COVID, it seems, has been good to everyone’s favourite troll turret.
The LEGO robot has gotten a massive rework for Overwatch 2, according to a new deep-dive announced overnight by Blizzard. Bastion has always been a bit of a troll pick — not something you actually want on your team, but it’s really funny when the other team fails to deal with it properly.
Overwatch 2, however, might give everyone more reason to pick the birb-loving machinegun once more. While Bastion’s repair ability has been removed, it’s been replaced with a grenade that can ricochet off objects — and stick to enemy characters. Obviously, this does huge AOE damage, which makes for a super interesting option for people who need to do poke damage at defensive positions without exposing themselves. (Think the first point on King’s Row, for instance.)
Bastion’s cool-looking, but functionally flimsy Tank mode, is also gone. That’s been replaced with a new ultimate that transforms Bastion into an artillery turret. calling down three decent-sized AOE attacks on the field.
Oh, and that’s not all. Bastion’s still a turret with one major change — the turret can move:
You move at a reduced rate, and there’s also no cooldown. Instead, Bastion will have effectively a meter for how long they can be in Sentry Mode, stopping players from permanently sitting in Turret Form. The Sentry Mode still has the machinegun of death, mind you, but Bastion’s regular Recon mode now has a gun that has a slower hitscan attack with no spread or drop-off.
According to Blizzard, it’s designed to allow Bastion to operate more of a sniper. I suppose it’s natural given how good Pharah mains are now at dodging and floating in the air, creating problems for Bastion’s bullet spread if they weren’t supported by other teammates. (And often, those teammates are busy dealing with other threats as well, which is part of why Bastion was such an unworkable pick at decent levels anyway — it wasn’t self-sufficient enough.)
Bastion’s not the only hero getting completely changed, either. Sombra’s kit has gotten a total overhaul as well, with the hacking cooldown reduced and now revealing enemies through walls. Hacked targets now take 50 percent more damage from Sombra too, while her ultimate now does damage to enemies equalling 40 percent of their health, rather than removing all shields. The idea is in line with Overwatch 2 more generally, by making everything more aggressive and less reliant on the tank-based meta which has dominated the final part of Overwatch‘s lifecycle.
Also, being able to hack while stealthed? That’s gonna be a nightmare.
We still don’t know when Overwatch 2 will actually be released, but given these changes and the game’s recent showing, it can’t be too far away.
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