Overwatch 2’s brand-new hero, Kiriko, is an assistance for Genji followers

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Overwatch 2‘s brand-new hero– the initial of 3 brand-new personalities that will certainly be readily available when Blizzard’s follow up launches in October– is Kiriko, a support-type that obscures the line in between damages dealership and also therapist. Kiriko will certainly be the initial personality that can be made via the free-to-play game’s battle pass.

Kiriko was created with Overwatch 2’s new 5v5 team compositions in mind, associate narrative developer Kyungseo Min stated in a designer upgrade video clip disclosing the brand-new ninja’s capacities. Kiriko is called a high-mobility, single-target crossbreed therapist. “She is fast,” Min clarified, “and she can get to your little skirmishes, which happens a lot more often in 5v5 now, so she’s super effective.”

Qiu Fang, lead principle musician on Overwatch 2, called Kiriko “a battle healer” that gets involved in the thick of activity, entering and also out of fight. She’s “not a sit-back-and-heal type of hero,” Fang stated.

“A lot of DPS players will love her,” Min stated. In a different roundtable meeting, Min kept in mind that Kiriko’s layout was greatly motivated by a prominent Overwatch hero:Genji “In fact,” Min stated, “one of the starting points of this character was [asking], How can we create a support hero that DPS players [who] like Genji would enjoy playing?”

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

But Kiriko’s major duty and also feature in an Overwatch 2 group is to both recover and also shield her allies. Her main capability is the Healing Ofuda, which allows her toss paper amulets imbued with recovery power that pinpoint allies. That must make it very easy to assist fast-moving heroes like Genji, or flying colleagues like Pharah and alsoMercy Supporting that is one more capability called Swift Step, which allows Kiriko teleport promptly– and also via numerous wall surfaces– to shut the range to allies that need recovery.

“She plays really well with flanking characters, and mobile characters in general, such as Tracer [or] Genji,” stated Piero Herrera, elderly hero developer on Overwatch 2 “She’s just going to be able to jump in there and help them out with a cleanse or the invulnerability frames. You can imagine crazy combos to come up because of that interaction.”

Giving her added flexibility is the capability to range wall surfaces, similar to Genji and also Hanzo.

Kiriko’s additional capability is her kunai, a blade projectile that she can really promptly toss at opponents. Her kunai are quickly, however do reduced total damages. Still, essential hits with the kunai offer “a ton of damage,” Fang states. “It’s very powerful in the hands of an accurate player.”

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Kiriko can additionally provide herself and also her allies momentary invulnerability– not unlike fellow support character Baptiste— by tossing her Protection Suzu, a little bell, at them or on the ground. Protection Suzu can conserve allies from ults like Junkrat’s RIP-Tire or damages from a Bastion blowing up in turret setting. The bell will certainly additionally clean allies of debuffs like Ana’s Biotic Grenade orJunker Queen’s Rampage

But Protection Suzu features an extensive cooldown– presently 14 secs– so gamers will certainly need to utilize it sensibly.

Kiriko’s utmost capability, Kitsune Rush, summons the spirit fox and also macabre torii entrances that Blizzard has actually been teasing for greater than a month currently. Kitsune Rush is a “huge buff” that offers Kiriko and also allies “a ton of movement speed, attack speed, reload speed, and cooldown reduction.” It’s really, really effective, Fang stated, and also excellent for starting an assault on a purpose.

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Kiriko’s layout originates from a personality that Blizzard initially developed for Overwatch 2‘s PvE part. She was initially equipped with a large, fidget spinner-inspired tossing celebrity, and also had a rather even more conventional ninjalike look. Blizzard at some point combined that with the conventional gown of a miko, a Shinto temple maiden, and also modern-day streetwear appearances.

Narratively, Kiriko is a girl that comes from Kanezaka– among Overwatch‘s existing maps– and also was elevated by a “fierce ninja” of a mom, that additionally educated Genji and alsoHanzo So Kiriko has a background with the Shimada clan, and also rose to problem with young Genji at the Hanamura galleries. Min explained Kiriko as “a close family friend” of the Shimada bros, however stated that they additionally think about her “as a cute little niece.” But she’ll evidently reroute any type of disrespect or sass sent her means, and also not simply from the Shimada bros.

“She has this sort of drive-by humor that she does for everyone,” Min stated. “I’m really excited for everyone to see sort of, like, how she interacts conversationally with [other heroes]. And regarding her abilities, there’s a ton of reactivity as far as, if she heals the Shimada brothers, she’ll definitely take a dig, because, you know, she expects better [of them]. She’s super funny in a very tongue-in-cheek way.”

Players will certainly reach see Kiriko at work when Overwatch 2 launches Oct. 4 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows COMPUTER, Xbox One, and also Xbox Series X.

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Source: Polygon

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