Rainbow 6 Siege Shield Rework
Temika
The rework will empower shield users, but rather than empowering them to be the godless killing machine that was shield-wielded attacker Blitz in 2018, here shield operators will be buffed to help with the role the development team on Siege had them planned for: protecting and observing.
The best counter to a shield has always been another player with a gun to cover flanks with you, but this change should make this feel essential, and provide more options for players who, previously, were limited to getting a hard flank or something high explosives as an answer.
Karpazis said that at the moment, the changes to shield operators might feel more like playing defensive operator Clash, who has a lot of defensive power that can be used to shepherd enemies and gather intel for the team.
Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft's long-supported tactical shooter, is about to enter the ninth year of its seasonal updates. Dubbed Operation Deadly Omen, populating this one is a brand-new attacking operator, a rework to how shields function, visible trajectories for throwables, and more features.
Deimos, the villain Ubisoft has been building up in Rainbow Six Siege lore, is the latest operator joining the title as a playable character. Joining the attacking side, he arrives equipped with miniature drones that can be deployed for a powerful tracking mechanic.
When his DeathMark Trackers ability is activated, Deimos can select a previously revealed enemy operator and receive a tracker on their exact position continuously. The intel gathering tool holds multiple charges, but is made available to Deimos slowly as each round progresses. Enemy abilities, like Mute's Jammers, can pause the DeathMark timer, but the drones cannot be destroyed.
While powerful, he can only use his unique .44 Vendetta revolver when this ability is active. The tracked enemy can also see a tracker on Deimos' position. Plus, the enemy's location isn't shown to the whole team, meaning the Deimos player will have to communicate well with his team mates effectively to setup tricky kills. Watch the gameplay video above to catch him in action.
Next, shield-wielding operators Montagne, Blitz, and Fuze can now sprint while using shields, letting them blow through barricades easily for surprise attacks. They can now also free look from behind the shield, as well as reload, use grenades and abilities without putting down their valuable cover. A melee attack to push enemies back has also been added.
Ubisoft is also making throwing gadgets an easier and more accurate task, with a trajectory visualization now popping up when holding a nitro, grenade, and all similar throwables. Fresh maps and operators for the Versus AI playlist, magnified optics for attackers, smoother rappelling animations, and a cosmetic item management menu are coming with this update too.
Rainbow Six Siege Year 9 Season 1: Operation Deadly Omen first hits test servers on February 26, letting players try out the new Operator and changes so Ubisoft can make appropriate changes. If everything goes to plan, the update will land on live servers across all platforms on March 12, 2024.
Ubisoft has shared its plans for future balancing updates in Rainbow Six Siege. While they have released more information about updates in the eighth year, there are some details about the next year.
This year's balancing updates will focus on making the operators who are good at everything a bit less powerful. The developers will also make gadgets more important in the game to make the gameplay more strategic. Let's see the breakdown of the company's ideas for future changes in Rainbow Six Siege.
These changes make it riskier but more rewarding for players to get up after being trapped. It gives Frost players more time to react, and it discourages attackers from falling into these traps. Also, if a teammate helps you, it opens up the chance for Frost to get "double kills."
Fuze has a lot of firepower but sometimes feels limited. The team is working on buffs and soon players will be able to use his Cluster Charges on Deployable Shields and Osa's Talon-8 Shields, giving them more options to explore.
The developers aim to make shield operators strong but not overpowering in one-on-one situations. They want players to have a fighting chance against shield operators and shield operators not to feel defenseless. Removing the ability to hip-fire while holding a shield will reduce frustration for both sides and highlight that, with a good team, a shield operator can be a powerful asset in the game.
The Kiba Barriers have made Azami a very strong defender, giving her the ability to control areas and make it hard for opponents to deal with her. The developers are working on changes to make her gadget less powerful and allow attackers to be more aggressive against her.
In Y8S3, the game will rework most shotguns (except the BOSG 12, TCSG12, and ACS12) to make them more consistent. This means aiming down sights will be more effective, and hip-firing will be less effective.
That concludes everything you need to know about the upcoming patches. Hopefully, you have a little more knowledge about the upcoming buffs and nerfs to the operators and how Ubisoft is planning to change the gameplay dynamics.
Year 9 of Rainbow Six Siege is all set to start this March. Operation Deadly Omen introduces a new menacing masked antagonist who's bringing with him a truly interesting device. Another interesting addition is the new shield rework which should be exciting to those who use Operators Montagne, Blitz, and Fuze.
One big change is that Operators equipped with a Ballistic Shield can now keep it in front even while sprinting. In addition, they can now push through a barricade without the need to hit them twice. What else? Well, there's now what's known as a free look ability where these Operators can do various actions like observing their surroundings or watching out for threats without the need to move the shield out of position.
But wait, there's more! These three Operators can now function even better as tanks. That's because they can now melee with their shields and deal not only pushback but also 65hp damage. Then there's the effect of suppressive fire. The Operator is going to be suppressed while the Ballistic Shield receives too many bullet impacts. While suppressed, operator not only cannot sprint but visibility is reduced based on the intensity of the effect.
Another change is on the matter of sights. In particular, the speed of aiming down sights have been slowed down slightly with sights themselves being adjusted accordingly. When Year 9 goes live, sights are going to grouped into four categories which are:
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is an online tactical shooter video game launched in 2015 and made available for the PC, PlayStation 4, and the Xbox One. In 2020, it was released for the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S.
As part of its 2023 Rainbow Six Siege Invitational livestream, Ubisoft outlined its plans for the tactical shooter's eighth year, including the new operators, tools, and balance changes coming down the pike.
We know the most about Year Eight's first season and its upcoming operator, Brava. Commanding Force launches on March 7, and Brava is an attacker who can hack enemy electronics to either disable or co-opt them. Commanding Force will also see the launch of Siege's new Mousetrap anti-mouse and keyboard measures on console, and the beginning of Siege's reworked onboarding experience for new players.
Later seasons will see new operators from Sweden, South Korea, and Portugal (in that order), as well as an all-new map in Season Four at the end of the year. Ubisoft is also reworking the Consulate map and the operator, Frost, in Season Two, followed by a revamp of riot shields in Season Four.
To discourage turtling and make the tool more tactical and aggressive, players will no longer be able to hip fire while holding the shield up, and instead have to consciously switch between aiming their pistol and defending. In exchange, players now have the ability to look independently of where their shield is pointing.
Ubisoft is clearly showing Siege a lot of love, even as it approaches a decade of running as a live service. The team reiterated its commitment to the game's long-term future, both verbally, and with the introduction of a fresh onboarding experience for new players.
Season One will see beginner challenges to help players learn the game and unlock operators, while Season Three will introduce comprehensive tutorials, followed by a new humans vs. bots playlist in Season Four with lower-stakes play. You can check out a condensed version of the reveal livestream on YouTube, as well as Rainbow Six Siege's Year Eight cinematic trailer.
Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch.
In Rainbow Six Siege, every operator is an expert, with a focused proficiency that gives them strength: very strong in the right situations but with flaws in the wrong ones. Our balancing philosophy is all about providing you with the right set of tools to confront very specific situations: for any situation you encounter in the game, there should be wide (but also limited) solutions.
This year, we aim to reduce the strong jack-of-all-trades operators to ensure every decision you make has a thoughtful process behind it. We also want to continue to enhance the game's tactical playstyle by working towards balancing solutions which emphasize the importance of our operator's gadgets.
We are aware of current community concerns surrounding the 1.5x sight. While your attachment choices should be meaningful, it shouldn't drive your operator pick. To this end, the Balancing team has been working over the past few months on new vectors to balance our operators and their loadouts.
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