Overwatch

Date played: October 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th
Platform: PS4

Today's hero is Bastion.

Role: Defense

Difficulty: ★

HP: 200

Armor: 100

Shields: 0

Total: 300

Favorite quote: "Boo Boo Doo De Doo "

Favorite map to play on: Eichenwalde

Appearance

Bastion is a robot of a kind that was once mass produced during the war. He has three configurations. In Recon mode, he assumes a humanoid form and is equipped with a simple assault rifle. In Sentry mode, he turns into a stationary turret armed with a powerful mini-gun. Finally, in Tank mode, he turns into a little tank that shoots powerful explosive shells. Bastion is the only hero that doesn't speak a real language, instead using robotic sounds to communicate, like R2D2 or BB8 from Star Wars. Bastion also holds a special relationship with a small bird that follows him around everywhere. It's pretty cute. 

Skills

• Configuration: Recon: Bastion's basic humanoid form. He has a simple assault rifle, which is stronger than most people give it credit for. 
• Configuration: Sentry: This is Bastion's signature skill, as he turns into a stationary turret armed with an incredibly powerful mini-gun.  
• Reconfigure: Toggles between Recon and Sentry modes. This takes a second or two to complete, and can be used while falling, 
• Self-repair: Bastion can repair it's body, healing his HP. This has unlimited use, but takes a bit of time to perform. 
• Ultimate - Configuration: Tank: Bastion turns into a little tank that fires powerful explosive shells for 8 seconds. 

Strengths

• The ultimate tank killer, Bastion excels at melting tanks at high speeds. His mini-gun can take down a Reinhardt shield in a few seconds. 
• Highest damage potential in the game, by far. Bastion's Sentry configuration is absolutely insane at dealing heavy damage quickly.
• Bastion is pretty sustainable on his own. If he gets attacked, he can move away and repair himself without needing a healer.
• When he has the element of surprise, Bastion is unmatched. He can take out most heroes in mere moments, provided they don't know where he is.

Weaknesses

• Most of Bastion's heavy work is done in Sentry mode, which leaves his immobile and extremely vulnerable to flanking, sniping and long range potshots. 
• His Ultimate is kind of hard to use well. It's strong, but the tank's cannon fires slowly and isn't the easiest thing to aim. 
• Recon mode is very limited, so when speed or mobility is needed, Bastion isn't very useful.
• D.Va can easily absorb Bastion's damage with her shield matrix, leaving the robot exposed to fire from other enemies. Hanzo is also surprisingly well equipped to take out Bastion due to the strength of his Scatter Arrow. 

Comments

Bastion is a super weird hero. He definitely has his place in the game, but he's unlike any of the others because most of his usefulness comes when he's in Sentry mode, which leaves him immobile. This may not sound that bad, but Overwatch is a game that rewards high mobility and speed. Bastion is actually pretty hard to play well. His toolkit is very limited, with basically nothing special aside from his Ultimate, so playing him well comes down to positioning, target prioritization and aim. 

When I first started playing the game, I hated Bastion. He would sit in a corner and camp, and then would destroy people that came into his line of sight. As time went on and I gained more experience. I started to find Bastion useless. He's easily countered with a number of heroes. For example, Genji can deflect, Tracer can flank him and bomb him, Reaper can hit hard then run away, Roadhog can hook him, Soldier's rockets are a pain in the ass, Pharah can get a couple of rockets off safely, D.Va can negate Bastion's huge damage, Hanzo can one shot him, etc. 

So for a long time, I dismissed Bastion as a novelty at best. However, I started playing with him a bit more in the last few weeks and I have to say, Bastion is actually a lot better than people give him credit for. The trick is to keep moving. I know it sounds weird, considering he's only effective when stationary, but enemies will remember your position and trust me, they WILL counter you. So you gotta move. After every 2-3 kills, I move around, setting up somewhere else to surprise my enemy. 

On defense, this works really well and I enjoy laying siege to the enemy front line as Bastion. On control maps, it's definitely harder, and usually not worth the trouble, but there are times where Bastion can be useful here, for example when the enemy has many tanks. On attack, I don't do as well with Bastion, though I feel like I still have to try him a few more times. He's got potential, but it's a lot harder to set up in a good position on attack than on defense.

I gotta be honest, I fucking love Bastion. While he's pretty situational, there are times where Bastion just shines and makes the whole game completely different than if he wasn't there. You just have to keep moving and switch heroes if the enemy counters Bastion too hard. 

Worst enemy: Hanzo

Best teammate: Reinhardt
Most satisfying kill: Genji

Rating ★★★