Rainbow Six Siege has a new tracking operator, a shield rework, and more in new update

Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft's long-supported tactical shooter, is about to enter the ninth year of its seasonal updates. Dubbed Operation Deadly Omen, populating this one is a brand-new attacking operator, a rework to how shields function, visible trajectories for throwables, and more features.

Deimos, the villain Ubisoft has been building up in Rainbow Six Siege lore, is the latest operator joining the title as a playable character. Joining the attacking side, he arrives equipped with miniature drones that can be deployed for a powerful tracking mechanic.

When his DeathMark Trackers ability is activated, Deimos can select a previously revealed enemy operator and receive a tracker on their exact position continuously. The intel gathering tool holds multiple charges, but is made available to Deimos slowly as each round progresses. Enemy abilities, like Mute's Jammers, can pause the DeathMark timer, but the drones cannot be destroyed.

While powerful, he can only use his unique .44 Vendetta revolver when this ability is active. The tracked enemy can also see a tracker on Deimos' position. Plus, the enemy's location isn't shown to the whole team, meaning the Deimos player will have to communicate well with his team mates effectively to setup tricky kills. Watch the gameplay video above to catch him in action.

Next, shield-wielding operators Montagne, Blitz, and Fuze can now sprint while using shields, letting them blow through barricades easily for surprise attacks. They can now also free look from behind the shield, as well as reload, use grenades and abilities without putting down their valuable cover. A melee attack to push enemies back has also been added.

Ubisoft is also making throwing gadgets an easier and more accurate task, with a trajectory visualization now popping up when holding a nitro, grenade, and all similar throwables. Fresh maps and operators for the Versus AI playlist, magnified optics for attackers, smoother rappelling animations, and a cosmetic item management menu are coming with this update too.

Rainbow Six Siege Year 9 Season 1: Operation Deadly Omen first hits test servers on February 26, letting players try out the new Operator and changes so Ubisoft can make appropriate changes. If everything goes to plan, the update will land on live servers across all platforms on March 12, 2024.