The Bastion is the Protectorate short range splash infantry unit, sitting at Tier 1.5 between the Commando and the faction's vehicles. Its G53 Flamethrower reaches only 2.25 range but doubles its damage against Light armour and splashes across 0.8, which makes it the faction's dedicated answer to massed cheap infantry. Figures below describe build ZS.c36778 of 11 September 2026 and move with the weekly patch cadence.
Stat Block
Stat | Value |
|---|---|
Cost | 75 hexite and 25 flux |
Health | 275 |
Shields | 0 |
Armor | 1 |
Armor type | Medium |
Status resist | None listed |
Move speed | 540 |
Vision | 16 |
Supply | 3 |
Build time | 30 seconds |
Tier | 1.5 |
Domain | Ground unit |
Infuse / Reanimate / Replicate | 5.3125 each |
Built by | Barracks |
Weapons
Weapon | Damage | DPS | Range | Cooldown | Targets | Bonuses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G53 Flamethrower | 16 | 11 | 2.25 | 1.5 seconds | Ground | +100 percent against Light armour, splash at full damage across 0.8 range |
Upgrades
Upgrade | Tier | Cost | Effect | Researched at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Reactive Armor | 1 | 100 flux, 50 second research | +25 percent health and +1 armor | Research Lab |
Kinetic Mode | 1 | 100 flux, 50 second research | +40 percent movement speed outside of combat | Mechanical Research Lab |
Overpressure Nozzle | 2 | 125 flux, 60 second research | +25 percent splash range and +33 percent splash area of effect | Research Lab |
Retribution Protocol | 2 | 125 flux, 60 second research | Explodes on death, dealing 20 damage per second to nearby enemies for 6 seconds | Mechanical Research Lab |
Role
A Bastion is a wall with a flamethrower behind it. At 275 health with 1 armor it absorbs far more than the Commando it stands in front of, and the flat armour point matters more than it looks: armour subtracts from every individual hit with a floor of 1, so a Bastion blunts a swarm of small attacks far harder than a single heavy shell.
The 2.25 range is the cost of all that. Bastions have to reach what they are burning, and at move speed 540 they are slower than almost everything they want to catch. Kinetic Mode exists for exactly that problem, adding 40 percent move speed while out of combat so the unit can arrive at the fight rather than trailing behind it.
Against Light armour the flamethrower doubles to 32 per hit before splash, which is what makes the Bastion the standard reply to Thrall swarms, Arkanid spawns and massed Commandos. Overpressure Nozzle widens the splash further and is the upgrade to take when the enemy is committing to numbers rather than quality.
Retribution Protocol turns a dead Bastion into a 6 second damage field. It rewards pushing into a contained space and it punishes an enemy that clumps to finish the unit off.
Faction Context
The Bastion is built at the Barracks and researched across both labs: Reactive Armor and Overpressure Nozzle in the Research Lab, Kinetic Mode and Retribution Protocol in the Mechanical Research Lab.
It is the front rank of the Protectorate infantry core described on the Protectorate page, standing ahead of Sentinel rail cannons and Commando rifles. Because base and production structures carry a healing bot, a Bastion that retreats into its own base recovers without spending anything, which is a large part of why the faction can afford a unit that takes damage for a living.
Tier and Armour Interactions
Medium armour with 1 flat armour, raised to 2 by Reactive Armor along with +25 percent health. Against a weapon that fires many small hits, 2 armor is a substantial reduction; against a Juggernaut shell of 100 damage it saves 2.
The unit's own bonus keys off Light armour only. Against Medium or Heavy targets the Bastion is a 16 damage melee range unit with no multiplier, which is the reason it is never the answer to armoured vehicles.
Counters
Strong against:
Unit | Why |
|---|---|
cheap Light armour infantry in numbers, the exact target the +100 percent bonus and the splash are built for | |
spawned Light armour swarms clump tightly, so splash lands on several at once | |
125 health Light armour takes 32 per hit before splash | |
Light armour at 140 health, if it can be caught at 2.25 range |
Weak to:
Unit | Why |
|---|---|
+100 percent against Medium armour | |
+100 percent against Medium with splash across 3 range | |
13 range against a unit that needs 2.25, and it never has to close | |
artillery at 14 range, or 26.25 sieged, against a 540 speed unit | |
Any flyer | the flamethrower cannot target air at all |
Balance History
28 August 2026: Overpressure Nozzle moved from Tier 1 to Tier 2, Kinetic Mode moved from Tier 2 to Tier 1, and the Tier 2 upgrade flux cost reduced from 150 to 125.
11 August 2026: the visual effect size on the Bastion explosion was adjusted to match its actual area of effect, a clarity fix rather than a balance change.
Notes
For the rest of the roster and how to read a stat block, see Units. For hexite, flux, supply and the power pool behind unit conversions, see Resources and Economy. For the commanders that lead a Protectorate army, see Heroes and Commanders.
Every number on this page is read from build ZS.c36778, the entity release stamped 11 September 2026. ZeroSpace patches weekly during Early Access and 42 of its 87 versus units changed stats in the 15 days before that build, so treat the figures here as dated rather than permanent.