Overwatch announced the Hero Bans for this week and Week 12 of the OWL late last night. The banned heroes include Tracer, Moira, Orisa, and Echo, who only just came out. Here’s how these Hero Bans might impact the coming week.
Echo
Overwatch players haven’t even had a week to play Echo yet, and she’s already out of the weekly Hero Pool. This won’t have any impact on the Overwatch League (OWL) meta because she wasn’t available this week either, but it would have been cool to see the pros play her. Once she is finally available to play, expect to see players attempt to use her at all levels of play.
Tracer
Tracer isn’t exactly a common pick anymore in Overwatch, but she does see some use when teams need to stall. Her mobility allows her to get back to the point quickly and survive to buy time. With her gone, players will have to use other Damage Heroes to stall for time, such as Doomfist or Mei.
Orisa
With Reinhardt coming back into the Hero Pool, Orisa’s ban doesn’t do a whole lot. Players generally prefer Reinhardt to her in the current meta anyways. On maps where she normally sees play due to her Halt, such as Ilios, players will probably use Reinhardt as well.
Moira
Moira has seen a play rate of 21.9% over the last two weeks in high-ranked competitive Overwatch. This is significantly lower than the other popular main healer, Ana, who sits at a 77.9% play rate. Players will likely just play a lot more Ana this week. She offers more utility than Moira and synergizes very well with Reinhardt and D.Va.
None of these bans seem overly impactful, at least to the OWL meta. However, Echo’s ban will definitely have an impact on all ranks of competitive Overwatch. It looks like players will have to wait another week or play Quick Play if they want to keep practicing her.
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