Blizzard announces Hero bans for Overwatch 2 coming in Season 16 which drops on April 22

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Blizzard is set to introduce new Hero bans in Overwatch 2 and its Competitive Play, something that has been designed to give players "strategic agency without punching down at weaker niche picks" says the developer.

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The new Hero bans have a goal of encouraging the banning of Heroes that you see as too strong or annoying, all without encouraging you to ban Heroes solely because enemy players enjoy playing them. Once enabled, you'll no longer see the enemy team during the Ban Phase, with match text chat -- which communicates to the whole lobby -- also disabled in the Ban Phase or Competitive Play of the match at hand.

Blizzard explains that before you vote for your Hero Bans, you'll be able to select your "Preferred Hero". By selecting a Preferred Hero, it won't protect you from being banned, it just allows your team to know which Hero you'd like to play with. Your Preferred Hero isn't locked in, as you can still change it during the Ban Phase, and you aren't required to play this Hero during the match. Team text chat or voice chat can be used for communicating, and your team will be able to see your Preferred Hero during the Ban Phase.

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• The team with the most votes for one Hero will be considered the "first" team, and their most voted Hero will be guaranteed to be banned. If both teams are tied for the most votes for a single Hero, the first team is decided randomly.
• The other team becomes the "second" team, and both of their bans happen next. If the Heroes they voted to ban were not the first team's most voted Hero, then their most and second most voted Heroes will be banned.
• If the second team's most or second most voted Hero was also the first team's most voted Hero, then the second team's third most voted Hero is used instead.
• Finally, the second most voted Hero on the first team will be banned, with the same caveat the second team had when banning their Heroes.
• In cases where the number of votes for a Hero are tied, the Hero that was voted by the most players in the lobby (not the total number of votes) for is banned.
• If Heroes are still tied, ties are broken randomly.
• No more than two Heroes in each role can be banned. If two Heroes in the same role have already been banned and a team's next most voted Hero is in the same role, those votes are ignored and this team's next most voted Hero in a different role is banned instead.