Bastion is the first, and so far only, Exotic Kinetic Fusion Rifle in Destiny 2. For a guide on how to get this weapon, check out Planet Destiny’s guide video, which will be linked at the end of the article.
Stats
Bastion comes with a Charge Time of 740, meaning Bastion takes 740 milliseconds to fully charge before firing. It has a Range value of 33, a Stability of 52, Handling of 34, Reload Speed of 32, Aim Assist of 65, and a Recoil direction of 75.
Bastion currently carries a 4-round magazine. In the future, its Catalyst might change that capacity, but the Catalyst’s benefits are currently unknown.
Its intrinsic Exotic trait is Saint’s Fists; Charge to fire 3 spreads of Kinetic slugs. There are seven pellets in each round of slugs fired, with each pellet hitting for nearly 30 damage in PVP. Destiny’s engine rounds off damage values, so it’s possible the pellets are doing at least 29 damage. This is enough damage to kill max Resilience Guardians in PVP with just one of the three spreads. So, theoretically, you can kill three Guardians with just one charge of this weapon. It’s important to note that Bastion, like Xenophage, cannot deal critical damage in either PVP or PVE.
Interestingly, this is one weapon with recoil equally controllable on console as it is on PC. Bastion’s fire pattern is very reliable and manageable, regardless of your preferred input and platform.
The lack of critical damage on this weapon means it will probably never be a must have for end game PVE playlists. Bastion occupies the same slot as Izanagi’s Burden, and has no real chance of dethroning the current king of exotic kinetic weapons.
Bastion’s unique Legendary trait is Breakthrough; A portion of this weapon’s damage bypasses elemental shields. This means that in a playlist where modifiers like Match Game are active, you can still deal damage directly to shielded enemies’ health bars.
Gameplay
Bastion is a perfectly serviceable hybrid of a Fusion Rifle and Shotgun in PVP. Treat its range like that of any non High Impact Frame fusion rifle and you’ll be rewarded with kills. A benefit to using Bastion in PVP is its ability to destroy Supers with just one shot if they’re within your effective range. But, you’ll have a very hard time taking advantage of this against higher skilled players as they’ll use their Super’s mobility to ensure they don’t take all three spreads from your shots.
It’s unfortunate Breakthrough’s benefits don’t work in the Crucible. Taking Bastion into PVP requires accepting you’re using an exotic with, effectively, one less perk on it. I wish Breakthrough interacted with enemies in PVP, but that might push Bastion into overpowered territory.
Unfortunately, Breakthrough also falls short in PVE playlists where damaging enemies through their elemental shields matters most. Shielded elites in Ordeal Nightfalls will shrug off the damage to their health bars as they blast you with Boom Cannons or Wizard Bolts. The one PVE activity I can see this being helpful in would be high level Nightmare Hunts when you’ll need to get rid of the Solar Shielded adds that spawn between damage phases on bosses.
If I could change one thing about Breakthrough, it would be to allow the slugs from this weapon to partially penetrate through Barrier Champion’s barrier. I would have it deal just enough damage to keep the champion from fully regenerating their health, but not so much as to make Anti-Barrier weapons pointless. This would retain the value and intent of Breakthrough, without pushing it into overpowered or “must have” territory.
All in all, Bastion is a fun weapon for the Crucible that would need some tweaks to be made viable in endgame PVE.