Overwatch 2: Bastion Guide

Everybody’s favourite bird/robot combination has returned to Overwatch – but Bastion is not as you remember him.

The famously tough little robot can no longer heal, and his high damage gun is now a temporary move. In some ways this feels like a nerf – especially when you’re surrounding by Tracers and Sombras – but in others it opens him up as a very different charcacter.

If the unfortunately missing Assault was still in the mix – and I hope one day it will be again – then this would be a different conversation. I think Bastion’s role in that mode was overpowered, but clear.

With that behind us, it leaves an interesting new identity to explore.

Let’s take a closer look.

Bastion

Bastion is a medium to long ranger fighter with a couple of unique selling points. The first – fans of the character will be happy to learn – is that he can still pack an absolute punch. Expect to go straight up to the top of the damage boards if you play well.

But Overwatch is always about more than pure numbers. He’s able to inflict some proper upset on enemies from a decent distance and, although accuracy suffers, for good players that’s going to be game changing.

But watch out – he melts away like butter, and he can no longer top up his own health. It leads to a character that is fragile and deadly all at once.

His moves are simple. He has two configurations. One is his normal mode. He can walk around, he can take decent potshots. It works. It’s super accurate – sniper accurate really – but without the damage behind it.

You can switch to assault. Those that played before know how this works. It’s a very powerful mini-gun that tears through enemies. Unlike before – you can move, but it only lasts seven or so seconds. After that, you have to wait a painful 12 seconds for cooldown.

Personally, I’m finding myself guilty of triggering this a little bit early. If you try and pre-judge when you need this, it won’t be there when you actually do.

Bombing

Bastion’s tactical grenade is a little bit of a disappointment in my eyes. It doesn’t seem to do much damage. It can hit multiple enemies, and can bounce around walls, and so I may come to appreciate it more.

And that only leaves his ultimate. Bastion stops in his place and fires off three mortar rounds. What this lacks in direct damage (and wait time), is gained with mobility. Let me explain. You have seven seconds or so to move your target reticules for this in any direction. You can cover a lot of space in that time.

Putting it to its best use is another problem. Enemies will run out of the way when they see the marker on the floor. And even if you hit, it’s unlikely you’ll kill anybody in one move unless they’re already looking pretty grim.

To make the most of Bastion’s ultimate, you need a situation where the enemy is grouped up and where you can hit them multple times. If you’re thinking of pairing up with Zarya’s ultimate, that’s a perfect use scenario. But you’ll rarely be in that position.

Tactics

Here’s the thing, Bastion’s mobility makes him deadly. You can almost play him like a Reaper, getting into unsuspecting spots and then destroying the opposite team while they’re distracted. Or supporting behind bigger and stronger teammates.

But he’s not what he once was. You’ll no longer be able to stay in one place with a shield slapped in front of you, shooting until you can’t shoot anymore.

And that means you rely on your team to protect you much more than before. Once someone – a sniper or Moira – decides they want to kill you, they will kill you.

But with that bit of weakness comes a great strength – destroying tanks. More specifically: destroying a tank’s shield. Reinhart is putty to a Bastion. Get a good line on a Roadhog, and you can wipe him out with minimum effort too.

Those with good shots can make easy work of some assault characters too. Pharah, especially, has a new worst enemy.