Ubisoft has released a new series of Rainbow Six Siege designer’s notes which outline what the team is working on. According to the notes, an upcoming update for Siege will be heavily modifying several of the game’s playable operators. Long-awaited reworks for Lion and Capitao will be joined by tweaks for Kaid, Echo, Nomad, Blitz, and more.
Rainbow Six Siege Y4S1.3 Designer’s Notes
The latest designer’s notes begin by showing a pair of graphs, one for Attackers and the other Defenders. The graphs correlate specific operators’ pick and win rates and combine them into a percentage delta for fans to peruse.
The main portion of the notes, however, is dedicated to upcoming balancing changes. The (excuse the phrasing) lion’s share of changes are going to Attackers Lion and Capitao. Changes are also being made to Nomad, Kaid, Ying, Blitz, Echo, and Maestro. We’ve listed the specific changes below, and Ubisoft’s post explains why the changes are being implemented.
Lion
- Replaced the scan outline by a red ping debuff
- Reduced the ability warning from 3 to 1.5 seconds
- Reduced the scanning from 4 to 2 seconds
- Reduced the ability cool-down from 27 to 15 seconds
- Increased the number of charges from 2 to 3
Capitao
- Reducing damage per tick from 19 to 12
- Size of the area of effect increased
- The area takes 2 seconds to reach its maximum size
- The arrows follow a straight trajectory until 10 meters. After that, they will start to fall due to gravity.
Ying
- In order to make Ying’s Candelas more intuitive and simple, we have inverted the cooking mechanic.
Nomad
- Added an idle sound cue to activated Airjabs.
- Stun grenades replace her Claymore.
Kaid
- We have reduced the TCSG12 total ammunition to 51 (from 61).
- The AUG-A3 damage is increased to 33 (from 27).
Maestro
- To reduce the effectiveness of his Evil eyes, its bulletproof windows will now be half-way opened when affected EMPs or Shock Drones.
Echo
- IQ can now detect Echo when he is using his PDA.
Blitz
- To reduce the frustration generated by this operator, the ballistic shield flash cool-down has been increased (from 2 to 7 seconds.)
Ubisoft hasn’t confirmed exactly when the above changes will go live, but it’s nice to know they’re on the way. In the meantime, Siege’s Operation Burnt Horizon is in full effect, with more Year 4 content to come soon.