In Rivals , banning katana and riot shield usually means those weapons are blocked from being picked in a match or ranked lobby, so neither player can use them. In practice, it is a way to remove two strong or annoying options and force a more “fair” weapon pool.

What it usually means

  • Katana ban : the melee weapon is not allowed for that match.
  • Riot shield ban : the shield is not allowed either.
  • In ranked or custom rulesets, this is often done to reduce cheesy plays, stalls, or hard-to-counter setups.

Why people do it

Players commonly ban them because both can be frustrating to fight against in certain situations. Community discussions and clips around Rivals show that katana and riot shield are often treated as high-impact or “problem” weapons in ban systems and tournaments.

In plain English

If someone says “they banned katana and riot in Rivals,” they usually mean:

  1. Those items were removed from play for that round.
  2. The match was probably using a weapon-ban system.
  3. The goal was to limit strong defensive or melee-heavy strategies.

If you meant a specific Rivals mode or a recent update, I can explain how bans work there too.