Kiriko's broken Swift Step causing chaos in Overwatch 2
Kiriko's Swift Step ability has been causing significant gameplay issues, despite her popularity as a fan-favorite hero since her Season 1 launch in Overwatch 2 The recent addition of new heroes with problematic abilities has only exacerbated the problem
Kiriko quickly became a fan favorite among Overwatch 2's diverse hero roster, winning hearts with her launch. However, recent seasons have seen her Swift Step ability riddled with bugs that seriously affect gameplay. Despite not being the newest addition to the character cast, more recent heroes have brought abilities that have resulted in numerous problematic bugs.
As a support hero, Kiriko's arsenal includes a range of items and abilities that specialize in protecting allied players during combat. Along with lethal kunai that can be highly effective in skilled hands, Kiriko can temporarily make allies invulnerable to damage and teleport to teammates to provide much-needed healing or escape tough situations. While her kit seemed solid during the early months of the game, recent seasons have seen numerous bugs cropping up, particularly affecting her Swift Step ability.
Oddly enough, despite official patch notes claiming to have fixed some issues with Kiriko's teleportation in Overwatch 2's Season 4 update back in April, problems with the Swift Step ability have only become more common. One Reddit user, known as Saumfar, recently highlighted a related bug which gained popularity on the site. In a clip, Kiriko's teleportation effect is shown to be inaccurate, with the player only traveling about half the intended distance.
Unfortunately, the bugs associated with Swift Step go much deeper. Other members of the Overwatch 2 community have compiled videos documenting additional issues with the ability, successfully replicating them in-game. These include instances of the teleportation effect failing on moving platforms, placing Kiriko a few meters back from her current location, and even causing her to go out of map bounds when used with Lifeweaver's Petal Platform ability. This last bug allows Kiriko players to permanently contest objective points on certain maps.
Since its launch late last year, Overwatch 2 has encountered a wide range of bugs, some of which have caused certain heroes to be temporarily removed from the game. Balancing the growing roster of heroes and addressing the associated bugs with their abilities is no small feat. However, Blizzard's controversial decision to remove much of the game's dedicated PvE content has left many fans hopeful for a higher quality PvP experience in the future.
Overwatch 2 can be played on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
