I wanted to put these ideas in their own thread so that it’s easier to find and view. Here are some Bastion tweak and rework ideas that the community has come up with. Note, these are my variations of these ideas, but the general idea is usually the same from version to version.
"Tank on E" rework
- Configuration Sentry
- Spread reduced to 1.5° (Formerly 3°)
- Headshots added (1.5x multiplier instead of 2x)
- Configuration Tank (E Ability)
- Damage reduced to 120 (Formerly 205)
- Splash damage now ranges from 40 - 85 damage (Formerly 70 - 145)
- Tank tread sounds reduced
- 3 shots per clip
- Ammo reloads over time similar to Doomfist’s gun
- 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)
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Starts healing instantly instead of having an 0.5 second delay
- Overclock (Ultimate Ability)
- Adds 150 armor to all forms
- Alternatively, sets Ironclad to 35% in Sentry/Tank, 20% in Recon
- 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 speed to 6.5 m/s (Normally 5.5 m/s)
- Increases rate of fire to 30 r/s (Normally 25 r/s)
- Reduce reload speed to 0.5 seconds (Normally 2 seconds)
- Overclock (Sentry mode)
- Grants CC immunity
- Increases rate of fire to 35 r/s (Normally 30 r/s)
- Overclock (Tank mode)
- Grants infinite ammo
- Increase damage to 205
Notes
This one is kinda old, look at the version 2 instead…
120 damage was chosen for the new Tank mode because that’s the same amount of damage Pharah does. However, Bastion’s splash damage on his Tank mode is garbage, so if you don’t get a direct hit, you’re basically not doing anything.
Tank on E is meant more for mobility purposes than anything, hence the very limited ammo. Bastion is meant to use this ability to get to locations he couldn’t otherwise get to.
He can also use it to put some pressure on snipers to get them off of his back, though it’s very unlikely that he would be able to actually kill them, as that would require both a Mercy boost and a Zen discord orb (Or the sniper to be low on health to begin with).
"Tank on E" v2
- 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
Notes
This one combines a few reworks into one. Mainly the Tank on E Rework, and parts of the Sentry Revert. It also increases the reload time for Sentry mode, which should encourage people to switch modes more often. This should limit Bastion’s oppressiveness in lower ranks, while boosting his effectiveness at higher ranks. It adds mid-range damage back to Sentry, mobility and burst-damage potential in the form of Tank, and longer-range sustained damage in the form of Recon for a more well rounded character that what he is currently.
With his changed ammo count,
as well as his 1.5x critical damage, his maximum DPS is now675900, and he can shoot for 8 ⅓ seconds instead of the 10 seconds he can shoot for now. He won’t be actually doing675900 DPS, because he would have to hit all headshots to do that.As for his transformation change (under “General changes”), his Tank mode transformation as it is now cannot be interrupted. If he gets stunned while transforming to Tank mode, he instantly completes the transformation instead of transforming back to Recon like normal. This change makes that consistent for all transformations. Abilities that take Bastion out of Sentry mode (Reinhardt’s pin, Roadhog’s hook, Sombra’s hack, Ana’s sleepdart) will still take Bastion out of Sentry mode, even if he was transforming to that mode when he got stunned/hacked. However, if Bastion was transforming to Tank mode when being stunned/hacked, he will be put into Tank mode instead of Recon mode, just like he does currently. Doomfist’s Rocket Punch, Seismic Slam, and Rising Uppercut will instantly put Bastion into Sentry mode if he is in the middle of transforming when hit by these abilities.
Personal Barrier rework
- Configuration Sentry
- Spread reduced to 1.5° (Formerly 3°)
- Passive Ironclad removed
- Added a personal barrier (always active unless destroyed)
- Barrier has 450 health
- Barrier does not recharge while in Sentry mode, only in Recon or Tank modes
- Barrier can only turn 120° (60° in each direction) from it’s starting position
- Bastion himself can still turn a full 360°, only the barrier cannot
- Once Bastion aims a certain distance past the edge of the barrier, it reverts to it’s original position
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Starts healing instantly instead of having an 0.5 second delay
- Grants temporary 15% Ironclad when used for duration of the usage
- Able to reload while repairing
- Configuration Tank
- No self damage
- Tread sounds reduced slightly
- Passive Ironclad removed
- Adds 150 armor for duration of ult
Notes
The idea of this one is to allow Bastion to be slightly more independent of his team, while still forcing him to move around sometimes because if he doesn’t, he loses his barrier. With this barrier, he can block a volley of Storm Arrows, or a few Pharah direct hits, or a Roadhog hook, and still get away safely. It won’t protect him from too much, as 450 HP doesn’t go a very long way, but it will increase his independence a pretty fair bit.
I don’t believe that this would affect “pirate ship” maps very much if at all, because doesn’t allow Bastion to sit on the payload the entire time (Assuming he wants his barrier in tact), and it still leaves him susceptible to the same weaknesses that he has now when running this comp. I think a couple buffs and/or bug fixes (primarily bug fixes) to counters of pirate ship is a much better way of dismantling it than a direct nerf to Bastion. If Sombra and Mei (and other heroes) were slightly more viable, I don’t think a pirate ship comp would hold together very well.
This one doesn’t raise the skill floor of Bastion as much as the “Tank on E” rework, but it does greatly increase his independence, which is something he really needs at the moment. This won’t make him completely independent, but it will allow him to be played even if his team doesn’t want to form a bunker comp around him. Something that isn’t too fun for the enemy team, the friendly team, or the Bastion himself.
Personal Barrier rework 2
- Configuration Sentry
- Spread reduced to 2° (Formerly 3°)
- Headshots added
- 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
- Ammo reduced to 200
- Ironclad (Passive ability)
- Removed
- Personal barrier (E ability)
- Infinite durability barrier
- Uses the same resource meter as self-repair
- Resource meter doubled
- 1 second cooldown
- Only available in Sentry mode
- Cannot use Self-repair while barrier is up
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Delay before repairing starts reduced to 0.1 seconds (currently ~0.5 seconds)
- Able to reload while repairing
- Configuration Tank
- No self damage
- Tread sounds reduced slightly
- Adds 150 armor for duration of ult
Notes
This one is somewhat similar to the other personal barrier rework, but it places the barrier on E instead. Since it’s just an ability, it has infinite durability because having it on a resource and a damage meter wouldn’t make much sense.
Since it uses the same resource as Bastion’s Self-repair, Bastion can choose whether to use Self-repair more, or to block damage instead. While shielding, Bastion can still shoot, but can’t heal. While repairing, Bastion can’t shoot, but does heal.
I don’t believe that this would be overpowered, but if so, then perhaps making him do slightly less damage through the barrier might appropriate. Reducing the resource meter to 1.75x what it is now may also be a good solution if this is too much. I would rather start off a little strong though, because it’s easier to tell if a hero needs some nerfs than to tell if they could use some buffs.
PTSD Rework (Pretend it has a good name)
- PTSD Mode (E Ability)
- Functions similarly to Lucio’s crossfade
- Swaps between 2 modes
- Red mode is for more damage, less accuracy
- Blue mode is for less damage, more accuracy, higher potential DPS
- Only available in Sentry mode
- Configuration Sentry (Red mode)
- Damage increased to 16
- Ironclad reduced to 15% damage reduction
- Configuration Sentry (Blue mode)
- 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
- Damage reduced to 13
- Rate of fire decreased to 25
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Starts healing instantly instead of having an 0.5 second delay
- Able to reload while repairing
- Configuration Tank
- No self damage
- Tread sounds reduced slightly
- Base Ironclad increased to 35%
- Ironclad applied immediately instead of after transformation
Notes
This one allows Bastion to choose whether he wants to be accurate, or do more damage per shot. “Red mode” is meant for barrier busting, as you can’t headshot a barrier, do using “Blue mode” will just be much worse for it. With his new red mode damage, he’ll do 480 damage per second instead of his current 450, which will help destroy barriers better. He’ll also do a tiny bit more against normal targets, but his blue mode is much better for that with it’s headshots.
Blue mode is meant for taking out targets with precision. It now has a DPS of 350 without headshots, and 700 with all headshots. This drastically reduces his normal damage output, but with good aiming and tracking, he can have a higher damage output than Red mode. This is only applicable when targets show their head though, Blue mode becomes fairly useless on targets that either have their back turned to Bastion, don’t have a head hitbox (Bastion’s Tank mode, Hammond’s ball mode), or are barriers.
Ironclad Rework
- 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
- Passive damage resist removed
- Only applies during self-repair
- Damage resistance increased to 25%
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Starts healing instantly instead of having an 0.5 second delay
- Able to reload while repairing
- Applies Ironclad for duration of repair
- Configuration Tank
- No self damage
- Tread sounds reduced slightly
- Adds 150 armor
Notes
First thing’s first, this isn’t technically a revert, as it’s slightly changed from his original state before his rework. Most notably, his spread pattern is different. He used to start at 1°, and bloom to 2°, but he would start his bloom almost instantly. In this one, he has a bit more control, however, his spread is a little larger to begin with. This new spread is heavily influenced by Hammond’s spread, but it doesn’t stay accurate for as long as Hammond does (Hammond stays at 1.25° for about 0.5 seconds, then takes about 0.3 seconds to bloom to 2°).
For this one, the idea is to give back most of his power in Sentry mode. His rework was intended to make him into a barrier buster, which it did, but now with the Junkrat, Hanzo, and Symmetra reworks, Bastion is being outclassed in barrier busting by a lot of other heroes. This is a very big problem when that’s Bastion’s “niche”, as many people like to call it. If he’s easily outclassed at the only thing he does, then why is he there in the first place?
The idea of the revert, if you even want to call it that, is to keep Ironclad in his kit, but make it more of an ability rather than a passive. Since he only gets it when he repairs, we can’t have the “Bastion meta” we had with 35% Ironclad, because he won’t have it all the time. This allows Sentry to retain it’s old damage values, yet still have some of the survivability that they wanted him to have with Ironclad.
When Bastion mains first asked for a buff (Before his rework a little over a year ago), they wanted Recon to be better, a slight tweak to his self-repair, and a tad bit more sustain in Sentry mode. Blizzard seemed to have taken the last part of that to a pretty far extreme, and given him a passive 35% damage reduction, which was later reduced to 20%. This would be fine, but only if his damage had been supplemented for the nerf, which it unfortunately wasn’t. This “revert” aims to give Bastion what the players wanted, while still maintaining the ideas that Blizzard implemented with his rework. He has slightly more sustain in Sentry (and now in Recon as well), but it’s not so overbearing that his damage needs to be hindered because of it. Since he only gets the damage resist while repairing, and he can only repair for 4 seconds max, and he can’t shoot while repairing, he shouldn’t feel unfair to fight against.
Ironclad Rework 2
- 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
- Tread sounds reduced slightly
- Adds 75 normal armor
- Instantly applies 75 Ironclad armor (in addition to the normal armor)
Notes
No notes yet, still working on those… It’s pretty much the same as the other one, only a different implementation of Ironclad…
Ganymede "Discord Orb" 1
- Configuration Sentry
- Spread reduced to 2° (Formerly 3°)
- Added bloom back to weapon
- Ganymede (E ability)
- Sends Ganymede to a single enemy
- Ganymede flies at 120 meters per second
- Maximum range of 45 meters
- Ganymede will reveal his target though walls, but only to Bastion
- Bastion will deal 30% more damage to Ganymede’s target
- Ganymede will leave his target after 2.5 seconds if he loses line of sight with Bastion
- Ganymede cannot be sent to a target that already has a Discord Orb
- If Ganymede is on a target, and that target receives a Discord Orb, Ganymede returns to Bastion
- Bastion cannot shoot and send Ganymede at the same time, much like Zenyatta with Discord Orbs
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Starts healing instantly instead of having an 0.5 second delay
- Configuration Tank
- Ironclad increased to 35%
- Ironclad applies immediately instead of after the transformation
- Tank tread sound reduced
- Ganymede is unavailable during Bastion’s ult, even if he was on a target before
Notes
The idea behind this change is to put Ganymede into the game, as well as give Bastion his own form of Discord Orb that only he can use. Ganymede allows Bastion to keep tabs on corner peekers, as well as a flanker if he spots them.
Ganymede can’t compete with Zenyatta’s Discord Orb though. If a target has a Discord Orb, Bastion cannot send Ganymede after them because this would stack the damage buffs a bit too high for this kind of ability. Since Bastion still gets the benefit of a Discord Orb (assuming he has communication with the Zenyatta for the seeing through walls part), he doesn’t need Ganymede anyway. And if Ganymede is on a target already, Zenyatta can remove him by sending a Discord Orb to the target. This has the same reasoning as before, because the entire team benefits from a Discord, while only Bastion benefits from Ganymede.
Bastion still cannot get critical damage (in Sentry mode) in this version. However, since he has a 1.3x multiplier to body shot damage, his average DPS should be almost the same as it was before his rework, maybe slightly higher or lower depending on the player’s skill.
Ganymede’s flight speed and maximum distance were chosen to mirror Zenyatta’s abilities. His Discord orb also has a speed of 120 m/s, but his maximum distance is only 40 meters. Bastion’s was increased because 40 meters is only 5 meters into his damage falloff range, so it felt unfair to limit him to this distance. His damage range ends at 55 meters, but 45 seemed like a fair maximum distance.
Ganymede "Discord Orb" 2
- Configuration Sentry
- Spread reduced to 1.5° (Formerly 3°)
- Headshots added
- Ganymede (E ability)
- Sends Ganymede to a single enemy
- Ganymede flies at 120 meters per second
- Maximum range of 45 meters
- Ganymede will reveal his target though walls, but only to Bastion
- Ganymede will leave his target after 3 seconds if he loses line of sight with Bastion
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Starts healing instantly instead of having an 0.5 second delay
- Configuration Tank
- Ironclad increased to 35%
- Ironclad applies immediately instead of after the transformation
- Tank tread sound reduced
Notes
This one is nearly identical to the previous Ganymede rework, but Ganymede does not provide Bastion with a damage boost.
This time, Bastion has a slightly lower spread, but it’s always at maximum (Like it is currently). He also has his critical damage back, since he doesn’t get a damage boost from Ganymede. Ganymede can also be on the same target as a Discord Orb this time because there’s no damage boost to stack.
Ganymede proximity warning
- Configuration Sentry
- Spread reduced to 1.5° (Formerly 3°)
- Headshots added
- Ganymede (Passive)
- Ganymede will watch over Bastion, and warn him if any enemies get too close
- If an enemy gets within 3 meters of Bastion, Ganymede will start tweeting, alerting Bastion to the threat.
- Ganymede cannot attack the enemy, he only warns Bastion
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Starts healing instantly instead of having an 0.5 second delay
- Configuration Tank
- Ironclad increased to 35%
- Ironclad applies immediately instead of after the transformation
- Tank tread sound reduced
Notes
I wasn’t going to post this one, but I saw someone else mention it, and I figured I may as well. In this one, Ganymede will watch Bastion’s back, and warn him if any enemies are sneaking up on him. Once an enemy gets within, say 3 meters of Bastion, Ganymede will start tweeting, letting Bastion know. It’s up to Bastion to deal with the threat though, Ganymede has no offensive capabilities.
Artillery rework
- Configuration Sentry
- Spread reduced to 1.5° (Currently 3°)
- Headshots added
- Artillery mode (E ability)
- Same body as Sentry mode, but with his Tank mode cannon instead
- Ganymede flies into the air, giving Bastion an overhead view of the map
- Gives Bastion a targeting zone similar to Doomfist’s ultimate, but smaller
- Not sure on damage and splash, let Blizzard deal with that
- Balance around Sentry though, not Artillery. Don’t weaken Sentry to add to this mode
- Ironclad
- Passive damage resist removed
- Only applies during self-repair
- Damage resistance increased to 25%
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Starts healing instantly instead of having an 0.5 second delay
- Able to reload while repairing
- Applies Ironclad for duration of repair
- Configuration Tank
- No self damage
- Tread sounds reduced slightly
- Adds 150 armor
Notes
This one is dumb, don’t pay attention to this one…
Tank class rework
- General changes
- Health pool changed to 150 health and 200 armor
- Moved to “Tank” category
- Configuration Sentry
- Damage reduced to 7 (was 15)
- Bloom added to weapon
- Initial accuracy of 1.25°, bloom starts after 0.4 seconds of continuous fire
- Reaches a maximum of 2° after 0.3 seconds of additional continuous fire
- Deals 2x damage to barriers
- Ironclad
- Base damage resistance increased to 25%
- Now shows an orange box around health bar
- E ability (Can’t think of a name)
- Bastion now has a 5 meter aura around him similar to Lucio’s aura
- Teammates in this aura receive 15% Ironclad for 5 seconds
- While standing in the aura, the timer speed is halved, giving an effective 10 seconds of Ironclad
- Teammates must wait 3 seconds after their current Ironclad ends before getting more
- Teammates get an orange box around their health bar to indicate that they have Ironclad
- Self-repair
- Maximum repair time increased to 4.5 seconds (was 4 seconds)
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Starts healing instantly instead of having an 0.5 second delay
- Able to reload while repairing
- Configuration Tank
- No self damage
- Tread sounds reduced slightly
- Base Ironclad increased to 35%
- Ironclad applied immediately instead of after transformation
Notes
This rework moves Bastion to the Tank class. His intended role is a main tank, as he provides protection to his team, but not in the same way that Reinhardt or Orisa do. 15% Ironclad equates to about 25 health on a 150 HP target, 35 health on a 200 HP target, 45 health on a 250 HP target, 70 health on a 400 HP target, and 105 health on a 600 HP target.
Heat Mechanic rework
- Configuration Sentry
- Bloom added to weapon
- Initial spread of 1.25°, starts bloom after 0.3 seconds of continuous fire
- Reached maximum of 2° after 0.3 seconds of additional continuous fire
- Ammo increased to infinite
- Overheat mechanic added to weapon
- Heat is gained at a rate of 0.42% per bullet
- 12.5% per second when firing continuously
- 8 seconds of continuous fire (currently 10 seconds)
- Heat is dispersed at a rate of 25% per second
- 4 seconds from 100% to 0%
- Effectively a 4 second reload (currently 2 seconds)
- Headshots added
- Headshot damage multiplier is affected by heat level
- Between [0%, 33%) : 2x damage
- Between [33%, 66%] : 1.5x damage
- Between (66%, 100%] : 1.25x damage
- If the heat meter completely fills, Bastion cannot fire until it is empty if he stays in Sentry mode
- If Bastion switches to Recon mode to disperse the heat, he can fire again in Sentry mode when the heat is at 25% or less
- Bloom added to weapon
- Configuration Recon
- Reload speed reduced to 1.5 seconds
- If the heat meter is more than 25% full, damage is increased by 2
- Firing his weapon decreases the heat meter by 3.75% per bullet
- 20 bullets equates to 75% heat
- Heat does not passively disperse when in Recon mode
- Ironclad
- Removed
- Self-repair
- No longer consumes resources when it cannot heal Bastion
- Healing delay reduced to 0.1 seconds (Currently ~0.5 seconds)
- Able to reload while repairing (Only affects Recon mode)
- Configuration Tank
- Completely empties heat meter on use
- Ironclad no longer applies to Tank mode
- No self damage
- Tread sounds reduced slightly
- Adds 150 armor
Notes
This rework is meant to give Bastion more incentive to swap to Recon more often. Since the player can only fire for 8 seconds now (currently 10) and if he reaches maximum heat he can’t fire for 4 seconds (current reload is 2 seconds), swapping to Recon is a better option a lot more often now. Most (legitimate) complaints I’ve seen about Bastion is players sitting in Sentry mode too long, which I can understand. This aims to fix that, while also giving Sentry mode some damage back to those who can manage the heat properly.
Another possible mechanic might be to lower the damage of Sentry mode as the gun heats up. So if you’re under 33% heat you do full damage, if you’re between 33% and 66% you do 13 damage, and if you’re above 66% you do 11 damage. This helps tame the whole “infinite ammo” part, and also helps prevent constant spraying while in Sentry mode. If this were to be implemented, it would be very nice to have a marking at every ⅓ of the meter in Sentry mode, and every ¼ in Recon more. Perhaps also have the color change from green to orange to red in Sentry mode (only at each marking, not on a scale) so that there’s no confusion as to how much damage you’re outputting.
Obviously, the actual numbers for the heat could use some work, but he should be able to stay under 33% with some practice. I don’t think having the heat meter fill faster than it empties would be a good idea. He shouldn’t be able to have sustained fire for too long though without consequences.
P.S. I’m not a chemist, don’t ask me how heating up Recon mode’s bullets makes them better… Just pretend it makes sense…
Some potential balance nerfs:
If these become too strong, and require some offsets to balance things out, here are some ideas for that. (More to come if needed)
Limited Sentry mode
Bastion can no longer reload his gun in Sentry mode, but instead has to exit to either Recon or Tank mode to refill his ammo.
This would effectively limit the amount of time a player can spend in Sentry mode without putting a hard timer on it. No one wants a time limit or a cooldown on Sentry mode, but this would offer a more fair way to limit it’s use. If the player wastes all of their bullets in Sentry mode without doing anything useful, they’ll have to swap to a different mode to get more.
This would also help with the “pirate ship” comps, though I believe that buffing/bug fixing it’s counters would be a better way to dissuade it.
Tank mode damage nerfs (Tank on E)
This one is for the Tank on E rework. If Tank is a bit too strong even with it’s modified damage, reducing the splash and/or projectile speed may be in order.
Reducing the splash to somewhere in the range of 1 - 2.5 meters should probably reign it in a bit. This would mean Bastion would basically have to get direct hits in order to do meaningful damage.
Alternatively, reducing the projectile speed to something close to 35 - 40 meters per second may also work. Pharah’s rockets move at 35 m/s, but since Bastion needs direct hits, and since he’s not as mobile as Pharah, 40 seems more fair for him.
These changes would be “reverted” during his Overclock, and Tank would be back to the way we have it now.
Tank mode critical hitbox (Tank on E)
This one is also for the Tank on E rework. It simply adds a critical hitbox to tank mode since Bastion can stay in it forever now. It doesn’t seem all that fair that Tank is the only thing in the game that doesn’t have a head, especially since he can stay in it now. Just sticking the same glowing box thing that’s on Sentry onto the back of Tank mode would probably suffice.
I’m not sure if this would really be necessary with the limited ammo, but it might be good if he needs some balancing in Tank mode.
My opinion on the subject is that all Bastion really needs is a tighter spread in Sentry mode, maybe even 1.5x critical damage, but he might not even need that much. However, if Blizz wants to make Bastion more fun to play, and more fun to watch (I like seeing him in OWL, but I can definitely see how people would find him boring to watch), something like the Tank on E rework would be really nice. It gives much more variety to his kit, and when his Tank mode is used (especially when it gets a few kills), it’s pretty fun to watch. Tank on E is my personal favorite for this reason, and the others are probably tied, as they all add something unique to his kit.
My personal favorite rework (I’m not counting the Sentry revert as a rework, though that one is my most preferred) is the Tank on E v2 rework. It adds a lot to his kit, yet makes him less oppressive in lower ranked games. And it does this while keeping his effectiveness at higher ranks fairly high with a higher skill floor and skill ceiling than he has currently. Since in higher ranks, players are going to be more accurate, they won’t need as many bullets to be effective, and thus won’t be affected as much by the Sentry mode restrictions. Players will need to be more adaptive and mobile to make use of Bastion, but his usefulness will be much greater than it is currently. He has good long-range sustained fire with Recon mode, good burst-damage and mobility with Tank mode, and good mid- to close-range damage with Sentry mode. Yet each of these modes have their downsides as well. He has a large hitbox in Recon mode, he’s stationary in Sentry mode, and he has very limited ammo in Tank mode.
If you have any other ideas, or edits to these changes, please feel free to share. If you’d like to discuss Bastion further, here’s a few links:
Bastion megathread:
More Bastion changes (by SunderGold):
More in-depth look at about Tank on E v2:
