Rainbow Six Siege Update 3.0 Is Live Today on PS4, Xbox One & PC

With the server maintenance complete on PlayStation 4, Ubisoft has released Rainbow Six Siege update 3.0, which includes Operation Dust Line and more. The update will come to Xbox One and PC later today once the maintenance wraps up at 11am ET and 12pm ET, respectively.

Reportedly a 4.2GB download, here’s the patch notes for today’s update, which should show up as 1.10:

Content

• Dustline: In Operation Dust Line, two Navy SEAL Operators join Team Rainbow to secure the “Border,” our new free map. This second major content update also introduces new weapon skins, advanced customization options, the ability to change your loadouts between rounds and lots more.
• Operators: With Operation Dust Line, Team Rainbow recruits two of the Navy SEAL’s finest: Blackbeard and Valkyrie. The new Operators are immediately unlocked for Season Pass owners, with a 7 day exclusive access. All players can then unlock the Operators with Renown or R6 Credits after the exclusive period ends.
• Border: Team Rainbow has been called in to assist the local law enforcement and regain control of the border. Two Navy SEALs stationed in the area have been enlisted to provide their expertise of the region to Team Rainbow. A mix of old and new buildings with open air pathways make this the most destructible and open planned map to date. The new Border map is available for free for all players.
• Weapon Skins: With Operation Dust Line, get the USA desert Camo, the Dust Line signature skin, the Navy SEAL skin and more.
• Headgear: Swap out your operator’s headgear from basic camo upgrades to high quality traditional military and fantasy gear. Unlock new gear using Renown, R6 Credits, or a combination of the two.
• Charms: Charms are now available for weapons. Whether you want to equip your favorite operator, a six medal or a unicorn, you can now equip your weapon with a lucky charm before going into battle.

New Features

• Winning Team Showcase: We are also introducing a new winner’s showcase to the end of multiplayer matches. After the final round, the winning team’s operators are displayed in all their glory to both the winning and losing teams, and an MVP for the match is crowned, for ultimate bragging rights.
• Loadout Customisation Between Rounds: You can now customize your operator’s loadout between each round. Simply select your operator and go to their loadout to select weapon, attachments, charms and headgear.

Game Balancing

Operator Balancing

• IQ’s gadget now has enhanced visual feedback: We have changed the way IQ’s device displays the environment and electronic devices. You can now see through the screen, and there will now be an outline of the detected devices. The effective detection distance is now 20 meters.
• Tachanka’s LMG is now easier to place and easier to use: We have modified the placement zone so it is easier to deploy Tachanka’s Mounted LMG in tighter spaces, and while closer to walls or other objects. You will also be able to interact with the Mounted LMG much quicker than before (faster entry and exit time). This is a first step for Tachanka tweaks as we will continue to monitor and improve him.
• Montagne’s shield adds side protection: We are introducing added protection to Montagne’s shield to cover his sides. We believe this will make him a more interesting option, by pushing even further his defensive capabilities. This will allow him to enter rooms more safely and provide even more cover to his teammates.
• Frost no longer has a Nitro Cell: Building on the tweaks to Frost’s Super 90 shotgun introduced with Patch 2.3, we have decided to replace her Nitro Cell with Barbed Wire. We saw that the reduction in range to the shotgun did not really affect her selection rate nor her win rate. Since she has a very good and useful unique gadget, we believe that this change will fit her role as a trapper better.
• Buck gets grenades & reduced recoil, but his shotgun loses range: We are removing Buck’s Breach Charges due to the increase of Buck’s shotgun destruction radius. Instead, we are giving him frag grenades which we think will make him a more aggressive offensive Operator.
• We are reducing the horizontal variation on the recoil for one of his primary weapons, the C8 rifle. That means that when you hold fully automatic fire, the gun will move a little less in the left/right direction.
• We have slightly reduced underslung shotgun’s effective range by 2 meters, so it fits more as a tool than a clear-cut offensive weapon.
• Thatcher’s EMP grenade gets a range reduction: We’ve reduced his unique gadget’s effective range from 7m to 5.2m. The intention is to keep him from clearing a whole room of gadgets, from the top, bottom, or even sides. We want to encourage players into thinking where the best spot is to throw the EMP. Additionally, Thatcher’s EMP now disables enemies’ sights completely for 10 seconds.
• Sledge swaps Breach Charges for Stun Grenades: We have replaced his Breach Charges for Stun Grenades making his loadout options more versatile. We believe this change is for the best as Sledge has the equivalent of a better, reusable Breach Charge with him. He is also statistically almost never played with Breach Charges, which makes sense.
• Thermite swaps Frag Grenades for Stun Grenades: We are swapping Thermite’s Frag Grenades for Stun Grenades. There are two reasons behind this change. The first reason is that Thermite has a very important unique gadget, making him one of the most pivotal Operators in an attacking team. The second reason is to limit the number of concurrent Operators that can bring Frag Grenades on the field. To us, two Operators with frag grenades is more than enough for an attacking team, and more than two would make it a lot harder for the Defenders to protect their objective. This will make Thermite slightly less offensive, while giving him more utility.
• The FBI SWAT Recruit Shield loadout will now have heavy armor: The FBI SWAT recruit equipped with a shield is now bearing heavy armor, making him a 3 armor and 1 movement speed instead of 2 armor and 2 speed. We made that change for shield-wielding Operators to be consistent in speed. We saw what kind of aggression the Recruit Shield could bring and a skilled player taking full advantage of his loadout was too strong. This change should help making him on par with other shield-wielding Operators and effectively allow the newer Rainbow Six Siege players to get accustomed to the movement speed that shield-wielders have.

Gadget and Attachments

• Introducing gadget placement cancellation controls: We have introduced a new flow for placing gadgets. Instead of holding a key or button and letting it go when you are ready to place the gadget, you can now press it to take out the gadget in your hands and then hold it to place the gadget. You can also cancel the placement at any time. This feature will need to be turned ON in the Options menu.
• Red Dot & Reflex Triangle sights now more precise: The green triangle in the Reflex Sight and the red dot in the Red Dot sight are now much smaller for better precision.
• Flash Hider & Compensator adjustments: We have reworked how the Flash Hider and Compensator function. We want them to have more significant roles, like the Silencer. The intention is to have each attachment reward a specific weapon wielding style.
• Flash Hider: Besides still partially hiding the flash, we have opted to reduce the time it takes for the weapon to center back and reduce the first shot recoil. This attachment will now reward single-shot and short burst firing.
• Compensator: We have added a cap on the maximum recoil this attachment allows for, making fully-automatic fire more potent.
• Stun Grenades now detonate faster after contact: Stun Grenades now detonate 1 second after making contact with a surface instead of having a 3 second fuse. We wanted to make that change because we think it will add a surprise effect and will make them more effective.

Weapon Balancing

• Pump-Action Shotgun rebalance: We have improved the pump-action shotguns by giving them more effective range for their maximum damage. This means that their full damage will begin falling off at a further distance than previously.
• SDASS Compact: 53 damage up to 3 meters -> 53 damage up to 5 meters
• 591A1: 48 damage up to 5 meters -> 48 damage up to 6.5 meters
• M870: 60 damage up to 2 meters -> 55 damage up to 3.5 meters
• This change was primarily due to feedback we received from the community and from workshops with Pro League players. Please note that the line is very fine between underpowered and overpowered for shotguns. We will be monitoring the change to these weapons closely.

Player Comfort

• Controller aiming deadzone fix: There was an issue with deadzones on controllers that has been fixed, which will result in smoother and more accurate aiming while using a controller.
• No more penalty points for destroying your own gadget: You won’t be penalized for destroying your own gadgets anymore. For example, if you’re Rook and someone forgets to pick up an armored plate, you can now destroy the bag so the enemy can’t take advantage of it, without losing points.
• Maintenance System Messaging: There is now an improved maintenance messaging system that will provide a prompt before the maintenance occurs. Additionally players will not be able to attempt to join a game during a maintenance.
• Edit playlist – Custom Games: You can now edit custom game playlists.
• Skip boot sequence: You can now skip the boot sequence by pressing any button.
• Options, Activity, and Squad menus: Now in-game menus, like the Options menu, are black.

You can see even more patch notes by following the link below, including details on playlist changes, gameplay optimizations, anti-cheat improvements, and a long list of bug fixes. There’s also improved HDR rendering, “so that the game will be more contrasted and saturated,” and lighting in menus and on the weapons has been tweaked/improved.

What do you think of this big new update?

[Source: Rainbow Six Siege, Rainbow Six (Twitter), Jysste (Twitter) via GameSpot]