Rainbow Six Siege Y8S4 Deep Freeze Release Date, Early Patch Notes, and All Changes

Considering that Deep Freeze is a highly anticipated patch for Rainbow Six: Siege, it only makes sense that players are eager to know its release date and all changes listed in the patch notes.

Deep Freeze is one of the largest patches ever released for Rainbow Six: Siege. With about 50 GB, Deep Freeze will significantly change systems, add maps, an operator, and much more.

Rainbow Six Siege Y8S4 Deep Freeze Release Date

The update was supposed to come out on December 28, 2023, but it was postponed. According to the Rainbow Six Siege official X account, the decision was made to make sure that the players will get the best experience possible.

The devs are probably doing all they can right now to make sure that the Patch is at a decent state and will improve the player’s experience instead of making the game worse for everybody and that is commendable.

Rainbow Six Siege Y8S4 Deep Freeze Early Patch Notes

Operator Balancing

Several operators have undergone changes in their load outs and abilities. These changes include:

• Mira: The bulletproof glass of Mira’s Black Mirror can now be shattered if a projectile drills into it and explodes from the inside.
• Osa: Smoke Grenades have been replaced with Frag Grenades.
• Capitão: Now has an EMP Impact Grenade as a 3rd option.
• Lion: EMP Impact Grenades have been replaced with Frag Grenades and the Gonne-6 has been removed.
• Grim: Breach Charge has been replaced with EMP Impact Grenades and the Breach Charge has been removed.
• IQ and Sens: Frag Grenades have been added to their loadouts.
• Blackbeard: EMP Impact Grenades have been replaced with Frag Grenades.
• Maestro: Evil Eyes have seen several changes, including an increase in active time and cooldown time, and an increase in the number of Evil Eyes to 3.

Weapon Balancing

• 552 COMMANDO
  • Damage: 43hp (from 47)
  • Stronger vertical and horizontal recoil.

• FRAG GRENADE
  • Removed the ability to cook the grenade.
  • Reduced the initial fuse time to 4 seconds (from 5).
    • Added the “Stun Grenade” cooking system, reducing the fuse time after the first bounce to 2 seconds.

Related: Rainbow Six Siege: Battle Pass System Explained and Rewards

Tweaks and Improvements

• Main Menu Tweaks
  • Reorganized player information in the top menu.
  • New display of the Squad status.

• Playlist Update: Maps added to Quick Match:
  • Hereford Base
  • Plane
  • Yacht
  • Fortress
  • Emerald Plains
  • Stadium
  • Nighthaven Labs
  • Lair

• Quick Match Maps Pre-Setups:
  • Revisited pre-reinforcements and pre-rotations from the Y8S3 Quick Match 2.0 released maps.

• Standard Map Pool Update: The Standard Map Pool will reflect the same maps as Ranked.
  • Oregon
  • Club House
  • Consulate
  • Bank
  • Kanal
  • Chalet
  • Kafe
  • Border
  • Skyscraper
  • Coastline
  • Themepark
  • Villa
  • Outback
  • Emerald Plains
  • Nighthaven labs
  • Lair

• Ranked Map Pool Update
  • Added: Lair
  • Removed: Stadium

• Permanent Arcade
  • Added Impact Grenades and the Oryx Hatch Climb ability to all operators in the Free For All game mode.

• Free For All
  • Added Lair to the map pool and removed Stadium.

• Deathmatch
  • Added Lair to the map pool and removed Stadium.

• Golden Gun
  • Added Lair to the map pool.

• Weapon Roulette
  • Added Lair to the map pool and removed Stadium.

Unbannable Map

• Lair
  • This map will be an unbannable for the whole season.

Related: Rainbow Six Siege Solar Raid Solis Operator Explained: Abilities, Release Date, and Everything We Know

Rainbow Six Siege Y8S4 Deep Freeze New Map, System Updates, and Other Changes

New Operator: Tubarão

The latest season of Rainbow Six Siege introduces Tubarão, a Defender hailing from sunny Portugal. With his Zoto Canister, Tubarão has the ability to disrupt both gadgets and opponents by creating a cold zone, providing him with a unique advantage on the battlefield.

New Map: Lair

The new season brings with it a new map, Lair. This facility, discovered on the coast of Portugal by members of Wolfguard, serves as Deimos’ base of operations. Its restricted access points and versatile layout make it a formidable fortress, reflecting Deimos’ sophisticated and traditional methods.

Reputation Update

The new season also introduces an update to the Reputation System. A new phase, known as the Grace Period, has been introduced, providing players with more detailed information about their standing and the factors affecting it.

Rainbow Six Siege Marketplace Beta

Starting November 12, players can register for a chance to access the new R6S Marketplace, which is set to enter beta in early 2024. The R6S Marketplace will provide a safe and anonymous platform for players to trade eligible items, with transactions being made using R6S credits. There will be a 10% tax on each transaction.

Versus AI Playlist Beta

Developers decided to come up with a stress-free environment for players to practice. The Versus AI will feature beginner and advanced difficulties so players can get a feel of the game before jumping in against human adversaries.

Seasonal Weapon Skin

The seasonal weapon skin for this season, the Sudden Glacier bundle, offers players a chance to brave frigid waters with the Superstorm weapon and attachment skins. The bundle also includes the Jewel of the Abyss charm, adding a touch of style to your arsenal.

Map Training Playlist

Map Training is a new playlist introduced this season that allows players to familiarize themselves with different aspects of the map. It features two game modes: Landmark Drill and Target Drill.

In Landmark Drill, players can learn the locations of important rooms and navigate between them, enhancing their spatial awareness within the game. On the other hand, Target Drill is designed to help players learn regular routes to bomb sites and common opponent positions, improving their strategic planning and anticipation skills.

Operator Price Decrease

This season sees a decrease in the price of several operators. Solis’ price is now set at 20,000 Renown or 480 R6 Credits, Thorn’s price has been reduced to 15,000 Renown or 360 R6 Credits, and Aruni’s price is now 10,000 Renown or 240 R6 Credits.

Feature Update

The new season introduces FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0, a temporal upscaling algorithm that produces high-resolution frames from lower-resolution inputs, favoring quality over performance.

Download Size

The download size at the season launch will be much larger than usual. The goal is to reduce the size on disk from around 70GB to about 50 GB.