'Overwatch' scourge Bastion is finally due for some changes

There's an unspoken rule in Overwatch: Bastion always gets "Play of the Game" honors.

The trolliest among Overwatch heroes, Bastion is a machine gun-toting robot that can transform into a stationary bullet-hosing turretbot. The math is super simple: If Bastion can see you, Bastion can kill you.

Well. Now, at long last, it seems like developer Blizzard Entertainment is keen on changing things up for the lovable-yet-detestable defense hero.

A new Overwatch forum post from Principal Designer Geoff Goodman lays out the planned changes, which should roll out in the next Public Test Region update. They're comparable to hero-altering updates we've seen in the past for D.Va and Symmetra.

Here are the changes Goodman describes, laid out one at a time with an accompanying breakdown of how we see each changes affecting Bastion's role in the game.

Recon Mode - Lowered spread and increased magazine size, to help with general viability in this mode.

Recon mode is Bastion's robot form, which trades in the bullet hose turret for a less deadly machine gun. It's mostly an "Oh sh*t" button; a blunt instrument that Bastion can use to survive when it's time to fall back to a new position.

Taken together, the reduced spread and increased magazine size promise to up Bastion's survivability in Recon Mode. Since flankers are usually an immediate death sentence in the game's current meta, this change should please Bastion fans.

Sentry Mode - We're looking at focusing this mode into more of a tank-buster and barrier-buster mode, while also making it feel less suicidal to be transformed. To that end we're testing stuff like increased spread and removing headshots, but taking less damage while transformed.

This is key. The high rate-of-fire and seemingly bottomless magazine in Bastion's turret form (Sentry Mode) are supposed to shred tanks. And they do. They just happen to shred everything else as well.

Widening the spread means Bastion will have a much harder time turret-sniping smaller heroes from a distance -- which is a real problem right now. And since tanks are inherently large-bodied heroes, a wider spread for Bastion won't really protect them.

The idea of damage mitigation in turret mode is noteworthy, too. Long ago, Bastion used to have a shield in Sentry Mode that would provide protection for offense heroes like Pharah or Soldier: 76, while turret fire focused on big tank targets. Reducing damage taken in Sentry Mode accomplishes the same thing in a slightly different way.

Self-Repair - We've been testing a few big changes to this that are feeling really good so far. Currently our internal build has Bastion able to use Self-Repair while moving and also having it no longer interrupted when taking damage. To balance that out it is now on a resource system (similar to the route D.Va's defense matrix went). These changes have turned this ability from a more niche rarely used ability, to a much more powerful and core survivability tool.

This is the marquee change, the one that promises to shake up the way you play when you're Bastion. The D.Va comparison is key.

Currently, Bastion needs to stop moving to use self-repair and the process is interrupted by any damage taken. It's a tradeoff: in return, there's no limitation on how frequently you can use self-repair. If you're not moving and not taking damage, you can restore your health.

The change would add a meter to Bastion's HUD, similar to D.Va's Defense Matrix. When you use self-repair -- which will now work while you're moving and/or taking damage -- the meter drains. Once you stop repairing, the meter recharges on its own.

If you despise Bastion, the key change here is the Sentry Mode tweak. Hopefully, adding a wider spread will make the bullet-spewing turret much less effective against non-tank heroes.

For the Bastion fans among you, get hype about the Recon Mode and Self-Repair changes, and don't let the turret nerf get you down. Bastion will still be the trolly turretbot you've come to love.