Overwatch Bastion Buff Makes Character OP in PTR
By AJ Caulfield 12 February 2017
The latest Overwatch patch update brings a number of changes to the team-based shooter’s heroes, but right now, Bastion is nearly indestructible in the PTR.
This week has been a massive one for Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch. Winding down from the super successful Year of the Rooster event, whose legendary skins and collectible items were received by fans with approval and smiling faces, and releasing an all-new developer update video that introduced the upcoming server browser feature, Blizzard and the minds behind Overwatch have been hard at work to improve the title and its fans’ gameplay experience. What may have players divided, however, is that thanks to changes made to Bastion in the latest PTR patch, he is virtually impossible to kill.
Updates rolled out in the Public Test Realm generally mean big changes. Originally released on February 7, the most recent PTR patch is absolutely no exception to the “impactful tweaks” rule. It delivered balance Roadhog and Winston’s abilities, a noticeable enhancement to Mercy’s healing potential, and even came bundled with what appeared to be additional Doomfist evidence in the Numbani Payload. And at the outset, it seemed Bastion’s changes were relatively “normal.” In the official patch notes, the developers commented on the reasoning behind the alterations:
“The goal of these changes is to move some of Bastion’s power from Configuration: Sentry to Recon, while keeping its sentry mode a strong option, especially versus tanks and barriers. Overall, Bastion should feel stronger and more flexible with these changes.”
Fans have known for quite a while that Bastion would be receiving improvements to make him a more viable character overall, but it looks like Blizzard went overboard in this update. The most notable change is Bastion’s new passive, Ironclad, which allows him to deflect opponent’s weapon-fire more effectively. With Ironclad, “Bastion takes 35% less damage while in Sentry or Tank configuration.” Sounds fair enough, given Blizzard’s apparent pattern of attempting to optimize heroes’ abilities for leveled gameplay and the fact that many wanted Bastion to be a more practical hero pick in general.
However, with the right team composition and in certain circumstances, this particular bonus can turn Bastion into an unkillable force of destruction. Pair him up with the support sniper Ana, whose nano boost ability stacks an extra 50% deflection onto the Ironclad passive’s 35%, and Bastion ends up only receiving 15% of opponent damage.
YouTube user BlameTheController tested out this match-up in-game, posting the interesting results in the video above. Where Bastion once cracked under pressure, he now brushes off bullets with shocking ease. In the video, he’s even seen surviving a usually lethal D.va ultimate.
This isn’t the first time Bastion has made headlines for being reportedly overpowered. When Overwatch first launched in May of 2016, many fans claimed that Bastion was the most OP character in the game. Clearly, Blizzard listened to these concerns and eventually pared his abilities down to fall more in line with other heroes’.
But maybe the developer went too far initially, as the multiple changes made to Bastion’s Sentry and Recon have decreased his viability. Now, many Overwatch players believe Blizzard attempted to undo original decisions in the latest PTR patch, but completely overshot.
It seems unlikely that the indestructible Bastion will continue on in Overwatch past the Public Test Realm, but any PC players interested in experiencing the OP mania can participate in the PTR right now.
Overwatch released on May 23, 2016 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
