Over the past couple of weeks, Ubisoft has been gradually dispensing details on Rainbow Six Siege’s latest season, Operation Grim Sky, but now they’ve fully pulled the curtain back. The publisher has released a meaty gameplay video showing new Operators Clash and Maverick in action, as well as full Grim Sky patch notes. Check out the new Rainbow Six Siege Operators doing their thing, below.
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Here’s the official description of Clash and Maverick’s unique abilities:
Clash – CCE Shield
The CCE Shield is Clash’s primary weapon; she can swap to her secondary at any time, but to do so, she needs to put her shield away first. Her bulletproof extendable shield has the ability to slow down opponents by using a high voltage Charged Field Generator (CFG) that emanates directly in front of the shield in a cylindrical shape. Opponents caught in the CFG also sustain low damage over time. Effective use of the shield allows Clash to block entry points, and to prevent or delay a push by the Attackers.
Maverick – Exothermic-S “Suri” Torch
Maverick’s D.I.Y. blowtorch can breach any surface, including reinforced walls and hatches. It requires a steady hand and knowledge of the environment to create small holes and lines of sight. Maverick must be in close range to use his gadget on the chosen surface. This torch makes almost no sound but it runs out of fuel quickly. Nevertheless, the high precision of this gadget makes it a very creative tool to use hands-on without relying on digital technology. Using the Exothermic-S Torch can be risky but the team can reap high rewards with efficient use and skill.
Grim Sky will also include a rework for the Hereford Base map, a new Elite Set, weapon skins, and plenty of other tweaks and improvements:
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Frost Elite Set
No matter how cold it gets, Frost has a way of welcoming people. She’s also the best at doing so with a spring loaded trap. No matter the weather, we’re celebrating this JTF2 specialist with a cool elite set. Elite Frost is ready to face polar climates with her Huntress uniform, victory animation, gadget skin for her Sterling MK2 LHT, and weapon skin for the Super 90, 9mm C1 and MK1 9mm. She’ll also have the Elite Frost Chibi charm.
Grim Sky Weapon Skins
During Operation Grim Sky, the U.K. holds the spotlight. The seasonal weapon skins are the famous Whitehall 1212, the indomitable spirit of Majesty, the iconic Spitfire, and the royal flair of Sovereign. These will spruce up your loadouts.
Map Rework: Hereford Base
The aim of this Hereford Base Map Rework is to address issues pertaining to the map’s flow, balancing, and visual thematic to make the new Hereford Base viable for competitive play. Each floor of the new Hereford Base will have a larger surface area, which also means more destructible floors and walls. New stairs and hatches will be available, allowing for more movement between each floor and increasing the viability of rotations.
The map’s visual identity and color palette are also getting an update, giving each floor more personality. Players will find a mix of old-school and modern influences, and thematically distinct rooms. However, the map will still retain its “soul,” making multiple nods to the old Hereford Base.
Map Buff: Consulate
The sky may look grim but things are looking up on Consulate. The Development Team dusted off some old blueprints and sought ways to improve this Rainbow Six Siege map, taking into account both the Attackers’ and Defenders’ perspectives. The Police Line spawn point will be extended, offering a safer path to the fortified building. As for the Gas Station spawn point, a wall will be moved to prevent spawn peeking and early kills. We’ve also added a fourth bomb site in Tellers and Archives. Time to revise those strats.
2-Step Verification For Ranked
During Operation Grim Sky, we will make 2-Step Verification a requirement for any PC player to join a Ranked match. This will start with an awareness campaign, followed by the activation of the lock.
Operators Balancing
- Thatcher – EMP Grenades will now temporarily disable cameras instead of destroying them.
- Twitch – Shock Drone will emit slightly more noise.
Game Balancing
Hatch Reinforcement Changes – Hatch Reinforcements will now allow for partial destruction. Our goal is to deliver less binary destruction for hatches. We have made improvements to how Hatch Reinforcements are handled within the game, and are able to work around some of the blockers that prevented partial destruction from being possible.
Player Comfort
- Idle Operator Pick – If you are not able to select an Operator before the end of the selection phase, you will no longer be a Recruit. You will be a random Operator from the list of Operators you have unlocked, barring any already selected by your teammates.
- Improved Mute Functions – We are implementing additional muting functions to allow our players to take more control of their Rainbow Six Siege experience. Players will now be able to mute each player in the game individually. For example, you can mute the text chat of Emilien, the voice chat of Grabriel, text and voice for Craig, and neither for Amelie.
Game Health
Dynamic Resolution Scaling – We are introducing dynamic resolution on consoles. The goal is to improve image quality when the GPU load is lighter, and render better framerate in GPU-heavy scenes. As a result, you will experience more consistent performance during gameplay, especially in situations where there are a lot of stress on the GPU, such as with a lot of explosions like Fuze charges.
Here are further details on dynamic resolution on consoles:
- Xbox One outputs at 900p with a render scaling between 40% (1012×572) and 80% (1432×804).
- PS4 outputs at 1080p with a render scaling between 40% (1216×684) and 80% (1720×968).
- Xbox One X outputs at 1728p with a render scaling between 40% (1944×1092) and 100% (3072×1728).
- PS4 Pro outputs at 1440p with a render scaling between 40% (1620×912) and 100% (2560×1440).
Playlist Changes
- Map Rotation – With the addition of the reworked Hereford Base map, we will be updating the Ranked and Casual playlists. We will have 12 maps in the Ranked rotation, and 18 in the Casual playlist. All maps will be available in Custom Games.
- Ranked maps include Bank, Clubhouse, Oregon, Kafe, Consulate, Chalet, Border, Coastline, Theme Park, Villa, and Hereford Base.
The Grim Sky update also includes the usual list of bug fixes – you can get the lowdown on every minor tweak and fix, right here.
Rainbow Six Siege is available on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. Operation Grim Sky is currently limited to test servers, with full launch scheduled for sometime in September.
