An Honest Look at Kiri
Before I begin, hi, my name is CrazyDude42. I’m a former Top 500 Kiriko and Wuyang player who reached Grandmaster earlier this year, and I’m also the founder of HeroIntel.gg, a platform for tracking in-game stats.
I’ve been lurking on this subreddit for a while and have seen a lot of people talking about the recent Kiriko nerfs. While I agree with most of them, I think there’s something we need to talk about as a community. I’ve been aware since Kiriko first came out that she was overtuned, and I always knew it was a question of not if, but when, she would be nerfed.
I’ve personally experienced people joking that Kiriko is for casual players who want a powerful kit, or that her kit is a crutch for her playerbase, and I do take those criticisms to heart. That’s why I invest time into other heroes like Wuyang and Winston. While Kiriko is still my favorite, I understand why so many people choose her because of how versatile she is. She literally has no counters, and I think we need to acknowledge how powerful she has been. I always knew, when I first started playing her back in 2022, that one day she would be nerfed. We’ve had almost four years of her being meta, and, perhaps controversially, I believe being meta applies to regular ranked games, too. I accept that I might rank down while adjusting (I’m currently in Masters, but I expected this), and I still believe Kiriko is S-tier. We just need to approach her kit differently.
It saddens me to see one of my favorite subreddits filled with discussions about abandoning her because she’s been nerfed. I understand being disappointed, but I also think joking about not buying her skins anymore because of the nerfs is a little petty. Kiriko is still my favorite and go-to hero, and I’m not going to stop playing her just because she’s been nerfed. I think these changes are ultimately healthier for the game as a whole, and I hope we can give ourselves time to adapt before writing her off.
