25. You can Change the X-Kairos' Pattern
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=194
This rework on Hibana came out fairly recently, about a couple of seasons ago, and this rework on her X-Kairos may not be known to many, especially those who do not read the patch notes every new season. Before, there’s really not much versatility to Hibana’s X-Kairos. She also had to fire six X-Kairos pellets every time she fires her special gadget, and those six X-Kairos pellets will always have the same pattern.
Now with the rework, Hibana is able to change the pattern and number of the X-Kairos pellets that she’ll be launching. By pressing the switch ability button, the player will be able to switch the X-Kairos pellet deployment pattern and number between six, four, and two. This rework on Hibana really provides her with a lot of versatility and allows her to save more X-Kairos for better purposes later on in the round.
24. Create Lines of Sight
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=409
Because of the excellent rework that Ubisoft did on Hibana, her X-Kairos can be used in a lot more ways now other than just hard breaching and creating entry points. Because she can now just deploy two X-Kairos pellets if she wants to with one shot from the launcher, she can just create small lines of sight if she wants, very similar to how players would normally create lines of sight on unreinforced walls using shotguns or by simply shooting at them.
But Hibana, with her X-Kairos special gadget, can create lines of sight on reinforced walls, so she basically can sort of do what Maverick can do now too. One of the best spots for doing this, as demonstrated in the video above, is in the garage of Clubhouse. From the main gate spawn point, the Hibana player can just deploy two of her X-Kairos pellets on the upper-right corner of the garage’s first wall and that will give her a line of sight to the window by the CCTV which defenders always swing.
23. Go into ADS for Firing the X-Kairos
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=279
Some players might not know this but the white crosshair or marker from the X-Kairos launcher when you’re in hip fire position isn’t really reliable, especially in long distances. In fact, even at close range, it won’t exactly show where your X-Kairos pellets will attach. The white crosshair or marker is only really good for letting the player know which pattern or number of X-Kairos pellets are about to launch, but when it comes to actually deploying them, it’s always better to go into aim-down-sights stance.
That’s because when you’re in aim-down-sights stance, instead of the white crosshair or marker that you get when you’re in hip fire position, what you’ll see is a laser that will indicate exactly where your X-Kairos pellets will be attached when you fire them. Now, of course the laser will be much less visible over long distances and where the sun is shining brightly, so you really have to be careful when launching your X-Kairos.
22. Four X-Kairos is Enough for Entry
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=393
If the breach that you want to create is just big enough for you to go through, all you really need are four X-Kairos pellets. So, instead of wasting two more pellets, all you need to do is press the switch ability button until you get the indicator that you’ll be firing four pellets. Once you get that indicator, carefully aim your X-Kairos launcher to the lowest part of the reinforced wall, fire it, and you should be able to crawl through it.
However, entering the mission building while crawling can really leave you vulnerable to defender fire. At the very least, you’d want to enter the mission building while crouching unless you plan to surprise the enemy with a crawl entry. If you want to use four X-Kairos to enter while crouching, all you need to do is aim the launcher around five inches from the base of the wall, and you should be able to enter while crouching. You can also try the method that was shown in the video for four pellets but it’s quite tricky.
21. Mute Can’t Fully Stop Her
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=616
When your team doesn’t have a Maverick and all that’s standing between your team and performing a hard breach is a Mute signal jammer, what you can do is press your switch ability button while the X-Kairos launcher is at the ready until you get the indicator that you’ll be firing two X-Kairos pellets. After that, all you need to do is aim at the upper corners of the walls. The area of effect of the Mute signal Jammers shouldn’t reach that high up in most cases.
After deploying your X-Kairos pellets on each upper corner, detonate it and you should be able to create two holes on each corner. Those holes will be big enough for your teammates’ frag grenades, and as long as they throw it well, it should be enough to disable the Mute signal jammer that’s blocking your team from fully breaching the reinforced wall. You can also rappel on the side of the holes that you created and peek through them to see if there are enemies that you can frag.
20. You Need at least Four to Open a Reinforced Hatch
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=692
Unfortunately, a reinforced hatch wouldn’t be destroyed with just two X-Kairos pellets; however, because of the rework on Hibana, she now doesn’t have to use up six X-Kairos pellets just to destroy one reinforced hatch. It only now takes four pellets, which is really good, because the greatest number of reinforced hatches you’ll need to destroy for attacking an objective spot that’s in a lower floor would be three.
That means even after destroying three reinforced hatches, you would still have six X-Kairos pellets left which you can use for other purposes. With six X-Kairos pellets, you can shoot two pellets three times, opening more lines of sight, or you can shoot a batch of four pellets for a large hole and then you’ll still be left with two pellets that could still open up a hole large enough to give you an extra line of sight.
19. Don’t Sleep on her Shotgun
https://youtu.be/7KJea_yrh7w?t=229
Now that she has the bearing 9 machine pistol as one of her choices for her primary, Hibana can actually go out in the field with a weapon loadout similar to that of Smoke and Mute’s usual weapon loadout, which is having a shotgun as their primary weapon while their secondary is a machine pistol. While the type-89 is a great assault rifle, people shouldn’t really sleep on Hibana’s supernova shotgun because it’s one of the most powerful shotguns in the game.
As you can see from the video above, at optimal range, it can take out an opponent with one blast of its pellets especially if all its pellets hit the operator’s body. And to increase the chances of that happening, you should attach the laser to this shotgun if you’re gonna run Hibana with it. With the laser, this shotgun’s hip fire will be a lot tighter, allowing you to hit your targets more precisely even while you’re on hip fire stance.
18. The Hatch on Consulate’s Bathroom
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=1116
The hatch on the Consulate’s bathroom is one of the most important points of attack when the objective area is at the kitchen and garage area. That’s because once that hatch is breached, it will expose defenders who are anchoring the pillar and the pipes, as well as defenders who will be rotating from the security hall and using the entrance to go to the garage.
That’s why a lot of times, this hatch will be jammed with a Kaid Electroclaw. But as Siege youtuber alyttleton demonstrated in the video, even if you don’t have a Thatcher with you or someone with an impact EMP grenade, you can breach this hatch even while Kaid’s electroclaw is protecting it. You just need to switch the X-Kairos to launch four pellets and fire them on the corners of the wall beside the hatch as shown in the video. That will create an explosion on the wall that will be enough to break the reinforced hatch as well.
17. Use Two X-Kairos for a Surya Gate
Aruni’s Surya Laser Gates are one of the peskiest special gadgets in Siege because if you’re not going to sacrifice your health points to go through it, you’ll have to sacrifice your utilities or drones to disable it. Luckily, Hibana has access to three stun grenades. However, it would be much better for you to switch the X-Kairos launcher to fire only two pellets and have those two pellets disable the surya laser gate. That way, you’ll be able to use your extra stun grenade for stunning enemies instead of just temporarily disabling Aruni’s surya laser gate.
16. Don’t Sleep on her Pistol
Now that Hibana has access to the bearing 9 machine pistol, her original handgun, the P229, has become largely unnoticed. It’s true though, that the bearing 9 machine pistol is an overall more powerful weapon than the P229 handgun, however, there are still situations where the P229 would give the player more gameplay benefit than the bearing 9.
For example, if you want to penetrate the mission building with more stealth, it would be handy to equip the P229 with a suppressor so that you can shoot defender cameras with it without really giving away your position to enemies. While the bearing 9 can also be equipped with a suppressor, its vertical recoil is very strong so it’s quite unthinkable to run the bearing 9 without a flash hider.
15. Disable Gadgets from Below
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=932
When people think of Hibana, they think that she only has the capability to perform a vertical play with her ability to destroy reinforced hatches and destroy wooden floors above objective spots using her breach charges. However, Hibana is also very capable of performing a vertical attack from below, and it will be more focused on destroying pesky bulletproof gadgets like the deployable shield, Maestro’s Evil Eyes, or Melusi’s Banshees.
This can only really be done if you have intel inside the objective spot though, it’ll be much better if you can leave one of your drones in a sneaky spot inside the objective spot. As shown in the video above, all you need to do is ping the defender gadget that’s on the floor, and that will tell you the exact location of said gadget. And as long as it’s deployed on a wooden floor, Hibana can destroy it by deploying two X-Kairos pellets right below it and then detonating the pellets.
14. Use the Compensator
This goes for Hibana’s type-89 assault rifle. This weapon is loved by many professional players like Shaiiko because of its fast rate of fire and high damage. Its recoil is also quite manageable, although it leaves much to be desired. Because without the right attachments, its firing stability will be quite rough to control. That’s why the vertical grip is very important for it. Without the vertical grip, the type-89 is going to be a handful to control.
However, most of the discussion really centers around its barrel attachment. Most Hibana players seem to run the type-89 assault rifle with the flash hider. The flash hider will further lower down its vertical recoil along with the vertical grip, and in a sense, it does make the gun easier to control. However, what I really recommend for this weapon is the compensator. Because this weapon’s weakness when it comes to recoil really is its horizontal recoil, and the compensator will lessen that.
13. Use Her for Rushing
https://youtu.be/7KJea_yrh7w?t=154
This is one of the best ways to rush using a Hibana, and defenders wouldn’t really expect it, especially if they see that only six pellets are being used to breach. That’s because what they will only expect is that the breach will be used as a line of sight and not really for entry. As demonstrated by BikiniBodhi from the video above, what the player need to do is to deploy six X-Kairos pellets on the base of the reinforced wall, prone, and keep moving forward until the wall is breached. Hibana will only receive thirty damage from the X-Kairos and she will be able to surprise the defenders inside with this quick entry.
12. Don’t Sleep on Her Breach Charges
While I would advise most players to run with the stun grenades when playing Hibana, there are also times when the breach charges will be a lot more useful. And one of those times is when the objective spot is on a lower floor and the floor above it is made of wood. That’s because if it’s made of wood, it means that it can be destroyed by the breach charges.
With three breach charges on your arsenal, you’ll be able to destroy large portions of the wooden floor above the objective spot, and you can use that for exposing the defenders below and forcing them out of the usual angles that they hold. The ability to destroy wooden floors above objective spots using your breach charges and destroy reinforced hatches with your X-Kairos is a really powerful vertical play that will really unsettle the defenders below.
11. Use the Scope 2.5x A
https://youtu.be/7KJea_yrh7w?t=245
While for the most part, Hibana would be dealing with enemies at close to medium range due to her role of being the main operator for taking out reinforced hatches and attacking vertically, there would also be times when she would have to deal with enemies at longer distances than medium range. That’s because she can also launch her X-Kairos pellets from long distances.
And for long distance shooting, the scope 2.5x A is the best available scope for her. It will provide her with a high-level zoom that will make enemies appear bigger even from long-distances, and it will also help Hibana hit her enemies with pinpoint accuracy because of its reticle. This is extremely helpful for maps like Favela where Hibana can breach walls from a long distance and strafe enemies from there.
10. Make Perfect Hard Breaches
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=1000
The biggest weakness of Hibana when it comes to hard breaching is that her special gadget doesn’t really make big hard breaches like Thermite and Ace’s special gadgets can do. Sure, technically Hibana can also make a large hole on a reinforced wall, but that would take up all of her X-Kairos pellets, and that wouldn’t really be the most efficient use of Hibana’s special gadget.
Thankfully, there is a way for Hibana to make a perfect hard breach on a reinforced wall just like with Thermite’s exothermic charges. Note, however, that I would only advise this if your team doesn’t have an Ace or Thermite, because ideally, Hibana’s time and X-Kairos pellets are better for destroying reinforced hatches. All you have to do is follow the instructions in the video above, and Hibana will be able to make a perfect hard breach.
9. Attach the Vertical Grip
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=164
Hibana’s type-89 assault rifle is a great gun with high damage per shot and has a wide variety of attachments available to it. Its only perceived drawback really is its low magazine capacity. However, its other drawback is its pretty rough recoil. Don’t get me wrong, the type-89's recoil is far from the worst in Siege. It’s actually a very manageable weapon.
However, if you do not attach the best attachments for it, you won’t be controlling its gunshots well, especially with the recent recoil progression overhaul which made it harder to control the recoil of weapons when shooting with longer sprays. So, for the type-89 assault rifle, it’s always better to run it with a vertical grip. The vertical grip only affects the weapon’s vertical recoil, but lowering its vertical weapon kick goes a long way when it comes to controlling its overall recoil.
8. You Can Delay the X-Kairos' Activation
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=884
This is really common knowledge but for some reason I don’t see a lot of players doing it. It’s like they somehow forgot or they don’t bother doing it. But delaying the X-Kairos' detonation is actually beneficial to the whole attacking team most of the time. For example, if the objective spot is on the gym and master bedroom area in the second-floor of Clubhouse and the windows were reinforced with Castle’s Armor Panels.
What you can do in that case is to deploy two X-Kairos pellets for each window that’s been reinforced by Castle’s Armor Panels. That’s usually going to be four windows. One in the gym, one in the master bedroom, one in the construction area, and one in the cctv room. And then have all of them detonate at the same time. This way, the defenders will be more surprised and won’t have an idea which window you and your team will be using for attacking.
7. Two is Enough for Castle
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=864
For reinforced hatches, you’ll need at least four X-Kairos pellets to bring each of them down. However, with Castle’s Armor Panels, you only need two. That’s why the rework on Hibana has made her a really viable operator again, because even when she destroys four Castle Armor panels, she would still be left with ten X-Kairos pellets. And ten X-Kairos pellets can still do a lot of breaching for her.
That’s why when you scan that there’s a Castle on the defending team, it will be a really good idea to repick into Hibana if you haven’t chosen her already. Because Hibana is a really good counter to Castle’s Armor Panels. Castle’s Armor Panels may seem simple but they can actually really waste a lot of attacker utilities if the attackers don’t want to spend all the time to hit each of them with nine melee attacks.
6. She’s an Excellent Counter to Kaid
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=731
Kaid is the only defender who can prevent a reinforced hatch from being breached, and most of the time, if you don’t have Thatcher with your or any other attacker that has an impact EMP grenade, you would really have a hard time breaching a reinforced hatch that is being electrocuted by Kaid’s electroclaw. However, if you’re using Hibana and the reinforced hatch that you need to destroy is on a wooden floor, there is a workaround.
Like demonstrated in the video above, the reinforced hatch in the kitchen of Clubhouse is surrounded by wood, and all that Hibana has to do is to deploy two X-Kairos pellets on the side of the electrocuted reinforced hatch and the explosion from it should be enough to destroy Kaid’s electroclaw. Once the electroclaw has been destroyed, all you have to do is proceed with breaching the reinforced hatch as you normally would.
5. You Only Need Two for Unreinforced Hatches
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=711
While you need at least four X-Kairos pellets to destroy reinforced hatches, for unreinforced ones, you only need two. This is very handy especially when you’ve opted to run with the stun grenades instead of the breach charges. And for most general situations I do recommend running with the stun grenades as it gives Hibana more options for attacking her enemies.
So, when you’re not really planning to perform a vertical attack by destroying wooden floors above the objective spot, it’s always better to go with the stun grenades rather than the breach charges. And if you just want to destroy a hatch, either for entering the mission building from the rooftop or you just want to go down a floor quickly, all you need are two X-Kairos pellets.
4. Use Her for Vertical Hard Breaching
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=484
If you’re playing as Hibana, and especially when there are other hard breachers around that can perform hard breaching on walls, what I recommend you to do is concentrate on performing a vertical play. That’s because Hibana is really more effective at breaching reinforced hatches than both Ace and Thermite because she can just use four of her X-Kairos pellets to destroy one reinforced hatch.
That means that even if she destroys three reinforced hatches, she would still have a lot of X-Kairos pellets remaining, and she can use it for other purposes like creating more lines of sight or creating more entry holes. Hibana also has breach charges which she can use to keep destroying wooden floors above objective spots, and that will further increase her effectiveness in performing a vertical attack.
3. Run with the Stun Grenades
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=138
Even though the breach charges would really augment Hibana’s vertical play capabilities, for the most part, the stun grenades are still the best secondary gadget for her. Especially when there’s already a Buck or a Sledge on the attacking team that can destroy wooden floors anyway. The stun grenades on Hibana will really allow her more options for pushing, especially after she has breached a reinforced hatch.
Usually, the problem with pushing from a reinforced hatch is of course the enemies that are waiting to frag you when you drop down. But with proper intel gathering, you would know the position of those enemies, and you would be able to stun them with your stun grenades. The great thing about the stun grenades is that you don’t really need to blind enemies for them to be effective. As long as they go off near them, they would be useful as they would disorient them and inflict a loud ear-ringing effect that could prevent them from hearing sound cues.
2. Go with the Bearing 9
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=119
While I’m a big fan of Hibana’s P229 handgun and I do think it brings more benefits to her in certain situations, for the most part, it can’t be denied that the bearing 9 is the best secondary weapon for her. That is of course because of its ability to make quick work of enemies due to its insane rate of fire, high damage, and good magazine size. Its only real drawback is its very powerful vertical kick which can be controlled by the proper attachments anyway.
The bearing 9 is a really great secondary weapon for Hibana because the main weakness of her type-89 assault rifle is its small magazine capacity. That means the type-89 has a high chance of having to be reloaded in the middle of a gunfight, but with the bearing 9, Hibana can continue spraying at her enemy. The bearing 9 machine pistol is also great for destroying barricaded doors or windows and peeking with the type-89 assault rifle right after.
1. The Type-89 is Her Best Primary Weapon
https://youtu.be/k8ZNSJhXWlE?t=84
When you’re going to play Hibana, you’ll have the best experience if you run with the Type-89 assault rifle instead of her shotgun. Don’t get me wrong, her shotgun is really powerful too, but the Type-89 is just a really powerful assault rifle with high damage, manageable recoil, and fast rate of fire. Its only downside really is its small magazine capacity, but when used in small bursts, this weapon is really powerful.
It’s a unique gun to Hibana so it’s also just a shame to not use it. It’s a headshot machine, especially because of its recoil, which, as I said, is manageable but only with the proper attachments. And if you’ve followed the other tips above, you already know the best attachments for this weapon. Another great thing about this weapon is the wide variety of attachments available to it and its low range damage drop-off.
Attention operator, please be advised. There is a new directive from Six. Read up on these related articles, and prepare for deployment:
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