Channel a burst of healing talismans that can seek targeted allies

This is Kiriko's bread-and-butter healing ability. Players can simply target an ally and fire out 5 healing talismans that grant a burst of healing to any ally hit with them.

Kunai

Thrown projectile that deals increased critical damage

Kiriko's Kunai at baseline seems pretty weak, she fires a rather slow-moving projectile at a pretty slow fire rate. Each kunai deals 40 damage to enemy heroes, with no drop-off range for damage.

It's important to note that landing a headshot/ critical damage will triple Kunai's damage to 120 instead. This is absurdly strong against lower health heroes such as damage heroes as one headshot and two body shots will spell their doom.

Swift Step

Teleport directly to an ally

Swift Step is Kiriko's only form of mobility. After a tiny channel, Kiriko will appear at the targeted ally's location. It's a rather simple yet effective ability, and really allows Kiriko to get into a fight from afar.

Protection Suzu

Throw a protective charm to make allies briefly invulnerable and cleansed of most negative effects

Protection Suzu is easily the most iconic, and most powerful part of Kiriko's kit. Throwing this out causes an ally to become invulnerable, making it perfect for saving lower-health allies that are in a bad spot. Protection Suzu also cleanses most negative debuffs, such as anti-heal, sleep, and stuns.

Alongside this, it gives a bit of healing to all allies hit with it, so saving them becomes a tad bit easier for the support heroes on her team.

Ultimate: Kitsune Rush

Summon a fox spirit that rushes forward, accelerating the movement, attack speed and cooldowns of allies that follow in its path

Kitsune Rush is Kiriko's best ability. It is arguably one of the best support ultimates in the game. Placing it down causes almost all allies to gain huge buffs as long as they step on the path set up by the Fox.

The only downside of Kitsune Rush is its rather long charge time. This means that players should look to commit when they ult as Kiriko.

Passive: Wall Climb

Jump at walls to climb up them

As a Japanese hero, Kiriko is able to climb up walls by jumping nearby them. This isn't a huge part of her kit but is useful for getting her up to higher ground where it's harder to dive on her.

Tips and Tricks for Kiriko in Overwatch 2

Be Wary of Cooldowns

Kiriko's abilities are incredibly powerful, but they come at the cost of their cooldowns. Players should ensure that they're aware of when they're burning their cooldowns as their abilities won't be up for a good while afterward.

Kunai Tricks

A general tip for aiming Kiriko's Kunai is to spam-fire them at chokes. Kiriko's Kunai is too slow firing to land reliably at long ranges, so aiming at around head level and throwing them where enemies should be can help players land nice headshots for some good poke damage.

Kiriko is able to melee right after she fires a Kunai. This helps her deal 70 damage at closer ranges which can be quite useful against heroes like Genji and Tracer. This is particularly useful against Tracer, as a headshot + melee will one-shot her.

Safety with Teleporting

Kiriko's teleport is a fantastic mobility spell, but it's also one of her only ones. Teleporting in to save an ally is a good idea in theory, but if the player isn't able to save them, it can leave them really out of position. Players should look to see if their team can follow up on their teleport before using the ability.

Healing Ofuda Efficiency

Healing Ofuda will automatically track toward an ally when it's aimed close enough to a target. This is shown by the color of the talismans. A blue talisman means the ability isn't tracking any players, while a yellow one means it has locked onto an ally and will heal them.

Healing Ofuda also has a range in which it will automatically track toward an ally. Blizzard has set it up in such a way that, if players are offered the ability to teleport to the ally, it means the player's cursors are close enough that Healing Ofuda will automatically track.

Kitsune Rush

Kitsune Rush is by far one of the most powerful abilities in Overwatch 2. It's essentially the let's go in button for Kiriko and grants everyone nearby it a huge buff to attack speed and movement speed. It's important to note that the path Kiriko makes is the path that will give allies the buff, if players leave the path created the buff will retain for a short period before running out. With this in mind, players should make sure to place Kiriko's ultimate in a path that the entire team will walk or fight upon.

The Best Kiriko Combos in Overwatch 2

Generally speaking, Kiriko doesn't have any particularly good combos in Overwatch 2. She's pretty good with almost every hero in the game, as she isn't reliant on other heroes' abilities to function well.

Ana

Ana is a great secondary support for Kiriko as she can allow Kiriko to teleport to the backline if she finds herself in trouble. Ana's Biotic Nade is also useful for Kiriko in helping her top up low-health allies.

Bastion

Bastion is a great DPS when paired with Kiriko purely for his turret formation. Turret Formation plus Kitsune Rush makes for a speedy and insanely high DPS machine that will mow down anything in its path.

Soldier 76

Soldier 76 is another great DPS when paired with Kiriko. Soldier's Tactical Visor allows him to auto-track any enemy within his vision. When paired with Kiriko's ult, Soldier's full potential is revealed.

Kiriko's Advantages and Counters in Overwatch 2

Advantages

Ana

Kiriko's Protection Suzu is one of the few abilities that counter Ana's Biotic Nade. Being able to cleanse Ana's Nade essentially nullifies one of Ana's most powerful abilities.

Reinhardt

Along a similar line, Reinhardt's Shatter is countered by Kiriko's Protection Suzu. Alongside the nerf to Reinhardt's Shatter stun duration, Shatter is significantly weaker when used against a team composition with Kiriko involved.

D.Va

D.Va is a rather large hero, and her head hitbox is massive while she's in her mech form. Kiriko can take advantage of this and chip away at her health from afar. Alongside this, Kiriko can use her Protection Suzu to completely nullify D.VA's bomb, provided she is invulnerable when it explodes.

Orisa

Like D.Va, Orisa has a large head hit box that can be taken advantage of. Kiriko can also use her Swift Step to teleport to an ally to escape Orisa's ultimate.

Widowmaker

Widowmaker is a rather unconventional counter for Kiriko. However, while Widowmaker is scoped in she's a much easier target to be headshot due to her lack of movement. Kiriko can utilize this by ducking in and out of cover while firing her Kunai where Widowmaker will peak from, which can push her off the angle she is playing.

Counters

Kiriko is a rather fragile hero, and dive heroes can take full advantage of this. With her only form of peel being her Protection Suzu, Kiriko is particularly weak to dive characters that can jump onto her and take her out before she's able to do anything. These heroes include: