Hero Bans in Overwatch 2 Bring Changes for Sombra, Zarya, and Others

Oh man, so Blizzard’s at it again with Overwatch 2, right? They tossed in this hero ban feature back in April. If you’re hooked on season 16, you’ve probably seen it, those heroes that are like ALWAYS banned. Sombra, Zarya, Symmetra—I’m not kidding, they’re on the list most of the time. I’m reading Blizzard’s latest data stuff, and yeah, it confirms it. But here’s the twist: these bans are gonna shake things up big time. Some heroes might get their power tweaked, maybe a bit more than that, because of all this banning chaos. That’s what the developers are hinting at.

So, get this: Sombra is leading the charge with a wild 85% ban rate on PCs—crazy, right? Next up, you got Zarya at 59% and then Doomfist at 43%. And consoles? Forget about it. Sombra’s ban rate jumps to 93%! What?! Zarya and Symmetra—57% and 23% respectively. It’s nuts!

Gavin Winter, this guy who knows the systems in and out at Blizzard, mentioned they’re gonna use the recent ban data to tweak Overwatch 2’s balance. Like, he’s saying if some heroes are getting booted out on specific maps, they might need to change, make them more universal. And those heroes nobody wants to touch? They might get more tweaks regardless. But, and there’s always a “but”, no specific changes are on deck from just this ban data. Balance isn’t just about who’s popular or not.

Okay, so what does all that mean for Zarya or Symmetra? Total mystery. But if Sombra’s riding the bench 85% of the time in competitive play because she’s a royal pain to play against, that’s a big issue. Why pour your time into mastering a character if you rarely get to show off in actual games?

Despite the whole banning circus, Blizzard says they’re super chill with the system. Winter added—and this might sound rehearsed—they believe it’s checking off most of its goals. And they’re all jazzed about seeing these Hero Bans roll forward as more win rates and pick rates data start spilling out. Sounds like a lot, right?

Ah, and guess what? Season 17 is dropping in late June. Blizzard’s giving people more say in the chaos with this new map-voting feature. Sounds like a wild ride. Who even knows where this is all heading, but it’s sure not boring!