Rainbow Six Siege Operator Balancing, Tier Allocation & Branded Item

The 2022 season of Rainbow Six esports has kicked off with the APAC League last week, and the Siege fans will now be able to support their teams by purchasing the new R6Share team-branded items from the in-game store.

RAINBOW SIX SIEGE OPERATOR BALANCING

BANDIT
Bandit can deploy multiple batteries on the same reinforcement or gadget
Population targeted by this change: Top Ranked.

BLACKBEARD

We previously tweaked Blackbeard’s primary gadget to tone down his aggressive playstyle a little, but we hear you. That nerf hit him quite hard and thanks to a loadout that didn’t vibe with the change, he’s been in a limbo state. To better match his ability to effectively hold flanks and rotations while sticking back in an encounter, we’ve switched his Breaching Charges with Claymores.

GRIDLOCK

We’re hoping to make Gridlock a more reliable Operator pick for covering flanks. Right now, Ops like Nomad end up being more consistent – and while that may still be the case efficacy-wise, this buff will allow Gridlock to cover a more extensive area and give Defenders more trouble per square foot, so to speak.

NOMAD + ORYX

We’re looking at this change in hopes of making knock-back effects less guaranteed kills and give more room for the affected players to react and survive, either by responding to the threat from the prone position or just being able to escape from some otherwise last-second situations. All of this will moreso affect Nomad rather than Oryx due to the frequency and type of encounters, but the change will impact both Operators.

SMOKE

While this change is pretty explicitly a nerf, it mainly targets what is essentially a special immunity just for Smoke. Adding this vulnerability should make it more obvious at a glance how abilities affect all Operators, even if they are technically wearing a gas mask.

WARDEN

This change is half buff and half quality of life improvement. We’re hoping that it will better cement Warden as a hard-counter to smoke plants and Operators like Ying. Warden will still be mostly situational, but this should make his Glance Smart Glasses easier to handle in terms of timing.

RAINBOW SIX SIEGE SHARE TIER ALLOCATION & TEAM BRANDED ITEMS

As outlined during the Year 7 Roadmap at the Six Invitational 2022, we have simplified the tier allocation system for R6 SHARE by moving from a 3-tier system to a 2-tier system. After over a year of learnings, we want to recognize the efforts and investments of our member organizations in making Rainbow Six Esports shine and felt that these efforts should be rewarded with the possibility to move to Tier 1 more easily.

For each R6 SHARE team, team-branded items will be made available as bundles purchasable directly through the in-game store. Furthermore, to replace team-branded charms, we’re happy to introduce the team-branded operator background cards as part of each team branded bundle.

Astralis
Team BDS
DarkZero Esports
FaZe Clan
Fnatic
G2 Esports
MIBR
Natus Vincere
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Rogue
Spacestation Gaming
Team Liquid
Team Secret
TSM FTX

Tier 1 team bundles include a weapon skin, operator background, uniform, and headgear. The Tier 1 team bundles are now available for purchase in the in-game store for 1680 R6 Credits.

SIX MAJOR THERMITE SET IN RAINBOW SIX SIEGE

To celebrate the Six Major in May, a special Thermite bundle is now available for purchase in the Esports page of the in-game store. 20% of the revenue from this set will directly contribute to the prize pool of the Six Major in May, giving you the opportunity to support the teams that will take part in the competition.

In a new announcement, the Rainbow Six Siege devs have explained that they will not be going ahead with Smoke’s gas vulnerability change as previously stated in the Y7S1.2 patch.

In Rainbow Six Siege’s Y7S1.2 mid-season patch, Ubisoft revealed a controversial balancing change regarding the SAS defender Smoke’s interaction with his main gadget. Smoke can deploy toxic gas canisters that deal damage to every operator in its vicinity, including the friendly defenders.

Only Smoke himself has been immune to his gas grenades, and this was a core gameplay mechanic that has been present in the game since the beginning. Therefore, when the devs removed it on the Test Server, the Siege community provided strong feedback on reverting this change.

Ubisoft was quick to provide an update to this situation, as they announce the Smoke change will not be deployed on the live servers.

“We’ve heard your feedback and the change to Smoke’s gas vulnerability will not make it onto Live servers. We also see your concerns about LMGs. We are working on it and will keep you updated as soon as we have more information to share.” – Ubisoft.

The Y7S1.2 Patch also didn’t address the strength of LMGs and their popularity in the game right now. But the devs have now stated they are aware of the situation and will reveal more in the future.

The communication of Ubisoft with the Siege community has been pretty positive lately, and hopefully, these quick updates from the devs will continue throughout Year 7.

Positions of Rainbow Six Siege Operator

Attacker

Primary weapons: Assault Rifles, Submachine Guns, Shotguns, Marksman Rifles, Light Machine Guns, Ballistic Shields
Sidearms: Handguns, Machine Pistols, Shotguns
Gadgets: Breach Charges, Frag Grenades, Smoke Grenades, Stun Grenades, Claymores, Hard Breach Charge, GONNE-6
Generic gadgets: Drones, Grappling Hooks

Defender

Primary weapons: Assault Rifles, Submachine Guns, Shotguns, Marksman
Rifles, Light Machine Guns, Ballistic Shields
Sidearms: Handguns, Machine Pistols, Shotguns
Gadgets: Barbed Wires, Deployable Shields, Nitro Cells, Impact Grenades, Bulletproof Cameras, Proximity Alarms

Is Rainbow Six Siege free now?

We have an idea. Rainbow Six Siege continues to be a popular FPS game that casual and hardcore gamers alike are registering to play. It’s unfortunately not a free game — but that doesn’t mean you can’t play it for free! Ubisoft often offers Free Weekends for new players to try out the game.

Is Rainbow Six Siege kid friendly?

Despite Rainbow Six Siege being rated M for violence and swearing, most adults stated that the game wasn’t appropriate for young kids due to how hard the game is. Many adults stated that children 10 and above should be allowed to play Rainbow Six Siege.

Will there be a Rainbow Six Siege 2?

Developers Ubisoft have explained why there are no plans for a Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege sequel, despite the 2015 title’s enduring popularity well into 2021.

Can Rainbow Six Siege be played offline?

Rainbow Six Siege actually has an Offline Mode. Once the game is installed, you have access to two modes if you don’t have internet: Situations and Training Grounds, formerly known as Terrorist Hunt. Situations is a mode with short training scenarios. Players are graded on their performance in each situation.