Rainbow Six Siege brings new operators and game updates

Anyone who has been playing or keeping their eye on Rainbow Six Siege in recent times has been eagerly awaiting the new season. Since the announcement of the Year 5 Season 2 roadmap, people have been eager to see the new operators and what they can do. Many have also been keen to see what the new House rework will look like, and what sort of balancing changes and additions will be brought to the game.

I had the privilege of getting early access to the new season update. At the time of playing and writing this information was unannounced and unreleased to the public.

The leaks so far have been very misleading and mostly downright false. There has been a really good job of keeping things pretty tightly sealed this time around. Only very recently has a little bit been leaked, but there is no need to worry about that, as I am about to clear everything up for you.

Needless to say, there is a lot to cover, so let’s jump right in.

The South African Operator

Thandiwe “MELUSI” Ndlovu utilizes a gadget known as the Banshee Sonic Defence, which can be placed on the majority of surfaces, excluding ceilings and a few other spots. Once deployed, it will indicate a wide arc in front of it, similar to how Wamai’s gadget indicates its area of effect. Within this area of effect, enemies will be slowed down by a sonic field emitted by the device. The Banshee emits a constant low thrum and a consistent slow upon enemies trapped within the device radius. Melusi’s device is bulletproof and can only be removed by melee or explosion.

In my time against her, it was clear that her gadget is great for zoning and area control or denial. Often as an attacker against Melusi I would much rather navigate around the sonic field area, rather than take a risk to take it out. The gadget has A great effect in hallways and other choke points. This allows defenders to create a funnel by denying certain hallways, entrances or other key areas. The slow effect also gives the defenders nearby a great advantage over any enemies caught in the sonic field. Defenders can quickly swing in and take out the unlucky attacker trying to move past the buzzing sonic emitter.

The emitter forces attackers to make a choice when encountered: Do I walk into the field to take it out and risk getting taken down while exposed? Do I use some of my utility to remove it? Do I avoid it completely? Regardless of the choice that the attackers make, Melusi’s gadget is a threat that cannot be ignored.

Of course, another strong feature of this device is that it prevents a three-speed attacking operator from rushing past it. If you ever find that you are being rushed on a specific map or from a specific area, Melusi may be a solution. She has a total of three Banshee devices, allowing for a pretty decent area of coverage. Melusi herself is a three-speed, one-armour operator which means that she’ll be able to rotate around the map, effectively allowing her to utilize her gadgets across the entire map.

Melusi has the option of carrying either the T-5 SMG or Super 90 as her primary weapon. Her sidearm is the RG15, and she can take either a deployable shield or impact grenades as her secondary gadget. In my opinion, these options fit well into her kit, and I am quite impressed with Melusi’s loadout. I will most certainly be playing her once she is released on the live server. However, I think there was a missed opportunity to add South African military weapons such as the R4 or R6.

On the lore side of things, Melusi grew up living near a game reserve and has an appreciation of the need for nature conservation. She saw the serious problem of poaching and worked actively to prevent it. Trained in the SANDF, she resigned from the military to form an anti-poaching unit task force. She understands the value of nature and community, as well as being acutely aware of the damage caused by greed.

Melusi is an intriguing operator with a great gadget that will open up a lot of possibilities and potential for strategies for the defensive side. Her powerful kit allows her to be quite a strong pick, and in the right strategic hands, she could help strengthen certain defender setups and tactics. It would not be a surprise to see her being seriously considered for banning.

The Nordic Option

Speaking of strong kits, the new attacking operator is sure to toss a spanner in the works. Norway’s Havard “ACE” Haughland has some serious power of his own.

Operator Ace’s gadget, known as the S.E.L.M.A Aqua Breacher, can be thrown against any surface. Yes, the gadget is a hard-breaching device designed to penetrate both soft and reinforced walls and hatches.

In essence, Ace’s gadget is similar to Thermite’s breaching device, except the former destroys the wall in three stages from top to bottom. It is also possible to destroy Ace’s gadget during the process to prevent the entire wall from being blown up. In this way, he can also be utilized as a Hibana-type breacher, creating a long rectangular window slot in the wall.

The charges use a hydraulic mechanism to destroy the wall. This reduces the explosion damage to a player when compared to the usual breaching explosions.

During my time with the operator, it seemed that two devices were needed to breach a reinforced hatch instead of one. Ace carries three SELMA devices, so using two on a single hatch is not ideal. However, it might just come down to the exact placement of the device on the hatch itself.

Ace is a two-speed, two-armour operator and has a choice between the AK-12 and the M1014 as a primary weapon. His secondary weapon is the P9 and he can take either breach charges or smoke grenades as secondary gadgets. Ace’s AK-12 does come with the standard NATO attachments, and has access to the ACOG sight.

With all this considered, a strong synergy with his gadget and smoke grenades comes to mind. A strategic option would be to bounce a smoke grenade through the top breach, and enter an area under the cover of smoke. I am keen to see how the community utilizes his kit once they get their hands on him.

The lore behind Ace sees a character keen to be seen as the ideal hero and upstanding citizen. Originally wanting to be a pediatric surgeon, he opted to train as a paramedic. He joined the Norwegian Armed Forces and a couple of special military groups where he gained a reputation for heroics. He strives to excel and be recognised for said excellence.

Ace will certainly be a powerful pick that will broaden the hard breaching choices for the attackers. With the power of his kit, I would not be surprised to see him becoming a preferred hard-breaching choice for teams. 

Some love for the old guard

A much-needed update to Amaru has finally seen a few changes to her gadget and how it works. Her gadget no longer breaks reinforcement on a doorway or window if there. Instead, she now kicks through the entrance on arrival. Furthermore, her weapon recovery rate is now substantially higher. This allows her entrances to be a bit more surprising, giving her a needed edge. It is likely that this will bring her back into consideration with players.

New additions

With the operators out of the way, let’s discuss a few new additions added in the new season update.

The proximity alarm is finally here!

Having been teased earlier in the roadmap, players have been wondering when they would be able to see it in game. Well, the wait is finally over and the proximity alarm provides a very interesting niche.

The device can be attached to most surfaces, and emits an alarm when an enemy moves in front of it. It important to note that there is no visual indicator of the alarm’s position. The only indicator is when the alarm is tripped, as both friend and foe will hear the alarm sound.

When an attacker sets off the alarm, there is a visual indicator that you are in the alarm’s field. A small red circular indicator pops up at the bottom of your screen to show that you have set off a proximity alarm. However, the sound from the alarm is loud and annoying enough that an indicator is a moot point.

The skin trade

Something I wasn’t expecting, is the addition of weapon attachment skins. You can now acquire skins for your weapon attachments and apply them independently of the actual weapon skin itself. The current attachment skins are generic and monotone, but I am sure that that will change with more options arriving in the future.

Full House

House has also received a rework and there is a lot to be said about it.

House was one of my favourite maps in the game and had a special place in my heart. However, it was definitely lacking some elements in terms of competitive viability in its old form.

The updated House aims to make it a more competitively viable map. Thankfully, it seems that they have done a decent job of doing that. The layout remains familiar with its basement, first and second floor levels. The old staircases are still in their positions, but a new staircase has been added, which leads to the expanded portion of what is Master Bedroom. Kid’s Bedroom has been expanded with ‘Pink’ and ‘Car’ rooms on opposite sides of each other. Workshop has been removed. The top floor layout still feels familiar, with the biggest differences being to the rooms themselves.

Ultimately, the changes to the top floor have made it so that rotations feel very fluid and circular between the rooms.

The first floor remains almost identical to the original layout, aside from the addition of two large rooms alongside the kitchen area. A set of stairs leads up to the second floor and the expanded rooms there.

The basement is the least affected compared to the other two floors. The rooms remain familiar, but the rotational capability and flow from room to room has been tweaked and — like the top floor — feels very fluid and circular now. Additionally, new entrances have been added which allows attackers other options to access the basement.

The placement of hatches in the new House now sees Oryx able to climb from the basement to second floor very quickly. The first hatch in question is located above one of the newly added entrances to basement, which leads to the first floor dining room, behind the overturned table. The second hatch is almost above the first one, on the other end of the table. This allows Oryx to use the overturned table as cover when moving from one hatch to the other. The second hatch comes out in Master Bedroom on the second floor.

Conclusion

I am really happy with the new operators and the changes in the Season 2 update. I will keep a keen eye on how the community utilizes Melusi and Ace, who each offer considerable power to their respective teams. It seems like zone control will be the order of the day as the meta adapts to these new additions to the game.

With more hard-breachers available to the attackers, we are sure to see maps being opened up more. With the extra power added to zone control strategies on the defence side, gone are the days of rushing onto site freely… at least for now.