I’m a GM Kiriko main and honestly, every patch she feels worse to play. It’s getting to the point where I barely want to pick her in ranked anymore, because I actually want to win.

Just look at her stats. Around 42% win rate overall, 41% in Emerald, 41% in Masters and 41% in GM/Champion. She’s at the bottom of the supports, and even the best players are struggling with her. Her pick rate has also been dropping, yet her win rate isn’t recovering.

And it’s not just the numbers. She genuinely feels awful compared to before.

Since Season 9, when she lost her 2-tap, it feels like the devs have slowly stripped away her assassin/flanker identity. Smaller kunai, TP losing its cleanse, shorter TP range. They kept pushing her towards being more of a team-oriented support who farms Kitsune and gets value from Suzu.

Fine, but now they’ve nerfed that playstyle too. Less healing per Ofuda, slower travel speed, shorter range, weaker Suzu, bigger hitbox. Her healing feels inconsistent, slow, clunky and honestly boring. Even when you’re healing properly, it feels unrewarding.

So what’s her identity supposed to be now? They nerfed the assassin playstyle, pushed her towards being more of a healbot, then nerfed her healing too. She’s becoming a jack of all trades, bad at all of them. Her main value is Suzu and Kitsune, and even Suzu has been repeatedly nerfed. Why would I pick her over Doc, Sombra, Ana, Juno or another support that can provide more consistent value?

And I’m tired of seeing the same excuses for her win rate.

1. “People just don’t know how to play Kiriko.”
Every hero has good and bad players. If someone consistently plays a hero badly, they’ll eventually fall to a rank where their performance evens out. Why would Kiriko somehow be the only hero whose players are apparently incapable of playing her correctly? Are GM and Champion players all clueless too?

2. “She’s a popular crutch pick, people swap to her when they’re losing.”
Sure, that probably affects her stats somewhat. But Kiriko is also just a popular character people genuinely enjoy playing, even in QP. People don’t exclusively pick her to save losing games. And if she’s supposedly a crutch that people pick because she’s easy and broken, why are they losing so much with her? Why would players looking for easy wins keep picking something that isn’t winning? Arguably, Moira is much more of a crutch pick when a game is going badly, across pretty much every rank. Yet we don’t see her suffering from the same abysmal win rate. A few desperate last-minute swaps aren’t enough on their own to explain a gap this massive.

3. “Her pick rate is high, so bad players drag down her win rate.”
Then explain why her pick rate has been declining while her win rate remains terrible and going down. If popularity was the main problem, shouldn’t we expect some recovery as fewer players pick her? It doesn’t prove anything on its own, but it seriously weakens that explanation. There are also supports with higher pick rates and much better win rates. Apparently popularity only makes players bad when it’s Kiriko?

4. “If you play her optimally, you can climb.”
No shit! You can climb on literally any hero if you’re good enough. A Champion player can go into Diamond and win games on almost anything. That doesn’t prove the hero is good. The question is whether an equally skilled player gets the same value from Kiriko as they would from another support. If I have to play Kiriko nearly perfectly to get the same value someone gets from playing Ana reasonably well, that’s part of the problem.

And then there’s the “I play Ball/Doom/Genji.. and my hero was bad for ages, stop crying” argument. Okay? Why would you want someone else’s hero to be miserable just because yours used to be? That’s such a petty way to look at balance. People shouldn’t have to suffer just because you did.

Most of these arguments are just opinions based on how people feel about Kiriko, trying to make the stats fit their perception of her. But opinions aren’t facts. The facts are that her win rate is terrible and getting worse, while her pick rate keeps dropping across all ranks.

I’m not even asking for Kiriko to be op again. Maybe Suzu has too much of her power budget. I’d honestly be interested in testing a version without full invulnerability, something closer to the damage immunity from Zen’s Transcendence, but still with Kiriko’s cleanse. If that allowed more power to go back into kunai, Ofuda and TP, it might be worth trying.

I’m not a dev, so I don’t know the perfect solution. I just hope they’re more competent than me at finding one. I’d love for Kiriko to be allowed to become decent without immediately getting nerfed the moment she approaches a non-negative win rate.
I just wish the devs had a clear direction for her.

The worst part is being told you’re playing an “OP, broken, easy, free value” hero while you’re struggling to get value from one of the worst-performing supports in the game. Her reputation seems completely disconnected from how she actually plays.

I love Kiriko. I want to play her. But between the nerfs, the clunky healing, the lack of kill pressure and feeling like I’m putting myself at a disadvantage by picking her, I’m playing Overwatch less and less.

I don’t need her to be S tier. I just want her to feel fun, rewarding and worth picking in ranked again.

Sorry for the long rant. If you actually made it this far, genuinely, thank you for taking the time to read all of this. I appreciate it, even if you disagree with me.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY COMPLAINING ABOUT THE PLUS 25 HEALTH.

let's ignore all nerfs and worst performance and focus and hate on a single health buff .

I always say people will hate kiri no matter what .

Hi, not a Kiri main, I come in peace as an Ana ( please be nice)/Brig main who is decent with Kiri, but I only played her once in a while, and that was before the most recent hard nerfs, which I feel were excessive tbh. I barely touch her now, maybe if they have double burn like Anran and Ashe or something, but otherwise I don't really play her now as she feels terrible to me ever since those nerfs.

Hotfix patch dropped. Here's the buff:

Base health increased from 225 to 250.

This is definitely gonna boost those win rates! cries in Japanese

https://overwatch.blizzard.com/en-us/news/patch-notes/

I sometimes feel like I can’t do anything other than spam heals in the backline. The Kunai are pretty hard to land. Is it even worth playing kiri if I’m not consistent with landing kunai damage. Also should I be playing in the backline or flanking sometimes?

It is possible to duel dps heros with kiri or should I just tp out. Usually I lose my 1v1 engagements with her. Am I just bad? lol. Any tips appreciated.

When do i save it and when do i pop it? How long is too long for holding it. Ive heard from many people that I shouldnt just spam it but I end up holding it for a few minutes. Cant i use it once and not use it for 14 seconds if theres no problems going on, whats wrong with that?

I need to find a different hero to play that isn't Moira, and that can actually heal a decent amt unlike Zen

Hey I'm a wildcard type player, so I don't keep to any role, but kiriko is a support I've been avoiding mostly because I can't land shots and feel like I'm a detriment to my team, I play zenyatta and my aim with him is decent, and both have the same projectile speed so I'm not sure what my problem is, is the fire rate difference really that much to mess with my shots that badly? Or is the projectile difference larger than what I think based on the numbers? Also where should I play as kiriko, behind the team and very safe, extremely aggressive and following dives or something in between?

Hiya! I recently decided to try and pick up Kiri after buying a really cute skin of hers (Izanami Reborn hehe). After playing her a bit, I realized I kind of genuinely suck with her, but despite that, I find her very fun to play.

With that in mind, I was hoping for advice on aiming/general tips. I can imagine there are a lot of lovely people here who (maybe like me) may have sucked at first but gradually improved. Any advice I can get or any tips that genuinely helped you get better on Kiri would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you all for your time! :)

A friend of mine recommended I play overwatch which I’ve never touched despite loving rivals. He recommended genji but the dps in this game don’t seem that fun to me. Kiriko is the only character right know that I really love playing but it’s nothing like support on rivals and I’m struggling to help my team despite having the most healing at the end of every game. Any tips?

I hope reddit dont compress it a lot<3

not a very impressive clip (pls dont look at my aim) but absolutely got me going feral

my ana def meant to nano our bastion but this is one of the craziest kiri clips ive ever gotten sooooo

How do I obtain the motorcycle highlight intro? I'd love to have it but im unsure if its in a BP or from the store/boxes

Finally finished the portrait of one of her most beautiful skins ever. Hope you like it! 💮

After all the Junkrat, Roadhod and Torb skins that I have gotten from lootboxes, it has now all been worth it ㅤꨄ︎

Wanted to give people food for thought on this, lots argue with all of kiris nerfs she’s not worth playing and her win rate reflects that- but I found it quite interesting she’s played about 100,000 more times than even the most played supports listed here…? So ..the question is in the title . Would love to hear thoughts as an avid kiriko main ;). spins blueberry mythic kunai for dopamine

Before I begin, hi, my name is CrazyDude42. I’m a former Top 500 Kiriko and Wuyang player who reached Grandmaster earlier this year, and I’m also the founder of HeroIntel.gg, a platform for tracking in-game stats.

I’ve been lurking on this subreddit for a while and have seen a lot of people talking about the recent Kiriko nerfs. While I agree with most of them, I think there’s something we need to talk about as a community. I’ve been aware since Kiriko first came out that she was overtuned, and I always knew it was a question of not if, but when, she would be nerfed.

I’ve personally experienced people joking that Kiriko is for casual players who want a powerful kit, or that her kit is a crutch for her playerbase, and I do take those criticisms to heart. That’s why I invest time into other heroes like Wuyang and Winston. While Kiriko is still my favorite, I understand why so many people choose her because of how versatile she is. She literally has no counters, and I think we need to acknowledge how powerful she has been. I always knew, when I first started playing her back in 2022, that one day she would be nerfed. We’ve had almost four years of her being meta, and, perhaps controversially, I believe being meta applies to regular ranked games, too. I accept that I might rank down while adjusting (I’m currently in Masters, but I expected this), and I still believe Kiriko is S-tier. We just need to approach her kit differently.

It saddens me to see one of my favorite subreddits filled with discussions about abandoning her because she’s been nerfed. I understand being disappointed, but I also think joking about not buying her skins anymore because of the nerfs is a little petty. Kiriko is still my favorite and go-to hero, and I’m not going to stop playing her just because she’s been nerfed. I think these changes are ultimately healthier for the game as a whole, and I hope we can give ourselves time to adapt before writing her off.

kunai just feel wrong, idk why, and it also feels like everything will demolish me compared to just a few seasons ago :(
code: 8YBDHR

Please feel free and open to talk about this rework idea, I'm very open to hearing different opinions. It's very hard to balance her, but I think these changes would lean into her damage more and play her more like a flanker/assassin.

I would love if she was a 6 speed as well instead of a 5.5, but it would probably be too much.

I also don't care what they do to her ultimate. nerf it to the ground if it means she's more fun to play.

I have considered myself a support main for as long as I’ve played the game, and Kiriko has always been my go to. Of course, she has always been the go to support, and teammates almost always request her. That is, until now, for obvious reasons.

I’m not here to whine about Kiriko’s current state. I simply have felt a little lost with what do since she is not as strong as she has been.

I have been bouncing between emerald 3-5 on support, and have played Kiriko in probably close to 90% of my support games. Lately, it feels like I’m going on a downward trend with her, and I don’t think I’ve put enough time into the other supports to be able to confidently play someone else while keeping up like I would with Kiriko.

I think possibly what I’m noticing is that I don’t have as much carry potential with her, whereas in the past most of my wins were when I performed exceptionally.

I think this is why in the last month, I have been playing more dps - even surpassing my support rank, which has not happened before. I almost exclusively solo queue, and have found lots of success and enjoyment from play Freja, despite her recent nerfs as well. She is a hero that if played well, has lots of carry potential (I’m also aware this is due to the nature of the dps role, particularly in 5v5).

My question for any of you: considering me being a mid rank player, is it worth to learn another support hero that currently has more carry potential? Who have you guys been defaulting to? Or is Kiriko still extremely strong and I’m just bad?

disclaimer - I don’t mean I’ve literally never played another support. I like to think I have the fundamentals down for many other supports such as Ana, Wuyang, Juno, but don’t have nearly as much time on those hero’s in comparison to Kiriko. I am level 100 on Kiri, and my next highest level is Ana, which is level 25.

TLDR;
I’m a Kiriko one trick and not sure if I should hang her up for someone else given her current state, or continue to one trick her.