Much like my other rework thread for “Tank on E”, this thread will go into detail about another proposed rework for Bastion which gives his personal barrier back, but in a different way than he had it in the beta.
Looking back, I don’t really like this one… Maybe just have a normal barrier that’s activated by E with most of the same restrictions of this one. And I’m not really a huge fan of the whole “give his barrier back” thing anyway 
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- General changes
- Being stunned during a transformation now instantly completes the transformation
- Bastion’s resource meter increased by 75%
- He now has 7 seconds of continuous up-time, and 12 seconds of total recharge time
- Configuration Sentry
- Headshots added
- Bloom added to weapon
- Initial accuracy of 1.25°, bloom starts after 0.3 seconds of continuous fire
- Reaches a maximum of 2° after 0.3 seconds of additional continuous fire
- Ammo reduced to 250
- Reload time increased to 2.5 seconds (Formerly 2 seconds)
- Personal barrier (new E ability)
- Uses Bastion’s resource meter to project a temporary personal barrier for Bastion
- It uses the same resource meter as Self-repair
- 1 second cooldown
- The barrier has 750 health, but does not recharge like a normal barrier
- Each time the barrier is cast, it has 750 health
- This allows high damage sources (or poor barrier management) such as a Rocket Barrage or a D.va Self-Destruct to destroy the barrier
- If the barrier gets destroyed, the ability goes on a 5 second cooldown
- Bastion cannot shoot while the barrier is active
- Bastion can reload while the barrier is active
- Bastion can use Self-repair while the barrier is active
- This drains the resource meter twice as fast as normal because two abilities are using it simultaneously
- Barrier is projected after a 0.1 second delay
- Uses Bastion’s resource meter to project a temporary personal barrier for Bastion
- Ironclad (Passive)
- Removed
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it does not heal Bastion
- Starts healing after a 0.1 second delay (Currently 0.5 seconds)
- Bastion can now reload while repairing
- Configuration Tank
- No self damage
- Tread sounds reduced slightly
- Adds 150 armor
Notes / Comments
General Changes
The first change is more of a consistency change. As he is now, Bastion will instantly transform to Tank mode when stunned, hooked, frozen, etc while attempting to use his ultimate. This applies that to all of his modes. If Bastion is attempting to go into Sentry mode, but gets stunned by something, he will instantly enter Sentry mode, but stay stunned for the duration of the transformation or the stun, whichever lasts longer. This is merely a consistency and quality of life change.
The second change is to make room for the new barrier that uses the same resource meter as Self-repair.
Configuration Sentry
Without his passive Ironclad, more firepower can be put into Sentry mode. This change is almost a revert of what he was before his rework, with a few modifications. His spread is now more similar to Hammond’s spread, whereas before it was more similar to his Recon spread (It used to start out smaller, but bloom almost instantly). His ammo capacity has also been increased by 50 from it’s initial value of 200 to account for more barriers being in the game that he will need to get through. To account for this, his reload time has been increased by 0.5 seconds.
Personal Barrier
In the closed beta, Bastion had his own barrier. It had 1000 health, and was always active during Sentry mode. When Bastion was reworked, Blizzard attempted to give this survivability back in the form of Ironclad. This didn’t go so well, because it made Bastion very hard to kill, and with the damage resistance being able to stack to a larger number back then, it made Bastion almost unkillable when he was Nano-boosted.
This rework gives his barrier back, but not as a static barrier. This barrier allows him to survive some attacks, but it doesn’t allow him to shoot and use his barrier at the same time, which should lower the frustration of the enemy players when fighting a Bastion.
Ironclad
Since he is getting a barrier for protection, he doesn’t need a passive damage resist anymore.
Self-repair
These changes allow Bastion a tiny bit more freedom when using self-repair. He can now use his barrier to protect himself, repair any damage he might have taken, and reload his gun at the same time. This will use a considerable amount of resources however. If he starts at full, he will end up with only 2 seconds of resources left after doing these actions.
Configuration Tank
Since Bastion no longer has Ironclad, his ultimate will need it’s 150 armor back. The self-damage change is to give Bastion more freedom with using his ultimate for rocket jumps to make interesting plays or get to interesting locations that he couldn’t otherwise get to on his own.
Some balance nerfs
Configuration Sentry
If Blizzard feels that Bastion is too strong against squishy targets while in Sentry mode, then perhaps slightly reducing his base damage could be a good solution.
- Configuration Sentry
- Damage reduced to 12 (Formerly 15)
- Deals 25% bonus damage to barriers
- Headshots added
- Bloom added to weapon
- Initial accuracy of 1.25°, bloom starts after 0.3 seconds of continuous fire
- Reaches a maximum of 2° after 0.3 seconds of additional continuous fire
- Ammo reduced to 250
- Reload time increased to 2.5 seconds (Formerly 2 seconds)
This keeps his barrier busting capabilities in tact, while giving him a lower DPS against enemy players. This should feel better than simply increasing his spread because his damage wouldn’t feel as inconsistent.
I wouldn’t really like to see this next change, but if Sentry is just too overbearing, perhaps removing the ability to reload could be an option.
- Configuration Sentry
- Headshots added
- Bloom added to weapon
- Initial accuracy of 1.25°, bloom starts after 0.3 seconds of continuous fire
- Reaches a maximum of 2° after 0.3 seconds of additional continuous fire
- Ammo reduced to 250
- Weapon reload removed. To get more ammo, the player must swap modes for a few seconds.
Again, I don’t like this method of controlling Sentry as much as simply increasing the reload time, but it’s an option that doesn’t strictly limit Sentry with something like a timer or a cooldown. The player still has control of how long they stay in Sentry mode.
I’m not really sure what else might be imbalanced… if you have any ideas, please share them, I’d be glad to add them to this list.