Following copious amounts of teasers and leaks, Overwatch 2’s new hero Kiriko has been officially revealed during Xbox’s showcase at the Tokyo Game Show. In Kiriko’s reveal trailer, her extremely varied and dynamic kit is put on show, which includes teleporting, throwable knives not too dissimilar to those flung around by Jett in Valorant, and a fox spirit animal.
With all of this utility, Kiriko is of course going to be a support hero (finally) and will be available from the very start on the Overwatch 2 release date. As was revealed earlier this month by Blizzard, new heroes like Kiriko will be unlockable by progressing through the free track of that season’s battle pass.
While the trailer merely shows Kiriko’s abilities in action, Dot Esports has the lowdown on what her kit actually does in-game.
Her primary fire (Healing Ofuda) heals a targeted ally, but the projectiles are slow-moving, so it’ll require some exquisite timing and foresight for them to be useful in the heat of battle. Here secondary firs (Kunai) is her more offensive ability, and these are the knives that she throws at enemies to inflict damage (any Jett mains in Valorant should get along well with these).
Her movement ability Swift Step allows her to target an ally and teleport straight to them to start dishing out these heals – and no, you don’t need a direct line of sight, you can teleport through walls.
Protection Suzu is her main healing ability, and it sounds extremely strong. Kiriko throws a bell onto the ground, and any allies within its radius will provide some brief immortality and clear them of any debuffs.
Finally, her ultimate, called Kitsune Rush, sees her adorable fox companion forge a path in front of her that dishes out a whole host of buffs to teammates that travel along it.
These buffs apparently include movement seed, reload speed, and cooldown reductions.
That’s an extremely powerful and varied kit, and on paper at least, Kiriko is looking like one of the best Overwatch 2 heroes to use at launch if you’re a support player.