A new week means a new Hero Pool in Overwatch. After several tests in Competitive Mode, the model already present in the third season of the Overwatch League — since Washington Justice Homestand (March 7-8) — has been selected for a collective Hero Pool since April 13.
With Hero Pool, Blizzard offers a new method to keep novelty in-game. Metas won't last for long for a greater diversity in compositions and strategies. In addition to more regular updates and patch notes, this feature seems to be the solution chosen to address one of the biggest issues of Overwatch: a highly static meta.
To be banned, several conditions must be taken into account.
- The hero must have an in-game attendance rate of at least 10% over the previous two weeks.
- A hero can't be banned for two weeks in a row.
Once the list is ready, the heroes will be chosen randomly from this list. Each week, four heroes will be removed from the Hero Pool: 2 DPS, 1 Tank and 1 Support.
Last Week Hero Pool
This week is special as the Hero Pool will affect the Competitive Games and Overwatch League differently. Echo is already banned before even arriving in OWL.
Support
This week, four Support could be selected:
- Ana (78.8 %)
- Mercy (31.6%)
- Lucio (27.3 %)
- Brigitte (27.3 %)
Mercy is removed from next week Hero Pool.
Tank
With the exception of Orisa, all Tanks could be banned this week:
- Reinhardt (33.2%)
- Sigma (29.7%)
- Zarya (26.4%)
- Wreckingball (25.1%)
- Winston (23.5%)
- D.Va (19.1%)
- Roadhog (18.2%)
Wreckingball was chosen by the algorithm.
DPS
Echo is back! This week, the heroes to be banished were all hitscans:
- McCree (25.6%)
- Ashe (25.3%)
- Hanzo (16.3%)
- Widowmaker (16.2%)
McCree and Widowmaker leave the Hero Pool for this week. It means that we won't see Echo in the Overwatch League anytime soon!
Original content by Jean-Vincent "Durvil" Cannata.
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