Before this starts, firstly, the link to the 1v1 chart is here, you can access the Hub document here. That’s a constantly updated Document that will allow for you to see everything I make. It’s kind of empty for now, but I wanted to make this while I have little in there, so that it’s not a mess later!

Link to Google Doc link HERE I HIGHLY recommend reading on the Google Doc version if you are on PC. Firstly, because of Reddit’s limitations, I had to remove 2 sections (adding up to over 1500 words) and multiple instances that give more detail on abilities and playstyles, from my post because it was over 40,000 characters. If you can then read the Google Doc. It will also be updated with any information that is asked for and Reddit tends to mess up formatting.
Hello, my name is Velxus a Top 500 PC Flex Support player (Who specializes in Bap, Ana, and Kiriko). Around the start of Overwatch 2, I updated my document on Baptiste. Explaining how you play him in the new game. I’ve always been a reader and whilst I’ve seen a couple of good guides on Kiriko (the hero in question today) I haven’t seen many guides in written format, and some of them just straight up suck, if I’m going to be honest.
So as an introduction, I have over 1000 hours in Kovaaks. I like shooting things, but I also LOVE the gameplay loop that comes with Support. I’ve been a Support player since Overwatch 1 and have never turned back. This leads into my generalized Support playstyle, which tends to be more aggressive than most people you will meet. Though, this does tend to show the most on Baptiste, this still does mean that I very much love to engage in some Flankiko and I will talk about many of those characteristics today.
So let’s get some of the basics down (yes I’m changing the primary fire and secondary, if you have her heal bound to primary fire (left click on PC) then swap it, I am a PC player so I will put things in terms of PC play. Most of everything in this guide will transfer between platforms but I have limited experience outside of PC so just a heads up)
Kiriko:

  • Primary Fire (Kunai) (Right click by default CHANGE THIS to lmb):
    • 45 damage body shot
    • 113 (or so?) headshot
  • Secondary Fire (Healing Ofuda) (Left click by default CHANGE THIS to rmb:
    • Literally your heal lol
  • Swift Step (LShift by default):
    • Goofy TP, go to your teammates through walls
  • Protection Suzu (E by default):
    • Everyone’s favorite ability in the game. Cleanses status affects, makes yourself and others intangible, and heals!
  • Kitsune Rush (Q by default)
    • Pew pew ult. Shoot faster, regen cool downs faster, and regenerate (most) resources faster.

Now let’s delve deeper into each of these abilities so I can give a further rundown of what I do.

Kunai:

  • Keep your crosshair on head level
  • Try to stay at least a Rein Hammer swing from your target
    • Honestly, unless they’re standing still, then hitting super close enemies in the head can actually be harder than hitting ones standing ~5-10 meters away.

Healing Ofuda:

  • Keep your Swift Step sensitivity at 100%
    • We do this because if you keep it at 100% it’s actually a pretty good indicator of who your heals will hit
  • “Pre Heal” allies. This means that if your Genji is about to Blade or Winston about to leap (or you just expect a person to be taking damage soon) then you can start throwing heals at them before they engage (or right as they engage). This will keep the healing chasing them so they get healed very quickly
  • On the previous point, if you want to do slightly more burst heals. Walk toward your target. As the papers leave your hand they will arrive at the target quicker
    • To take this to the next level, if someone really needs healed, throw heals THEN tp, then start healing again (assuming they don’t need suzu obviously). Your heals will arrive about as you TP (according to distance obviously) so you will give them a big burst of healing from your first set of heals, then your second set will also stack with those)
  • Weave in damage!!!
    • This is not AS important as it is on Bap, but I still highly recommend practicing weaving in damage as you heal. Even something as simple as flicking slightly off your heal target and hitting the enemy in the body with a Kunai can actually do quite a lot.

Swift Step:

  • Remember, you do NOT tp instantly. This ability has a cast time. Many many (many many) times you will die pushing your luck too far, finding an ally and pressing TP then just… dying.
    • This happens a TON, honestly super annoying
  • This ability can now be held down and will cast once all the conditions are met, so if you are in danger literally hold down Swift Step and rapidly swing your mouse around toward your teammates lol, this will proc as soon as your crosshair is close enough to a valid TP target.
    • So not sure if you know this, but many abilities in Overwatch can be held and will trigger as soon as you are capable of using them. For example, if you get slept by an Ana but you’re a Reaper and you have Wraith. Don’t spam your Wraith button, hold it. It will activate ASAP.
  • STOP TPING TO YOUR DEATH. I have been flamed by many a tank and DPS because I did not TP and suzu and or heal them. If someone is in a position that is almost certain death, then think twice before tping. Look, if they’re in a 1v1 then helping them will probably help win the fight for you. But if they are on Hog by themselves against 4 people, then please do not TP to them.
    • Look, if you TP to someone to save them and just die yourself. You’re taking a 4v5 and making at 3v5. 4v5’s are actually still pretty winnable, ESPECIALLY with a Kiriko with her pick potential. Don’t go down another player if you can avoid it.

Suzu:

  • USE IT MORE. All too often I see Kiriko players who are afraid of using their suzu. Look, I’m not sure if you are afraid of what MAY come but I’m telling you, you are losing fights because of your reluctance to use Suzu.
    • For example, if you are in their backlines and you need to live through something… suzu yourself. Stop trying to TP when you know you can’t.
  • On the previous note, obviously everything has exceptions. I’m sure this is the one thing everyone knows about Suzu, but it cleanses all negative status affects. If the enemy Illari has ult, save your suzu (If you can!), JQ has ult? Hold it, good luck using that ult! EMP? Thanks for the 20 healing. (that’s not a joke btw, suzu heals more than EMP (due to a change where suzu heals more if it cleanses a negative affect)).
    • READ THIS. Do not, and I will keep saying DO NOT, save suzu for Illari ult and let someone important on your team die. If your tank dies fight after fight because you didn’t suzu them and they’re playing around your suzu, then please just use it. I’ve had games that I’ve won on Illari (and JQ) by just holding my ult all round because their Kiri will NOT use suzu until I use my ult.
  • THIS HAS A CAST TIME, god it’s so annoying but it will happen a million times were you throw suzu and you just die anyway. Play around this. Any time I say “time suzu for x” then I mean plan the actual effect from suzu not to throw it then, you should throw it a little prior to this situation. You WILL want to get used to when to throw suzu to not die. It will still happen… trust me. Good luck and may RNGesus help you to not die to the Junkrat Tire even though you saw the white fill your screen.

Kitsune:

  • This thing is useful in almost any situation, if you are familiar with Ana then I say use it in situations where you would be tempted to Nano. You can use it to engage a fight, to swing a fight that you are losing, to help build other people’s ults, to win a 1v1 (gigachad), to help kite a team or even to clean up when you are close to capping a point but you just can’t for whatever reason.

With all of this being said. I think there tends to be 2 major playstyles of Kiriko in ranked. Obviously, there’s mix between these and honestly being on one end of the extreme tends to be worse than playing in the middle. I will touch on that after I explain these 2 though.

So how do I improve my ability to Damage?

  • This tends to be where I lose people. Because I am a strong advocate for aim trainers, something like Kovaaks, Aim Lab, Aim Beast, or something else of the sort will do SO much to improve your aim. This obviously translates to almost every hero in Overwatch and goes to every FPS game out there. Mouse control and your knowledge of how to “aim good” works absolute wonders. I wrote a guide on how to aim in Overwatch and gave an Overview of Aim Trainers for them previously. A link to them HERE (I HIGHLY recommend aim training, it’s not always fun but it can be quite addictive and it is SO useful. Watch TV, anime, or Youtube while you aim train, just chill out whilst improving at your game, it’s what I use it for.)
  • Now for more Kiriko related things. I highly recommend the use of Seita’s Workshop (I actually only know this by it’s code “vaxta”) and Raven’s AI Dome (code “BWGAP”). These 2 will put you in different situations to learn to shoot your Kunai.
    • “VAXTA” – this will put you in a lobby with bots that you need to shoot to kill. There’s 2 versions, “Warmup” and “Challenge” I recommend warming up and working on just feeling out the kunai at different distances. Try changing the difficulty and trying to hit faster strafing bots. This is very useful for getting an actual feel of the kunai and what it feels like against actual characters.
      • Try playing this on Challenge mode as well to benchmark how you’re doing and putting yourself in a more stressful situation (stress can be good! Being stressed actually improves learning!) this can be useful for actually testing your ability to hit the bots at different distances whilst also having to keep other things in mind (don’t get Noob Checked!)
      • I personally use the code the most out of any code
    • “BWGAP” – this puts you in a 1v1 against bots with levels of your choosing (literal vs AI to Top 500 level bots) lock Kiriko and play against the role, hero, skill level, etc of what ever you want to play. Super useful for practicing your 1v1s.
  • Now for more general tips:
    • Like I said previously. Work on keeping your crosshair at head level. Move your hand left and right as you are trying to shoot someone rather than up or down (obviously dependent on the situation) This makes it so you have a WAY higher chance of actually hitting their head.
    • Stop flicking as much, try to be slower. Far too often I see Kiriko players flicking their mouse left and right trying to hit something and they are just missing everything. Look you’re not Kayji (unless you are then hey!) Try to be more controlled with how you move the mouse, flick, microadjust, click. Not flick, flick, flick, flick. (which results in a miss, miss, miss, miss)
    • I gave a radius previously of trying to make sure you’re further than a Rein hammer swing from someone, I have tended to notice that hitting people with Kunai is best done around the 7-10 meter range for me personally. Obviously, you can poke and be further away, but being too close does really make it hard to actually hit someone. Especially trying to hit their head.

How do I take each 1v1?
I made a Tierlist for this, check the very first link for this if you are viewing this on Reddit.

Tank:

General Advice: It tends to not be worth it to 1v1 tanks, this is why I put most of them in the Disadvantage / loss categories. It tends to be that if you 1v1 a tank, you will probably lose if you stay for the whole 1v1 (obviously dependent on who you are fighting), just remember you can TP out. If you stay long enough to keep their tank engaged on you without dying while a fight is going on, then you are doing VERY well. I just do not recommend trying to take a full 1v1 with a tank as they just have too much HP to reliably chip away at. If you are fighting a tank be prepared to leave.

  • D.Va
    • VERY easy to hit head hitbox, you can easily chip away at her health.
    • Stay further away so her shotguns do less damage.
    • Play the high ground if possible (as you always should) but if she boosters up to you to kill you, just drop and be prepared to climb back up. Her verticality has a Cooldown yours doesn’t.
    • Play to stay away from her rockets. Those will BURN you, otherwise use Suzu to get out. You don’t really win these; she has too much health and armor and does too much damage.
  • Doomfist
    • Honestly, just play to dodge his punch and you honestly don’t have a too bad of a chance to win the 1v1.
    • Play further away when he has his punch (especially empowered punch) otherwise get a bit closer to reliably hit his head.
      • You can actually play near a wall and be prepared to climb it right as he is about to punch and you can dodge his punch (if timed correctly) this tends to take a few more 1v1s than a Doom that I would personally like but you do tend to learn the timing. The issue comes down to if they are used to it as well and play to wait it out.
    • Play a wall / high ground. If you can dodge his punch and stay far enough away to not get hit by his first 4 shotgun bullets you actually might win
      • Your chance of winning is higher due to his lower HP pool (for a tank) and lack of armor.
    • If he blocks you can (in a 1v1 so no one else shoots him) still hit him with 2 Kunai before charging his empowered
  • Junker Queen
    • Actually this fight can be quite favorable for Kiriko
    • Play a distance and poke away at her head
      • it’s 4 Kunai (to the head) to kill a JQ
    • Be mindful of her knife, if you get grabbed and pulled in, time suzu for the follow up ax / shotgun shot.
    • If you ever get hit by the ax without getting pulled in, you played too close. Play a DISTANCE.
    • Another reason to keep your distance is just how much damage her shot gun does, practice shooting a JQ’s head in AI Dome so you can hit her head when you’re further away, this will help you avoid damage.
  • Orisa
    • You will not kill her, I mean realistically who can kill the battle cattle.
    • Orisa’s head hitbox is MASSIVE so just poke it down and try to find a target to tp away
    • Save suzu for the spear, the hitbox is massive and you can’t really dodge it unless you’re far away.
    • Otherwise… just don’t 1v1 an Orisa not much to say on this.
  • Ramattra
    • Actually not too bad to 1v1 until he pops Nemesis.
    • Poke at his head and try to bait out Nemesis, if he does this just book it. You will not kill him in Nemesis.
      • If he stays for the 1v1 after Nemesis ends then you can probably kill him by just shooting his head, he doesn’t have much HP and weaving around his shield isn’t too hard.
    • Watch out for Vortex. This obviously slows you down and you cannot wall climb in it.
  • Reinhardt
    • You don’t really win these. You usually can’t kill a Rein on Kiriko. Now, he also shouldn’t really be able to kill you, you should be too agile too die to him.
    • Play distance and just poke
      • This comes with 1 notable exception. If he’s already low (150 HP or lower usually). Then you can usually walk past his shield as he is hiding and dink him in the head and just poke him down… but thats not a 1v1.
    • Mostly just ignore Rein, the 1v1 isn’t worth it for either of you. You can’t kill him and he can’t reach you.
  • Roadhog
    • Oh reworked hog, how I hate you.
    • Like many other tanks, his head hitbox is big. This will help wear down his vape (take a breather), this is a MASSIVE resource for him now so chipping it down is very important.
    • Save suzu for when you get hooked
      • The reason why we don’t try to save it for dodging hook is that… well he’s going to get like 3-4 hooks before you can ever kill him with his new heal and 700 HP. So we actually play this differently than JQ knife.
    • So how do we play this different than JQ? Well we play this like Doom, we play to actually dodge the hook. Play walls, high ground, corners, etc. We do NOT want to get hooked. You get out of the hook and its follow up ONCE with suzu. Otherwise you get hooked you’re probably dead.
    • All in all, you probably lose this 1v1. Play to get out not to kill him.
  • Sigma
    • Sigma is the Brig of Tank, he is just hard to kill and isn’t worth it.
    • Avoid the rock at all costs, you can do this by playing like it’s a Hog hook, avoid this at all costs. If you do not avoid it then you are trying to fight him while being 1 shot from death. (due to the rock’s follow up)
    • Otherwise, you’re actually fine if you just play high ground. Just poke away at him, you probably won’t kill him as he has both suck and a shield. (and shield health!)
    • All in all, unless you’re just baiting cool downs, just don’t fight him.
  • Winston
    • Play the high ground to start the fight. We actually want to bait his leap out asap but we also want to DODGE THE DAMAGE.
      • Play near the edge of a high ground, if he engages on you then drop (this is why we play high ground) to dodge the damage of his leap. This should also help dodge the secondary fire + melee combo that they usually engage with (congrats you just dodged 100 damage without even using suzu)
    • Now comes the part where you make a decision do you want to try to kill him or do you want to try to ensure your life?
      • So… you want to try to kill a Winston, try to follow him as he tries to weave in and out of his bubble to headshot his massive head hitbox. This can be done by dodging the damage from leap + the combo then climbing back up and weaving in and out of his bubble following him. If you hit headshots (and use suzu for the heal) you actually can win the 1v1.
      • Do you want to live? Then run. Do not stand in the bubble. All in all, stay away from the primary fire. He should get tired of you and just run, that or he will want to keep chasing. In which case you should be able to live long enough to TP to an ally.
    • Mostly, it’s not worth fighting Winston if you don’t want to actually kill him. Just save your suzu and live with TP if you can.
  • Wrecking Ball
    • Don’t even try. You can barely headshot this guy and he has like 600 hp half of which is armor. You are not killing him.
  • Zarya
    • If you want to 1v1 a Zarya you first need to check something. How much charge does Zarya have? If the answer is anything above like 50. Don’t… just don’t. She does too much damage to you.
    • Now, if she doesn’t have much we have another issue. Zarya usually has 2 bubbles that she will be able to use to give herself ~2 seconds to breathe and walk without taking damage, this is an extra 4 seconds for her to get help from her team. 4 seconds is a LONG time. In higher elos, 1v1’s between Kiriko and another squishy can end WAY faster than 4 seconds.
    • Now assuming no one will help her and you have your cool downs, then you can actually win. You just need to play in an area with high ground. We will want as much time to be able to dodge her beam as possible. Even at 0 charge she does enough to poke us down if we just let her beam us during the fight.
    • Play to shoot her head and when she pops bubble, then you just hide. Do not try to fight her while she has bubble. Otherwise just shoot her head, she actually has very little HP as compared to most tanks. So you can kill her, it just takes good timing and a good use of corners (and a health pack or two)

Damage (DPS):

General advice: Play to get close to most DPS, as this will make it easier to kill them. Suzu yourself to live through key cooldowns or when you just need the invulnerability and healing. Otherwise the DPS cast is too broad to give general advice. Some are free kills if you are close (so if you can get the jump on them and headshot them!), some just aren’t worth trying to kill. Otherwise, just play with an out and you can take a 1v1 with just about any DPS in the game as long as you are able to leave the fight in an instant.

  • Ashe
    • Poke her out, she tends to move slow if she is scoped in so just try to poke in her direction and you might be able to land a double dink and kill her.
    • Otherwise, if you can then simply get close to her you can climb to where she is, close range you win the 1v1 almost all the time. Very easy to double-dink someone from close range.
  • Bastion
    • Very killable, until he pops his turret form.
    • Poke out his head when he is in recon. Do this until he pops turret form. After turret form ends, do this again and finish him off. His head hitbox is pretty big.
    • When he pops turret form, just hide. You are NOT killing that.
  • Cassidy
    • Play to dodge that stupid hinder nade.
      • If you get caught by this (without suzu) you are probably dead as obviously you cannot TP away to safety.
    • You can actually 2 tap Cass even with his 225 hp still
    • All in all, play a bit closer and play a high ground against Cass, he 2 taps you and you 2 tap him.
    • If he uses hinder then he is kind of a free kill as you can use suzu more leniently.
    • Keep in mind, Cass has 225 HP so it’s a Headshot and 3 body shots to kill.
  • Echo
    • If she is low to the ground then hitting her head actually isn’t that hard
    • Save suzu for the sticky / beam follow up
      • This actually leads me to a mind game you can play with Echo, which is waiting for when the sticky explosion is about to happen then using suzu a little bit before it goes off. Echo players will usually try to bait out suzu with stickies, then actually try to poke you down. Thing is, if they see you not using suzu they will assume you don’t have it and use their beam. So you can dodge both the stickies and part of the beam (which doesn’t do much damage unless you’re under half HP) with just your suzu.
    • If she is in the air then you can poke at her but you probably will not hit her.
    • Otherwise fliers and you do not get along, just play to not 1v1 her unless she has already used her flight.
  • Genji
    • Genji will always try to dive you, almost no matter what you try to do. Better you than your Ana or other support I guess? Fighting a Genji is pretty simple, save your suzu to save yourself and otherwise try to poke at his (admittedly hard to hit ) head.
      • This fight can go either way but you’d be surprised how many of your Kunai you can actually hit on a Genji by practicing against a Genji bot.
  • Hanzo
    • You 2 shot him, he 1 shots you. I do not recommend trying to take this fight very often.
    • That being said, if you can get the jump on him or you have the high ground then this fight can go either way. Just be smart about how you engage. This is definitely a fight that depends on the situation of whether or not you should actually try to fight him.
  • Junkrat
    • Honestly, double dinking him isn’t hard… but on Kiriko I would almost rather fight a Hanzo. The range that you are good in, he’s kind of better in it. Junk (whilst not actually being a one shot hero) one shots you. Do NOT get close to him, play a distance or wait out both conc mines and you can win the fight.
    • Use suzu to heal back up after getting hit by a mine if you need to, so you become a 3 shot instead of a 2 shot.
    • Keep in mind, he does MORE damage than your headshot by hitting you in the body… good luck!
  • Mei
    • Honestly, you probably win these with 1 notable exception… you remember what I said about Zarya? How she has 4 seconds to avoid damage? Well Mei has this too (obviously) this gives her time to heal in her ice block and have a teammate help her out. Best advice I can give is to be ready to leave if things go lopsided.
    • If she has no iceblock for the 1v1 then you almost certainly win the 1v1.
    • Avoid the icicle headshot, if she gets you with this then just leave. You will probably lose the 1v1.
  • Pharah
    • Play this like an Echo / Junkrat hybrid. Honestly, don’t even try to fight Pharah. She’s in the sky more often than Echo (which is the time when it’s just not even worth fighting Echo) and she does Jumkrat damage on you.
    • The only time I will try to fight a Pharah is between fights or as she is coming back from spawn (usually a period of time where they aren’t expecting to be jumped and they are on the ground) as if you get the first headshot then getting 2 follow up body shots (even as they are in the air) is viable… but you are probably not going to get a headshot on them.
  • Reaper
    • He’s like Zarya and JQ. Just play a distance and he can’t do much to you.
    • He can get out with his Wraith (like Zar) and get help from his team so be aware of this.
    • All in all, in a pure 1v1 as long as you can maintain distance then you probably win this.
  • Sojourn
    • She does SO much damage.
    • Play close to her and you will probably win the 1v1, you have an easier time bursting at close range
    • Wait for rail before engaging. If she is able to rail you before the fight even starts then you will probably lose.
  • Soldier: 76
    • Avoid. Helix. Rocket.
      • If you do get hit by it then SUZU, but instantly be looking to get out. You will probably lose this 1v1.
    • If you avoid Helix then you probably win the 1v1, if you can hit your shot then the heal pad honestly doesn’t mean much to you.
      • And if you can’t hit your shots then just play to hide from him while he heals. Many Soldier players will actually chase you after you hide and you can kill him while he has 0 cool downs.
    • All in all, as long as you practiced your Kunai and you’re not having an off day then killing him after he uses helix is pretty easy.
  • Sombra
    • Honestly… she does like nothing to you. This is actually not too hard of a 1v1 for you. But you have to be aware of one of her key cooldowns translocator
      • Does she have Translocator?
      • Keep in mind, many Sombra players will try to use Virus to bait out Suzu then be ready to come back when they have Virus again.
    • Secondly, if you have a teammate near by, cleanse Virus with TP if you can, then save suzu for the actual fight with Sombra (or your teammate) rather use TP since it has a short cooldown to cleanse the effect.
    • All in all, in a pure 1v1 you more than likely win the fight against her.
  • Symmetra
    • As yourself the same starter question as Zarya, what is her charge? If she is high charge… don’t even try.
    • If she is low charge then be ready to double dink her to kill her. Honestly, she isn’t too scary as long as you can kill her quick. If she gets level 3 beam off you then run, you are not winning this anymore.
    • If she throws turrets then it is worth it to flick to one to break it (if its close just melee it). These will slow your movement too much and she will be able to more easily build her beam off of you to kill you quickly.
      • The exception to this is if she is already low then it may be worth tanking the damage then using suzu to finish off Sym
  • Torbjörn
    • Honestly, this 1v1 can be very weird. He has a large head so triple dinking him to kill him can be very easy, but he can also just ROLL you.
    • See if he still has his Overload, if he does then it’s just not a fight worth taking. The extra attack speed + 100 overhealth just does not make it worth it to fight him.
    • If he does not have his Overload then simply try to get the jump on him, you will need to dink him twice and get a body shot in to kill him.
      • If there’s a turret in play that can interrupt the 1v1 then just don’t even engage.
      • If he uses his turret during the 1v1 then just leave. You will not able able to kill it faster enough.
  • Tracer
    • Honestly, hitting her is very hard. Like actually fighting a good Tracer on Kiriko is quite difficult.
    • That being said, if you dink her once you can force recall, if you force a recall then killing her is as simple as a headshot and a body shot.
    • The 1v1 with Tracer tends to be a game of chicken from my experience. Will you use Suzu first or will she use Recall first? If you use Suzu first then she tends to try to kill you as your key cooldown is gone. If recall is forced then they tend to try to run.
    • Honestly in a pure 1v1 you win (this is obviously if she already used recall) a Tracer without recall is probably a free kill for you.
  • Widowmaker
    • Play it like Ashe. But instead if you get headshot you’re dead! Otherwise she is an absolute free kill at close range.
    • I would poke her down at irregular intervals and in a bit more of a freakish way. Poke her from multiple angles, don’t do it regularly enough to get a rhythm down. You want to scare her whilst also not getting headshot.

Support:

General advice: You beat almost every Support in a 1v1. Some things you need need to be ready to use suzu for though! Otherwise just play close range against (most) supports and you will be good. Be that assassin that us Support players hate in ranked!

  • Ana
    • Honestly this favors you super heavily
    • Play to dodge sleep, if you can do this, then you win this fight (unless she’s just massively better than you)
    • Many Ana players will play to be able to nade both of you in a 1v1, so they will try to get close enough to heal from the nade and to damage you with it. Try to dodge nade with suzu, but honestly nade is a win / win for you. In this situation, if you have more than 60 HP then you can let the nade hit you THEN suzu. The nade will do 60 damage and your suzu will actually heal you for 70 damage. Obviously avoiding the nade all together with suzu will actually be preferable because then you can heal 40 HP and avoid all the damage.
    • More than anything, you should win this fight. Just play far enough away to avoid sleep.
  • Baptiste
    • Oh Bap, how much I love him… but he really is a pain to fight.
    • Bap has 3 health bars, his main one, the one he has below half health… and then lamp.
    • Poke at Bap at irregular intervals like widow to try to force his Regen Burst. If you can force this then keep going to force lamp.
    • More than anything, try to engage after he is down a cooldown. Lamp is a 25 second CD so engaging on him when he has only burst means you probably win the 1v1 (I know from experience) Kiriko is just hard to hit.
    • Getting the drop on Bap is key in a 1v1 against him. You immediately get to force out his shift then your chances of actually getting the kill go up SO much.
  • Brigitte
    • Remember what I said about Sigma? Yeah this goes for Brig too. Her shield just makes her so hard to kill because she can just whipshot to regen health and trade between blocking your shots with her shield and taking damage with her health bar. Honestly, whilst she won’t kill you, the 1v1 just isn’t worth taking. You will probably not kill her and she probably won’t kill you.
    • If you get close to her then you’re just asking for death though… just don’t.
  • Illari
    • Ah Illari, our favorite. You both 2 shot each other to the head but you each have distinct advantages.
      • Kiriko shoots faster than Illari does, so Kiriko can get out both headshots needed while Illari need about a second longer to be able to kill Kiriko.
      • Illari has Pylon to sustain her in the 1v1.
    • All in all, for the 1v1 I recommend trying to find her in a situation where she doesn’t have pylon. Or try to do the Sombra rotation. Then fight her pylonless and you will probably win the 1v1.
      • The Sombra rotation is breaking the Pylon. Getting out, then going back in when you have your cooldowns since she will not have pylon yet.
    • If you cannot fight her without her Pylon then you will probably just have to fight her with it, practice your Kunai shots, it will be like fighting someone with around 300 hp. Just shoot her head and try to use your Suzu to sustain through (or to avoid if you can) one of her shots to also give yourself an effective 300 HP (by avoiding a 100 dmg bullet)
      • All in all, to fight an Illari you need to be able to accurately hit your Kunai
  • Kiriko
    • Remember when I said fighting Tracer was like a game of chicken? Well in a direct 1v1 against a Kiriko, it tends to be even more so like that. First to use Suzu usually loses.
    • Aim for the head and suzu if she hits a headshot
    • All in all, as most same hero vs same hero matchups are, this is purely a skill check.
  • Lifeweaver
    • Play a distance and try to fight him when he’s close to a wall.
      • Poke down his large hitbox with Kunai and when he uses Petal to regenerate some, you need to be ready to climb the wall to get to him.
    • He effectively has 275 HP so you will need to be able to hit mad headshots on him.
    • Honestly, it’s not super worth it to try to kill a LifeWeaver unless you need to do it to win a team fight, he is just very hard to kill and can force one of his teammates to help him.
  • Lúcio
    • He’s obviously super slippery and is very hard to kill.
      • because of this, you will ONLY be aiming for headshots. Ever seen a Lucio 1v1? Yeah those things last ages, if you cannot kill him with 2 headshots then you’re not killing him at all. Just leave.
  • Mercy
    • It’s a Mercy… you should win these
    • The main thing is, her gun does a surprising amount of damage and the hitbox on that thing is MASSIVE. So try to avoid damage by being on the high ground.
    • All in all, just try to kill her before she can fly to a teammate of hers.
  • Moira
    • Honestly, she’s like a lesser more deadly version of Lucio.
    • Her hitbox is kind of hard to hit and with a fade and heal orb, she can be just as hard to kill as a Lucio.
      • The bright side of this is though, since she tends to stay on the same Y axis, her head hitbox is easier to hit than Lucio’s allowing you to kill her easier.
    • All in all, I don’t recommend trying to 1v1 her all the time, better off trying to 1v1 someone else.
  • Zenyatta
    • With zen being 225 and getting his Discord change, the way you fight Zen has actually changed.
      • Obviously try to get the jump on Zen as he does a TON of damage
      • Play out of kick distance for Zen, don’t forget he does 96 damage per headshot… almost half your health and a boop make it a lot easier for follow up damage.
      • The main thing that has changed now, is that when he discords you. Then now you make a decision, do you play with fire or do you play it safe? You can play with fire and try to wait until he hits a shot before cleaning yourself of the Discord, or you can immediately suzu to cleanse the discord.
    • Keep in mind, Zen has 225 HP so it’s a Headshot and 3 body shots to kill, just like Cass.

Wow… that was a lot of typing and my brain hurts now lol.

What actionable steps can I take to improve?

  • First, start with improving your ability to do damage (check out that section) this will help you learn your 1v1’s and help you learn to actually use your Kunai in a reliable manner. This is building the foundation of skill for Kiriko. You need a strong foundation to build anything of importance on top of, remember this.
  • Secondly, I recommend hopping into Quick Play and flanking on Kiriko. Learn when actual players will fight, what actions they take, how they move, etc. Learning against players is very important. Flank and put yourself in a bad position, learn to fight, learn to get away. This is very valuable for learning this skill in an environment in which a loss doesn’t actually matter. So when you do this in a competitive game, you are prepared to kill or leave with the experience to learn to gage the fight (this is what we call GAME SENSE).
  • Thirdly, it’s boring but VOD review yourself. Look at when you TPed to suzu your Antied Hog and learn to recognize the fights you can win and the ones you should just let the person die. Your life is very important.
  • Lastly, watch better players. I know these last 2 are generic but they are very helpful. Watch a high level Support player play the game, as questions about why they did what (this is where smaller streamers can be a VERY useful resource)
    • That last part is a very important part to touch on, ml7 is a GREAT player do not get me wrong. But his chat is far too big for you to be able to ask questions to. There are plenty of Top 500 or GM Support players streaming on Twitch who have 0-5 viewers and you can hop in their chat and talk to them, ask them why they make their decisions, hell some of them will even VOD review you on stream. Small communities are GREAT for learning.

That’s it for now… my brain hurts and I have a psychology essay due tonight (instead I decided to write 8500 words on Kiriko… I’m not the smartest) I have another document coming (hopefully this week, but I’m habitually lazy) that will describe what to do with and against each hero on Kiriko (so what is best to do to support that person and what will best screw them over if they’re on the enemy team) stay updated with my Hub Document (there you can find my other guides as well). If you have any questions then let me know.
Lastly, with posts as large as this one, Reddit actually doesn’t let me edit the post, I have to delete it and repost it. Because of this, unless I make a major mistake, I will not be editing anything inside of the reddit post, if there is anything that I missed let me know and I will edit the Google Doc version of this to keep it up to date, otherwise I will update the Google Doc version when needed (and when that match up doc comes out so it can transition over to each other seamlessly). Have a good one and stay climbing!