Overwatch 2 competitive mode: Who are the most banned heroes?

On April 22, 2025, Blizzard launched hero bans to aggressive Overwatch 2. This function permits gamers to vote for heroes they don’t need to be a part of a recreation. On the time of writing, it’s been round a month and a half for the reason that banning function was applied into Overwatch 2. 

Regardless of not a lot time passing, a number of Overwatch heroes are already being banned extra typically than others. In Might, Blizzard released some of the Hero Bans data to indicate which heroes are getting the axe often in aggressive video games. Let’s dive into this knowledge in additional element to see why these characters are banned greater than others. 

Earlier than we take a look at why Overwatch heroes are actually dealing with bans, let’s first look at the ban system. Earlier than gamers begin banning in a aggressive Overwatch 2 recreation, they are going to first have the chance to pick out the heroes they want to play as their “Most well-liked Hero.” This doesn’t cease your chosen character from getting banned, however it lets you present your staff who you need to play as. 

In the event you miss the immediate to decide on your most well-liked hero, you’ll be able to nonetheless select your most well-liked hero throughout the ban part.

4 heroes will be banned in every recreation, with two selections per staff. Particular person gamers can select as much as three heroes to ban, although their first alternative would be the most weighty, so you’ll want to decide the character you need to ban essentially the most as your first alternative. In keeping with a blog post by Overwatch 2 system designer Gavin Winter, every ban alternative is price a sure variety of votes. The primary alternative is price seven, the second is 5, and the third is three. 

Solely two heroes inside every function will be banned, so gamers don’t have to fret about all of the bans being from one explicit function. Banning will be skipped if the participant picks the Prepared button. If the participant chooses this, the remainder of their staff will nonetheless be capable to vote. 

The weblog states that the principle motive behind introducing the hero bans function was to permit gamers to take away heroes that they think about irritating or overpowered. Nonetheless, the bans are additionally supposed to permit this with out encouraging gamers to ban heroes just because the enemy staff needs to play them. To do that, the builders have made it unimaginable to see the enemy groups selections or discuss to them by way of match textual content chat throughout the banning part. 

The weblog goes into extra element on the intricate workings of the ban system, so test it out for extra info. 

Let’s check out 10 heroes who see a good quantity of bans within the Overwatch 2 aggressive scene. A few of these heroes are banned rather more on PC compared to console, and vice versa. The approximations are primarily based on the hero ban graphs launched by Blizzard, that are additionally included beneath. 

Sombra is essentially the most banned hero on the PC, adopted by Zarya, Doomfist, Hammond, Freja and Ana. 

Sombra can be essentially the most banned hero on console, although a few of the different heroes change. Zarya and Hammond are often banned on console, however Mercy is banned greater than Ana. Symmetra, Tracer and Widowmaker are additionally banned greater than Freja, whereas tanks D.Va and Mauga are banned on console greater than Doomfist. 

Olivia Colomar, recognized by her alias Sombra, is a Harm hero in Overwatch 2 who specialises in hacking. Her package will be extremely irritating to battle towards, because it revolves round stealth and disruption. A well-played Sombra can get behind enemy traces and trigger chaos, which is probably going why she is essentially the most banned hero throughout all platforms. 

Zarya is a weightlifting champion and a Tank hero in Overwatch 2. Her abilities give attention to power due to her Particle Cannon gun, which permits her to shoot power beams whereas additionally projecting power obstacles to guard herself and teammates. 

Zarya’s mixture of robust offence and defence could make her difficult to play towards. Her laser beam major fireplace can be significantly irritating, because it can’t be deflected and is difficult to keep away from. Not solely that, however Zarya may also convert harm into shields and power, which may generally really feel like she is invincible. Taking part in towards Zarya will be very miserable, therefore why she is banned a lot. 

Doomfist is a melee Tank in Overwatch 2 who makes use of his gigantic fist and motion skills to trigger disruption on the battlefield. He went by means of a significant rework between Overwatch 1 and Overwatch 2, as he was became a Tank after beforehand being a Harm hero. 

A well-played Doomfist will be an absolute nightmare for a staff, particularly for Help, who typically discover themselves as targets. Doomfist can stun enemies together with his punches, and his motion abilities make him superb for diving the backline, making him a irritating hero to play towards and resulting in his excessive PC ban fee. 

Wrecking Ball could be a cute hamster, however his spherical mech and super-fast motion whereas rolling make him a menace in comp video games. Regardless of being so massive, Wrecking Ball can roll across the battlefield rapidly and elude enemies after dealing important harm.

His Minefield final capability is especially annoying, as any harm or help heroes caught inside it are virtually assured instantaneous loss of life. Wrecking Ball’s capability to knock enemies off the map or into his mines can be infuriating, so it’s simple to see why he will get banned so typically. 

Ana is a help hero who was one of many founding members of Overwatch. She can be the mom of the harm hero Pharah. Ana is a tough healer to familiarize yourself with, however good Ana gamers can turn into the bane of a staff’s existence. 

Ana can dominate the battlefield by placing enemies to sleep, denying them therapeutic with a well-timed Biotic Grenade, powering up allies by Nano Boosting them and therapeutic the staff.  Her wonderful countering abilities mixed with disruptive skills that may additionally heal make her a tricky help hero to come across, which is probably going why she is banned a lot. 

On the time of writing, these are presently a few of the most banned heroes in Overwatch 2 aggressive mode. This may seemingly change over time, particularly if certain heroes get reworks, nerfs or buffs. For now although, it’s clear that we are able to all agree on one factor: Sombra is absolutely the worst.