Overwatch 2 pros accidentally expose major problem with hero bans

Michael Gwilliam
genji in overwatch 2

Hero bans have finally arrived in Overwatch 2 starting with pro play, and players have already discovered a major flaw with the system, albeit accidentally.

The Overwatch Champions Series began with qualifiers in North America and Europe, and we got our first look at hero bans in OWCS.

Teams are each allowed to ban one hero per map, with neither squad allowed to use either hero throughout the map – but it seems like some players have short memories.

While Genji, Ana, Lucio and Hazard were frequently banned, some players showcased a potentially fatal flaw with the hero ban system… at least as it’s currently implemented.

Overwatch pros use banned heroes by mistake

During a match between Vision Esports and Incendia, both Genji and Brigitte were banned, but nearing the end of their game on Route 66, DPS player Slowdive changed from Sojourn to the cyborg ninja.

In fact, no one seemed to notice until the very end when the player secured a kill in a losing effort with the banned hero.

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The use of Genji here had to effect on the match outcome, but had Slowdive been able to clutch the fight out, his team would have ended up being forced to forfeit the game.

That wasn’t the only time Vision would use a banned hero, either. In their match against Deimpero, Slowdive switched onto Tracer when she wasn’t allowed to be used, but caught himself quickly before he could get into the fight.

However, because they noticed the mistake, the tournament officials decided that the game wouldn’t need to be replayed – but had he interacted with other players, the situation could have been different.

This mistake was due to the games not being played in a custom lobby, and Blizzard has yet to actually implement a full hero ban feature into the base game.

That said, hero bans are looking like something the developers will be hoping to officially add at some point in 2025, with the devs hinting about adding more strategic depth to OW2.

Additionally, Marvel Rivals has been able to make use of a hero ban feature without any issues early on in its lifespan, so we’ll have to see if Blizzard takes notes from NetEase if they ever move ahead with a system of their own.