Rainbow Six Siege Update Brings Changes to Existing Operators and New Map

The next update for Rainbow Six Siege is slated to arrive on December 15th and with it, players can expect a new map for PvP, weapon and operator balances, and major changes to one character.

Bartlett University, a map previously used only for PvE modes, will now be available in PvP and has been redesigned for this use.  The redesign of Bartlett University includes “better” two-layer destruction and an improved visual layout.

As for characters/operators and other tweaks, Siege players very well may want to start taking a closer look at Tachanka.  This character’s main special weapon is a stationary turret which can be set up to bolster defenses, but has largely been regarded as weak by the player-base.  This turret gun is getting outfitted with a shield in front of the turret that protects the charcter from headshots. According to Ubisoft “The objective is for Tachanka to be the king of the angle that he positioned into, while being very vulnerable to other angles.”  The new shield can absorb 500 HP.  The downsides to this is that the turret gun will get increased recoil and a wider spread.

Fuze is getting tweaked as well.  This character will get an additional Cluster Charge, and those charges will get an increased blast radius for each pellet.  Fuze’s Cluster Charge previously had a lethal blast radius of 1.2m and a non-lethal blast radius from 1.2m to 2.5.  With the update, Fuze’s charge will now cause non-lethal damage up to 4.2m.

Bandit is getting a fourth battery, which should allow for even more protection from breaches.   Alongside this, another small tweak is being made to Smoke’s Gas Grenades.  Those will now behave like a normal grenade, rather than the nitro cell trajectory that they currently follow.

Everyone’s favorite/most-hated character in the game, Blackbeard, is getting a balance.   His shield is getting nerfed from 150HP to 60.  ADS speeds are being increased in both the standing and sprinting forms.

As for general equipment tweaks that’ll be found in this patch.  Sheilds will be more resistant against explosions, which means shielded characters will have a better chance of surviving an explosion if they’re using the shield for protection.  The improvements to shield characters depends on directional protection and how much of the body of an operator is exposed to a blast.Explosions and their accompanying physics are also going to see some changes.  Grenade explosions are being recalculated for more consistent destruction for both Impact and Frags. Both will use a radial explosion for damage that decrease in size with distance.

You can find the laundry list of weapon tweaks in this update at the offical site.