Overwatch 2 hero ban system reportedly coming soon but with a twist

Overwatch 2 is reportedly set to finally introduce hero bans, but the system may not be exactly what players are expecting.

Hero bans have been a hotly-debated topic in the Overwatch community, with many believing such a system could be a way to offset the meta and provide more hero variety.

While such a system has yet to be implemented, the devs have teased the feature, and we might be getting our first look at it very soon.

Ever since the demise of the Overwatch League, new OW esports competitions have taken its place in the form of the Overwatch Champions Series and FACEIT League.

While the OWL never experimented with the idea of hero bans in the traditional sense, instead briefly banning heroes based on their pick rates, FACEIT appears ready to buck the trend.

According to GGRecon, FACEIT could be announcing its own hero ban system as early as next week for both the FACEIT League and upcoming Esports World Cup.

While FACEIT has been discussing the matter with teams and collecting feedback, it seems like the hero ban structure has already been worked out.

The proposed system would allow both teams to ban one hero per map, with each ban only affecting the opposing team. However, both teams may decide to ban the same hero.

Additionally, teams wouldn’t be able to ban a hero more than once in the same series. The lower seed in the series would be able to ban a hero first, with the loser of each map able to make another choice.

A FACEIT spokesperson confirmed that the system is being looked at, but denied any plans to introduce it immediately.

“Open discussions with teams and the Overwatch community are essential when considering new features. The Hero Ban is in the exploratory phase, and we have no immediate plans to introduce it on FACEIT,” they said.

Such a system would require some tweaks to work for ranked play, but this could very well be something the Overwatch 2 devs implement in the base game in a future update.

While a tournament or team queue with multiple maps could copy this proposed feature, the first stage where both teams get to ban a hero could very well work in competitive.

In an interview with Dexerto earlier this year, Game Director Aaron Keller said that a hero ban feature could add more “strategic depth” to the shooter.