The hero ban system is coming to Overwatch 2 with the onset of Season 16. This feature aims to give players a more significant say in the competitive meta, allowing them to exclude characters they feel are too strong. Here’s a breakdown of how it works and what players can expect.
The developers at Blizzard have provided details on how the new bans will function. As players know all too well, patches often lead to certain heroes dominating the meta, but this time, everyone can level the playing field by voting to ban specific characters.
How Will Hero Bans Work in Overwatch 2?
Once a ranked match starts, text chat will be disabled, and player visibility into enemy teams will be turned off during the ban phase. To kick things off, each player gets to select their “Preferred Hero,” which helps teammates understand character preferences. However, there won’t be any protection against bans based on this selection.
Players retain the option to alter their Preferred Hero during this phase and can communicate with their team through voice or text chats for better tactics.
The Ban Phase starts next, where each team can vote to exclude two heroes. Players must pick three candidates for banning—first choice is valued at seven points; second at five; third at three points. Opting out entirely is possible by selecting ready; if everyone passes on making bans, every hero remains available for that match.
- The team with the most votes for one hero becomes known as the “first” team and guarantees its top choice is banned. A random decision determines who goes first if tied votes occur for a single hero between teams.
- The other team acts as “second,” making their selections next. If none of their choices align with those from the first team’s most voted hero, their primary and secondary selections get banned.
- If either team’s top or second choice overlaps with that of another team’s top pick, then instead of these heroes being banned, their third option takes precedence.
This new framework gives developers insights into which heroes display overpowering traits that need nerfs down the road. It also observes unselected options that likely demand buffs later along maps/platforms specifically analyzed throughout regions worldwide!
