I’ll start out with a note to clear up any confusion. I would much rather the Sentry mode changes from Bastion’s first rework be reverted (Revert spread, revert no headshots, remove Ironclad) than to have him reworked. However, if a rework is inevitable (many other f-tier heroes have been getting reworks lately), I would like to push for this rework, or at least a version of it. I am not calling for a rework, I am just providing one for Blizzard to (hopefully) see before deciding on any changes to Bastion. Assuming they do plan on changing him that is.
I’ve got a list of reworks in another thread, but I wanted to give Tank on E it’s own thread because that’s the one that I’ve (We’ve I guess, this is a combination of many ideas and feedback) done the most work on. Please note that since it’s impossible to test these changes, it’s basically impossible to know how strong an ability will be in this rework, this is why I’ve provided a few balancing nerfs afterwards in case it is too powerful. We don’t want Bastion to be the best hero in the game, we only want him to be viable and make him more skill-based than he currently is.
Edit: Oh right, and give tank a golden gun please. And also his repair arm, that would be nice too.
- General changes
- Being stunned during a transformation now instantly completes the transformation
- Configuration Recon
- Reload time reduced to 1.5 seconds (Formerly 2 seconds)
- 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)
- Configuration Tank (E Ability)
- Damage reduced to 120 (Formerly 205)
- Splash damage now ranges from 40 - 85 damage (Formerly 70 - 145)
- Splash radius reduced to 2 meters (Formerly 4 meters)
- Tank tread sounds reduced
- 3 shots per clip
- Ammo reloads over time similar to Doomfist’s gun
- Shot timer and reload timer are independent, meaning he can reload shots even while shooting. This gives an effective 5 shots to begin with, and then one shot every 2 seconds afterwards.
- Ammo reloads at 1 shell per 2 seconds
- No self damage
- Transformation time reduced to 1 second (Formerly 1.5 seconds)
- Damage reduced to 120 (Formerly 205)
- Ironclad (Passive)
- Persistent Ironclad is removed from all modes (Sentry and Tank)
- Ironclad is now bound to Self-repair
- Ironclad can now be activated even in Recon mode
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it does not heal Bastion
- Starts healing instantly instead of having an 0.5 second delay
- Applies 25% Ironclad for duration of repair
- Overclock (Ultimate Ability)
- Adds 150 armor to all forms
- Alternatively, gives passive 35% Ironclad in Sentry/Tank, and 20% Ironclad in Recon. These are not bound to repair, they are passive.
- Instantly reloads all ammo for all forms
- Reduces transformation time by half
- Lasts 8 seconds
- Adds 150 armor to all forms
- Overclock (Recon mode)
- Increases movement by 18% (From 5.5 m/s to 6.5 m/s)
- Increases rate of fire by 50% (From 8 r/s to 12 r/s)
- Reduce reload speed by 50% (From 1.5 s to 1 s)
- Overclock (Sentry mode)
- Grants CC immunity
- Increases rate of fire by 16% to (From 30 r/s to 35 r/s)
- Overclock (Tank mode)
- Recharge rate decreased to 1 second (Normally 2 seconds)
- Increase direct hit damage to 205
- Reverts splash damage and radius to their current values
Edits
- Corrected Overclock (Recon) rate of fire
- Changed Sentry’s spread to be slightly larger, and bloom slightly quicker
- I didn’t know what 0.75° would actually look like, but it appears that Hammond’s spread starts at 1.25° and maxes at 2°, so I used those values instead because they look reasonable in-game. Changed the bloom values so that he reaches maximum spread in
0.80.6 seconds instead of10.8 seconds.
- I didn’t know what 0.75° would actually look like, but it appears that Hammond’s spread starts at 1.25° and maxes at 2°, so I used those values instead because they look reasonable in-game. Changed the bloom values so that he reaches maximum spread in
- Removed falloff for Tank mode to match Mei’s projectile
- Changed some wording to make it more clear and some aspects with suggestions from BliztDreams
- Removed 1.5x headshot multiplier. Probably better to start at 2x, and nerf it if need be. Easier to start a little strong and nerf than to start weak and buff…
- Reduced Sentry mode ammo to 250
Notes / Comments
General Changes
This is more of a consistency change. As he is now, Bastion will instantly transform to Tank mode when stunned, hooked, frozen, etc. This change applies that concept to all transformations. Bastion will still remained stunned for the normal duration (in alignment with the recent McCree changes that keeps Bastion stunned when transforming to Tank mode), but stuns will no longer stop his transformation progress… Abilities that take him out of Sentry mode (Roadhog’s hook, Reinhardt’s charge, Ana’s sleepdart) will still take him out of Sentry mode, but if he was transforming to Tank mode at the time of being hit by these abilities, he will be placed into Tank mode instead of Recon mode.
Configuration Recon
This change is to help persuade people to use Recon more often. Sentry mode should still be Bastion’s main focus, but at the moment, Recon and Sentry have the same reload time, which is kind of strange in my mind. This change is not really needed at all, as Recon is just fine as it is, I just thought I’d include it.
Configuration Sentry
A weaker version of headshots were added to reward players for good aim and tracking.
Bloom was added back to give players the chance to actually have good aim and tracking. With his current spread, headshots would be almost useless because they would be very dependent on RNG to actually hit. I don’t have actual numbers from what his spread was before his rework, but I think this is fairly close, though a slight nerf from what it was then. I haven’t been able to play that version in almost a year and a half, but I believe that his accuracy was pinpoint to start off, and then it increased to 2° over the course of a second or so (I know that the maximum was 2°, I don’t know what the initial value was or the time it took to reach maximum).
The ammo reduction and reload time are to try and limit Sentry mode’s use a bit, as well as compensate for his new potential damage values. This should also help limit his usefulness in lower ranks, as it gives the player less ammo, and requires better aim to do damage. It has an overall better damage output, but limits the time spent shooting by a fair amount, and should raise the skill floor a bit.
For those curious, his new damage output would be 450 DPS for non-critical shots, 675 DPS for all critical shots, and he can shoot for 6⅔ seconds continuously.
Configuration Tank
Tank mode is now an E ability instead of an ultimate. It’s damage has been reduced to 120 damage to match other explosives in the game, and it has been given a limit on how many shots it has per ‘clip’. Since it reloads like Doomfist’s gun, Bastion can only shoot 4 times before having to wait (3 shots in the clip, 1 will recharge halfway through the clip). This mode was meant more for rocket jumping than for damage, but it does also provide pretty good burst damage. The idea with the maximum range was to prevent it from becoming too much of a sniper like Mei’s projectiles were before they got falloff. Tank mode isn’t meant to be a sniper, it’s meant for closer range burst and mobility with mobility being it’s intended primary use. This is also why self-damage was removed.
Ironclad
Ironclad would probably be too strong as a passive with this rework, so it’s been removed from Sentry and Tank modes, and is now only applied while healing. This gives Bastion 4 seconds of 20% damage reduction every 7 seconds, and during this time, he cannot shoot. This more closely resembles Roadhog’s take a breather, but it’s on a resource instead of being on a cooldown. Since it’s only a 20% resistance instead of the 50% that Roadhog has, I feel this is balanced. Especially since it’s just a passive ability at the moment.
Self-repair
These changes are to allow Bastion to be a little more flexible when using self-repair. The resource consumption change shouldn’t do too much except prevent him from wasting his meter when hit by an Ana grenade or he’s at full health. The delay change allows him react more quickly to incoming damage.
Overclock
Bastion’s new ultimate is somewhat similar to Valkyrie in some ways. It buffs various parts of his kit in different ways. The idea behind it was to allow the player to use Bastion’s ult however they felt would be the best in the current scenario. It also fits very nicely into Bastion’s “adaptability” playstyle. Since it cuts transformation times in half, the player can use many different modes during his ult without wasting half of the ult transforming. He shouldn’t be penalized for wanting to transform during his ult, and this way, it can keep the ultimate rather short but allow him more freedom.
Overclock (Recon)
Overclock in Recon mode allows Bastion to move faster, shoot faster, and reload faster. This mode was hard to make an overclock mode for, and I’m not extremely happy with the results, perhaps this one could use a bit of tweaking.
Overclock (Sentry)
Overclock in Sentry mode makes Bastion much more fortified and give him a bit more damage potential. The ammo increase it to slightly compensate for the rate of fire increase. With this configuration, he can shoot for 7.14 seconds before running out of ammo. He can’t shoot for the entire 8 seconds, but it’s fairly close.
Overclock (Tank)
Overclock in Tank mode basically restores it to what his ultimate is now. It gives back the damage, removes the range restriction, and increases the recharge rate to give an effective infinite ammo like he has now.
Some balance nerfs
Configuration Recon
This change is somewhat unnecessary to begin with, removing it would be just fine.
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.
Configuration Tank
If the 120 damage on such a fast projectile becomes an issue, perhaps reducing the damage by a slight bit would be in order. 90 damage would allow him to 2-shot Tracer, and 3-shot heroes up to 250 HP. I think if this were to be the case, then he would not need a damage falloff however, as he doesn’t do very much damage to begin with. I would prefer not to mess with the projectile speed, because then the player would have to remember 2 different muscle memories for leading during his ult, and in the normal Tank mode. Assuming that the ultimate is still kept as the same Tank mode we have now.
Self-repair
If the “can use repair infinitely” (Since it does not use resources when it is not healing) and “provides Ironclad” thing become a bit too hard to deal with when, say, an Ana grenade is used on a Bastion, the Ironclad could be reduced/removed when Bastion isn’t healing.
Note: This isn’t the only thing they could do, obviously… This is just what I’ve come up with that might be an issue, and potential fixes for it.
Links
Bastion megathread (soon to be replaced, almost full) :
Replacement megathread :
List of proposed reworks :
My thoughts on Bastion’s issues :
Another Tank on E thread :
