Lyra is just a very underrated ban/pick but there is good reason why in the VGL Lyra was either banned or picked most games(though she mostly banned).
Lyra has received some VERY nice buffs in 3.1, but she is not getting enough attention from it. Her healing and protection for carries is just so ridiculous that developing a split pushing strategy with Lyra+Saw is actually going to cancerous, with a B that protects SAW from dive abilities for 4 seconds(lol time to to get serious)
Her ability to counter the dive-heavy meta is something very few heroes are able to do. Most viable captains are part of dive comps themselves or they don’t do well against them. Lyra, along with Lorelai(who technically doesn’t count because she is so underpicked) can stop a coordinated dive and mess up teamfight positioning so badly.
Her portals just glitch the enemy into mistakenly walking into your whole team and just completely prevent the enemy team from escaping the clutches of Lyra’s allies.
Her poke int the early game seriously messes up the farming of the enemy laner and provides top-level harassment that can enable her to get first blood if ignored(once channelled her second missile will ALWAYS hit the enemy :3 I love that)
Her utility is just extremely appreciated due to Fortress still being meta and the fact that it provides so much to any team, making her a very safe and reliable first pick in draft. Her synergy with particular heroes are just insane and her healing potential just makes her team sustain through a team fight or escaping from a losing one(speed boost).
This all coupled with the 3rd highest winrate in VG, only second to Fortress in the captain category makes her a ban worthy hero. It is just funny on how she has such a high winrate and YET among all other captains besides Lorelai are banned more than she is. :3
Although not the strongest laner, she is turning out to be a really strong split pick as well. And especially in those late game clashes, having her adding utility and damage along with the other support can get insane.
Lyra is the premier roam, her ratios were buffed again and her B as you’ve rightly pointed out stops all those dive hero’s from engaging your carries. She massively benefits from the changes to items (so super cam synergises wonderfully with her).
Nothing more satisfying than throwing up your B just as a Rona try’s to “into the fray”.
Little tip for you, her B has good CP ratios, it’s also got a huge AOE. Every felt like applying mortal wounds to multiple targets at once? Try CP Lyra lane…
I mentioned that in VGL, Lyra was consistently banned in my OP. So my statement was meant to apply to higher tiers as well. However, in Mid-Lower Tiers, she doesn’t get any bans and she is severely underrated. Vg.pro proves this, having a Ban rate of only about 1.6% while other captains who are arguable not as strong as her(catherine, Grace, Ardan) get more bans (nearly 5%, nearly 4%, 2-3% respectively correct me I am wrong) while in reality Lyra is really insane in 5v5. Even her winrate is the 3rd/4th highest among heroes and highest among captains, and she is just so good in every situation.
