With a new season of Competitive already in progress, the new Overwatch hero pool bans never seem to fail in making certain players mad each week. Moreso than Blizzard slapping googly eyes on its heroes for two days, at least. The week five Overwatch hero bans pass judgment this week on Wrecking Ball, Hanzo, and Mercy, much to the dismay of players everywhere who haven’t touched the game since 2017 and still think Mercy has Mass-Resurrection.
This week’s bans are a drastic change in pace from the Week 4 bans, in which all of the hit-scan characters were put in jail. McCree, Solider 76, Widowmaker, and Sombra being on last week’s list drastically changed the dynamic of Competitive. Not only did it make flying, rocket-slinger Pharah the queen of the skies but it also allowed a hero like Ashe who is usually ignored by the meta to shine. It also had the unintended consequence of making everyone’s least-favorite robo-turret Bastion that much more unstoppable.
The banning of four DPS characters the week prior felt quite extreme so it’s no shock to see only three heroes get the ban hammer this week, including main tank and all-around good guy Wrecking Ball, along with the human resurrection machine, Mercy. Wrecking Ball mains–myself included–will most likely be jumping over to everyone’s favorite party animal Winston to get their dive on, while I assume Hanzo mains will just go do something else with their lives for seven days.
Don’t expect any major changes to the meta in Competitive with these bans, as the status quo is still firmly in place. The likes of Reinhardt, Mei, McCree, Brigitte, and Moira will still be prevalent in almost every lower-tier match so plan accordingly. Next week may bring about change, however, as Echo is expected to hit live servers, as well as buffs to Ashe and major nerfs to Mei’s primary attack if this week’s Experimental Card update is any indicator.
Overwatch hero rotation changes occur each Thursday throughout the season across all hardware versions.
