An Overwatch 2 Kiriko bug is leaving the newest support hero all over the place, literally, as an interaction with Echo pulls her away from fights at crucial moments in the Blizzard FPS game. As Overwatch 2 season 2 rolls on, players are experimenting with new hero combinations to find ways to get a leg up on the competition, and an interaction with Echo has exacerbated an existing glitch by affecting players mid-fight.
The bug in question happens when Kiriko uses her Swift Step ability to teleport to a friendly character who is changing hero. Something about the brief period where the characters are switching out causes Kiriko to instead teleport to wildly different parts of the map. Some players have theorised that the game chooses the map origin, but whatever the specifics the tangible outcome is that you end up somewhere different than where you intended to be.
Previously, this hasn’t come up too often, as you have to specifically be teleporting to someone in your own spawn who is changing hero – at which point it isn’t a huge deal if something goes awry, as you’re already on the back foot. However, with Echo seeing more play, it’s become apparent that her ultimate creates a matching issue. This becomes a bigger problem as it’s far more likely to occur during an important clash.
Echo’s ultimate, Duplicate, transforms her temporarily into a copy of one of the heroes on the enemy team – meaning it also causes a brief period during the transition between characters where there is no visible character, which the game generally covers with a visual effect. However, attempting to Swift Step during this transition – either when the ultimate is first used, or when it ends due to damage or time – causes Kiriko to be shot across the map.
An example of this bug happening during a team fight has garnered much attention on the Overwatch Reddit, while another such version happening on an Echo coming out of ult (seen initially as the silhouette of Soldier: 76 through the wall) can be seen below.
This phenomenon has occurred with other teleport mechanics such as Symmetra’s teleport in the past, so it’s not completely new. However, it’s much more likely to occur with this particular combination – an Echo who falls low on health may well choose to opt for a saving ultimate right as Kiriko teleports in to try and save them, or Kiriko may look to jump to a mid-ult Echo for support right as their health is bursted down.
This certainly isn’t enough to knock Kiriko from a high spot atop the Overwatch 2 tier list, but it’ll certainly be something to keep an eye out for in future patches as the Overwatch 2 season 3 release date gets closer. Meanwhile, the latest Overwatch 2 patch notes give some underused tanks a nice buff. If you’re playing, be sure to take a look at our guide to the best Overwatch 2 settings to ensure optimum performance.