With hero bans arriving in Overwatch 2's Season 16, players are already debating which heroes will be hit the hardest.
This much-debated feature lets players take more control by banning the most annoying characters, but not everyone's on board with what it means for balance and freedom. According to GamesRadar, Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller explained that the hero ban system will run on a voting system. Every player picks three heroes to ban, and once all the votes are in, the four most-picked bans are taken out of the match.
Blizzard had been back and forth on hero bans for ages, but it wasn't until they saw the feature thrive in other hero shooters like Marvel Rivals that they finally went for it. Banning heroes forces teams to think outside the box and adapt. However, instead of going after overpowered heroes, most players will likely ban whoever gives them the biggest headache.
The Overwatch community has wasted no time predicting which heroes will be on the chopping block the most. Heroes with heavily criticized playstyles, such as Widowmaker and Ana, appear to be leading. Widowmaker is a prime candidate due to her dominance on maps with long sightlines, such as Havana and Circuit Royal.
Many players feel that a single skilled Widowmaker can dictate the pace of a match, forcing the other team to focus entirely on shutting her down. As one Reddit user noted, "Every Circuit and Havana map is an auto Widow ban. I want the experience of playing these maps without Widow." Ana, meanwhile, is a tank's worst nightmare.
Her Biotic Grenade, which prevents healing, is one of the most complained-about abilities in the game. Her buffs make her even more of a problem, so tank players are betting she will be banned frequently to avoid rough matchups. Many tanks agree that the only way to level the playing field is to ban Ana.
But hero bans are rubbing some players the wrong way. Players who specialize in certain heroes, like Widowmaker, Sombra, and Mercy, fear that their favorite characters will be banned so often that they won't get to play them. Some players in the WidowmakerMains subreddit claim that bans will push them to quit the game for good.
Others figure bans might actually do some good. They argue that hero bans will shake up stale metas and encourage more diverse team compositions. The worry is whether hero bans will actually help in the long run or just mask bigger balance problems.
Instead of relying on the community to pick which heroes should be removed, some players feel Blizzard should focus on balancing them through updates. The argument is that banning heroes doesn't address the root cause of the issue—it's just shoved out of sight.
From another angle, bans let players tweak the game to their liking, making matches feel more fair and fun. Players won't have to deal with matchups that feel overwhelmingly frustrating. As seen in Marvel Rivals, hero bans can lead to more varied and strategic play, something that Overwatch 2 could benefit from.
It's too soon to say how hero bans will shape Overwatch 2, but the player base is definitely divided. One thing's clear: Overwatch 2 is about to see some big changes in Season 16, and Widowmaker and Ana mains might want to have a backup plan.