Ubisoft fully unveiled the two new operators, a reworked version of a classic map, and a few other surprises coming to Year 4, Season 3 of Rainbow Six Siege during the Raleigh Major 2019 tournament this weekend. A teaser of the new gadgets these two playable characters bring released last week, confirming months of leaks.

Titled Operation Ember Rise, a playable build of the update launches August 19, 2019 on the PC public test server. Read on for details on what the expansion adds and changes about Rainbow Six Siege.

Operation Ember Rise replaces the Kanal map with a reworked version, one of the three classic maps getting a facelift in 2019. Year 4, season 2’s Operation Phantom Sight reworked Kafe Dostoyevsky by comparison. Joining Rainbow Six Siege’s ever-expanding roster are Goyo from Mexico and Amaru from Peru. Watch the Operation Ember Rise gameplay trailer for an official introduction:

Operation Ember Rise Attacker: Amaru

Amaru is the first operator not really based on a role, but based on movement. She can really favor lone-wolf style players who can pay attention to what their teammates are doing and where so she can optimize her flank plays and quickly navigate around the map. Her self-made Garra Hook lets her become a Gotham crimefighter, launching her at 7.5 meters per second vertically up the exterior of buildings, up and through windows, and yes, even interior hatches.

Amaru Stats & Gear

  • Speed: 2 Armor: 2 Gadget: Garra Hook

Primary weapons:

  • G8A1 (Can now use an Angled Grip) SuperNova (Can now use a Suppressor)

Secondary weapons:

  • ITA 12S SMG-11

Gear:

  • Claymore Stun Grenade

Much like the previous DLC expansion, Amaru’s weapons are all entirely recycled from other operators. The G8A1 is one of IQ’s primaries and the SuperNova is the shotgun of the SAT Operators, while the ITA 12S shotty is the GEO secondary and the SMG-11 is of course the wild SAS secondary SMG. The livestream chat during the announcement were spamming “recycled” during the unveil as a result since Ubisoft now hasn’t added a new weapon in half a year, and the fandom continue to express frustration that last season’s Operation Phantom Sight was perhaps the worst in the game’s history. More on this later!

For countering Amaru, Castle comes in handy since the Garra Hook cannot break through reinforced windows but can ordinary barricaded windows. Amaru players will need another operator to blow the window first. Another obvious counter is placing traps below the window, like Frost, lesion, Kapkan, or even Bandit or Kaid’s electrified wires.

Operation Ember Rise Defender: Goyo

Goyo is the new defender and was raised by his mother and his mom’s best friend (Amaru) after he lost his father and brother at a young age. Amaru taught Goyo from a very young age, hence their strong bond. He comes with a new type of shield barricade that can burn anything around it.

Goyo Stats & Gear

  • Speed: 2 Armor: 2 Gadget: Volcán Shield

  • Vector .45 ACP TCSG12

  • P229

  • Impact Grenade Nitro Cell

Twitch drones (or any electricity) cannot disable or set off the fire canister attached to Goyo’s shields like they can with Mira’s mirrors. Explosives, including impact grenades can destroy it though, as well as Ash and Zofi’s ranged explosive options. Otherwise, simply shooting the red pouch on the back of the shield activates the fire trap.

Goyo comes with Mira’s Vector SMG or can choose a shotgun (Kaid’s long-range shotty that can be equipped with a long-range ACOG scope). Because he’s a faster two-speed operator, he can also sever as a lethal roamer since the vector is one of the best weapons in the game. He’s a faster Mira in that respect. Like Amaru, literally all of Goyo’s guns and gear are not new.

Operation Ember Rise Defender: Ranks, Player Behavior & Playlist Changes

Other notable changes coming with Operation Ember Rise include player behavior changes and some notable alterations to the ranked and casual playlists, along with an entirely new mode/playlist. On the player behavior front, it was only months ago that reverse friendly fire was added for team killers but now they’re going to apply this to squads/groups so if a grouped players are teaming up to teamkill a solo player for instance, the reverse friendly fire will be applied to all of them.

Other upcoming changes address players leaving games by escalating penalties for doing so and for AFK players, anyone who’s not playing during the prep phase, will automatically drop the defuser in Bomb mode for instance so teammates aren’t forced to kill them to progress.

As for playlists, the ranked map rotation is shrinking with Hereford Base, Theme Park, and Fortress being removed from ranked map pool, with the Kanal rework joining the list. This means the Hereford rework that launched last year - the first Rainbow Six Siege rework - ultimately didn’t meet expectations since it’s been pulled out of competitive play.

Most interestingly however, is that Siege is getting an all-new play option called the Unranked playlist, offering players a way to play ranked style gameplay with the ranked maps, without all “the stress.” For ranked players, the ranked tiers have been expanded and adjusted in a big way. First, at the top for the elite players there’s an all new rank beyond diamond called Champions for players above 5000 MMR. On the other end, the lower ranks have more tiers now to offer more progression options. Gold rank now means more than ever before.

Rainbow Six Siege is Getting A Battle Pass

Believe it or not, the non-free-to-play Rainbow Six Siege is trying to introduce a battle pass with a free one-week test in Operation Ember Rise, followed by a full-on battlepass with a real-money premium tier in season 4. Responses to this have been largely negative, and understandably so because of a lack of details, and because of all the other ways Ubisoft is already monetizing the game. The announcement comes at a very strange time given the lack of “new” content in the last two DLC packs (again, zero new weapons). Players are already being asked to purchase annual season passes for access to operators (already way too expensive) and this could be another fee on top of it. We’ve reached out to Ubisoft to verify details but have yet to hear back.

Read all the details and our thoughts on the controversial Rainbow Six Siege battlepass with the link below.

As for what’s next? Mira is getting an Elite Skin (yes, that’s a real-money microtransaction too on top of battlepass, on top of price of game, and on top of season pass). On the esports front, select teams are getting character skins as part of the Pilot Program. They previous had charms and weapons skins. 30% of of earnings from this go to Pro League teams, with 30% of that going to actual players. With the Raleigh Major complete, the Pro League Season 10 finals are already sold out in Japan!

Continue Reading: Rainbow Six Siege is Getting A Battle Pass Because Money

Source: Ubisoft