Why Kiriko Reigns Supreme: A Deep Dive into Overwatch 2’s Best Healer
Kiriko isn’t just a healer; she’s a game-changer. Her ability to seamlessly blend high-burst healing with impactful offensive capabilities, coupled with unmatched utility, makes her the best healer in Overwatch 2. She boasts a unique kit that allows her to thrive in almost any team composition and adapt to a wide range of playstyles, making her a consistently valuable asset in both casual and competitive play.
Understanding Kiriko’s Power: A Holistic View
Kiriko’s strength lies in the synergy of her abilities. Unlike many other supports who specialize in either healing or utility, Kiriko excels in both, providing her team with a versatile and reliable backbone. Let’s break down the components that contribute to her dominance:
Exceptional Healing Output
Kiriko’s Healing Ofuda are her primary healing tool. While they require aiming and have a travel time, they offer a potent burst of healing that can quickly top up allies in critical situations. Mastering the Ofuda is key to maximizing her potential, but even with moderate accuracy, she provides substantial healing output. The fact that they pierce full health targets makes them exceptionally effective in sustain situations.
Unparalleled Utility: The Suzu’s Impact
Protection Suzu is arguably Kiriko’s most impactful ability. It provides invulnerability and cleanse to allies within its radius, negating almost any negative status effect, including anti-heal, stuns, and even the devastating effects of ultimates like Ana’s Nano Boost or Junker Queen’s Rampage. This ability alone makes her a valuable pick, as it can completely shut down enemy pushes and turn the tide of a fight. The recent changes to Suzu continue to serve her well.
Mobility and Positioning: Swift Step Advantage
Swift Step allows Kiriko to instantly teleport to an ally, regardless of distance or obstacles. This grants her unparalleled mobility, allowing her to quickly reposition, escape danger, or provide immediate support to a flanking teammate. This mobility is crucial for survival and allows her to maintain a high uptime in engagements. Because Kiriko’s best maps feature lots of natural cover, her ability to teleport around the map and assist teammates safely is maximized.
Offensive Prowess: Kunai Precision
While primarily a healer, Kiriko is no slouch in the damage department. Her Kunai deal significant headshot damage, allowing her to contribute to eliminations and pressure enemy backlines. Landing consistent headshots with the Kunai elevates her gameplay to another level, turning her into a significant threat.
Kiriko’s Ultimate: Kitsune Rush Potential
Kitsune Rush creates a path that boosts the movement speed, attack speed, and reload speed of allies who pass through it. This can be used to initiate aggressive pushes, defend key objectives, or provide a significant advantage in team fights. The speed boost can also make this combo perfect for dive compositions.
Team Synergy: Why Kiriko Fits Everywhere
One of Kiriko’s greatest strengths is her versatility. She synergizes well with almost any team composition, making her a consistently strong pick regardless of the situation.
- Dive Comps: Her Swift Step and Kitsune Rush excel in dive compositions, allowing her to quickly support aggressive flankers and capitalize on openings.
- Poke Comps: Her Healing Ofuda provide reliable sustain, allowing her team to weather poke damage and maintain pressure.
- Brawl Comps: Her Protection Suzu can negate crowd control and protect her team from burst damage, allowing them to engage aggressively.
The Meta Impact: Kiriko’s Dominance
Kiriko’s power level has made her a staple in the Overwatch 2 meta. Her ability to counter key enemy abilities and provide both healing and damage has solidified her position as a top-tier support. The Kiriko + Hog composition is very meta, for instance. While certain heroes may see periods of increased popularity, Kiriko’s consistent utility and adaptability ensure that she remains a relevant and impactful choice.
Mastering Kiriko: Tips and Tricks
To truly master Kiriko, focus on the following:
- Accuracy: Practice landing consistent Healing Ofuda and Kunai headshots.
- Cooldown Management: Utilize Protection Suzu strategically to counter key enemy abilities.
- Positioning: Maintain a safe distance while remaining within range to support your team.
- Communication: Coordinate with your team to maximize the impact of Kitsune Rush.
- Decision-Making: Balance healing, damage, and utility based on the situation.
Kiriko: The Future of Support
Kiriko represents the future of support heroes in Overwatch 2. She embodies the ideal balance of healing, utility, and damage, making her a powerful and engaging hero to play. Her versatility and adaptability ensure that she will remain a force to be reckoned with in the years to come. It should come as no surprise, but Kiriko is best when on the rear of your team.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Is Kiriko a main healer or an off healer?
Kiriko is often considered a flex support, capable of fulfilling both main and off-healer roles depending on the team composition and playstyle. Some list her among main healers, while some consider her flex. Her high healing output allows her to act as a primary healer, while her utility and offensive capabilities allow her to excel in an off-healer role.
2. Who heals more, Kiriko or Mercy?
Generally, Mercy tends to have higher healing numbers than Kiriko in sustained engagements. Mercy’s consistent beam provides a steady stream of healing, while Kiriko’s Healing Ofuda are more burst-oriented. However, Kiriko’s utility and damage potential often offset the difference in raw healing output. After quite a few games, some have noticed that Mercy has been having extremely high numbers in healing, somewhere around 30% more than Kiriko.
3. How does Kiriko heal so much?
Kiriko’s healing comes from her Healing Ofuda, which deliver a burst of healing to allies. The healing output is significant if she lands all of her talismans. Landing all of her talismans heals for an astonishing 72 health per second.
4. What kind of healer is Kiriko?
Kiriko is a kunoichi healer with a blend of healing, utility, and damage abilities. Her kit allows her to adapt to various situations and team compositions.
5. Is Kiriko or Ana better?
Ana and Kiriko are both strong supports, but they excel in different areas. Ana provides long-range healing and anti-heal, while Kiriko offers invulnerability, cleanse, and mobility. Overall Ana is very strong. The best choice depends on the team composition and the enemy team’s strategy.
6. What healer pairs best with Kiriko?
Lucio is a strong pairing with Kiriko. Kiriko’s healing is very powerful, helping to compensate for Lucio when he isn’t using his Amp It Up ability. The 4 Kiriko And Lucio is also effective.
7. Is Kiriko worth getting?
Yes, Kiriko is a valuable addition to any Overwatch 2 roster. Her unique abilities and versatility make her a strong pick in a wide range of situations. Most of the $10 USD battle pass’s value comes from getting her early, as she is the only unlockable that changes how the game is played.
8. Why does Kiriko have powers?
Kiriko’s powers are rooted in her spiritual connection to the Kanezaka Shrine and her ancestral history. In addition to being trained by her mother, Kiriko is also strongly influenced by her grandmother, who taught her about spirituality and her ancestral history with the Kanezaka Shrine, as well as protective and healing abilities.
9. Can Kiriko heal through shields?
No, Kiriko cannot heal through shields. Shields like Reinhardt’s, Sigma’s, and Winston’s will block her Healing Ofuda.
10. Who can counter Kiriko?
Characters with AoE damage or abilities that can isolate her are effective counters. Isolating her as she steps forward with Mei’s Ice Wall quickly pushes her back toward her team. Characters with a good deal of AoE damage will also counter Kiriko in an indirect way.
11. Is Kiriko easy to play?
While she is not the easiest support to master, Kiriko is relatively accessible to new players. However, mastering her aim and cooldown management requires practice.
12. When should I play Kiriko?
Kiriko is best played when you need a versatile support who can provide both healing and utility. It should come as no surprise, but Kiriko is best when on the rear of your team. This lets you chip away bits of damage with kunai when safe but mostly keep tabs on your Tank and Damage classes for healing.
13. Is Kiriko good on every map?
Kiriko excels on maps with lots of natural cover, which allows her to utilize Swift Step and maintain safe positioning. Kiriko’s best maps feature lots of natural cover, which allows her to teleport around the map and assist teammates safely.
14. Is Kiriko a main or flex support?
Typically, support heroes are sorted into sub categories, main support and flex support. Flex supports include: Ana, Baptiste, Moira, and Zenyatta. Main supports are: Mercy, Lucio, Brigitte, and the new support Kiriko. Kiriko is usually categorized as a flex support, owing to her balanced healing and utility kit.
15. What should my Kiriko accuracy be?
Aim for a standard accuracy of around 35% with Kiriko. Improving your accuracy will significantly increase your healing and damage output.
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