As part of the 2021 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Blizzard went into some detail on the changes coming to Bastion in Overwatch 2. For starters there’s the visual redesign, which character art director Arnold Tsang said was about remaking the omnic with “sleeker, more modern materials” as well as, yes, adding a hat. Bastion’s abilities and ultimate have also been reworked.
In Overwatch 2, Bastion’s self-repair ability will be replaced by a tactical grenade bound to alt-fire. These projectiles can bounce off walls, but will stick to enemies and floor before detonating with a knockback effect after a brief delay. In its recon configuration—the one where it walks around—Bastion’s weapon will no longer have spread, damage falloff will be reduced, and fire rate cut in half. Bastion will be able to “poke at much longer ranges and play a little more like a pseudo-sniper,” lead hero designer Geoff Goodman said, “kind of like his recon form theme was always meant to be.”
Switching between configurations will be on a 10-second cooldown, and the transformation sequence will take eight seconds to play out. In sentry mode Bastion will be able to move while shooting, though at a slower rate. In this configuration it’s got unlimited ammo, but damage is reduced by 40%.
Finally, Bastion’s ultimate will no longer turn it into a tank, but instead switch to an artillery configuration in which players can choose three locations on the map—anywhere on the entire map—to bomb. They’ll have a time limit in which to choose locations, however.
Overwatch 2 doesn’t have a release date yet, but isn’t expected until 2022. Overwatch recently lost its executive producer, with Chacko Sonny leaving Blizzard on Friday.