Overwatch players furious as week two of hero pools bans two supports

Overwatch players were thrilled to see that the Archives event had returned alongside some new skins, but couldn’t believe their eyes after discovering which heroes had been banned as part of week two of hero pools.

Hero pools were first introduced on March 5 with the start of Season 21 of Competitive play. The Overwatch League adopted hero pools as well, under the policy that one support, one tank and two damage heroes would be banned every week.

While the first week of pools saw two DPS heroes banned, many assumed this trend would continue, although players were shocked to see that two supports wouldn’t be allowed to get playtime for week two.

As part of the week’s bans, Reinhardt, Reaper, Ana and Moira have been confirmed to be out of circulation – sparking a strong reaction from members of the game’s community.

“I’m pissed. I JUST started getting good at Ana again,” wrote streamer TheKristenRae, while Ana legend ML7 added: “I understand ban one support, but ANA AND MOIRA?”

With two support heroes and Reinhardt out of the picture, it will be interesting to see how team comps are formed and if this brings dive back to the forefront of ranked play.

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While some thought the decision to ban two supports was done in error, it does line up with Game Director Jeff Kaplan’s comments when hero pools were first announced.

“For the first 5 weeks, we will be trying a range to see what feel right. We’ve architected this system so that we can update the hero pools without the need to patch,” he said back on January 30.

“So we’ll be monitoring feedback very closely, experimenting a bit with the pool and adapting our strategy as time goes on.”

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While it’s never stated that hero pools would always have two DPS, many believed it was implied because of how Overwatch League explicitly bans two DPS heroes at a time. Additionally, the first week of pools saw two DPS heroes banned.

Hopefully, players find something to like about the new bans. That said, if their main is banned, at least the pools will switch up the following week.