A comprehensive guide to mastering the nuances of the Bastion class and optimizing the effectiveness of Siege Mode, the SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon), and the available utility and grenade options.
Siege Mode
Understanding the appropriate times to activate Siege Mode is crucial. Evaluate the situation and consider engaging 3-4 drones and 1-2 warriors with your Emancipator weapon. Employ Siege Mode when encountering large groups of warriors or Gunners. While in Siege Mode, you become nearly impervious to drone attacks and can withstand a considerable number of blows from warriors by utilizing your shield. Stand your ground and retaliate effectively.
Weaponry
The SAW serves as your primary weapon, while the Emancipator acts as your secondary. When transitioning between points, equip and prepare the Emancipator. A single hit can stun a warrior or eliminate a drone. For small packs, focus on eliminating the drones first, stun warriors with a single hit as you create distance, reload, and then dispatch the warriors one by one. Depending on the distance, it may require 6-8 rounds to defeat a warrior, so develop the habit of stunning, reloading while creating space, and finishing them off from a safer distance with a fresh magazine.
SAW Tips and Tricks
The SAW exhibits substantial recoil outside of Siege Mode. Aiming down sights helps reduce the spread and recoil, but it will impede your movement speed.
Using ADS (Aim Down Sights) with the SAW proves useful in scenarios where mobility takes precedence over precision, such as defending a base. Ensure that there are enough nearby targets to justify the larger cone of fire, minimizing wasted rounds.
Even while in Siege Mode, you can further tighten the spread of the SAW, achieving a highly accurate cone of fire for precise long-range shots at gunners. Visually, you will observe the rounded square around your reticle tightening.
Utility
Initially, the utility options may seem limited, but both the Shock Beacon and the Scan Beacon can be highly effective. You can deploy these beacons while in Siege Mode, allowing you to place them safely amidst unfavorable situations.
The Shock Beacon reliably stuns all enemies, including Tiger Elites, which pose a significant threat when in Siege Mode, as they can eliminate you with a single strike through the shield. By creating a triangle around your shield using the Shock Beacon, you can stun foes long enough to finish them off.
Placing a Scan Beacon at your feet works even better when facing a horde, doubling your damage output and transforming the SAW into a formidable machine gun capable of mowing down easily targeted enemies.
The remaining utility options have limited utility:
- Proximity Bug Mines deal moderate damage to the first enemy that triggers them, but you only have three mines, and they activate upon the proximity of a single drone.
- Thermo Charges find niche usefulness in base defense, but they require you to remain stationary on the ground to plant them and manually trigger each charge. While they offer good damage, if you prefer manual explosions, it’s advisable to opt for a rocket launcher.
- The Nuclear Det Pack may sound impressive, but it necessitates several seconds for planting, thirty seconds to arm, and possesses a small explosive radius. While the damage potential is unknown, hitting targets with it proves challenging in practice.
- The Heal Beacon affects only a limited area, roughly the size of a bunker, and healing becomes less relevant since you can either be eliminated in 2-3 hits or avoid damage entirely by staying out of melee range. Nevertheless, Bastion class arguably benefits the most from this utility option, allowing you to absorb more hits in Siege Mode. However, employing a scan beacon could potentially end the fight faster and prevent taking hits. Notably, you have access to three scan beacons instead of a single heal beacon.
Grenades
The available grenade options are not particularly impressive. The Hi-Ex grenade is intended to be a high-damage sticky grenade but proves unwieldy and possesses a small area of effect. Cluster Grenades appear to offer similar functionality to the default frag grenades, delivering mediocre area damage. Chem Grenades create a yellow gas zone that supposedly damages arachnids passing through it, but in practice, it seems to only kill the occasional drone. Shock Grenades provide an instant stun, but unlike the excellent shock beacons, they do not persist, and the self-stun duration during deployment and recovery is almost as long as the stun duration inflicted upon the target. Choose the grenade that best suits your playstyle.
Perks
Ammo perks are highly recommended for the Bastion class. The SAW only starts with two 150-round magazines. The Magazine Bandolier perk grants you a third magazine, totaling 450 rounds compared to the 600 rounds of the AR and carbine.
In the early stages, prioritize acquiring the Magazine Bandolier perk. Once you reach level 20, the Extended Magazines perk becomes the superior choice, providing a bonus of 12-round magazines for your Emancipator. It is possible to stack both perks for a total of 625 rounds by utilizing both perk slots, although this may be excessive if you have support teammates running ammo dispensers.
The Hardened Ceramic Plates perk, which reduces ranged damage, proves invaluable. While immersed in a horde of drones and warriors, you can survive for an extended period. However, outside of Siege Mode, Gunners can eliminate you within seconds. This perk provides a chance for you to find cover and escape.
The remaining perks offer mediocre benefits. Synthetic Underarmor does not provide adequate protection against tiger bugs, and other melee-based threats can be effectively dealt with by utilizing Siege Mode. The Powered-Up Build-Tool perk does not contribute significantly, and the Improved Grenade Cooldown perk is powerful for the Operative or Hunter classes but lacks effectiveness for the Bastion class due to its limited grenade options.
