Overwatch 2‘s New Support Hero Can Block Headshots By…Looking Up

Overwatch 2 continues to incur issue after issue, with the latest problem leaving the icy damage dealer Mei totally unplayable due to a “critical issue” with her Ice Wall ability. Well, Blizzard may also want to investigate the hero shooter’s newest support character, Kiriko, as it appears she can block headshot damage by simply [checks notes] staring up at the sky.

Kiriko is a kunai-wielding ninja healer who leaked at the beginning of September. Previously locked behind Overwatch 2‘s battle pass, Blizzard has since opted to give the kunoichi away for free following some rather uproarious criticism of the developer’s initial decision. Though she’s a pretty squishy hero, with only 200 health points, she can deal some solid damage and has a kit perfectly suited to buffing her teammates. In other words, she isn’t as passive a healer as, say, Baptiste or Mercy, but you probably don’t want her charging the enemy frontline like Brigitte or Zenyatta either. However, that might change considering an exploit discovered by Twitch streamer Flats.

Fun fact of the day, if you look up with Kiriko you can completely block headshots from the front in Overwatch 2 pic.twitter.com/HGwscpsXZa

— Flats (@Flats_OW) November 15, 2022

A partner of the Overwatch League’s Florida Mayhem, Flats tweeted a video on November 15 of Kiriko blocking headshot damage with her arm by looking up at the sun. Flats shot at an opposing Kiriko a few times with Widowmaker, only for the bullets to merely graze the ninja’s seemingly indestructible arm, allowing her to immediately heal back up. Flats eventually murked Kiriko with a single headshot, but only after positioning himself at just the right angle, saying you “have to get behind” Kiriko to “shoot the back of her head.” Who knew that staring up at the sky could save you from death?

What’s appears to be happening here is that, when she looks up, Kiriko’s arm gets in the way of her dome’s hitbox, impacting the damage she takes from headshots. In response to Flat’s tweet, one Twitter user noted that Mercy was able to do the same thing, but only when casting her Resurrect ultimate ability, which sees her raise her arm in the air to revive a dead teammate.

Kotaku has reached out to Blizzard and Flats for comment.

Blizzard, which has a storied history of abuse and harassment, has been working to get Overwatch 2 into a more stable and balanced state since the game launched on October 4. This includes patches to nerf heroes such as Genji and benching characters to remove exploits and fix other issues (as we’ve seen with Mei, who should return to the hero shooter on November 17). During the Overwatch League grand finals, which were held earlier this month, the studio revealed the new tank hero Ramattra, who will be locked behind the game’s battle pass. It sucks, but I guess we’d better get used to it.