by Jeremy Waxman on Jul 24, 2015
In competitive MOBAs such as League of Legends, DotA 2, and SMITE, banning characters plays an important part in the drafting process. However, bans are noticably absent from Heroes of the Storm. There has been talk of adding them, and there should be, as they play a crucial part in the strategic decisions that teams make. However, there is a key issue with Heroes: the available pool of characters is currently significantly smaller than the other games mentioned. As such, Game Director Dustin Browder has confirmed that bans will not be implemented until the pool of Heroes is increased; specifically, more Supports are necessary.
@Panzerdan412 Fair point. Won't go in until we add a few more supports.
— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) July 23, 2015
It's certainly good that this has been considered, because as it was pointed out, an entire class of Heroes could effectively be taken away, leading to some awkward team compositions. With that said, there's no question that more Support Heroes are absolutely necessary. With only a few strong ones to choose from, teams could quickly be forced into a sub-optimal pick even with only two bans for each side.
The Monk may begin to fill that void, though we'll have to wait and see exactly what that Hero will be capable of. At least for the foreseeable future, don't expect bans to be coming to Hero League.