When players reach rank Gold 3 in Marvel Rivals' Competitive mode in Season 2, they can coordinate with their team to ban specific characters before a match starts. The most banned heroes in Season 2 reflect what counters a team might have to prepare for if those characters are still allowed. Knowing what heroes are voted for the most in a ban pick can help teams better adjust their composition.

Character bans are a collective effort, as every team member who votes for a hero has a chance to get that figure locked from character selection on either side. Recent updates to Season 2 of Marvel Rivals have changed when bans are active. While you could only ban characters in Diamond Rank or above in previous Seasons, Season 2 introduces the ban mechanic as soon as you hit Gold 3.

What Are Bans In Marvel Rivals' Competitive Mode?

Remove Characters From A Match Before It Starts

Starting a match in Gold Rank or higher without any Bronze or Silver players will begin with a phase where all six players can pre-select the characters they want to play. Then, during the Hero Ban phase in a Marvel Rivals Competitive game, both teams pick two characters to ban from the match. Teams have a limited time to choose what characters to ban, so stronger "meta" heroes are often selected.

Although you can use active comms to talk to your team about what heroes you want to play or ban, you can convey this by selecting characters in each pre-phase of a match to have their silhouette outlines appear instead.

After the pre-selection phase, every player is allowed to choose one character they can vote to ban from the match. If every person on a team selects the same character, that hero has a 100% chance of getting banned from both teams. However, if multiple characters are voted for, each one has a percentage chance of getting banned once the ban phase ends.

The more votes a hero gets, the higher their percentage is for getting banned. Every vote counts, but each ban caused through voting has a particular order to when it takes place. Follow the steps below to know how both teams get to select their two banned characters:

1. Hero Pre-Selection begins, giving players a chance to communicate what character they want to play.
2. Both teams vote for a character to ban.
3. The ban pick for both teams is revealed.
4. Both teams pick another character to ban.
5. The second ban pick for both teams is revealed.

Most of the time, the characters that players ban will follow different patterns. Some bans might come as a result of a character specialist being on the other team, therefore removing another player's best hero from an impending match. Other factors could be how strong a character's Ultimate ability is or if they counter a specialist on your team, but more often than not, bans are a result of how strong certain heroes are during a Season.

Every Top Ban Pick In Marvel Rivals Season 2

See Which Characters Players Don't Want In Their Games

Following the many buffs and nerfs in Season 2 for various characters, the top ban picks for Competitive matches have changed. The introduction of a new hero and the balance adjustments of old ones have altered team comps drastically, influencing who players don't want to fight.

The table below shows the highest percentage banned characters from each Competitive Rank, including some other characters you might see get banned more often than others:

As you can see, every Rank has a common set of characters that get banned often. Some of the most frequently banned characters in Season 2 include characters that either have incredibly strong defensive or offensive abilities, or ones with a very potent Team-Up ability in Marvel Rivals. Heroes that are part of the "dive" or "anti-dive" metas are banned consistently for how much they can define team comps.

Some other bans not in that table include other strong picks, such as Rocket Raccoon or Mister Fantastic, who both received sizable buffs in Season 2. Characters who the community perceives as "strong" or "OP" are banned the most, so perception is everything.

How To Counter Top Ban Picks In Marvel Rivals

Know How To Play Against Strong Characters If They Aren't Banned

With bans reflecting dominant characters in the Season, you need to know how to counter different heroes if your team votes to ban someone else. Some characters are almost always the focus of a enemy team, especially if their synergy doesn't get banned beforehand. For example, the new Team-Up between Hulk and Namor usually leads to one or both characters getting banned to avoid that team comp.

Most of the time, the limitation of only two character bans means that some powerful comps will still appear in Competitive matches. By understanding what other characters were likely to be banned, you can prepare to counter those who weren't picked.

The following table outlines some of the most banned characters you'll see in Competitive mode, what their role is, and how you can counter them:

Once you know how to counter the most banned characters, you'll be ready to face them whenever matches allow them to be picked. The most banned heroes in Marvel Rivals Season 2 may change with Season 2.5 buffs and nerfs and the inclusion of Ultron, so be ready to adjust to whatever adjustments may happen in the future.