Why is Kiriko not allowed in competitive?
As an avid Overwatch gamer and content creator, I‘ve been eagerly anticipating the arrival of Kiriko, the new support hero added in Overwatch 2. However, Blizzard has prevented Kiriko from being selectable in competitive mode on her release. This short-term restriction is expected but can be frustrating, so let‘s break down the reasons behind banning the flashy new ninja healer at launch.
What is Kiriko‘s role and abilities?
First, a quick refresher. Kiriko is classified as a support hero focusing on healing and enabling her teammates. Her abilities include:
Kunai – Fast throwing knives that deal moderate damage. Well-suited for finishers but not ideal for duels.
Healing Ofuda – Sacred tags that heal allies and remove debuffs. The core of her kit with high healing output potential.
Swift Step – Quick dashes in any direction, even vertically, on a 2-second cooldown. Provides high mobility.
Protection Suzu – Throws a charm that makes an ally invincible for a short duration. Can enable aggressive plays.
With high mobility and burst healing, Kiriko is likely to be a strong enabler of hyper-aggressive play if she becomes too powerful. Let‘s look at why this could be problematic in ranked play.
Kiriko‘s potential impact on the meta
As a support main myself, I‘m enthused by Kiriko‘s playmaking capabilities. However, her introduction risks upsetting the balance of competitive, especially in the early weeks before optimal counter-strategies are found.
If overtuned, Kiriko‘s burst healing and damage evasion could enable problematic team compositions and reduce counterplay, for example:
- Invincibility Suzu used to negate enemy ultimates
- Prolonging the survivability of heroes like Reaper/Genji
- Increased sustain for barrier heroes like Doomfist/Reinhardt
These potential issues explain why time is needed to adjust her tuning before allowing her in competitive play where meta abuse can be severe.
Typical new hero ban durations
Looking at past Overwatch hero bans shows 1-2 weeks is standard for new releases in ranked play:
| Hero | Ban Period |
|---|---|
| Echo | 2 weeks |
| Ashe | 2 weeks |
| Brigitte | 1 week |
Based on this, we can expect Kiriko to be allowed in competitive around October 17th if no further balancing is needed.
Why Kiriko can‘t stay banned forever
While vital for early stability, banning heroes long-term is unhealthy for ranked play as the meta evolves around a subset of the roster. Kiriko clearly brings unique strengths that teams will want to leverage, so she needs to be integrated sooner rather than later.
Preventing players from selecting the fun new support would undoubtedly causes community frustration as well. Blizzard has stressed she will be re-enabled as soon as her balance impacts are within reason.
Final thoughts and predictions
As an engaged Overwatch enthusiast, I‘m thrilled by Kiriko‘s high skill cap outplay potential while acknowledging her ability to overturn ranked games is currently uncontrolled. A short ban is justified to prevent instability before reassessment for reintroduction.
- If I was to predict a timeline – expecting Kiriko to be allowed in competitive around October 15th 2022 assuming no major launch issues.
- I‘ll be eagerly theory-crafting the best Kiriko compositions on my Twitch channel during this downtime to figure out where she‘ll excel most when enabled.
I hope this analysis has clearly outlined the rationale behind Kiriko‘s short-term competitive ban. What are your thoughts on the daring new support? Let me know in the comments!
