Ubisoft continues its seasonal updates (Operations) for its tactical shooter Tom Clancy"s Rainbow Six Siege. Marking the beginning of Year 4"s third season and the final day of the Raleigh Major tournament, the studio today unveiled Operation Ember Rise, the next massive update to Rainbow Six Siege that brings in two more Operators, a map rework, and other features, including a battle pass.
The two new Operators arrive from South America. The Defending Operator Goyo, reigning from Mexico, sports his unique Volcan deployable shield as his gadget that will set on flame any unsuspecting attacker that tries to vault over or destroy it like any other shield. Defenders can also shoot this shield"s flame canister from the back to trigger the fire and deny entry for a while.
On the other side, the Peruvian Operator Amaru is heading to the Attacking team. She sports a special grappling hook that lets her quickly zip up to ledges, windows, and even ascend through openings on ceilings. This means Defenders going against Amaru will have to keep an eye on yet another angle of entry and reinforce floor panels, something that hasn"t been a major threat before.
Kanal is the map getting a rework this time around, with changes being made to its layout and aesthetics for elevating its competitive nature. See the video above to catch the updated map and the Operators in action.
In addition to all this, Ubisoft is preparing Rainbow Six Siege to also get a battle pass, something battle royale players should be familiar with. This will roll out in two stages. A free "mini-battle pass" will kick off during Season 3 with cosmetic rewards being doled out for doing challenges. During Season 4 is when a full battle pass will rollout, with both premium and free tracks for players to get rewards from.
There are other gameplay changes as well, such as AFK players now dropping defusers at the start of a match, a new Champions rank for players with higher than 5000 MMR, an Unranked Playlist that follows the same ruleset as Ranked but without the stress of the climb.
For those who want to try all this out before their official launch, Operation Ember Rise equipped Rainbow Six Siege test servers will be going online tomorrow, August 19, on PC to catch bugs and balance the new changes. Judging by previous seasons, a public release should arrive in around two to three weeks time.