Intro
In this thread, we will be investigating the current state of Bastion, and why he qualifies for a rework.This post will be categorized into a few different parts:
- Bastion, Then and Now
- Why do Heroes get Reworks?
- Recent Changes: Fueling the Dumpster Fire
- Why do You Want Bastion to be Good?
- The Solutions
- Tank on E
- Flying Mode
- Ironclad Rework
- Rocket Bastion
- Wrap-Up
Bastion, Then and Now
In the Overwatch Beta, Bastion was significantly different. He had a longer transformation time, a frontal barrier in Sentry, and the ability to only turn 60 degrees in Sentry. In the fledgling Overwatch pro scene, Bastion was largely considered a troll pick due to his lack of mobility and flexibility.At release, Bastion no longer had the frontal barrier in Sentry, but instead was able to turn the full 360 degrees. He had a large spread on Recon, which only had 20 rounds per clip. Sentry had 200 rounds per clip, headshot capabilities, and a decent bloom overtime. He had unlimited healing resource, but could not move while healing. Tank gave him 150 additional armor upon activation. He was largely considered an F-tier hero due to his gimmicky playstyle, lack of mobility, and low survivability.
In February of 2017, Bastion received a rework. The goal of this rework was apparently to increase the power of Recon, while pulling power from Sentry. Recon received slightly reduced spread, and had its ammo capacity increased to 25. Sentry had its ammo capacity increased to 300, but lost its headshot capabilities, and had its spread set at a constant 3 degrees. Transformation times for Sentry were reduced by 0.5 seconds. Tank no longer granted armor upon activation. He now could move while healing, but had a limited resource meter that would recharge when not in use. He gained a passive called “Ironclad”, which granted him a passive 35% damage resistance while in Sentry and Tank. The passive damage resistance especially made him incredibly powerful, to the point of being quite overpowered, making Bastion an S-tier must-pick for the first and only time in Overwatch history.
One week later, the damage resistance from Ironclad was reduced to 20%. His pickrate rapidly plummeted, and he ended up actually being even worse than he was before the rework. This is where Bastion stands to this day.
Why do Heroes get Reworks?
In an interview with Scott Mercer and Ben Dai from the Korean Overwatch event in August, there was a question about how it is decided what heroes receive reworks. Mercer was quoted as saying:
“If we see heroes where there are problems where players don’t want to play them, or if they’re very niche, that’s when we sorta take a step back, look, try and see if we can make adjustments, and then make the appropriate ones.”
Bastion certainly fits that description. With the single-lowest pickrate in nearly every rank, it’s obvious that there’s something about the hero that makes players not want to play him. He’s extremely niche, only being used with any regularity in pirate ship, and even more specifically on Junkertown’s first point.
So where’s the rework?
Recent Changes: Fueling the Dumpster Fire
Fun fact: Nearly every balance change and/or hero rework since the Hanzo rework in May has negatively impacted Bastion.
This year has been especially brutal for Bastion. Hanzo’s prevalence due to his rework, Symmetra’s teleporter making flanking so much easier, Sombra’s infinite stealth allowing her to keep Bastion in Sentry and unable to heal almost as much as she wants, Ana’s prevalence and her Sleep Dart, and now the anti-armor Torb rework and the upcoming Pharah changes has pushed Bastion from the bottom of the barrel to a new, previously impossible low.
Why do *You* Want Bastion to be Good?
So to all you non-Bastion players, what would be in it for you? Well, let’s look at what Bastion counters and what counters Bastion.
Bastion counters:
- D.va
- Orisa
- Reinhardt
- Wrecking Ball
- Winston
- Doomfist
- Soldier: 76
- Brigitte
- LuciĂł
- Moira
Bastion is countered by:
- Genji(?)
- Hanzo
- Junkrat
- Pharah (w/ update)
- Reaper
- Sombra
- Torbjörn (w/ update)
- Tracer
- Widowmaker
- Ana
That means he counters the following comps:
- GOATS
- Deathball
- Dive (Tanks)
And is countered by the following comps:
- Disrupt
- Dive (DPS)
- Double Snipers
I’ll leave it to you why the average player may benefit from Bastion being relevant.
The Solutions
Bastion currently struggles heavily due to the following:
- Very low mobility
- Relatively short range
- Tank sized hitbox, but not tank-sized health
- Large, random spread, causing effective DPS to be far lower than maximum 450 in Sentry
- Low survivability
- Heavy reliance on team coordination
- Low reward for good aim
- No utility
We should focus on not only minimizing some weaknesses, but also magnifying strengths, such as:
- Sentry being immune to knockback
- Shredding barriers
- Denying choke points
We Bastion players don’t want Bastion to be broken or overpowered, we just want him to be an all-around better choice, and relevant.
Now, let’s look at a few rework concepts the Bastion community has come up with:
Tank on E
Creator: Astrobiology
Ironclad
- Now applies 50 armor while in Sentry or Tank instead of 20% damage resistance
- If Bastion reverts to Recon while additional armor is gone, it won’t come back unless he remains in Recon for 2 seconds, or heals himself once in Tank or Sentry again
- Allows Bastion to see silhouettes of enemies through allies (all forms)
The passive damage resistance proved too difficult to properly balance due to how much it promotes pocketing by healers. 50 extra armor should serve the same purpose while in Sentry and Tank. The nature of Bastion’s role in many teams means he will spend most of his time behind teammates, often causing them to block Bastion’s line of sight. Instead of having to transform and move again, being able to see enemy silhouettes through allies will allow teammates to properly protect Bastion while not sacrificing Bastion’s line of sight.
Configuration: Recon
- Bullet spread begins to take effect after 3 rounds are fired instead of 1
- Damage falloff range increased from 26-50 meters to 30-55 meters
These changes should allow for Recon to function at a safer distance to compensate for Bastion’s large size, while also better differentiating between Soldier’s medium range consistent damage and Recon’s mid-long range burst damage.
Configuration: Sentry
- Spread reverted to pre-rework value, blooms to current spread over 5 seconds
- Spread takes 2 seconds to fully reset from maximum spread
- Can now deal 2x crits
- Deals 1.25x damage to barriers
- Ammo capacity reduced from 300 to 250
- Damage per round decreased from 15 to 12
Bastion’s previous rework left Sentry largely underwhelming after its defensive capabilities were nerfed. It struggled due to a lack of consistency from its large spread, and the fact that it didn’t have the survivability or range to be a powerful option while immobile. The spread reduction should serve to remedy this. Additionally, the skill ceiling has been increased by reducing Sentry’s base damage and ammo capacity slightly, while allowing it to land headshots and reward good aim. The bonus damage against barriers should serve as incentive to more heavily focus down enemy barriers, although the bonus comes out to be equivalent to his current barrier damage.
Self-Repair
- No longer has a cast time; now begins healing as soon as button is pressed
- No longer consumes resource while at full health
- Maximum healing increased from 300 to 350
The cast time of Self-Repair generally served more as an inconvenience than a balancing tool, and the consumption of resource while at full health lead to the same problems. These have simply been removed as a Quality of Life change.
Configuration: Tank
- Now Bastion’s E ability
- Damage per round decreased from 205 to 125
- Now has a maximum ammo capacity of 4, does not reload, recharges instead
- Regenerates at a rate of 1 round per 2 seconds
- Tread SFX volume decreased by 30%
- Transformation time reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1.0 second
- Reversion time reduced from 1.0 second to 0.5 seconds
- Can freely aim while transforming
Much like Torbjörn and Symmetra, Bastion’s biggest issue was a lack of flexibility. The reworking of Tank as Bastion’s secondary ability will grant him more reliable mobility and burst damage, while also making him a stronger pick on offense. The recharging rounds mean they must be managed carefully, and so doesn’t step on the toes of the better mobility, utility, and overall damage of other explosive-based heroes like Junkrat and Pharah.
Overclock
- Bastion’s new ultimate ability
- 8 second duration
- Gives 100 additional armor for duration (doesn’t stack with 50 extra armor while in Sentry or Tank)
- Halves transformation and reversion times
- Gives infinite ammo
- Increases Configuration: Recon movement speed by 30%
- Immune to CC while in Configuration: Sentry
- Increases damage per round in Configuration: Tank from 125 to 205
- Emits lights and klaxons for duration
- Ult charge cost increased by 20% from Tank’s current cost
This ultimate allows Bastion many more options than Configuration: Tank ever did. The additional armor allows for more aggressive plays, further augmented by the infinite ammo and faster transformations. The increased movement speed while in Configuration: Recon allows for better initiations and escapes. The immunity to CC while Configuration: Sentry allows Bastion to far more effectively lock down an area, serving to truly emulate the structure after which he is named. Configuration: Tank is simply restored to its previous state, providing the same incredible burst damage as before.
The overall goal of this rework is to expand the capabilities of Bastion, increasing his flexibility, while simultaneously raising the hero’s skill ceiling. As a result, he should be much less of a “noob destroyer” at low ranks and a “throw pick” at high ranks. This should serve to make Bastion a more healthy character overall, while retaining the rapid transformations that make Bastion such a special character to play.
Flying Mode
Creator: DrClan
Recon
• Reload speed reduced to 1.75 seconds
Configuration Sentry
• Spread reduced by 33%
• Ammo reduced to 200
• Headshot multiplier added
Self Repair
• Now provides a 20% damage resist while healing
• No longer drains resource while not healing
Ironclad
• Removed as passive
Configuration Apache: new E ability
This ability gives Bastion a third form with flight capabilities. This ties his mobility and damage out out together throughout all of his base forms, the more he has of one, the less he has of the other. This configuration should also boost Bastion’s viability in many situations, especially on attack where he struggled before.
• Flight controls same as Mercy’s Valkyrie
• 1 second cast time
• 40 ammunition
• 13-6 damage per bullet
• Rate of fire is 8 bullets per second
• Falloff starts at 30 meters
• Horizontal movement speed is 5 meters per second
• Vertical movement speed is 7 meters per second
• Spread angle of 1.5°
Other Notes:
• Bastion can switch between his three base forms interchangeably
• Visually doesn’t have helicopter blades, instead is powered by 4 rocket booster on each corner (think the helicarriers from “The Winter Soldier”)
• Crit box is Bastion’s core like sentry, and his placed on his upper back(opposite of player’s FOV)
Ultimate: Configuration Tank
• Provides 150 armor upon activation
• This armor disappears when ultimate is
over
The name “Apache”, as well as the finer details are up for debate. The concept is three forms with relative amounts of mobility and damage.
Ironclad Rework
Creator: Grantman Configuration Sentry * 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 * 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)Rocket Bastion
Creator: ShadowDarterCode name: Death from above or Beep this I am so out of here
Button: E
Duration: 3 seconds
Cooldown: 9-12 seconds.
Hight: 3 times Bastions standing hight
Vertical velocity: 5 times walking speed.
Horizontal speed: 6 times walking speed
Wrap-Up
Let me reiterate: **WE DON’T WANT BASTION TO BE OVERPOWERED, ONLY RELEVANT.** We understand how frustrating it can be to be almost instantly deleted from a range.We understand how frustrating it can be to be stuck in place.
We deal with it too.
But that’s the nature of Overwatch, and the more we can make this game more diverse and inviting to different skill sets, the better. We don’t want aim to be what defines skill.
We don’t want aim to be a useless skill.
We only want Bastion to be part of this game again. We understand that there are other heroes struggling right now. To highlight a few:
We know Mercy is being mistreated and antagonized.
We know Roadhog’s Hook is inconsistent and that he doesn’t offer anything that other tanks don’t.
We know that Brigitte constantly receives mindless hate, when the solution is to simply adapt.
We know that Doomfist is still a buggy mess, and that no one appreciates the difficulty of the hero, since all they focus on is being stunned by abilities that don’t actually stun.
We know how abandoned McCree players feel, and how much they hate being so vulnerable all the time.
We know how Soldier struggles to find a purpose with how middle-of-the-road he is.
We know Sombra is still a rather buggy, low-tier hero in lower ranks.
We know that Reinhardt players feel stuck as they are forced around the map, unable to protect their team.
We know Symmetra still struggles due to being too team-reliant and having a bad primary fire.
Now if you wouldn’t mind, we would like you to understand and stand up for us.
Astrobiology ![:milky_way:](https://d74zh8edaijub.cloudfront.net/en/overwatch/images/emoji/twitter/milky_way.png?v=5" ":milky_way:")
![:beer:](https://d74zh8edaijub.cloudfront.net/en/overwatch/images/emoji/twitter/beer.png?v=5" ":beer:")