Blizzard has pulled two heroes, Bastion and Torbjörn, out of Overwatch 2 while it fixes some game-breaking bugs. Bastion has been taken out of all game modes, and Torbjorn cannot be used in competitive to keep things fair.
Bastion’s removal follows the discovery of a truly broken bug that makes him very overpowered. Overwatch 2 reworked Bastion’s ultimate from the old Configuration: Tank to a new artillery mode that fires three shots. It functions a lot like three mini Doomfist ultimates and is useful for claiming space.
However, the bug let players pass this three-shot limit. All you have to do is use the ultimate, fire the first three shots normally, and then press your ultimate keybind again during the third shot. For whatever reason, this lets you fire as many artillery shots as you want for the duration of the ultimate.
But Bastion isn’t the only hero to be removed from Overwatch 2. Swedish engineer Torbjörn joins our robot friend as he also had a bugged ability. Torbjörn’s Overload ability makes him tankier and causes him to move and fire faster. It’s essential to his overall kit. However, a bug made it possible to use this ability twice in a row, effectively doubling its duration.
Normally Overload lasts five seconds with a ten-second cooldown. This bug made it so players could use Overload for ten seconds without extending its cooldown. Naturally, having all of Torbjörn’s key numbers amped up for so long made him a bit of a handful.
Nothing new
Seeing Bastion and Torbjörn removed from Overwatch 2 might be surprising for some players, but it’s not the first time something like this has happened. Earlier this year Wrecking Ball was removed after a bug was discovered that kicked other players from the game. Equally, whenever a new hero is added they aren’t playable in competitive for at least two weeks. This lets Blizzard tweak them to try and avoid adding either an overpowered or buggy character.
bastion buff in OW2 is wild pic.twitter.com/UXuwP4oIoU
— Brandon Larned (@A_Seagull) October 8, 2022
