Back in January Blizzard announced that they will be adding a feature called hero pools. The main goal of these hero pools is to shake up the current meta of Overwatch. As the addition of the role lock was unsuccessful to put the meta in a good place.
What are Blizzard trying to achieve with this meta change?
The main goal that Blizzard will be trying to achieve is to keep the game interesting, while also being fun and balanced. Blizzard is expecting that this hero pool will allow teams to carry out new and interesting strategies with different heroes and that this will provide a unique viewer experience during Overwatch League broadcasts.
How do these Hero Pools Work?
From the 7th of March onward (Week 5 of OWL) one tank, one support and two damage heroes will be made unavailable during matches. The important thing to note is that no hero can be unavailable for two weeks in a row.
The most played heroes in the duration of two weeks will be selected from a group of eligible heroes randomly. For heroes to be eligible for the Hero Pool they must have a minimum of 10% play rate. For week 5, there were 14 heroes with a play rate of 10% or higher. They are the following:
What heroes were removed?
The heroes that were picked out to be unavailable are:
- Damage – McCree and Widowmaker
- Tank – Reinhardt
- Support – Moira
Below is a video, explaining how the hero pools work and showing the heroes being selected randomly.
How will Hero Pools affect Pro teams?
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What about Hero Predictions?
Following these changes, it is expected that in the absence of Reinhardt we’ll be seeing more Orisa on the front lines. In regards to the support role, players that main support were very lucky with the Moira pick as most players are favouring Lúcio to be the current best support. But this is subject to change with the newly introduced Hero Pools. As far as damage goes, we’ll most probably be seeing more dive compositions with the removal of Widowmaker and McRee. Overall, we will have to wait and see how these changes affect the teams participating in the Overwatch League, so be sure to tune in to https://www.twitch.tv/overwatchleague/ tomorrow. This is this week’s schedule:
Week 5 will start with the following matches:
- Florida Mayhem vs Toronto Defiant
- Houston Outlaws vs Paris Eternal
- Washington Justice vs Boston Uprisin
Watch the Overwatch League stream on esportsguide.com
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