The Overwatch League announced four banned heroes that won’t be available for the June Joust tournament:Â Tracer, Sombra, Reinhardt and Zenyatta. Each had seen play in the May Melee. This ban leaves many fans wondering what the new meta compositions will be.
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The first four hero bans for June Joust
When the Overwatch League 2021 season schedule was announced, the new version of hero bans was also mentioned. The first tournament, the May Melee, would have no bans. From the qualifying games to the finals, every hero was available. However, after the first tournament ended, four heroes would be selected based on pick rates and a little randomness.
In terms of position, two damage-dealing heroes would get banned, along with one tank and one support. The first hero to get banned was the one with the highest pick rate: Tracer. Her 48.4% pick rate was clearly first in the game, with only three other heroes clearing 40%. Tracer was the most picked hero and fittingly gets the first ban.
The next hero banned was Sombra. This ban is a little more interesting, as Sombra’s pick rate was towards the low end, being 14.6%. However, that’s where the random selection clearly made a mark. Out of the four heroes banned from this tournament, Sombra had the lowest pick rate. For the tank ban, it’s Reinhardt, crucial to rush compositions for the May Melee. His pick rate was more common, being 35.3%. That pick rate is only behind the dive tanks of D.Va and Winston.
Last but not least, the support ban is Zenyatta. His pick rate of 19.6% is also on the lower side. The ban luck fell on Sombra and Zenyatta, while Reinhardt and Tracer get some time off.
How the meta will shift
With these bans, there should be some significant changes. Reinhardt’s ban leaves the rush composition dead. Tracer has always been a key to dive compositions and, if she wasn’t available, Sombra is. With both of them being banned, that leaves Genji and Doomfist as a player’s best dive damage-dealers. The now popular “double-bubble” composition of Winston and Zarya is still available and should be seen in the qualifiers.
But, there are two things to keep in mind for the June Joust. One includes the significant patch changes for meta heroes that will go live in the Overwatch League. Heroes like D.Va and Roadhog got small buffs, as Baptiste and Echo got nerfs. Additionally, these bans go from the qualifiers to the tournament, meaning teams have live practice time.
With the biggest change being D.Va’s re-mech ability going from 50 to 250 damage, teams will try to incorporate her. Her pick rate in the May Melee was 47.5%; second in the league. It’s hard to guess what the next meta will be, but dive might be back and more common than ever before. The new maps for this tournament include Junkertown and Rialto for escort maps and Hollywood and Numbani for Hybrid maps.
