Rainbow Six Siege Update 4.2 Out Today on PS4, Xbox, PC

Going live within the next few hours on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, Rainbow Six Siege update 4.2, titled Operation Skull Rain Reinforcements, includes adjustments to Twitch, Doc, and Blackbeard. On top of that, you’ll find a new gadget, attachments, adjustments for less commonly used weapons, bug fixes, and more.

Ubisoft says, “You can expect these kinds of updates for future seasons as we try to implement changes we think will help improve the game, while incorporating feedback from the community.” Since there’s only one more Rainbow Six Siege season planned (a Japan-themed one in October), it sounds as though the developers will come out with another season pass.

You can check out a partial list of some of the biggest changes below:

Operators

Twitch

Twitch is a good example of an Operator that is popular, has satisfactory pick and win ratios, yet her unique gadget, the Shock Drone, is quite underwhelming. Because of this, we have decided to change the utility of the Shock Drone quite drastically, in order to reinforce the uniqueness of her gameplay and the threat her Shock Drone (err… Drones).

The most notable change to Twitch is that she will now deploy a fully functional Shock Drone in Preparation Phase, in place of a normal Drone. This is a very significant change to the Preparation Phase system.

Once the match begins, Twitch’s two normal drones have now been replaced by a second Shock Drone. Deploying this second Shock Drone will not destroy the first one, if it survived the Prep Phase. This means that she will be able to switch between the Prep Phase Shock Drone and the deployed Shock Drone by cycling through her observation tools, then activating it.

In addition to these changes, the Shock Drone has been modified the following ways:

It now moves 30% faster (this puts it on par with normal Drone speeds).

It creates less sound when moving.

The red light on the model has been removed.

The range of the darts has been increased from 5m to 7m.

Blackbeard

There are two things that we wanted to improve for Blackbeard. Gameplay wise, we’ve observed that the usage of his mounted shield is too passive – most players will just equip it at the beginning of the round, and keep it till the end or till their (too rare) death. Balancing wise, his pick ratio and win ratio have clearly shown that he is very powerful.

The following changes are meant to address these two points:

Blackbeard now has 2 shields, and can cycle through them with a queue system by equipping / un-equipping.

The HP of the shields has been reduced, from 800HP to 150HP.

The Shields’ durability is displayed on the UI.

Doc

Even though we’ve seen some great plays with it, most of the time Doc’s stim pistol felt too situational. We want to give Doc a gadget that makes him more useful, in more varied contexts. Giving his darts the ability to heal teammates means he can have a much more versatile role in more strategic situations. In the same way that Doc can revive himself from DBNO, Doc will also be able to self-heal as well.

Furthermore, he can now over-heal. Shooting a dart at a fully healed teammate or himself will provide a boost up to a max of 120 total health points for a limited time. The heal is 40 HP per dart, so even partially injured teammates can be over-healed. This over-heal is only temporary and will decrease 1 health point every 2 seconds back to 100 health points.

We believe that this change will be a clear upgrade to his versatility and will make him a more interesting pick for the defense.

New Gadgets

Attackers: Claymore

Some Attackers can now use the Claymore mine, a deployable gadget to cover their backs while progressing forward, flanking, or when in a vulnerable positon like sniping or droning. Plant the Claymore and once a Defender crosses on of its three laser rays, it will explode in a front-facing directional pattern.

Claymore Distribution

We have given Claymores to Attackers who mostly play support roles, or who could benefit from having a way to watch their back.

Thatcher loses Stun Grenades and gains a Claymore.

Twitch loses Stun Grenades and gains Claymore.

Glaz loses Breach Charges and gains Claymore.

Thermite loses Stun Grenades and Breach Charges, gains Smoke Grenades and Claymore. Note: since Thermite is probably the most support oriented attacker right now, we believe Smoke Grenades will fit better with this playstyle than Stun Grenades.

Defenders: Impact Grenade

Select Defenders now have access to the Impact Grenade, a grenade exploding on impact or after 1 second of throwing it. Perfect for close range firefights when things go south, and it can be used to open holes in the environment.

Impact Grenade Distribution

We have distributed Impact Grenades with two things in mind: reducing the overall amount of Nitro Cells among Defenders, and adding more active options to Defenders who mostly used their unique ability during preparation phase.

Caveira loses Nitro Cell and gains Impact Grenades.

Castle loses Barbwires and gains Impact Grenades.

Smoke loses Nitro Cell and gains Impact Grenades.

Rook loses Barbwires and gains Impact Grenades.

New Attachments

Muzzle Brake

This attachment diminishes first shot recoil, putting an emphasis on precision.

Weapons this can be applied to: G36C R4-C, MP7, SR-25, MK17, C8SFW, CAMRS, UMP45, MP5, P90, AK12, OTS-03, 552 COMMANDO, 416-C, 9x19VSN, MP5K, FMG-9, AR33, L85A2, 556xi, F2, 417, MPX.

Heavy Barrel

With this barrel attachment equipped, damage at long distance doesn’t decrease as much, in tradeoff for extra recoil. This means that there is less falloff damage, which will vary per weapon but will be around 10-20% damage increase at long ranges.

Weapons this can be applied to: 416-C, beretta m12, C8-SFW, MAC-11, P90, Para-308, R4-C, 9mm C1, UMP45, Mk17 CQB.

You can read up on all of the tweaks and bug fixes by heading over here.

Ubisoft also announced that they’ll be disabling the Surrender functionality this afternoon and won’t bring it back until the exploit is fixed in update 4.3.

Are you hoping that Ubisoft brings out another Rainbow Six Siege season next year?

[Source: Rainbow Six, Ubisoft]

Essential Reading:

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