Rainbow Six Siege Update Coming; Here Are The Major Changes

Ubisoft has shared some information for an upcoming patch for Rainbow Six Siege. The patch aims to balance both the pick and win ratio for Siege's Operators.

The company reviewed and compiled data on Operators' usefulness and pick rate after Year 3 Patch 2.0. These numbers are only taken from ranked PC play at the Platinum and Diamond tiers.

Ubisoft plotted all of Siege's Operators on two separate graphs, one for attackers and one for defenders. Each graph telegraphs an Operator's popularity and Win Delta. The Win Delta is the average win ratio for when an Operator is picked minus the average win ratio for when they are not. Sledge happened to come out with a normal pick rate and Win Delta, but every other Operator falls into one of four camps: under-picked and too strong, over-picked and too strong, under-picked and too weak, or over-picked and too weak.

For attackers, Ash is most over-picked, Finka has the highest Win Delta (so she's usually on teams that win), Fuze is picked the least, and Montagne has the lowest Win Delta (so he's usually on teams that lose). Sledge is the closest the attackers have to an average.

All things considered the attackers are pretty spread out. The same cannot be said for the defenders, who are stretched out between being too strong or too weak with very little in-between. Bandit is the most picked defender, and Tachanka--as no surprise to anyone considering the meme around him--is picked the least. Rook has the highest Win Delta out of all the defenders, while Tachanka, Kapkan, and Frost all share the lowest Win Delta (although Castle is not far behind them). Valkyrie, Pulse, and Smoke are the closest the defenders have to an average.

To better balance the win ratio for Siege's Operators, Ubisoft has some changes planned for Finka, IQ, Blackbeard, Glaz, Twitch, Jackal, Frost, and Dokkaebi. The company is also updating how barbed wire works to promote certain defenders. Ubisoft has plans to watch Alibi, Maestro, Ash, Twitch, Jager, Bandit, Frost, Kapkan, and Castle going forward, to discern if there are any changes that can be made to affect their pick ratio, but there's nothing concrete planned so far.

Below are the highlights of the changes coming to Rainbow Six Siege, and you can view the full patch notes on the Siege forums.

Upcoming Changes:

Finka

• Reduce ability duration from 20 seconds to 10 seconds
• Stun grenades will be replaced with Frag grenades
• Reduce Smoke’s Gas Canister damage modifier
• Aim down sights modifier from Adrenaline Rush reduced from -50% to -25%

IQ

• Frag Grenades replaced with Claymore
• Electronics detection reduced from 20m to 15m

Blackbeard

• Increase MK17 damage from 42 to 49
• Reduce SR-25 damage from 72 to 61
• Reduce the hit points on the Rifle Shield from 60 to 50
• 30% reduction in movement speed penalty when the Rifle Shield is equipped (He will move faster)

Glaz

• Reduce OTS-03 damage from 85 to 71

Twitch

• Reduce FAMAS damage from 40 to 37

Jackal

• Increase footsteps scanning distance from 5m to 8m

Frost

• Increase SMG damage from 43 to 45
• Increase Super 90 damage from 32 to 35

Dokkaebi

• Claymore will be replaced with Stun Grenades

Three of the developers behind Rainbow Six Siege held a Reddit AMA to answer questions and better explain the changes the team are making to the game. Rainbow Six Siege is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.