Heroes to Ban in Season 4, 2023

The start of a new season in Liên Quân is incredibly fierce, not just because the game is challenging, but also because after the reset, players of varying skills participate in ranked matches. Therefore, selecting heroes wisely and avoiding easily countered ones is crucial.

In Season 4, 2023, which heroes should players avoid the most? Based on win rates, ban rates, and selection rates, Mytour suggests 5 specific heroes to ban for the smoothest rank climb.

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Kaine

Releasing an Assassin with the ability to hunt, provide vision, and cause discomfort from start to finish is extremely dangerous. Especially when teammates are best ADs specializing in less mobile Marksmen like Tel’Annas, Yorn,... or lack confidence in their Support, banning Kaine is advisable.

Even when teammates go Mid with hot picks like Yue, Iggy, Krixi,... with horizontal river movements to gank or counter-gank without reacting in time, they can still be caught by Kaine. Even if you have agile Marksmen, mobile Mages, who can handle themselves well like Joker, Elsu, Hayate, Liliana, Tulen,... if the Support doesn't cover well, they can still be destroyed by Kaine. Because Kaine can stealth continuously and take down anyone.

If you accidentally release Kaine, there are ways to counter him, but you also need to rely heavily on teammates. For example, playing agile Marksmen like Joker, Elsu to limit being caught by Kaine. Or you can pick Lindis to counter Kaine with her ultimate vision across the map, constantly using her skills to counter Kaine. When going Mid, choose mobile heroes like Liliana, Tulen or even Jinna to have a chance to counter-gank if ganked. If you want to play around teammates, heroes like Aleister, Ilumia, Max,... are also fine. In the Support position, choose heroes with fast and immediate control like Lumburr, Zip, Thane, Baldum or buff heroes like Helen, Chaugnar,...

Aya

Currently, there are many heroes in Liên Quân that need to be banned, but I still advise everyone to reserve a slot for SV Aya. This little one may be small, but she is powerful, extremely strong, and not easy to play in solo rank. The strange thing is that Aya is always annoying on the enemy team, but in your team, she is SV Aya.

If she's paired with a standard meta hero like Taara, Arthur, Skud, Nakroth, Aoi,... and knows how to play, Aya can easily dominate one side. She has both damage (extremely strong when full magic), strong control, excellent cover ability (with super thick C2 armor buff), and her skills can reveal sensitive positions.

Teammates should ban Aya to avoid facing our SV or enemy team's Aya monster. Not to mention, Aya's symbiotic relationship with setlove is another reason to lock her up, creating a comfortable, non-toxic gaming environment. There are ways to counter Aya as well. Pick strong early game heroes to pressure her in the first 5 minutes, rendering her useless in defense. Also, Aya is harmless before reaching level 4.

Teammates should choose heroes like Tulen, Natalya, Mganga, Iggy, Yue, Joker, Violet, Thane, Helen, Y’bneth, Grakk,... These heroes are solid picks if the enemy doesn't counter Aya with heroes like Taara, Skud, or Arthur. If Aya is released and your team has the opportunity to pick her, you should, but it depends on the team composition. If the team is full of stealthy heroes like Wukong, Kaine, Quillen, Elsu,... picking Aya would be a bad choice.

Elsu

Elsu is a very strong hero in Liên Quân but also quite lucky because he can make teammates 'sacrifice someone', but he can also be a terrifying sniper machine.

99% of Elsu players can't avoid aiming and shooting, but the key to judging whether an Elsu is good or not is to look at his aiming and shooting skills. Depending on the timing and effectiveness, Su's performance in aiming and shooting will demonstrate how skilled the Elsu is. We will feel helpless and frustrated when encountering a Su who hesitates too long, misses shots, or even refuses to shoot, but meeting an Elsu who positions well, shoots accurately, and sticks to targets like glue is fantastic. 

That's also the reason why, to avoid risks when climbing ranks, you should ban this Liên Quân hero right away. Additionally, if you're playing as stealthy heroes like Wukong, Quillen, Kaine,... banning Elsu is also advisable. Because in the late game, Elsu's gigantic three eyes will greatly reduce the effectiveness of stealthy heroes. Even heroes who rely on surprise attacks like Zuka, Yena, Florentino,... basically heroes who need to hide will be significantly affected. 

If your team has the chance to pick Elsu, hope that your teammates know how to aim and pick heroes with good supplementary damage (Iggy, Yue, Liliana) or strong crowd control to make it easier for Elsu to shoot (like Ilumia, Bonnie, Veera, Lumburr, Thane). Picking Kaine to provide additional vision for Su is also great. But if the enemy picks Kaine, then picking Helen to avoid being countered too much, or heroes who can block damage like Lumburr, Thane. In mid lane, pick heroes with long-range skills that can disrupt Su's aiming like Yue, Iggy, Kahli, Ilumia,... or marksmen like Joker, Violet to avoid being at a disadvantage during lane or Slimz to gain an advantage in late-game skirmishes. 

Zip

Zip is definitely a Support hero that should be banned when solo ranking. If you encounter an enemy playing Zip well, they will turn Zip into a formidable card, making us helpless if we want to engage the enemy Marksman. If you're solo ranking with a good defense but lose a lane, Zip can also easily create a backdoor strategy with teammates. 

If the enemy team has a Zip and they target marksmen like Violet, Valhein, Yorn, Celica in the late game, it's over, sometimes you can't even defend against these duos. Even if the team has strong burst damage Assassins like Paine, Wukong, Aoi, Kaine, Nakroth,... it's very difficult to target the enemy's main force when Zip is always nearby to cover and has items for protection. Even the most annoying Liên Quân heroes like Aleister, Arum, Omen are easily countered by Zip.

So, how do you counter Zip? If the enemy team has Zip, stay calm and pick counter heroes like Maloch to constantly deal standard damage, making it difficult for Zip to roll. Arum, Aleister are also good, but when playing these heroes, you should use your skills to tie down and focus on Zip rather than his teammates. Basically, to deal with Zip, you need tactics, gameplay, and know how to control the game to prevent Zip from ending the game early with his team. 

Zata

Despite Zata's power reduction, we should still ban this guy to limit the enemy from having a tireless bird that constantly flies, putting pressure on Marksmen and Mages. It can be said that every time this bird takes off, the team will have to divide and conquer, especially in the early and mid-game. If Zata's opponents are heroes without strong control or enough damage to quickly burst him down, then Zata is very easy to deal with.

Most importantly, players need to ban to limit teammates from testing heroes or not knowing how to play them correctly, efficiently. If Zata doesn't deal enough damage in one flight to weaken or immediately eliminate weak enemies, it will take a long time to recharge his third skill, and then his pressure will be nonexistent. Not to mention the times when he crashes in skirmishes or small-scale combats, our team has almost conceded a position. It's true that currently Zata can fly continuously with his ultimate (about 10s up and down), but that's only in practice matches, hesitating with skills, stacking skills for a long time. In real battles, if Zata does that, the enemies have already run over half a kilometer. Sometimes, waiting for him to take off, Zata has to lie down after receiving a bunch of damage from enemies.

To avoid these situations, we should ban or if not enough ban slots, then pick supports with strong control like Thane, Lumburr to make it difficult for Zata to fly. Additionally, you can choose Helen, Zip to prevent Zata from dealing too much damage even when he's in the air. Speaking of mid lane mages, there are quite a few heroes currently paired with Zata, but don't be foolish to pick Iggy, Yue, Krixi, or Mganga to face this Arena of Valor hero if you're not used to playing them. It's more reasonable to pick Liliana, Jinna,...