Ram is a 1-speed, 3-health operator and is currently one of the unique support operators in the game. You can unlock Ram for 25000 Renown or 600 R6 Credits.

Here’s everything you need to know about this operator.

• Related Topic: Rainbow Six Siege Solis Operator Guide: Loadout, Gadget, Tips, and more

Ram Operator Guide

BIOGRAPHY

“I may not have family, but I have Redhammer.”

Choi was born in Busan, South Korea. Although the circumstances of her early days are unclear, we know she was left at a fire department, then raised in a series of orphanages. Early caregivers describe a cunning child, who knew when to keep her head down and when to stand out. Hobbies that began in her youth, like interests in K-Metal and charcoal drawing, remain into her 30s — a testament to Choi’s consistency and loyalty.

Choi joined the Republic of Korea Armed Forces (ROKA) the moment she came of age, and began earning commendations, working swiftly up the ranks to Sergeant First Class (Sang-sa). She was soon recruited by the 35th Commando Battalion (Tarantula) where, in a tight-knit all-female unit, she mastered building clearance, hostage rescue, VIP protection, and the use of advanced technology when assaulting an enemy.

The Tarantula Unit is a high-performing CTU that deserves its renown, and Choi’s status as a standout about its specialists is notable, as she took the lead on a myriad of combat and intelligence operations. As other members retreated to the private sphere, she stayed, often the eldest in her unit. Performance reviews mention her thriving in this senior role, describing a fiercely protective soldier, who stops at nothing to keep her peers safe.

PSYCHOLOGICAL REPORT

Ram explained to me how women in the Korean military can only enter at a very high rank, then laughed and said she expects the same treatment in Redhammer. While we only have one Captain, she exudes leadership. A big sister vibe, really. Been awhile since I had one of those, so I’m not hating it.

She’s dialed in on the field to a very high degree. I envy her focus, whether it’s during a mission or in downtime when she’s got her headphones in and sketching charcoal.

In our line of work there’s a lot of, shall we say, “forced redundancy,” and if the axe falls on me one day, it’ll be good to know I’ve got a ready, willing and 100% capable replacement in Ram.

— Captain Jordan “Thermite” Trace, Redhammer Squad Leader

Best Weapon Loadout

• Primary Weapon: R4-C (ASSAULT RIFLE), LMG-E (LIGHT MACHINE GUN)
• Secondary Weapon: ITA12S (SHOTGUN), MK1 9MM (Handgun)
• Secondary Gadgets: HARD BREACH CHARGE, STUN GRENADE
• Unique ability: BU-GI AUTO BREACHER

Ram has two options for her primary weapon: the R4-C Assault Rifle and the LMG-E. The R4-C doesn’t need any introduction to any Siege player, as it is one of the fan-favorite weapons in the game. The R4-C is a really strong weapon in our eyes, because of its high damage and high fire rate. To put into context, the Assault Rifle can take away 39 HP with a single bullet in an operator’s body within 25m. Pairing it with the Extended Barrel attachment can increase this damage further to 43, making it a fierce option.

However, the gun has seen some recoil nerfs over the years, but nothing a seasoned player can’t manage. So, we using the flash hider or Compensator attachment paired with the 1.5x scope for this weapon. If you want a more controlled aim and are adjusted with 1x sights, then you can equip it as well.

On the other hand, the LMG-E is the light machine gun which you will recognize from Zofia’s loadout. The LMG-E is also considered one of the best LMGs in the game, as it has a huge magazine size that can hold 150 bullets, so you won’t need to worry about reloading much. However, if you have to reload then it won’t take as long as a typical LMG. Siege is past its LMG meta, as Ubisoft has nerfed the recoil of all LMGs really hard.

So which gun should you pick? We will heavily lean towards the R4-C as it is just too good of a gun to pass on. With this AR, you can support your team by playing vertically and also help by getting some kills in the later parts of a round.

For her secondary weapon, Ram’s two choices are ITA12S shotgun and MK1 9MM pistol. Here we highly recommend picking the ITA12S as it will help you cleanly break the floor if the BU-GI drone fails to do so.

Secondary Gadget

Ram has two secondary gadgets to choose from: the Hard Breach Charge and the Stun Grenade. Your decision should be based on your personal preference and the round’s game plan. We will argue that going for the Hard Breach Charge would be more advantageous. This would allow Ram to open hatches while playing vertically with the drone. So, take a moment to see what your teammates are selecting and adapt your choice accordingly.

• Related: Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3 Operation Heavy Mettle: All the Changes Listed

Unique Ability

Ram’s primary gadget is called the ‘BU-GI AUTO BREACHER‘ or shortly the BU-GI drone. This is a soft-breach gadget that moves slowly in the intended direction, methodically destroying the soft floor it travels over and any obstacles in its way. The drone can move in three settings: straight, left, or right.

Ram first throws the drone when pressing the primary gadget button, and then she can activate it by pressing the button again to start ramming the floor. But before activation, Ram can select the three trajectories by pressing the firing mode switch button and the path will be shown with a blue projection. Do keep in mind, that the left or right modes will slightly curve the direction of the drone. After activating the BU-GI drone will do its work automatically, allowing Ram to be proactive with her gun. This is a big upside compared to Sledge or Buck, where you have the risk of getting flanked.

Like Sledge or Buck, Ram primarily excels as a soft breacher on a team. In most rounds, defenders heavily reinforce bomb sites, creating a challenge for horizontal attacks. This is where Ram’s role becomes pivotal, as a soft breacher. By creating openings in the floor, Ram disrupts defenders’ fortified positions, forcing them into vulnerable situations. As defenders scramble or find themselves exposed, Ram’s skill in opening new lines of sight from above becomes crucial, often leading to significant attacker advantages. To maximize Ram’s effectiveness, focus on areas with ample soft surfaces where defenders are likely to be situated.

Ram’s BU-GI drone makes a loud grinding noise when it is activated, which you can use to your advantage. In Rainbow Six Siege, game sound is crucial, and as Ram you can activate your gadget to drown out the defender’s ability to hear audio cues such as footsteps or defuser planting sound.

Tips and Tricks

1. You can destroy wooden barricades of windows or doors by throwing the BU-GI drone and quickly get inside the map.
2. Create lines of sight with the shotgun and destroy Wall-Denial gadgets like Kaid or Bandit to help in hard-breaching.
3. Peek through your vertical holes after you’ve created multiple lines of sight from above.

How to counter Ram?

Ram’s BU-GI drone can be countered easily with any explosives like Impact Grenades or Nitro Cells. But there is also a vulnerable red rank of the gadget (like Mira’s canister) that you can pop to destroy it.

While Ram’s BU-GI drone has some electronic components, it doesn’t rely on them after being activated. Therefore, Mute’s jammer has no effect on the drone itself. But you won’t be able to activate the gadget if you are near a Mute jammer yourself.

Should you pick Ram?

Ram is a great addition to Rainbow Six Siege’s pool of soft breachers. Picking a soft breacher is almost mandatory in most maps and bombsites, so we will highly recommend this operator.

However, Ram’s full potential can be maximized in the hands of an experienced player. With better map knowledge, you can identify the common anchor spots of the defenders, and use the BU-GI drone to create multiple vertical angles and flush them out with the gun or a Stun grenade.

• Read More: Rainbow Six Siege Year 8 Roadmap: Everything you need to know

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Siege’s Y8S3 Operation Heavy Mettle is bringing a new operator Ram, who has a unique drone that can obliterate any soft floors and barricades in its path. Ram is a 1-Speed 3-Health Attacker, and she is the second operator in Siege to be equipped with the R4-C rifle.

However, not only that, the Y8S3 patch is bringing the massive Playlist Changse, a new Commendation system, operator balancing, and more.

The Y8S3 Patch will be deployed on August 29 at 13:00 UTC for PC, which includes Steam, Ubisoft Connect, Stadia, and Amazon Luna. Xbox and Playstation users will also receive the update at the same time as PC. The servers will go down for an hour for maintenance.

Release times in different regions:

1. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT): August 29, 09:00
2. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT): August 29, 06:00
3. British Summer Time (BST): August 29, 14:00
4. Central European Summer Time (CEST): August 29, 15:00
5. Indian Standard Time (IST): August 29, 18:30
6. Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST): August 30, 00:00

Patch Sizes

• Steam: 5.5 GB
• Ubisoft Connect: 6.11 GB
• Xbox One/ Series X: 5.85/6.76 GB
• PS4/PS5: 5.45/5.85 GB

Read the full Y8S3 Patch Notes and Designer’s Notes.

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Ubisoft recently unveiled the latest seasonal update of Rainbow Six Siege, named Operation Heavy Mettle. As is customary, the excitement generated by the reveal has started to dwindle. The new season has already been introduced on the PC Test Server, a few days back, with the intention of addressing any bugs and glitches that are typically introduced with new releases. Nevertheless, the player community appears to be uncertain and uninformed about the exact release date of Year 8 Season 3 on the live servers.

When is R6S Year 8 Season 3 Coming Out?

According to Ubisoft, Operation Heavy Mettle will be released on Tuesday, August 29th, across all platforms. However, the exact release and maintenance times have not been revealed yet. But guessing from the previous seasons, the Y8S3 patch might be released at 13:00 UTC with 1-hour downtime.

• Related: Halo’s Master Chief is joining Rainbow Six Siege in new crossover

Siege’s latest season is set to introduce the new South Korean Operation “Ram”, who is a 3-Health 1-Speed Attacker. Alongside this, the devs have revealed a plethora of new updates, including changes to Quick Match, operator balancing, new player-onboarding features, and more.

Read the full Y8S3 Patch Notes and Designer’s Notes.

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Ubisoft has recently unveiled the roster of Rainbow Six Siege streamers and content creators slated to receive these unique charms. Here’s the lineup for Y8S3:

• EmreBekmezcii
• Rasco100
• Vetel_GG
• OneShooter_

• Read More: Halo’s Master Chief is joining Rainbow Six Siege in new crossover

R6 Siege Y8S3 was already looking spicey with all the new changes, and the inclusion of four new charms to support favorite streamers will be much appreciated by the community. Among the most recent additions are Nicolas “OneShooter” Joachim, Emre “Reembey” Bekmezci, “Rasco100“, and “Vetel“.

You can easily get these charms by subscribing to the respective streamer’s Twitch channel with a linked Uplay account. For more detailed info on how to claim the charms, visit here. Once a user has claimed a streamer charm, it will stay in the account for good, even if they unsubscribe from the streamer’s channel later on.

How to acquire charms

These charms are only available by subscribing to the respective streamer’s Twitch channel with a linked Ubisoft account. For more information on how to link your Ubisoft and Twitch account, as well as opt in for Twitch Drops, please refer to this FAQ.

How to get involved

We are always on the lookout for additional content creators to add to the program. If your goal is to see your charm in game, we use the following criteria to begin the selection process for potential candidates:

This is an evolving program so to reflect this, the following requirements have been adjusted.

Requirements to be considered

• Approximately 150+ concurrent viewers.
• Average of 10 Rainbow Six streams per month.
• Average of 20 hours of Rainbow Six streamed per month.
• Positive standing with Ubisoft/Rainbow Six Siege.
• High quality level of content.
• Twitch Partnered.
• Rainbow Six Siege reserves the right for final decision.

Consideration for Removal

• Less than 10 Rainbow Six Siege main streams over 3 months.
• Level of quality dropping below an acceptable level.
• Standing with Rainbow Six Siege/Ubisoft compromised.
• Any actions that may negatively affect the R6S/Ubisoft brand.
• Loss of Twitch Partnership.
• Rainbow Six Siege reserves the right for removal of any charms.

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UUNOMEISTER is back in G2 Esports, and joining him is Ramalho, the new head coach of G2, who will be replacing G2 legend Fabian.

UUNO joined G2 back in 2019 after jNSzki left the legendary Siege roster. But G2 experienced a big downfall after 2019 and it continued to get worse throughout 2020. Because of the inconsistent and poor results, G2 continued to make many changes, and UUNO eventually left the org in 2021.

Here’s what UUNOMEISTER shared on Twitter (X):

“Once I heard I had the opportunity to come back, I felt like now it’s time to finish the job I left behind the last time. And that is to be the best team in the world.”

G2 Esports are currently the Six Invitational Champions; however, they failed to win the Copenhagen Major and didn’t have a strong showing in the Gamers8 tournament. G2 recently replaced Blurr with Gemini, but now that UUNO is here to fulfill the role of a supporting player, Gemini will most likely drop to the inactive roster.

• Read More: Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3 Operation Heavy Mettle: All the Changes Listed

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G2 Esports has announced that Fabian will be leaving his position as a coach of their Rainbow Six Siege team.

It’s not the first time, Fabian has parted ways with G2 Esports, as he first the org as a player back in 2018 when G2 joined the R6 esports scene. In his time as a player, Fabian and his team became one of the most successful and strongest teams in the R6S, winning three Pro League Finals in seasons 4, 5, and 8. He even led his team to win back-to-back Six Invitational titles in 2018 and 2019, the Paris Major, and also the DreamHack Winter 2018.

After leaving the org as a player in 2020, Fabian joined G2 again in 2022 as a coach this time. The God Emperor ‘Fabian’ led G2 to another Six Invitational win this year, making him the only person to lift 3 SI hammers.

Fabian wrote on Twitter: “I decided to go do something else, got an offer I wanted to take that isn’t with a team, and felt it was the right time, I felt like it would be the best outcome for all of us.”

“I want to live my life outside of working 6 days a week every afternoon and night, and the new job allows that Thank you to G2 for having me again, thanks to the players for giving me the third hammer and being the only one with that. Thanks to all supporters. Cya around nerds”

• Read More: Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3 Full Patch Notes: Commendation System, Quality of Life Improvements, and more

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A new leak on Twitter has revealed that Master Chief, the main protagonist of Xbox’s Halo series, is coming to Ubisoft’s popular FPS shooter.

• Read More: Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3 Designer’s Notes: Lesion Buff, Playlist Changes, Shotgun Rework, and more

This new Master Chief elite bundle is designed for one of the most popular operators in Siege which is Sledge. As you can see in the clip above, the skin is inspired by Master Chief’s appearance in Halo Infinite, and it just looks stunning.

The Siege community is also really hyped with this leaked skin, with popular content creator THERUSSIANBADGER tweeting: “IF THIS SHIT IS REAL WE ARE SO F#CKING BACK.”

Ubisoft has been partnering up with multiple companies to release crossover skins in Siege. Some of the previous collaborations include Rick and Morty skins, NieR Iana Elite, WWE skins, and more.

After the leak was already spreading around the internet, Ubisoft and Halo just decided to almost confirm it and start teasing the upcoming release.

However, right now, there is no official confirmation about when this new Elite Skin will release, but we can expect it to release sometime this year, most probably during Y8S3 Operation Heavy Mettle.

The post Halo’s Master Chief is joining Rainbow Six Siege in new crossover appeared first on GameRiv.

Kicking off, the new Y8S3 Patch will introduce the brand-new Player Commendation system. This new feature will allow players to recognize the good behavior of teammates, and promote overall positivity in the Siege servers.

There are more changes coming in regards to player comfort, such as the ability to kick players from a squad, and change the game leader, a new free-cam with HUD disabled in match replays and spectate mode, and more.

All these changes make Operation Heavy Mettle a unique season, and there will be more coming during the mid-season patch, as promised by Ubisoft. In the meantime, read the full Y8S3 patch notes below.

R6S Y8S3 Heavy Mettle Patch Notes

PLAYER PROTECTION

PLAYER COMMENDATIONS

Coming this season are Commendations, a new way for players to shout-out others for their positive behavior contributions to the team.
Every match, each player can give out 2 commendations to teammates and 1 to the opposing team. To keep things fair, a player can only commend the same teammate once during each 7-day period.

The available commendations are:

• Valor: a great teammate who stays cool and is fun to play with.
• Dedication: a reliable teammate who stays engaged, fills in roles, and actively relays intel.
• Guidance: a teammate who takes on a leadership role, helping the others by sharing knowledge and developing strategy.
• Players can vote as a team to commend the opponents for playing a fun and fair match.

Commendations also lead to rewards. Players with a Commendation Streak are those who are frequently commended. They’ll be highlighted to others in-game unless this option is turned off in the privacy settings. Having an active streak grants increased Alpha Pack drops, and there will be exclusive rewards for commended players at the middle and end of each season.

REPUTATION SECTION UPDATE

With the addition of Commendations, the Reputation section has gone through some changes. These updates add two new pages to give players more visibility.

• The Commendations page keeps track of a player’s commendations, their Streak, and Alpha Pack drop rate.
• The Misconduct page gives players visibility on behaviors that are affecting their Reputation Standing.

PRIVACY OPTIONS UPDATE
New options are coming to Privacy Mode this season which hide your Commendation Streak and add a link in-game to the Ubisoft Account privacy settings to allow quicker access.

PLAYLISTS UPDATE

Multiple changes are coming to playlists this season, including a Quick Match rework, a redesign of Unranked (now called Standard), and a brand new Arcade mode.

QUICK MATCH REWORK
Changes to Quick Match focused on making this playlist quicker than before. Round timers have been reduced, objective locations are now automatically revealed, and bomb sites are set up in advance with reinforcements and rotations.
Also coming to Quick Match is Attacker safeguard which grants a 10-second invulnerability to them at the start of the Action Phase to stop spawn peaking and allow Attackers time to safely get to the building. If an Attacker enters the building before the 10 seconds runs out, their invulnerability is removed and they can be injured or eliminated.
Players must now be Clearance Level 10 to join Quick Match games, but matchmaking has been tweaked to decrease wait times, and a soft Skill reset has been applied.

STANDARD PLAYLIST
Replacing Unranked from this season onward is Standard, a playlist which offers the core Siege experience without Operator or map bans. This change aims to be more welcoming to all players by further separating it from the competitive nature of Ranked. To help with this, the competitive Play section has been renamed Tactical, to make finding both Standard and Ranked more intuitive.

With Standard being designed for players of all experience, the Clearance Level has been set to 0.

WEAPON ROULETTE ARCADE
Get ready for some chaos and fast action with Weapon Roulette this season, a new game mode coming to the Arcade playlist. In this new game mode, respawn is active and all players start with the same weapon, which automatically swaps to a new one after a set amount of time.

BALANCING

GRIM BUFF PT. 2
The second part of Grim’s buff adds a new firing mode to the Kawan Hive Launcher, letting players select whether the Kawan Hives stick to a surface or bounce off of them. This new bouncing firing mode lets players specify the location in which they want to activate the Hive, without needing a line-of-sight.

FUZE
Fuze can now deploy Cluster Charges on Deployable Shields and Osa’s Talon-8 Shields. This change aims to create a new synergy with Osa by allowing the deployment of Cluster Charges in new places at the cost of shattering glass of the Talon-8 Shield.

SHOTGUNS
Standard shotguns have been reworked so they are more consistent and easy to learn, by normalize the firing range based on the average kill distance. The goal here is to reward good practices such as aiming for the head or holding angles, and decrease the value of spray-and-pray. (More details below)

PLAYER COMFORT

MATCH REPLAY & SPECTATOR MODE
Players can now enter Free Camera mode in spectator mode to watch the action from any distance or angle. In both Match Replay and spectator mode, players can also hide the HUD to capture footage with a more cinematic experience.

SQUAD MANAGEMENT
The Squad Leader can now remove players and promote another player to Squad Leader from the in-game player profile, accessed from the Squad panel or scoreboard.

IN-GAME PATCH NOTES
Patch Notes can now be read directly in-game from the Notifications section, ensuring players can remain up-to-date with game changes. This new feature also directly links to R6Fix, making it quicker to report bugs or provide feedback on reported issues.

ONBOARDING

This season, newcomers to Siege will get a brand-new first-time experience.
This new flow leads newcomers through playable Tutorials, where they will learn the basic, core mechanics of Siege before going on to learn about the Attacker and Defender roles. After completing all Tutorials, players are rewarded with 10 Operators to play with and practice their learnings. If any of these Operators are already owned, they will earn the Operators value in Renown instead.

BATTLE PASS UPDATE

The Intro section of the Battle Pass has been reworked to showcase rewards as complete sets and track their completion, as well as provide easier access to the Battle Pass progression track.

SEASONAL WEAPON SKIN

This season is a heavy hitter, and the seasonal collection items of the Dynamic Entry bundle strike just as hard. Make your way to the top with the Explosive Surprise weapon and attachment skins, and the Collateral Damage operator card background. Don’t forget the Locksmith charm as well to complete your rather… unconventional lockpicking kit! The seasonal weapon skin will be released at season launch and available for purchase throughout the season. Once unlocked, it remains in your inventory indefinitely and can be applied to all available weapons.

OPERATOR PRICE DECREASE

This season brings about its fair share of operator price decreases. Just updated, Grim is now priced at 20,000 Renown or 480 R6 Credits. Next is Osa, who will now be available at 15,000 Renown or 360 R6 Credits. Finally, Zero’s price is now down to 10,000 Renown or 240 R6 Credit

OPERATOR BALANCING

LESION:

Base stats

• Refill timer: Reduced to 20 seconds (from 30).
• Max. resources: Increased to 9 mines (from 8).

GU mine

• Initial damage: Re-introduced at 5hp (from 0).
• Poison damage: Increased to 12hp (from 8).
• Poison timer: Reduced to 2 seconds (from 2.5).
• Cloaking removed.
• HUD Icon removed.
• Stepping on a GU Mine while being affected by another will reset the Poison timer and deal the Poison damage instantly.
• Added Area of Effect feedback.
• Gadget isn’t detectable by IQ’s Electronic detector.
• Gadget isn’t hackable by Brava’s Kludge drone.

Loadout

• Weapons: Added Super Shorty as a secondary weapon option.

ZERO

Argus camera

• Piercing rules: Can pierce through Deployable Shields and Talon Shields.

TWEAKS & IMPROVEMENTS

PLAYER COMFORT

OPERATOR GUIDES

• New Seasonal Operator (RAM) Operator Guide is available in-game and in the Operator section.
• Updated Operator Guides for Grim and Lesion with the balancing changes.

GPU SELECTION OPTION

• GPU Selection option allows players to select which graphics card to render the game with if several are installed on the PC.

DEFUSER PICKUP OPTION

This new option lets players decide the defuser pickup behavior from these choices:

• Automatic
• Manual
• Both (Default setting)

DEFUSER FOUND UPDATE

• To be consistent with Bomb Found visuals, the location of an activated defuser is displayed in the HUD to Defenders once they’ve located it.

CROSS-SAVE FUNCTIONALITY

Some parts of the player’s saved profile will now be shared across all platforms, including:

• Visual customizations
• Common gameplay options
• Progression
• Matchmaking preferences
  Additionally, Operator loadouts and equipped weapon attachments will be shared across console platforms, but not between consoles and PC.

GAME HEALTH

PLAYLIST UPDATES

QUICK MATCH MAP POOL

• House
• Villa
• Club House
• Consulate
• Chalet
• Favela
• Coastline
• Tower
• Bank
• Nighthaven

STANDARD MAP POOL

• Oregon
• Club House
• Plane
• Yacht
• Consulate
• Bank
• Chalet
• Kafe
• Border
• Coastline
• Villa
• Nighthaven
• Fortress

ARCADE GAME MODES

• Weapon Roulette added to the Arcade Playlist
• Headshot Only removed from the Arcade Playlist rotation ( expect it to return in the future)

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With Y8S3 Operation Heavy Mettle, Rainbow Six Siege is getting some fresh new updates to the game. The seasonal content includes the new operator Ram, Quick Match and Unranked playlist overhaul, operator balancing, and more.

You might have not noticed some changes such as the massive Lesion buff during the reveal panel, but the detailed changes have been outlined by Ubisoft below.

We can clearly see Iana and Warden clearing everyone with their high pick rate. It is obvious that Iana has almost become a must-pick in most Attacking rounds, as she has one of the high fragging power in the game right now. On the other hand, Warden’s high presence can be boiled down to mostly the 1.5x scope on his zero recoil MPX.

Ubisoft has identified these two operators being as outliers and will bring changes accordingly in the mid-season patch.

• Related: Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3 Operation Heavy Mettle: All the Changes Listed

Y8S3 DESIGNER’S NOTES

MESSAGE FROM THE TEAM

We’ve been observing both Iana and Warden’s continuous ascent to the top tiers of presence in matches. We are aware of the situation and the issues behind it.
Iana’s high presence is mainly driven by her access to Frag Grenades, while Warden’s high presence relates to the strength of 1.5x sights on Defender loadouts. The Community’s sentiments over this topic are in alignment with ours. These operators need changes, and we will take action in an upcoming mid-season patch to make sure they feel less like “must picks” and more like weighted choices within a squad’s lineup.

This mid-season patch adjustment is aimed at allowing more operator diversity in matches in the short term, but we are working in parallel on a bigger solution that will attend the balance situation of Frag Grenades and the 1.5x sight within Siege. Both elements are widespread through our lineup of operators, and we know that shuffling them around is not a sustainable solution, that is why we are taking the time to polish a more substantial set of changes that should open up more balancing options allowing us to make less “binary” changes in the future.

OPERATOR BALANCING

FUZE

CLUSTER CHARGE

• Can be deployed on Deployable Shields and Talon Shields

Now that Fuze can deploy the Cluster Charge on reinforcements, we will also allow him to do it on Deployable shields and Talon Shields. It is a small change but will create a new synergy between Fuze and Osa, allowing the use of his charges in places that weren’t possible before. Though there is a cost. As with any other bulletproof glass, the Cluster Charge will shatter the shields when the drilling is successful.

ARGUS CAMERA

• Can pierce through Deployable Shields and Talon Shields.

This change won’t have a huge impact on matches, but it will bring consistency to the rules of piercing, if the gadget can get through reinforcements, it should also be capable of piercing Deployable and Talon Shields. Since the piercing action of the Argus Camera cannot shatter Mira’s Black Mirror, then the same rule applies to shields, so they won’t shatter either.

Grim

KAWAN HIVE LAUNCHER

• Switch Ability Mode to Sticky (default) or Bouncy

One of the main weaknesses of Grim is the need to have a line of sight with the location you want to activate the Hive in. With this update, we are introducing a new firing mode to address this. From now on, Grim can select if the projectile will stick or bounce after touching a surface. This adds to all the changes done in the previous season and will help you to apply the effect on your target.

Lesion

BASE STATS

• Gadget refill timer Reduced to 20 seconds (from 30)
• Max resources Increased to 9 mines (from 8)

GU MINE

• Gadget type is now Mechanical (unaffected by EMPs)
• Initial damage Increased to 5hp (from 0)
• Poison damage Increased to 12hp (from 8)
• Poison timer Reduced to 2 seconds (from 2.5)
• Cloaking removed
• HUD Icon removed
• Stepping on a GU Mine while being affected by another will reset the Poison timer and deal the Poison damage instantly.
• Added Area of Effect feedback

LOADOUT

• Added Super Shorty as a secondary weapon option

Dying because of something invisible is a source of frustration and is why we removed the initial damage from the GU mine at the beginning of Year 5. But this change also removed a situation we’ve been trying to recover for some time: the fear of stepping on multiple mines in a row.

We have reintroduced the initial damage and made stepping on multiple mines a bit spicier. If you are already poisoned by a GU mine and trigger another, you will receive the initial damage and an instant tick of poison damage from the one already on your foot, so you will need to be more careful. These 2 changes turn the mines into a threat again. We are also tweaking some extra values, like the poison damage and the timer, to make removing the nail more urgent.

Because of these changes we have decided to remove the cloaking completely, making GU mines always visible. This should eliminate the frustration and increase the skill ceiling, as you will need to look for good locations to place your mines. This also removes the only electronic part of the device, so IQ won’t be able to detect them, and Brava won’t be able to hack them.

GADGET BALANCING

BASE STATS

• Bulletproof Glass: Hitting the shield with a melee will shatter the glass windows.

We have taken the opportunity to update the Shattered Glass System for Deployable Shields along with the changes to Fuze. If the shield receives a melee hit, the glass of the windows will be shattered.

WEAPON BALANCING

BASE STATS

• Every shotgun excluding the BOSG 12, TCSG12 and ACS12 have had the following changes.
• Ranges are normalized into 3 stages.
• 0-5 meters, each pellet deals 100% of the base damage
• 6-10 meters , each pellet deals 75% of the base damage
• 13 meters and above, each pellet deals 45% of the base damage
• Headshot modifier: A pellet getting the headshot modifier deals 1.5x the damage after its range modifier.
• Hip fire spread has been revisited and redistributed across the board.
• Shooting while aiming down sight results in a tighter spread across the board. Note that this effect is not new, just being increased to reward players when aiming down sights.
• Moving increases the spread.

This is a big pass on every classical shotgun in the game. With these changes we are adding consistency and something you can learn. Ranges are normalized and based on the average kill distance in the game as well as the m590A1, which we know is a favorite at this time. The goal here is to reward good practices such as aiming for the head or holding angles. These changes are aimed at making shotguns less spray and pray, and more worthy as an option without removing what is currently working.

PLAYLIST ECOSYSTEM UPDATE

As announced during the year 8 reveal, we started to look at how we could change Quick Match to make it much more… well “Quick.” We realized that we needed to make tweaks to other playlists for this new Quick Match to fit.

BASE CHANGES

• Action phase reduced to 165s (from 180).
• Operator pick phase duration reduced to 20s (from 30). Additionally, if the round did not involve a role swap, the operator pick phase is reduced to 15s.
• Preparation phase reduced to 30s (from 45).
• Objective locations are automatically revealed for attackers at the start of the round.
• Clearance Level availability increased to CL 10
• We have made some tweaks to the matchmaking algorithm for Quick Match to find matches quicker.
• We will be applying a soft reset to the casual skill level algorithm to bring everyone closer together, which should result in finding matches even faster.

We are also taking this chance to implement 2 new concepts to the Quick Match playlist: Pre-Setups and the Attacker Safeguard

PRE-SETUPS

For every map in the map pool, we have designed 2 sets of pre-setups for every bombsite (this new feature is bomb exclusive) which include a number of pre-deployed reinforcements on the map as well as pre-placed rotations and holes.
These new pre-setups will allow defenders to jump into the action right away without having to worry about reinforcing the entire site.

ATTACKER SAFEGUARD

Attackers in Quick Match will no longer have to worry about possible spawn peaks or runouts at the beginning of the round as we are implementing 10 seconds of invulnerability at the start of the Action Phase (for attackers only). An attacker will become vulnerable again after those 10 seconds or if that attacker enters the building. This way, attackers will be able to approach the building without having to check every window.

We are also extending the already known “Red Walls” for 10 additional seconds to keep defenders from exiting the building while the attackers are making their approach.

These changes are aimed at making Quick Match a place in Rainbow Six: Siege that allows you to jump straight into the action and jump out to another match. We want players to feel that they can have their R6 fix easier, without having to worry about the basic and repetitive actions of a normal Siege match.

Additionally, we wanted to address the fact that some of the more classic maps in the casual map pool will not be included in the new Quick Match. We know that losing access to these maps can be frustrating and we will actively work towards adding them back to the map pool as soon as they are ready with their own new pre-setups.

Part of this update includes changing what was previously Unranked and giving it a new identity inside Rainbow Six: Siege. With the Quick Match updates, we were losing a place in the game to experience a core Siege match outside of the Ranked environment, that’s why we decided to shift Unranked into what we now call the “Standard” playlist.

Standard will now also be the recommended playlist for new players coming into the game.

BASE CHANGES

• Removal of Operator and Map ban phases.
• Overtime rounds changed to 1 (from 3).
• Clearance Level availability changed to CL 0.
• We are renaming the competitive cluster to “Tactical” in order to better inform players about the type of playlists that can be found inside.

The post Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3 Designer’s Notes: Lesion Buff, Playlist Changes, Shotgun Rework, and more appeared first on GameRiv.

Ubisoft has recently revealed Rainbow Six Siege’s Y8S3 Operation Heavy Mettle, and we got the see the new operator Ram, alongside changes to Quick Match and Unranked playlist, the new Commendation system, and more.

• Related: Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3 Operation Heavy Mettle: All the Changes Listed

However, the new Y8S3 patch is also going to introduce a major operator balancing update, which Ubisoft didn’t even bother to share in the live reveal panel.

In Y8S3, Lesion’s Gu Mine is now being turned into a Mechanical gadget instead of a high-tech one. This means the mine will now be unaffected by EMPs, IQ scanner, and even Brava cannot hack it. On top of it, the Gu Mine’s cloaking ability is now being removed, instead, the devs have brought back the initial damage of 5hp.

Additionally, Lesion will now have 9 Gu mines (increased by 1), and the gadget will also refill quicker than before, taking only 20 seconds (from 30). The poison tick damage has been increased to 12hp (from 8) and if you step on another Gu mine while being already affected by one, you will receive an instant 12hp damage.

On top of this, Lesion will be getting the Super Shorty as a secondary weapon option.

Did Lesion need a buff?

We are scratching our heads to find out why Lesion is getting such a major overhaul, as he was sitting in a quite balanced position in the pick rate chart, and even the community didn’t have much to complain about.

With these buffs, Lesion’s pick rate will surely increase and might become a greater problem to Ubisoft than he initially was.

The post Lesion getting some Big Changes in Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3 Heavy Mettle appeared first on GameRiv.