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If you have reached at least rank Diamond 3 in Competitive mode, congratulations! You now have access to character bans! If every player in a match are also at least Diamond 3 or higher, you can begin banning characters at the start of each game. This guide will go over this season's best characters to ban and why it's effective.
Quick Ban Overview
At the round start, you and your team can all select 1 character you would like to see banned for that match. Each vote contributes to a percent chance of getting picked. The more votes a character gets, the higher the chance they get banned. If 4 players vote to ban Iron Man, but you vote to ban Thor, you still have a 20% chance of Thor getting banned despite a majority voting Iron Man.
Each team will vote to ban 2 characters each. If both teams ban the same character, you essentially lose out on additional bans. This means each match will have a minimum of 2 total characters banned and a maximum of 4 characters. Now onto the best characters to ban!
Winter Soldier
After the latest balance patch with season 1.5, the meta has balanced out to show who the real trouble makers are. Winter Soldier is a prime target for banning. If he isn't constantly ulting on your team, he is grappling someone away from the team and pushing them into danger. With his team-up with Rocket Raccoon, he also has unlimited ammo to spread your team and farm his ultimate quickly.
Namor
Since Luna Snow got a nerf to her ultimate recharge, it's about time to pivot the ban to Namor directly. The Luna ban was mainly target at Namor to remove his team-up, but with her ultimate nerfed, there's no reason to dance around the problem. Namor's turrets can single-handedly stop divers, so if you main Spider-Man, Magik, Black Panther, or Iron Fist, Namor has to be banned. If you want to protect against these characters though, make not to ban Namor.
Doctor Strange
Like Namor and Luna Snow, it's time to stop banning Hulk and move on to Doctor Strange. Hulk as a character was never the reason for his ban. He simply made Iron Man and Doctor Strange oppressive. Now that Iron Man doesn't need the team-up to be good, Hulk gets less bonus health, and Strange'a base hp is nerfed, the team-up isn't busted anymore. Banning Strange outright removes that giant, ult-blocking shield from the match. It also stops portals from dropping in and ruining a defensive hold you had. If you needed more reasons to ban Doctor Strange, his removal gets ride of his backline-stomping ult. Strange is the new Hulk, and it's time to pivot the ban to the real problem.
Rocket Raccoon
Speaking of problems, Rocket Raccoon is flying under the radar big time. He has an incredible amount of healing opportunities, and his long range makes him very difficult to track down. Even if you find him, he can dash away to safety. The revive station will single-handedly turn the tide of a game, and is arguably mandatory in games with overtime. He also has multiple team-ups, boosting Winter Soldier and The Punisher's damage output, as well as giving Groot extra health. Many players rely on Rocket to be a good healer since he doesn't need accuracy and doesn't have to fight constantly. If your team doesn't need him, a ban could cripple a player dependant on him.
Storm
Since her buff at the start of season 1, Storm has been incredibly strong. Now in season 1.5, her nerfs weren't enough to cool off her play rate. Her ultimate ability specifically is very quickly to charge and can easily wipe out your backing. You don't want to deal with this, so just ban her to avoid the headache. While you can counter the Ultimate with a counter-Ultimate from a healer, but then you can easily get baited to use the ultimate before the enemy team pushes in. If you plan on running three supports, you may can afford to take the chance on Storm since you have extra healing to "weather the storm". If not, Storm is a safe ban every game.
Wolverine
This character is a tank killer. If you have seen a good Wolverine player, you know how much potential he has. You can literally pick up the enemy tank and throw him to your team or away from healers to ensure they can't survive. You can try to counter pick with characters like Venom or Magneto, but then you are changing your team comp to lessen the impact of a strong character. Most players would rather just ban him and ensure your tanks have a fighting chance.
Groot
This one may surprise you, but Groot is a must-ban in my opinion for several reasons: First, he can put walls up that can both trap opponents and block all healing sources. Second, his Ultimate ability can team wipe you if combined with another ultimate like Iron Man, Magneto, or Moon Knight. Finally, his walls can literally lock you out of routes or the objective. You can try to shoot them down, but if you are a healer trying to rush back to your team, good luck breaking through. Banning Groot will simply ensure you don't lose because of a single Groot player who understands how to properly play the character.
Squirrel Girl
As the final ban pick, Squirrel Girl is what I would consider to be a good ban if you don't want to ban the other characters. The damage output her basic shots do is extremely deadly for your backline. A couple of shots landing in the same spot can wipe out your healer in a second. Her Squirrel Stampede Ultimate is also highly effective in maps with tight corridors or hallways. It will repeatedly bounce around the room and take out multiple players, all while she continues to shoot. You won't often see Squirrel Girl get picked match to match, but I find her to be a mandatory ban on maps like Midtown.
