Overwatch 2 Kiriko guide: Abilities & how to play

Joseph Pascoulis
Overwatch 2 Kiriko

Overwatch 2 Season 1 has dropped with a brand-new Support hero called Kiriko. This new hero offers a unique playstyle that will take some practice. With that said, let’s get into all of Kiriko’s abilities and the top tips on how to play her.

Overwatch 2 has arrived on October 4 for all platforms to enjoy, bringing new maps, a new mode, and a change of pace with 5v5 gameplay, while still allowing players to keep their skins from OW1.

As well as all this, Blizzard Entertainment have also decided to introduce three new characters to the game, Junker Queen, Sojourn, and the Season 1 hero, Kiriko.

Support heroes are extremely important for team composition in Overwatch, and Kiriko’s abilities offer a unique support playstyle that caters to healers who also like to be aggressive and play DPS characters.

For those interested, here are all of Kiriko’s abilities and how to play the hero effectively in Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2 Kiriko abilities

  • Primary fire: Healing Ofuda
    • Kiriko channels a burst of healing talismans that seek targeted allies.
  • Secondary fire: Kunai
    • A sharp projectile that deals increased critical damage (40-120 body/headshot damage).
  • Passive ability: Wall Climb
    • Kiriko is able to climb walls after jumping at them.
  • Ability 1: Swift Step (7 second cooldown)
    • Teleport directly to an ally, even through walls.
  • Ability 2: Protection Suzu (14 second cooldown)
    • An arcing projectile that upon impact causes allies to become briefly invulnerable while also cleansing most negative effects.
  • Ultimate ability: Kitsune Rush
    • Kiriko summons a fox spirit that runs forward, leaving a path that provides accelerated movement, attack speed, and ally cooldowns for those in the area of effect.

How to play Kiriko in Overwatch 2: Top tips

Kiriko is a more aggressive Support hero in Blizzard‘s Overwatch 2 that requires great aim and focus, switching between doing damage with her Kunais, while also healing her teammates with the Healing Ofuda.

Aim for headshots when using her Kunai Secondary fire, as these are absolutely vital if you want to help your teammates out when it comes to damage. They do extra critical hit damage.

When healing teammates, you have access to 10 Healing Ofuda cards, which can be used all at once or sparingly. We advise changing the default behavior of this Primary fire. You can change it from toggle to hold, which makes it much easier to choose how many you want to send out.

Combining her Healing Ofuda with the Spirit Step can save an ally’s life, even allowing Kiriko to pass through walls in order to get to her teammate. While playing Kiriko, keep an eye on your teammate’s health and positioning, as you may need to step in, literally.

The Spirit Step actually causes Kiriko to become invulnerable to damage for a short period of time during its animation, meaning it can be timed and used to prevent damage from various abilities such as DVa’s Self Destruct.

Further, you can also throw your Protection Suzu for even more team support in sticky situations like choke fights, as it will allow Kiriko’s allies to become invulnerable for a short period of time and alleviate negative effects like Road Hog’s Chain Hook.

The key part of Kiriko’s kit is her Ultimate ability, Kitsune Rush, which can shift the momentum of a fight and allow you and your team to win important battles. For everyone in its area of effect, Kitsune Rush will accelerate cool-down times, rate of attack, and movement speed, which is extremely powerful when making a push for an objective.

It’s important to keep in mind that Kitsune Rush is a straight path and its buffs are only applied to those who are on the path and on the ground.


For more on Overwatch 2, check out how to get the exclusive Twitch Drops cosmetics for the game.

Image Credits: Blizzard Entertainment

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About The Author

After graduating from the University of Southampton, Joseph joined CharlieIntel as a Games Writer after a short stint of freelance journalism. He enjoys most genres of games and will play anything that sparks his interest, but his expertise lies within the FPS category. If Joey isn't writing about games, then he's most likely playing them. You can contact Joseph at [email protected]