why is illari disabled in ranked

2 min read 10-03-2025

Illari, the newest support hero in Overwatch 2, has faced a tumultuous journey since her release. Her powerful kit, particularly her healing and ultimate abilities, proved initially too disruptive for the balanced competitive landscape of ranked play. This led to Blizzard temporarily disabling her in ranked modes while they worked towards a more suitable balance. Let's delve into the reasons behind this decision.

Illari's Overwhelming Strengths in Ranked Play

Illari's design presented several challenges to the ranked meta:

Overpowered Healing and Utility:

Healing effectiveness: Illari's healing output proved significantly higher than intended, especially in coordinated team compositions. Her consistent healing stream, coupled with her ability to heal allies at a distance, made her incredibly difficult to counter. This sustained healing made teams significantly more resilient.
Versatile kit: The combination of her healing, damage output with her weapon, and area denial with her ultimate made her incredibly versatile. She could effectively contribute to both healing and damage roles, outperforming many heroes in their specialized areas.
Ultimate ability impact: Her ultimate, "Captive Sun," was devastatingly effective at area control and eliminating groups of enemies. This created snowball effects, where a single successful ultimate could quickly lead to a significant team advantage, making comebacks difficult.

Difficulty in Countering:

Illari's range and consistent healing made her a difficult target to eliminate. Her ability to heal while under pressure minimized the impact of flanking attempts. This resilience, combined with her offensive capabilities, made her a challenging hero to counter, leading to frustration for opponents.

The Impact of Illari's Presence on Ranked Gameplay

Illari's initial presence in ranked fundamentally altered the gameplay experience. The following points highlight the issues that emerged:

Reduced strategic diversity: Teams felt pressured to include Illari to remain competitive, reducing the strategic diversity and overall enjoyment of the ranked ladder. The meta became overly reliant on a single hero.
Frustrating gameplay: The combination of high healing, damage output, and area denial resulted in games feeling less skill-based and more reliant on which team could best utilize Illari. Matches became less about strategic outplays and more about sheer healing output.
Unbalanced matchmaking: The significant power disparity created by Illari's inclusion led to unbalanced matchmaking, further exacerbating frustrations among players.

Blizzard's Response and the Path to Reintegration

Blizzard acknowledged the issues surrounding Illari's dominance in ranked. The temporary disablement was a crucial step in addressing these concerns. Their approach focused on identifying the most impactful issues with her kit and adjusting her stats and abilities to find a balanced state. This involved careful tuning of her healing output, damage, and ultimate effectiveness.

When Will Illari Return to Ranked?

The exact timeline for Illari's return to ranked play depends on the success of the balance adjustments. Blizzard is committed to thoroughly testing these changes on the Public Test Realm (PTR) before reintroducing her to competitive play. They are committed to ensuring her kit is both fun and fair for all players, regardless of skill level. Following the PTR testing phase, a re-evaluation and decision about her official return to ranked will be announced.

Keep an eye on the official Overwatch 2 channels and patch notes for the latest updates on Illari's competitive status. The goal is to find a place for her in the game that is both enjoyable and balanced.