Rumors around a fox hero have been circulating in the Overwatch community for years. Now it’s finally official: Kiriko is the latest heroine to appear in Overwatch 2. She is the first new support character in more than three years and brings with her an incredibly interesting kit. Including wall climbing, next-level mobility and temporary invulnerability.

Kiriko is described by the developers as a “single-target hybrid healer”. Most of the time she will jump into the middle of the fray and heal what she can from there. But she can also deal damage. And climb walls.

Primary Weapon: Healing Ofuda Paper

Kiriko can heal her allies with Ofuda paper. She throws a series of five projectiles that automatically fly to the nearest ally. The Ofuda papers fly very slowly, so you can throw the papers before the damage is even done to the ally and heal them “instantly”.

Secondary weapon: Kunai

A ninja without a kunai? Impossible. Kiriko can cause great damage with fast-flying knife projectiles.

Swift Step

This ability gives Kiriko a lot of mobility. She can use it to teleport to an ally, selecting allies works similar to Mercy’s flight. The teleport does not require channel time and even works through walls.

Additionally, we want to mention here that Kiriko (like Genji and Hanzo) can climb walls.

Protective Suzu

Kiriko throws a small bell at the ground or at allies. In a small area of effect, allies hit receive an immortality buff for a brief moment and are protected from all Debuffs cured.

This is the first ability in Overwatch which can also remove debuffs from ultimate abilities (for example the knockdown of a Reinhardt Ult or the EMP of Sombra). The cooldown of the ability will be correspondingly long.

Ultimate Ability: Kitsune Rush

Kiriko creates a path that buffs all teammates in it. According to the developers, allies receive increased Movement Speed, Attack Speed, and Reload Speed.

The kit seems complex and almost a bit overloaded. However, the devs promise that the whole thing will be balanced.

“We have processes in place to make sure we can achieve balance even after she’s released, in the first couple of weeks. She’s packed up with a lot of utility but I think we nailed the balance really well.”

“We developed procedures to make sure we could balance even after she’s released, in the first couple of weeks. She has a very full skillset, but I think we nailed the balance really well.”

Kiriko will be playable from the launch of Overwatch 2 on October 4. Well, not quite for everyone. Players who own Overwatch 1 will get all the launch characters: Junker Queen, Sojourn, and Kiriko. New players will have to unlock Kiriko first. There are two different ways to do that.

Overwatch 2 comes in a – Season model. Blizzard delivers new content every nine weeks, and lootboxes disappear from the game. Players can earn 80+ Battle Pass levels in each – Season and unlock different cosmetics. Or even new heroes.

If you buy the Premium Battle Pass for 10 dollars, you will unlock Kiriko immediately. If you want to save the money, you have to play the game. In the free Battle Pass, Kiriko only waits at level 55. How many hours of gameplay that is cannot be clearly stated. However, it is also important to note that new heroes can only be played in competitive mode two weeks after release. The Commercial Lead of Overwatch 2, Jon Spector, tells us approximately how long it will take to unlock the character:

“What that actually looks like, and we’ve used some of the existing data that we have on Overwatch 1 players to do this tuning, is that if you are a more hardcore player and you’re playing a lot of Overwatch 2, with the goal of unlocking Kiriko as fast as you possibly can, you’ll get there within the first few weeks before we move her into competitive ranked play.

“On the more… We don’t have a typical player, there’s no average Overwatch player. […] But the more average player, we expect to unlock new heroes a little bit later on in the – Season , but to be able to get there well before our – Season ends.”

“We used some of the existing data we have from Overwatch 1 players to do this tuning. If you’re a hardcore player and you play a lot of Overwatch 2 with the goal of unlocking Kiriko as quickly as possible, you’ll be able to get there within the first couple of weeks before we bring her into competitive ranked play.

“By the way… We don’t have a typical player, there’s no average Overwatch player. […] But the more average player, we expect them to unlock new heroes a little bit later in the – Season , but be able to finish before our – Season ends.”

If you don’t reach the required level, you still have the option to unlock the new heroes through free challenges in the later – Season s.

On Reddit many fans react shocked. Level 55 is too extreme, Blizzard has definitely doomed Overwatch 2 to failure with this decision. But it has to be said: Overwatch 2 is free. And 10 dollars for a Battle Pass with so much content is actually quite acceptable. Besides Kiriko, the Battle Pass is supposed to include a good amount of cosmetic items. Among other things, new weapon charms that can now be slapped on the heroes’ equipment in OW2.

In my opinion, it only becomes a problem when it’s nearly impossible to unlock the new hero in the two-week Ranked grace period. Because then I see the “competitive integrity” of Overwatch 2 under attack. The game thrives on all players being able to choose any hero at any time to counter the enemy lineup.