Bastion — Saint's Fists (Hunter)

Weapon: Bastion (Fusion Rifle · Special · Kinetic/no-element) · Subclass: Arcstrider (Arc) · Role: Point-blank brawler — melee ↔ fusion loop that deletes majors and heals on the punch Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-16

Bastion is a fusion rifle that wants you to throw hands. Land a melee and it charges faster, hits harder, reloads quicker; land the burst and your next melee hits harder. That two-way feedback is a melee build wearing a fusion rifle, so we build the most relentless melee Hunter there is: Arcstrider with Liar's Handshake. Punch → heal + Cross Counter → fire a buffed three-spread point-blank → punch again. The fists feed the gun; the gun feeds the fists.

The weapon

Saint's Fists (verbatim): "Rapidly fires 3 spreads of pure force.

After a successful melee hit, this weapon gains increased damage, reduced charge time, and improved reload speed for a short duration. Hitting a target with most of the pellets in a burst increases melee damage for a short duration."

Catalyst — Cast No Shadows (verbatim): "Dealing melee damage increases this weapon's handling and loads a small amount of ammo from reserves."

What it does: Bastion is the only fusion rifle that fires three discrete bursts per charge — a triple-tap that lands like a shotgun pellet wall at close range. The intrinsic is a closed loop with your melee: a melee hit grants the gun faster charge + more damage + faster reload (the offensive window), and pellets on target grant bonus melee damage back. The catalyst closes it further — every melee reloads Bastion from reserves (no manual reload between punches) and buffs handling. Run a melee subclass and Bastion never leaves its buffed state.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Arcstrider (Arc)	Best melee-uptime subclass; Amplified + jolt + Combination Blow keep the fists firing nonstop.
Super	Gathering Storm	Throw-and-jolt for a priority/boss; jolt feeds Flow State Amplified. (Arc Staff if you want the roaming melee Super.)
Class ability	Gambler's Dodge	Refunds melee energy near a target (scaled by Melee stat) — the core of the punch economy and Combination Blow uptime.
Movement	Triple Jump	Air control to close to fusion range.
Melee	Combination Blow	Chained melee kills heal, refund dodge, and stack melee damage — the dodge→punch→dodge engine.
Grenade	Flux Grenade (or Arcbolt)	Sticks for a guaranteed jolt/kill to start a Combination Blow chain; Arcbolt for add chaining.
Aspect 1	Lethal Current	After dodging, next melee jolts + extends range + drops a damaging aftershock; melee hits on jolted targets blind. Turns every Gambler's Dodge into a stronger, safer punch. 1 Fragment slot.
Aspect 2	Flow State	Defeating a jolted target → Amplified → faster reload/melee regen + dodge regen + resilience. Lethal Current jolts, Flow State converts the kill to Amplified. 2 Fragment slots.

Fragments (3 slots):

• Spark of Frequency — "Melee hits increase your equipped weapon's reload speed and stability for a short duration." Stacks on top of Bastion's own post-melee reload buff — the gun is double-buffed every punch.
• Spark of Feedback — "Taking melee damage briefly increases your outgoing melee damage." Point-blank fusion play means you eat hits; this turns that into bigger Combination Blow swings. (+10 Health.)
• Spark of Resistance — "While surrounded by combatants, you are more resistant to incoming damage." You fight inside the pack at fusion range; flat DR where you live. (+10 Melee.)

Exotic armour — Liar's Handshake (Gauntlets): "Cross Counter: Using your Arc melee ability or being hit by a melee attack will allow you to follow up with an extremely powerful melee counterpunch that will heal you."

Other two weapon slots:

• Primary (Kinetic/Energy): an Arc auto rifle or SMG with a melee-adjacent perk — keeps you Amplified-eligible and tags adds between punches. Bastion is Special, so the primary is your ranged filler when you can't close the gap.
• Heavy: any Machine Gun or Sword — the Sword doubles down on the melee fantasy and the MG covers what the fists can't reach.

Why this works (the mechanics)

• Bastion is a melee weapon disguised as a fusion. Its whole intrinsic is a two-way melee loop, so the build's job is "melee constantly." Arcstrider + Combination Blow + Gambler's Dodge is the highest melee-uptime kit in the game — every dodge near an enemy refunds melee, every melee kill refunds dodge.
• The buff is permanent in practice. Melee hit → Bastion gets faster charge, more damage, faster reload, and the catalyst auto-loads it from reserves + buffs handling. Spark of Frequency adds another reload/stability buff on the same punch. As long as you keep punching, Bastion never charges slow and never needs a manual reload — and pellets on target loop bonus melee damage back into Combination Blow.
• Liar's Handshake is the iconic pairing — and a heal engine. Cross Counter fires off your Arc melee (or off being meleed, which happens at fusion range), landing an extremely powerful healing counterpunch. That counterpunch is a melee hit, so it re-triggers Bastion's buff window and the catalyst's reload. Survivability and weapon-buff uptime come from the same button.
• Lethal Current + Flow State is the Amplified spiral. Dodge → Lethal Current melee jolts + blinds → Flow State turns the jolted kill into Amplified → Amplified speeds melee regen, reload, and dodge regen → faster back to the next punch. Blind on jolted targets is free CC while you stand in their faces.
• Combination Blow pays for the whole loop. Stacked melee kills heal (on top of Liar's heal), refund the dodge (Gambler's refunds the melee), and ramp melee damage — which Bastion reads via its pellet-hit melee buff. Four sources of melee-up (Combination Blow stacks, Bastion pellet buff, Spark of Feedback, Synthoceps-tier surrounded play) overlap.

Stats & mods

Melee 200 → Health 100+ → Weapons. Melee is the entire build — it scales Gambler's Dodge melee refund, Combination Blow damage, and Liar's counterpunch. Health keeps you alive at point-blank; Weapons buffs Bastion's per-pellet output against minors/majors.

• Archetypes: Brawler/Gunner pieces favouring Melee + Health; push Weapons on the cloak.
• Helmet: Harmonic Siphon (Arc/melee kills → Orbs) · Heavy Handed (powered melee kills refund melee energy — stacks with Gambler's) · Hands-On (Super energy on melee kills).
• Gauntlets: Melee Font ×1–2 (→ toward 200 Melee) · Impact Induction (dealing melee damage grants grenade energy).
• Chest: Arc + Solar + Void Resistance (one of each) — flat DR for the in-your-face range; Liar's + Combination Blow + Spark of Resistance are the active layers on top.
• Boots: Fusion Rifle Loader (snappier Bastion if the catalyst window lapses) · Innervation/Recuperation (orb pickups feed grenade/health) · Orbs of Restoration.
• Class item: Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums orbs) · Bomber (dodge → some grenade) · Reaper.
• Special ammo: run Special Finisher or a Special-ammo mod — Bastion is a Special weapon and you want reserves topped for the catalyst auto-load.

Where it shines

• Activities: any add-dense melee playground — Onslaught, Nightfalls (sub-GM), Lost Sectors, patrol/seasonal. The dodge→punch→fire loop chews through majors and the heals make it sustainable solo. At fusion range it's a shotgun that reloads itself off your fists.
• Champions: Bastion carries no bespoke champion stun, so its champion coverage comes from the kit, not the gun. Jolt (Lethal Current / Flow State / Gathering Storm) is the practical Overload answer — jolt interrupts and Arc verbs slow champions; blind (Lethal Current on jolted targets) buys CC on Unstoppable/Barrier behaviour. For a clean Anti-Champion 2.0 stun, lean on your primary's archetype (Lightweight/Rapid-Fire → Overload, Precision → Barrier, Aggressive → Unstoppable) and slot champion-relevant frames there. This build is a boss/major/add brawler, not a champion-stun specialist — bring the stun on the other two slots.
• Weakness: GM-tier where standing at melee range is lethal; range-check every push and rely on the primary when the room is too hot to close.