Ubisoft has shared a lot more details on Operation Void Edge, the next major update for Rainbow Six Siege. The official site for the coming update includes details on the two new operators, a big change to one of the maps, balance tweaks and bug fixes, and much more.
The two new operators are Nienke "Iana" Meijer and Saif "Oryx" Al Hadid as Attacker and Defender types, respectively. Iana sports a remote-controlled holographic copy of herself, letting her scout ahead without being in immediate danger. The holograph will produce sound just like the real thing, but it can't use weapons or gadgets. Oryx can use a Remah Dash, letting him close distances and knock down opponents. He can also dash through walls, at the expense of some health. Existing operators Lesion and Twitch will be getting some balance changes.
Oregon is getting a map rework, sporting an updated look with more open areas, and new access points. The Big Tower will connect directly to the Kitchen, and a new Freezer area will be added, among other changes. On the whole the changes aim to make the rotations safer for both attackers and defenders. The game is also getting a large change in the previously announced shrapnel system, which overhauls how barricade debris will work, and attacker drone spawns will no longer be random.
The Void Edge season will get a new Elite set, letting Ash dress like Lara Croft with the Tomb Raider uniform. The set will also include new headgear, victory animation, and gadget skin.
Siege has enjoyed a long lifespan with sustained support, even still breaking its own player records. Ubisoft has considered taking the game free-to-play, but wants to solve one major problem first. You can check the partial Void Edge patch notes below.
Rainbow Six Siege "Void Edge" Patch Notes (Partial)
BALANCING
Recruit Rework
To improve the Rainbow Six Siege onboarding experience, we’re re-assigning Recruit on a mission to lead and guide our new players. In Y5S1, recruit will have pre-set loadouts for ATT and DEF instead of CTU based loadouts. This will help ease the learning process and make recruit an ideal pick for new players familiarizing themselves with Siege.
CASTLE
Removed M45 secondary weapon and replaced with Super Shorty
FROST
- Holographic scope added to Frost’s C1
Goyo
- Falling onto Goyo’s Volcan only causes it collapse, instead of explode and propagate fire.
IQ
- When objectives such as Bombs or Biohazard containers are still hidden during the action phase, if IQ detects them with her gadget she will reveal their location to her entire team.
Lesion
- Gu mines visible to Lesion only when in direct LOS and within an 8 meter distance.
- Removal of initial Gu mine damage tick.
- Gu mine damage increased to 6 damage per tick (instead of 4).
- DBNO players now immune to GU Mines. Being DBNO will still trigger them but the GU mines effect will not apply.
Twitch
- Twitch Drone: Twitch’s drone will now use a charge system similar to Yokai drones instead of a set ammo count. Drones will start with the maximum ammo count of 3 shots and it will take 30 seconds to recharge a new shot.
- Drone will start a round with 3 shots (instead of 5)
- It takes 30s to fully recharge a shot, with a maximum carrying capacity of 3 shots per drone.
- Drone shot cooldown reduced to 1s (from 2s)
- Drone taser damage reduced to 1 hp (down from 10). Evil Eyes and Jager’s ADS gadget health also reduced to 1 hp.
- Increased recoil for Twitch’s F2
WARDEN
Warden’s Smart Glasses will now run on a charge system and can be activated long as there is more than 20% left of his charge left. Activation lasts 10 seconds and needs 10 seconds for a full recharge.
- Cooldown removed on Warden’s use of his gadget.
- Warden can now control usage time and deactivate it manually, with a maximum activation time of 10 seconds.
- His ability recharges at the same speed than it depletes. When fully depleted, it takes 10 seconds for it to be completely recharged
DMRs
- Increased destruction for DMRs for faster destruction of barricades, hatches, and soft surfaces.
Vector .45
- Vector damage increased to 23 (from 21)
Loadout Changes
- Dokkaebi: Stun Grenades replacing Frag. Grenades
- Maverick: Frag Grenades replacing Stun Grenades
- Nokk: Frag Grenades replacing Claymore
- Ying: Frag Grenades replacing Claymore
- Compensator removed from DMRs
Game Balancing
Explosions + Shrapnel Damage
We have reworked explosions and made changes some important changes to how explosion and the new shrapnel damage will work in Siege. This will make it clearer to players when they are damaged due to shrapnel damage from explosives. Damage taken by a player from an explosion is now determined by Shrapnel damage. The new Shrapnel damage will govern who is hit, and how much damage is taken given the player’s environment. It will apply reduced damage based on the number of objects it passes through from the origin of the explosion. Shrapnel damage should be more transparent in providing feedback to players on how they took damage or died. For a more detailed look at how explosions in Siege work, check out our Dev Blog.
Corner Explosions
We’ve improved how explosives interact in corners where there is both a hard and soft wall.
Indestructible Object Interference:
We’ve improved how explosives interact in situations where an indestructible object like a beam can block destruction damage on nearby soft walls.
Player Comfort
Stay in Drone After Prep Phase Option
Attackers will now have the option to stay in drone observation tools even when Prep Phase ends by selecting the “Drone after Prep” option in the Options Menu.
Drone random Spawn
Attacker drone spawn is now no longer random. Attacker drones will now always spawn on the same side of the building as your first selected spawn point. This change will give attackers more agency and coordination during prep phase, as well as help simplify orientation for new. You can still re-select your spawn point afterwards based on intel you gathered during the prep phase.
Caster HUD Updates
- Caster HUD Revamp: The new Caster HUD gives the casters the ability to expand all 10 players for a global overview of the game at any given moment, without the need to see the scoreboard or a specific player point of view.
- Player Cards: Cards can be toggled, allowing casters more flexibility for a specific situation, where they can choose between what we called condensed or expanded views. Condensed cards display the same amount of information as before, with added feedback for drones. You can follow a player point of view without missing any actions on the screen. Furthermore, expanded cards will allow all players’ statistics and operators’ loadouts to be displayed simultaneously.
- Round Header: By moving player information, we could get more space to keep improving the narration of the game. The header will now display team names and clear defusing states when it happens.
Game Mode Name Change
The Terrorist Hunt playlist will be renamed to Training Grounds to better reflect what our community uses the playlist for. Terrorist Hunt Classic will be renamed to Elimination to more accurately depict the game mode players can expect when entering those games.
Game Health
Player Report Notifications
Players will receive notifications when a player they have reported has had an action taken against them.
Data Consolidation
To consolidate and reduce the overall game size, we have made some more improvements with restructuring how game data is stored. This means the season patch will be larger than normal.
Player Loadouts
With the start of Y5S1, we're reworking how custom load-outs are saved in your player profile. If you log in at least once during Y5S1, we will be able to save and convert your custom loadout to the new load-out format. Players who don't log in at least once during Season 1 will find a default loadout upon logging in come Y5S2.
Night Maps Removal from Custom
To better focus our team’s resources on creating a newer and better Rainbow Six Siege experience, we’ll be removing support for Night Maps from Custom game modes.
Lore
Operator Bio Updates
We’ve updated more Operator bios! Go check out their new bios in-game!
- Y1S1: Buck, Frost
- Y1S2: Blackbeard, Valkyrie
- Y1S3: Capitão, Caveira
- Y1S4: Echo, Hibana
- Y2S1: Jackal, Mira
- Y2S2: Lesion. Ying
- Y2S3: Ela, Zofia
- Y2S4: Dokkaebi, Vigil
- Y3S1: Finka, Lion
