Ironclad is a pretty problematic ability… With 35% Ironclad, Bastion was very hard to kill (It didn’t help that the damage boost limit was 80%, so stacking it with Nano boost actually worked back then), and with 20% Ironclad, he’s still much easier to pocket than most heroes because he takes less damage than the healers need to heal him.
This rework aims to convert Ironclad from a passive ability to an active ability. Technically, it would still be Bastion’s “passive”, but the player would have to actively use it. It also makes Bastion less pocket-able because of how the new Ironclad works. If he still has “Ironclad armor”, he can’t be healed by a teammate, and then once that armor is gone, his healers can’t give him more.
- Configuration Sentry
- Reduce maximum spread to 2° (Currently 3°)
- Bloom added to weapon
- Initial accuracy of 1.25°, bloom starts after 0.2 seconds of continuous fire
- Reaches 2° after 0.3 seconds of additional continuous fire
- Headshots added
- Ammo count reduced to 200 (Currently 300)
- Ironclad
- Damage resistance removed
- Now allows Bastion’s self-repair to over-heal him with 75 armor
- This armor cannot be healed by other healers, only Bastion
- The over-heal is “orange” armor, similar to Torb’s armor packs
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Startup delay reduced to 0.1 seconds (Currently 0.5 seconds)
- Able to reload while repairing
- Healing resource increased by 25%
- Allows for 375 healing (Currently 300)
- Configuration Tank
- No self damage
- Still applies the same self knockback, but does 0 damage to Bastion
- Tread sounds reduced slightly
- Adds 75 normal armor
- Instantly applies 75 Ironclad armor (in addition to the normal armor)
- No self damage
This both strengthens and weakens Ironclad. Recon mode can now benefit from the effects of Ironclad, which should encourage players to use the mode more often than the current version of Ironclad does. Since the current Ironclad only applies it’s damage boost in Sentry and Tank modes, it can often be more viable to just sit in Sentry mode and tank some damage instead of switching to Recon to get away from the damage source. With this version, Recon maintains the extra armor, so it would usually be better to flee instead.
The current version of Ironclad adds an effective 75 HP to Bastion when in Sentry or Tank mode. While adding 75 armor is technically more valuable, Bastion does not always have this armor, only when he applies it himself. During a battle, Bastion will most likely not be able to maintain the full armor, thus it will be less effective than the current version. Plus, he can only get more value out of Ironclad if he stops shooting in order to heal.
Since Ironclad is less effective overall (once you factor in the part where he can “lose” it), Sentry mode deserves to get it’s power back. He’ll have some protection, but not nearly as much as a passive damage resistance, which is what his first rework was trying to achieve in the first place. If need be, his Sentry can lose a bit of power…
I’d also like to point out that Torb is the one that maintains Bastion, and this version of Ironclad works the same way that his armor packs do… Just throwing that out there…
Some potential balance nerfs:
I believe that it’s better to start off a little strong and work downwards rather than start off weak and work up. It’s easier to notice is someone is over-performing, and make adjustments than it is to notice that they’re under-performing. That said, here are some potential nerfs that still preserve the idea of the rework while toning it down just a little. They’re mostly for Sentry mode, because that’s where I forsee most of the issues stemming from. For these, just imagine replacing the existing parts of the rework with the nerfed sections.
Sentry mode base damage nerf
- Configuration Sentry
- Reduce maximum spread to 2° (Currently 3°)
- Bloom added to weapon
- Initial accuracy of 1.25°, bloom starts after 0.3 seconds of continuous fire
- Reaches 2° after 0.3 seconds of additional continuous fire
- Damage reduced to 12 (Currently 15)
- Headshots added
- Ammo count reduced to 250 (Currently 300)
- Deals 25% more damage to barriers
This nerf reduces Bastion’s base damage by a fair bit, and adds bonus damage to barriers to keep him at the same effectiveness against them. This raises his skill floor a bit because it will take a little longer to kill enemies, meaning he has to track them for longer.
Sentry mode headshot multiplier nerf
- Configuration Sentry
- Reduce maximum spread to 2° (Currently 3°)
- Bloom added to weapon
- Initial accuracy of 1.25°, bloom starts after 0.3 seconds of continuous fire
- Reaches 2° after 0.3 seconds of additional continuous fire
- Headshots added
- Deals 1.5x more damage instead of 2x
- Ammo count reduced to 200 (Currently 300)
This reduces his maximum DPS to 675 instead of 900. With this, he won’t be able to take out enemies quite as fast.
Ironclad nerf
- Ironclad
- Damage resistance removed
- Now allows Bastion’s self-repair to over-heal him with 50 armor
- This armor cannot be healed by other healers, only Bastion
- The over-heal is “orange” armor, similar to Torb’s armor packs
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Startup delay reduced to 0.1 seconds (Currently 0.5 seconds)
- Able to reload while repairing
- Healing resource increased by 17%
- Allows for 350 healing (Currently 300)
This reduces the amount of additional armor that Ironclad provides. Pretty self-explanatory…
