Stats we need to know before moving on: Bastion has(health points) withof them being Armor (this matters because Armor negates half damage if the instance of damage is less than 10, or negates 5 if its greater than 10). At about 30 RPS (Rounds per second) doing 4-15 damage, his Sentry Gatlin gun will shred through you.. It takes bastion somewhere between 1 and 2 seconds to switch between modes, allowing for free damage to be dealt. When in his Sentry Config be aware of the Energy Core on his back, shots here will deal 300% damage. Additionally Bastion comes equipped with his own healing for 25% of his HP, or 75 HP per second. Finally, his Tank Configuration adds an additional 150 Armor'd HP - its not easy killing this tank.

Hard Counters to Bastion









The star of our tool-kit against Bastion has to be Scatter Arrow. The ability for you Hanzo to reach people he cannot see allows him to get a lot of work done without getting hurt himself. Especially since Bastions prefer a building or archway to setup, a well placed scatter arrow in this setting could kill Bastion and another player even. Spamming your Scatter Arrow into the Bastion's setup is a strong way to get free damage and possibly force a change in their setup. Just like with Pharah, Junkrat, and Zarya, if we get a solid shot or two onto the Bastion, he either moves or dies.







Something small to keep it mind is that you can wall climb, and get into different positions. This can be used to lineup a Dragonstrike through walls/map. If you can get very close to them, on any side or flank, your ultimate will be harder to dodge because they have find where it first before they evade it. And sometimes if you line it up just right, you can weave it through the buildings of the map and have it appear right in the enemies face. Hanzo's methods of dealing with Bastion are very similar to Widowmaker. We have elevation, range, and a strong ultimate to help us deal with any Bastion compositions. Your ability to climb walls as Hanzo is very useful to not only get into better sniping positions, but also can me used to juke and weave when being perused. Couple this with our Sonic arrow, and we are highly mobile while providing our team intelligence on where the enemy team is setup, and how they are setup. If you are spamming your Sonic Arrow, your team will have a easy time deciding what paths to take are ideal, or lead to death.The star of our tool-kit against Bastion has to be Scatter Arrow. The ability for you Hanzo to reach people he cannot see allows him to get a lot of work done without getting hurt himself. Especially since Bastions prefer a building or archway to setup, a well placed scatter arrow in this setting could kill Bastion and another player even. Spamming your Scatter Arrow into the Bastion's setup is a strong way to get free damage and possibly force a change in their setup. Just like with Pharah, Junkrat, and Zarya, if we get a solid shot or two onto the Bastion, he either moves or dies.While our ability to snipe at the Bastion with both standard arrows and Scatter arrows is going to help secure our team a strong position; but if it isnt working we can let out a Dragonstrike. This ability is incredibly useful against a Bastion. Naturally they want to setup with Reinhardt and Mercy, all in the same area, close together so the shield can protect the Mercy and Bastion, while Mercy Amplifies the Bastion. If you can get your ult up quick by effective sniping, you can quickly by landing continuous arrows Dragonstrike is decently quick to charge to 100%. If they do not move when you let out your ult, they will die. There is not a single hero that can survive a Dragonstrike if they stay in it (even bubbling with Zarya only stops so much). So look to use this when your team is pushing. It will force the enemy team to decide: Do we move to live, because there is a dragon in our face; or we do stay and fight cause the enemy is on our doorstep. Strong usage of this ultimate will allow Hanzo's to outright negate Bastions impact. When teams decide that Protecting the President on the payload is their offensive strategy (i.e. Bastion on offense with him setup on the payload) - your ult will completely counter it.Something small to keep it mind is that you can wall climb, and get into different positions. This can be used to lineup a Dragonstrike through walls/map. If you can get very close to them, on any side or flank, your ultimate will be harder to dodge because they have find where it first before they evade it. And sometimes if you line it up just right, you can weave it through the buildings of the map and have it appear right in the enemies face.



Junkrat (Medium-Low Difficulty)

Him and Pharah will share similar logic. The ability to lob grenades from a safe distance directly onto or close to the Bastion will tear him apart. Great Junkrat players will not only lob volley after volley behind cover, but will also slightly vary where each grenade goes. When grenades hit the Bastion, if he hasn't already died, he will attempt to move from the grenades; however if we were slightly varying where each grenade would end up, Bastion could run into one as hes trying to flee.









Much like D.Va with her ability to boost a self-destructing Mech into the enemy team, Rip Tire will instantly pop any Bastion. Rip Tire being 600 damage when closest to the explosion will easily kill off a Bastion even if they are in Tank Configuration. Rip Tire being able to climb up walls, and jump down onto the enemy team makes it an ideal choice to deal with this kind of turtle strategy. Be aware though your tire, with only 100hp, will quickly die to any concentrated fire. Use alternative paths to get it into position. Lastly always default to keeping your tire alive for its full duration if it doesn't have a chance of connecting. The 10 second duration is time the enemies have to be worrying about it incoming, rather than defending.



Pharah (Lower difficulty) Him and Pharah will share similar logic. The ability to lob grenades from a safe distance directly onto or close to the Bastion will tear him apart. Great Junkrat players will not only lob volley after volley behind cover, but will also slightly vary where each grenade goes. When grenades hit the Bastion, if he hasn't already died, he will attempt to move from the grenades; however if we were slightly varying where each grenade would end up, Bastion could run into one as hes trying to flee.As Junkrat we also how have elevation on our side. Using his Concussion mine, we are able to get into better positions for lobbing. This is used to great effect when Bastion is set up in a lower elevations, so you can rain death upon him. A less common use of his mine is to re-position the Bastion to where your team can eviscerate him. Even if your mine does not put Bastion in a dangerous position, it is still another source of damage.Much like D.Va with her ability to boost a self-destructing Mech into the enemy team, Rip Tire will instantly pop any Bastion. Rip Tire being 600 damage when closest to the explosion will easily kill off a Bastion even if they are in Tank Configuration. Rip Tire being able to climb up walls, and jump down onto the enemy team makes it an ideal choice to deal with this kind of turtle strategy. Be aware though your tire, with only 100hp, will quickly die to any concentrated fire. Use alternative paths to get it into position. Lastly always default to keeping your tire alive for its full duration if it doesn't have a chance of connecting. The 10 second duration is time the enemies have to be worrying about it incoming, rather than defending.









Following on the idea of distance, our jump packs are a great way to both create distance and develop a rapid shift in elevation. If used well, you can potentially avoid a large number of Bastions bullets while you continue to rain rockets down on him. Not only does this get you above Bastion, but like some other quicker heroes, you can navigate the map more freely and flank the Bastions setup.



Concussive blast might be one of the stars in our tool-kit. Very similar to Junkrats Concussive Mine, this blast will move people right out of the way, or give you a short boost out of harms way. The dual purpose of this ability will help you single-handily win games. You can use it to mis-position the Bastion, or his support crew, for easy team fight victories; not to mention this can blast heroes off cliffs. The added benefit to Concussive Blast is it receives bonus damage vs barriers. Couple this with the rocket spam you have already been throwing out and the Reinhardt protecting Bastion will be forced to sheathe his barrier.







More self-explanatory than the rest. But there are still some specific ways we can maximize our Pharah play to specifically deal with Bastion. Covering our basics first, rockets do not lose any damage over distance, so our ability to pick at Bastion is greater than most. The best part about distance for us is that Bastion greatly loses accuracy as well as damage over distance. If we also follow a similar principle to Zarya and Junkrat and slight vary where our rockets are hitting (on and next to Bastion), there is the chance his attempts to flee lead him into another rocket.Following on the idea of distance, our jump packs are a great way to both create distance and develop a rapid shift in elevation. If used well, you can potentially avoid a large number of Bastions bullets while you continue to rain rockets down on him. Not only does this get you above Bastion, but like some other quicker heroes, you can navigate the map more freely and flank the Bastions setup.Concussive blast might be one of the stars in our tool-kit. Very similar to Junkrats Concussive Mine, this blast will move people right out of the way, or give you a short boost out of harms way. The dual purpose of this ability will help you single-handily win games. You can use it to mis-position the Bastion, or his support crew, for easy team fight victories; not to mention this can blast heroes off cliffs. The added benefit to Concussive Blast is it receives bonus damage vs barriers. Couple this with the rocket spam you have already been throwing out and the Reinhardt protecting Bastion will be forced to sheathe his barrier.Barrage is perfect for the kind of positions a Bastion team will aim for. They ideally like to be grouped, in a corner or on a ledge, and able to assist one another quickly. Barrage can devastate in these circumstances. Especially when you have setup to ensure the quality of your ultimate, abilities like Earthshatter, Blizzard, or Graviton Surge. If you do not, have no fear. All the above mechanisms you offer to counter Bastion are more than enough. Focus on effective rocket usage, elevation exploitation, and staying alive. Eventually, every team has a lapse in judgement, and you can rain it back on them!





Playing Tracer against Bastion is some of the most fun you can have has her, or the worst experience of your life. Bastion does not counter you in anyway, but you can easily counter yourself. Having only 150HP, if you miss-step too much around a Bastion he will get you down very quickly. So be ready to be highly agile, never stop moving, and blinking in intervals while you are firing to out maneuver their ability to turn and shoot accurately. Something you can practice in the shooting range to help a lot with this. Blink through a bot, turn around as you are blinking and get a full clip off and as soon as its out blink through. Always face where you are blinking for this practice, as its harder to learn to blink forward and turn 180° while shooting, than it is to blink backwards while shooting.





HAVE to kill that annoying Tracer in the back line, causing more than just 1 or 2 heroes to start chasing you and hunting you. This is what we want, because when it takes 2 heroes to find us and kill us, there are only 4 left, and only 3 to protect bastion. Blink is one of the more simple abilities in effect, but one of the most powerful when used to its highest impact. This ability allows Tracer to kite and duel Targets like Roadhog and Reinhardt, by simple dashing through them back and forth while gunning them down (At the highest potential, she can even duel two targets in two locations at once). This is especially powerful against heroes who have to aim - like Widowmaker and Soldier: 76. So use your blink in fights to constantly be somewhere else. Great Tracers will never stop moving, blinking, juking and dodging. As Tracer, you will be playing a knifes edge of life and death, but this is her true power. Peopleto kill that annoying Tracer in the back line, causing more than just 1 or 2 heroes to start chasing you and hunting you. This is what we want, because when it takes 2 heroes to find us and kill us, there are only 4 left, and only 3 to protect bastion.





We can also use blink to cross gaps and create alternate paths to the Bastion. Like above your strength is the ability to move faster than any other hero, while spraying them down. Bastion is not going to have an easy time shooting you IF you make use the full 360°. Remember that with blink you can only store 3 charges, and they take 3 seconds to recharge a charge. As you play Tracer more, the cooldown of Blink will become more second nature and you can push how you are using it knowing you have another charge .5 seconds away.





Recall might be one of the highest impact non-ultimate abilities in the game. A strong Tracer can single handlely ruin the other team with this. The more straight-forward use is it heals to where you were 3 seconds ago (as well as return to the spot you were at that time). This is disgusting when used in combination with good Blinks - You can get in, kill a support, blink to dodge abilities and then recall out reset and go back in. This non-stop onslaught from a Tracer can make almost an entire team feel the need to get her under control. As for Bastion specifically, Recall will give you that chance you needed when you made a mistake pressuring him or when his defensive setup is too hard to crack in one go.





Using Recall to get a kill on the Mercy or Widow protecting the Bastion allows you to "over-commit" and secure kills where others would have died. Use this to pick away at the support around the Bastion, or just to kill him and reset. Personally once I have killed the Bastion, I will quickly move to intercept him on his way back from spawn. Camping heroes as they run out alone, this will give your team a perpetual power play, and ideally snowball tempo to victory!





Pulse Bomb is one of the best ultimates to deal with Bastion. Naturally your mobility gives you an edge on getting behind/around the Bastion, and now that we have charge up our Ultimate we don't need to risk anything to kill Bastion. Zip up, drop bomb, recall out: dead Bastion. Because of this, when playing against a Bastion there two things that helps a lot. Focus on your macro - getting consistent harassment off as Tracer charges your ultimate amazingly fast. 3 well aimed clips will almost generate an ultimate right there. Second, save your bomb for Bastion. You may be able to get in and kill him , but Pulse Bomb is a very clean and easy way to just get rid of him. Not to mention, Pulse Bomb doing 400 damage is checked back by its very small radius. So when you use this ability, be aware that not sticking could be a waste, which is why I save it for Bastion against these kinds of compositions!









Widowmaker is another one of the go to's for dealing with Bastion. Much like Hanzo, her Grapple allows her to get elevation advantage and snipe down on the enemy team. Her Venommine is both a damaging ability doing 75 damage over 5 seconds, but also a information tool. Playing a strong Widowmaker against Bastion is all about picking the supports that don't respect your angles, and putting two high charge shots into a Bastion. Regardless of if these are critical hits, it will drop him down to under 100 hp. Because of his 300 HP and 100 of that being Armor, it will take a 3 well aimed shots to kill him. But, like above, there is power in just hurting and forcing a Bastion to move. Forcing your opponents hand it critical to gaining tempo and map control, and few heroes do it like Widowmaker.





placement is key. Avoid throwing it casually on the ground, and try to put it in doorways (above the frame so they can't see it till its detonated). or around a corner. Venommine is an ability that stronger Widowmakers will always be using to great effect. Not only can the damage change a duel where you got flanked, it can provide you advanced warning about the enemy teams position, and be thrown into teamfights to give your team a little more damage output. Throwing your mine at a Graviton Surge will actually make a significant difference (75 damage times the number of heroes caught). Be careful with your usage of it in a close engagement. It does damage you if you are in the gas. Lastly, because your mine is so weak hp wise. Avoid throwing it casually on the ground, and try to put it in doorways (above the frame so they can't see it till its detonated). or around a corner.





Grapple is a personal favorite, this ability allows you to do so much more than normal sniper. Being able to get into hard to reach places or high elevations gives us a strong field of view. Not only can we see more, but when setup properly a Widowmaker will only be exposed from where she is already sniping. Positioning properly so that you have maximum view, and minimum exposure is absolutely necessary to playing a good Widowmaker. Most importantly our grapple is a life saver. When flanked we can now jump down, grapple back up; or just grapple laterally away. Do not forget once your Grapple is thrown, you can move your camera to face any direction.





https://youtu.be/HNwtVvOXHj8 Finally Infrared-Vision will give your team a large window of opportunity. Knowing where the enemy is, where they are going, and what heroes are with who, gives our team better chances at finding picks/good fights. This will help you lineup a good shot on Bastion, or the enemy support. Outside of the knowledge it gives you, this ultimate doesn't do much; But all competitive games require information to win. The team that knows more, knows what to do/not to do naturally, so never under value the impact of just knowing whats happening. Probably the best part about this ultimate is that it lasts 15 seconds, and can be charged up very quickly. Full charge body shots will give Widowmaker up to 25ish% on her ultimate, and it only gets better if land head-shots. So do not be afraid to miss heads, and just tag bodies - it doesn't just help with your ultimate, it can also change the outcome of a 1v1 for your team when you land those tags. Finally Infrared-Vision will give your team a large window of opportunity. Knowing where the enemy is, where they are going, and what heroes are with who, gives our team better chances at finding picks/good fights. This will help you lineup a good shot on Bastion, or the enemy support. Outside of the knowledge it gives you, this ultimate doesn't do much; But all competitive games require information to win. The team that knows more, knows what to do/not to do naturally, so never under value the impact of just knowing whats happening. Probably the best part about this ultimate is that it lasts 15 seconds, and can be charged up very quickly. Full charge body shots will give Widowmaker up to 25ish% on her ultimate, and it only gets better if land head-shots. So do not be afraid to miss heads, and just tag bodies - it doesn't just help with your ultimate, it can also change the outcome of a 1v1 for your team when you land those tags.













This is where Genji can and should dominate. When a team is playing a strategy that is static in its position, his Shuriken spam can soften up opponents very quickly, while building his ultimate charge. Consider this with the fact he can wall climb, Genji is built be assassinate the enemy Bastion. Add the benefit that he has a sword dash that does damage and clears a large distance (Note: it resets when you get a kill or activate your ultimate, so learn to use this to your advantage!)





Shurkiens are one of the most annoying forms of damage to deal with. Not only do they no lose damage over distance, but they fly 100% accurate to the destination. Compound this with the idea that the noise levels for Shurikens are lower, making it much harder to hear and notice where Genji is. Remember this as Genji, you can get in harassment from a distance without making much noise. If the team catches onto where you are, quickly run away, climb up another wall and resume the pain. Higher skill Genji's will do this preemptively and keep the opponents guessing about where the Shurikens will come from.





In addition to Genji's ability to climb walls, he comes with a double jump. Simply hit jump again while in the air. Not only does this allow you to jump to higher locations, but you can jump over someones head and change direction mid air. This is very helpful when your ultimate is running, so you can maximize your damage output!





Mentioned shortly above, your Swift Strike does moderate damage and will reset upon kills or activation of your ultimate. Using this ability to finish off a weakened Tracer or Reaper is amazing, but against a Bastion is has so much more potential. When used in conjunction with good Double Jumps and wall climbing, Genji can quickly flank, harass, and kill the Bastion. Once dead, the exact same abilities allow you to quickly escape either the same way you came, or through a different route.





MVP here for Genji and is why you hard counter Bastion. If you execute your flank properly, but misplay while fighting the Bastion you have THE trump card in 1v1 duels against opponents with projectile fire. Timing your deflect as the Bastion turns to fire on you, or saving it for when he is in fight or flight mode, will turn the tide quickly. The closer you are to Bastion when using this ability the higher chance all of his chaingun shredding him. So do not waste your deflect. While this is true with Swift Strike, and most abilities in the game, you never have the onus of Deflecting first. It is always in your hands how the fights go down, so timing your deflect when they are least ready/to finish them off is ideal. Potentially a high skill Genji can win a game/fight by himself with this ability, deflecting a Dragonstrike, a few Tank Configuration blasts, or even a Pharahs Barrage will ruin the enemy team. Deflect is thehere for Genji and is why you hard counter Bastion. If you execute your flank properly, but misplay while fighting the Bastion you havetrump card in 1v1 duels against opponents with projectile fire. Timing your deflect as the Bastion turns to fire on you, or saving it for when he is in fight or flight mode, will turn the tide quickly. The closer you are to Bastion when using this ability the higher chance all of his chaingun shredding him. SoWhile this is true with Swift Strike, and most abilities in the game, you never have the onus of Deflecting first. It is always in your hands how the fights go down, so timing your deflect when they are least ready/to finish them off is ideal. Potentially a high skill Genji can win a game/fight by himself with this ability, deflecting a Dragonstrike, a few Tank Configuration blasts, or even a Pharahs Barrage will ruin the enemy team.





Dragonblade is a very strong ultimate, but in a game where we are primarily focused on Bastion it isn't that exciting. Particularly, when we speak about countering or stopping the Bastion. Mainly you will be using your ultimate when normally do; to win teamfights, chain picks, or pressure the back line of your enemy. Against a Bastion, while slicing and dicing him up is fun, its not uniquely easier than before with a good spam, a well timed deflect, and clean dash. So do not worry or fixate on using our ultimate to negate Bastions impact, we should be able to just fine without it!

Besides being clear-headed, Bastions weaknesses come from flaws with the Heroes style of play. His inability todo damage and move consistently is important to exploit. While switching from Sentry to Recon configuration is decently short (and has the added benefit of reloading the Sentry's clip), Bastion still isn't going to get very far very fast.Quick moving heroes can exploit this by getting up into Bastions face and forcing him to rotate the full 360°. Even if we do not successfully kill him on the first attempt, we have created fear for the Bastion and will distract him from killing your teammates.Heroes like Pharah or Junkrat can use this lack of mobility to get direct hits on Bastion, dealing a substantial amount of damage to him. Further, dealing large damage to Bastion in a short time period will force Bastion to move, whether or not he wants to. This is why Heroes like Widowmaker and Hanzo can do so well against him. Even if sniper shots do not immediately kill Bastion, he willto move to avoid dieing from the snipers.Using Bastions immobility is very important; never forget that even if your efforts do not kill the Bastion. If Bastion is forced to setup in a less ideal location, you have already mitigated the impact that he can have. Sometimes Bastion is only the problem because of where he is. When he moves, use this to create tempo by pressuring the Bastion immediately - consistently preforming harassment like this will prevent him from ever being able to focus on your team.Bastion's Tank Configuration is aamount of damage per shot, 205 to be exact; So kiting or hiding from a Bastion when he is a tank is imperative. Outside of your team being able to get behind a Reinhardt shield, there isn't a clean way to negate the damage. Also Bastion receives an additional 150 HP in Armor (which matters because armor mitigates damage) for the duration of his Ultimate. This make it much harder to kill Bastion when his a tank, so again, running for cover is always a smart call.Finally, do not forget Bastion has a team of 5 other Heroes. While this point will always be true for all heroes, its uniquely true for our bird loving robot. Bastion's team is most likely the reason you feel his impact; creating space for the Bastion, and protecting the Bastion is the lynch-pin to their survival. When a Bastion dies, his team is left with a vacuum in their setup. No other hero does what Bastion does; making any composition hard pressed to respond to aggression when hes dead. So look at what the enemy team has, and how they are protecting their Bastion. If you can dismantle the team around Bastion, he will be nothing but more scrap on the map.Before deciding what heroes you want to use to counter Bastion, remember thatin the gameif played to their potential. Bastion is a very simple hero in design, execution, strategy. This is both responsible for why he dominates us in matches, and why we can and will dominate him. A well thought-out, executed, and clean push onto the Bastion will quickly throw their team into discord and loss of tempo. Do not let the simplicity of Bastion's play get to you, make it get to Bastion and force them to switch; Bastion can never hurt us if we are consistently keeping him on the back foot or dead.