Overwatch 2's Kiriko: Everything We Know About The New Support Hero

Although the long-anticipated "Overwatch 2" has been in beta for some time, it is finally releasing on October 4 and will be free to everyone. Accompanying the official launch of "Overwatch 2" is a Season 1 battle pass, a new map, and new characters. Hype for the latest new character reveal has been building for some time, especially after players spotted a mysterious blue fox in a trailer back in July.

Blizzard has finally confirmed that a support ninja named Kiriko will become the newest "Overwatch 2" roster member. And according to developer Kyungseo Min during a round table interview (per Polygon), Kiriko is a support tailor-made for Genji players, sharing similar movements and attacks. And that's no accident: As GameSpot notes, she was born to a powerful ninja mother and spent most of her youth alongside the Shimada brothers. However, players will need to wait until Kiriko's own dedicated animated trailer gets released to learn more about the specifics of her background. 

After the character reveal gameplay trailer was released, Blizzard put out a bit more pertinent information on Kiriko's playstyle, abilities, and how players can unlock them. Here's everything we know about Kiriko, the new support hero coming to "Overwatch 2."

According to a recent Blizzard update blog, anyone who purchased "Overwatch" before June 23 will immediately gain access to Kiriko via the Founder's Pack. To redeem the Founder's Pack, players must simply log onto "Overwatch 2" after it releases on October 4 on the same Battle.net account that holds their copy of "Overwatch" — before the promotion expires at the end of Season 2. 

Non-"Overwatch" owners can also get Kiriko immediately upon release, but doing so comes at a price. Anyone who buys the premium battle pass will gain access to Kiriko from the jump. Free-to-play gamers, however, will need to level up their free battle pass up to level 55 to unlock Kiriko, which is a mechanic that not all players have been too happy about. 

It's worth noting that Kiriko will not become available in competitive mode for two weeks following her release, which will allow the developers time to make any necessary balance changes.

Kiriko is a battle support, meaning she focuses on both healing and damage. Kiriko's multifaced role is best exemplified by her primary and secondary attacks. Kiriko's primary fire, Healing Ofuda, launches five slow-moving projectiles that hone in on allies, healing them when they make contact. Because of the slow speed of this ability, players will need to be on the front lines to be the most effective. Kiriko's secondary fire, Kunai, is a damaging ability that will be familiar to Genji players. The ability fires out fast-moving damaging kunai that inflict critical damage when connecting with enemies' heads. Kiriko's primary ability, Protection Suzu, launches a projectile that explodes when it makes contact with a surface. The resulting explosion provides momentary invulnerability to her allies and removes debuffs. The incredible potential of this ability is best showcased in Kiriko's reveal trailer, where she completely nullifies the damage of Junkrat's ultimate for her teammates.

Kiriko is also incredibly mobile, thanks to her passive and Swift Step ability. Her passive ability, Wall Climb, allows her to scale walls in the same fashion as Genji and Hanzo. Her Swift Step ability, however, is unique and allows her to teleport to her allies after a short animation, even through walls. And finally, her ultimate Kitsune Rush summons a blue fox spirit that propels forward when activated, similarly to Hanzo's Dragonstrike. Any teammates affected by the fox will gain increased movement and attack speed, as well as reduced cooldown times.