"I was two years old when Papá first took me to the museum. I asked to visit my ‘yaya’ so often that we went every Friday, rain or shine. I think it helped him to get me out of the garage! But as I grew up, those visits became less and less important."
“They say time heals all wounds. What does it do for those that never began to close in the first place?”
"Now, looking back on her life, I realise I know so little. My earliest memory is of her smile, but her dreams, her desires – her fears – those are all missing. What I love most is the light her memory brings to my father’s eyes. She is still very much alive in his heart. Now, whenever I visit, I spend hours listening to him talk about her, trying to capture that light for my own.
The death toll of a war never tells the whole story. It says nothing of the casualties that occur after the treaties are signed. Bad habits, old wounds, memories – these kill so much more slowly. We can never understand, but we can remember and maybe, God willing, we can keep such a tragedy from ever happening again."
— SPECIALIST ELENA “MIRA” MARÍA ÁLVAREZ
“The past gives us a lens through which to view our future. Inspiration and opportunity come from introspection and observation.”
With Ember Rise release, comes the latest balancing changes. Our goal is to offer you a list of what has been adjusted for the new season and to share our thoughts on these tweaks.
GENERAL CONTENT
SOFT WALL DESTRUCTION
Shotgun destruction We are continuing to improve the reliability of soft wall destruction with shotguns. Our goal is to make sure that any wooden beam preventing the creation of rotation hole is consistently destroyed. By doing so, we hope to make site preparation easier for defenders.
Keratos .357 and LFP 586.
The Italian and the French revolvers destruction output will be on par with the D-50. We expect this minor improvement to offer more viable loadouts and increase their attractiveness.
WEAPON BALANCING
G8A1 LMG Added 100 extra bullet to the G8A1 LMG. IQ’s LMG, which will also be Amaru’s is receiving more ammo to be on par with other weapons of the same class as this LMG had even less ammo than most of our assault rifles.
417 DMR Expanded magazine capacity by 10 rounds. To try and make the 417 a more appealing option, we have decided to increase the number of bullets per magazine. Twitch and Lion will be able to rely on 10 extra bullets per mag with this DMR upgrade.
PDW9 Base damage: 34. Damage at 18m: 34. Damage at 28m: 26. The SMG will now boast regular damage drop-off, like any other weapon of its class. It will still remain a completely viable option for the Spanish Operator.
AUGA3 AugA3 damage increased from 33 to 36. The TCSG12 continues to be Kaid’s weapon of choice, but we would like the Aug A3 to be a viable alternative. Now that the Moroccan defender has received a C4 and impacts, he is able to remodel any site to his convenience, even without a shotgun. Increasing the AugA3 damage should bring the SMG on par with the TCSG12.
OPERATOR BALANCING
WARDEN Penalty on posture change: 30% Penalty on movement: 20% per meter Time before penalty removal is set to 0.1s Full recovery is changed from 1s to 0.5s Penalty on rotation is removed Penalty on lean: 20% Following last season changes brought to Glaz, we are looking to implement a similar system to Warden’s ability. The system used for the Russian sniper enables us to have more options to tweak Warden’s vision.
This modification is also a good opportunity to reduce his movement penalty. The greatest mustache in Siege should now be more comfortable to play with, have more mobility and be a bit more powerful.
CAPITÃO Improved visual and sound effects for Capitão’s Fire Bolts. Fire bolts will now have the same visual and sound effects as Goyo. This change is primarily made for consistency but will also increase the visual feedback of his ability. It should now become easier to figure out if you are going to roast your toes.
FUZE Changed fuze deploy speed from 2 seconds to 1.6 seconds. Fuze’s ability is very risky to use, especially on windows. With an improved deployment speed, his gadget should be safer to use and more likely to surprise an unsuspecting enemy. Our goal here is to try to find a way to increase Fuze’s attractiveness and boost his pick rate.
SHIELD OPERATORS Increase the ADS time when the shield is equipped from 0.4s to 0.6s. Operators using shields were too complicated to take down and the window of vulnerability they offered when switching to ADS was limited. We hope that increasing the time needed to ADS when using a shield will result in more fair gunfights.
OPERATORS LOADOUT CHANGES
Smoke: Impacts replaced with a Deployable Shield.
Rook: Deployable Shield replaced with Barbed Wire.
Jager: Deployable Shield replaced with Bulletproof Camera.
Frost: Barbed Wire replaced with Deployable Shield.
Mira: Deployable Shield replaced with Barbed Wire.
Lesion: Deployable Shield replaced with Bulletproof Camera.
Maestro: Deployable Shield replaced with Impact Grenades.
Warden: Impact Grenade replaced with Deployable Shield.
Dokkaebi: Stun Grenades replaced with Frag Grenades.
Glaz: Claymore replaced with Frag Grenades.
Nøkk: Stun Grenades replaced with Claymore.
The arrival of the updated Deployable Shield[preview-rainbow6.ubisoft.com] has forced us to rethink the utility used by all our operators. We want attackers to have the right tools to counter any defence relying heavily on these shields. Also, Warden and Nøkk will finally receive their initial secondary gadgets, which were temporarily replaced[preview-rainbow6.ubisoft.com].
DEFUSING TIME INCREASE
Defusal planting or deactivation increased from 5 secs to 7secs.
Planting or deactivating a bomb defuser proved to be too short. To try and reward effective control over a bombsite more fairly we have decided to increase the planting or the defusing of the device to 7 seconds. We hope that this change will give more time to both teams to react accordingly.
With Operation Ember Rise coming to the live servers, we wanted to shed some light on the Casual Playlist changes coming at the launch of Year 4 Season 3, and around the 3.3 patch.
We currently have a total of 22 maps; 14 in the Ranked Playlist and 20 playable in Casual. As announced on the Seasonal Patch Notes[rainbow6.ubisoft.com], we will implement a new Casual map pool rotation. This Playlist will now have 14 maps instead of the current 20. Moving forward we will rotate 4 maps in and out of the playlist with each rotation.
With the release of Operation Ember Rise, this is what the Casual map pool will look like:
In a mid-season patch, we will replace Skyscraper, Hereford, Fortress, and Chalet, with House, Plane, Favela, and Tower. We will post updates on social media channels before it reaches the live servers.
Bartlett University and Theme Park will not be playable during Season 3. The latter will be receiving a rework with the release of Y4S4 and won’t be available throughout this season.
Our goal is to give players the ability to familiarize themselves with a more curated selection of maps. We are also aiming to make the playlist more dynamic and enjoyable. Remember to follow us and share your feedback on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook[www.facebook.com] and on our forums[forums.ubi.com].
Something new is on the horizon, and Operation Ember Rise will shed light on it. Two operators, Amaru and Goyo, were recruited from Peru and Mexico, bringing with them innovation and change to Rainbow Six, along with a thrilling rework to Kanal.
Besides that, numerous changes and new features are on their way. As you scroll through the Patch Notes below, you’ll find more information on our plans for a Battle Pass, the new Champions rank and Unranked playlist, our new Operators menu, changes to the Shop interface and Player VS AI, and which Operators are getting a price decrease.
“Save you once, shame on me. Save you twice? Well. You’re family now, and we don’t keep count.”
"They said I’d never make anything of myself. They said that if I couldn’t be taught, I’d never learn anything worth knowing. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s all rubbish. You’ve had to sit through years of them filling your heads with what they want you to think, all for a fancy bit of paper. Worth it, was it? I’ll tell you what. You get out there, you never hold back, and someday some professor who doesn’t remember tossing you out of his class will ask you to come and inspire the next generation. Lucky for all of you, I’ve got a bit of skin in the game as far as young whippersnappers go, so you’d better shape up to be something pretty bloody marvelous.
I’LL BE WAITING."
– PORTER, J., RECIPIENT OF AN HONORARY DOCTORATE IN PHYSICAL AND THEORETICAL CHEMISTRY
“Anyone who says you shouldn’t mix business with pleasure has never made friends with a chemist.”
"Harry – I understood that our new Operator’s grappling hook made her fast, but I never expected it would have that much of an effect on the pacing of our training matches. In less experienced hands (mine), the Garra Hook is a slightly-more-convenient way of scaling a wall or breaking through a barricaded window. But for her, it’s an extension of her body. The way she swings her legs, the way she tucks her arms into her sides, everything is geared toward making her as agile as possible. I made the mistake of challenging her, one-on-one. Then for a rematch. Each time, she took me down from an angle I wasn’t expecting, with a speed I couldn’t adapt to. I have to adapt to it.
My only consolation is that she works best when her opponents are distracted. If she goes charging in, she’s going to get a bullet to the face. And she’ll deserve it. But for now, with her unpredictability, she’s set to turn our whole routine upside down. I can’t wait.
Our other new Operator is a special one. He’s quiet, but thoughtful. I’m not surprised his invention is the same. In both cases, if you underestimate or misjudge he’ll be on you like lightning.
I appreciate fielding another defense that more than one person can use. We have our cameras, and we need to check them, but the Volcán gives us something else to keep an eye on. Plus, it’s impressive. Smoke’s “toxic babes” keep people at bay, and do it well, but an unexpected explosion causes a split-second of disorientation that leaves you vulnerable to attack. When I’m right there behind my mirror, protected from the blast, that split-second is all I need.
You asked if they’re ready. They are. As for how they’re going to change the way we approach each other, we’ll just have to wait and see."
— Specialist Elena “Mira” María Álvarez, Rainbow R&D Director
Visit our Rainbow Six Twitch Channel[www.twitch.tv] on August 18th for the full reveal of Operation Ember Rise during the Six Major Raleigh.
The primary focus of the Y4S2.3 patch brings balancing around shields, Glaz buffs, Jackal nerfs and a QOL change for Maverick torch SFX. There’s also a few other balancing tweaks as well as further improvements to the RFF system to moderate griefing teammates. Check out more detailed explanations on the balancing changes in our Designer’s Notes[rainbow6.ubisoft.com].
The Y4S2.3 patch will release to PC on July 22nd and console on the 24th.
GAMEPLAY UPDATES
RFF ANTI-GRIEFING
Addition of further RFF parameters to take into account damage history to a player from the offender over multiple rounds in a match. – Continued chip damage to an individual from another teammate over several rounds will stack RFF points more quickly.
Putting a teammate into DBNO will activate RFF. – Reviving the DBNO teammate will remove the RFF activation. – Bleeding out from DBNO will prompt the dead player to mark the TK as intentional or not.
IDLE KICK TIMER
Idle kick warning timer will display 10 seconds before a kick.
LAN VOICE CHAT
LAN/Offline modes in-game voice chat has been removed for optimization purposes.
PvP/Online voice chat will not be affected.
BALANCING
SHIELD HIP-FIRE
Hip-fire cone increased.
We have standardized the hip-fire penalization when you have a Ballistic Shield equipped. Having a shield equipped will now increase it by the same amount. Spread has increased for every Operator when a shield is equipped, but Fuze, Montagne and Blitz will be the most impacted by the change.
BALLISTIC SHIELD MELEE
Performing a melee attack with a Ballistic Shield equipped will now only injure and DBNO the opponent, instead of killing them.
The new changes for melee attacks while using a Ballistic Shield will impact Blitz, Fuze, Montagne and Recruit.
ECHO
Reduced Yokai Sonic Burst disorientating effect base duration to 7 seconds (down from 10s).
We are running low on AAA batteries, so to save energy we’re tuning down Yokai’s power a bit.
GLAZ
Reduced time it takes to trigger the vision penalty when moving or rotating, lowering the overall vision penalty when moving.
Movement time before complete vision is lost is now 6 seconds (up from 2.5s).
The speed at which the vision penalty is applied when rotating has also been slowed down.
Glaz has been feeling a bit left out so we gave him some incentive to join the party.
JACKAL
Reduced the number of pings from a scan to 4 (down from 5), reduced time being tracked by 5 seconds.
You can rest easier now. Maybe.
MAVERICK
Modified breaching torch sound SFX.
Breaching torch sounds will now be easier to hear when Maverick is making a hole close to you.
Can you hear me now?
NØKK
Increased Nøkk’s ability duration to 12 seconds and increased the refill timer to 12 seconds.
With the longer duration, and cooldown, you’ll be able to better leverage her ability.
As per the law of equivalent exchange, you can now spend longer being spooky, but also spend longer getting a full refill.
BUG FIXES
GAMEPLAY
FIXED – Under certain circumstances, after emptying the magazine, weapons cannot be reloaded.
FIXED – After joining in progress, any Yokai drones or hacked Mozzie drones outside will not display the jammed VFX to the player who joined midway.
OPERATORS
CLASH
FIXED – Missing SFX for Clash when equipping her CCE Shield.
MIRA
FIXED – Sometimes placing Mira’s Mirror on a reinforced wall may not breach both sides of the wall.
LEVEL DESIGN
KAFE
FIXED – Players can spawn peek the Docks.
USER EXPERIENCE
FIXED – Starting any situation after completing a Custom Online game will start a Thunt Lone Wolf on the same map and mode as the Custom Online game.
FIXED – Players are unable to reconnect to a Ranked session via the dynamic Play button and remain in queue unless they relaunch.
The constant work of our balancing team aims at improving the game experience and the overall game balance. Statistics gathered since the beginning of Operation Phantom Sight have played a major role in the upcoming changes detailed below.
Balancing changes are also motivated by community feedback, which is often an indicator helping us to pinpoint specific issues. A careful analysis relying on data gathered with our internal tools help us to picture what needs to be done. We are about to give you an insight about these statistics and to explain why certain changes have been made.
ATTACKERS
DEFENDERS
Note: these statistics are using a pick rate projection taking into account the Operator ban rate.
CURRENT STATUS
TWITCH With Phantom Sight release[rainbow6.ubisoft.com], we have increased the recoil of the F2 assault rifle. Therefore, her pick rate has reached a more acceptable level: from 60% to 43% presence per round. However, she continues to boast a high Kill / Death ratio from 1.25 to 1.17 and is still a very lethal attacker.
FROST Along with Twitch’s F2 recoil adjustment, we reduced Frost Mats health points, this lead to Frost Mats to be destroyed more often as they are now destroyed 75% of the time instead of 68% before Phantom sight release.
KAID To increase Kaid’s versatility we added the Nitro Cell to his loadout. This option has become more popular with 65% of people using it against 51% using barbed wires during Wind Bastion.
UPCOMING CHANGES
GLAZ
Glaz’s focus gauge will now be depleted in 6 secs (from 2.5secs).
Glaz’s focus will start depleting after a 120° rotation (from 90°).
Following Glaz’s rework during update Y4S2 and according to the statistics we gathered, Glaz’s rework appeared too drastic and is currently under picked and underpowered.
We are planning on tweaking the penalization while moving and to allow him to hold several angles simultaneously, it is now possible to rotate your camera up to 120° without any penalty.
JACKAL
Lowered the number of pings from Jackal’s ability to four (five previously).
Jackal found himself in a situation comparable to Lion. Many comments and feedback from the player base deemed his ability slightly unbalanced.
We are aware that he has been identified as one the most frustrating attackers to play against; we are starting to explore how we can address the situation without making him irrelevant.
This change should give more leeway for tracked opponents to survive and lessen the negativity generated by his ability.
ECHO
Reduced the duration of Echo’s Sonic Burst to 7 secs (10 secs previously).
Echo appears is one of the most reliable and efficient anchor in the game now thanks to his intel gathering and plant denial abilities. We aim at reducing the effect of his Sonic Burst and are also looking at other options for the future.
We also hope that Echo will be less targeted by Operator bans, as he is quite powerful and at the source of frustration in his current form.
SHIELDS
Increased the hip fire spread when using a ballistic shield.
Using melee successfully with a ballistic shield will now put the enemy in a DBNO state.
Ballistic Shields have been an important source of frustration for players and lead to certain behaviour that were not initially intended. By reducing the hip fire accuracy, we want to reduce chances of shielded operators to score headshots too easily without exposing themselves.
The decision to change the shield melee attack, from lethal to non-lethal was decided to avoid players rushing towards an Operator hoping for a trade. We want to reinforce team play and synergy when using these Operators.
MAVERICK
Changed Maverick’s blowtorch sound to a louder one.
Since Maverick has been released, the sound generated by his gadget was often said to be too silent. We have decided to tweak the sound of his blowtorch and recorded and new sample that should be heard more easily by defenders. Let us know what you think!
NØKK
Increased the duration of the HEL device to 12 secs (from 10 secs).
We would like to increase Nøkk’s performance and to make her slightly more efficient. We have decided to increase the duration of her ability to allow players to use her full potential.
Try out the latest Rainbow Six updates on the Test Server and earn an exclusive charm through the BugHunter program[rainbow6.ubisoft.com].
Follow us and share your feedback on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook[www.facebook.com], and on our forums[forums.ubi.com].
We will be updating the following list regularly to outline the status of certain issues that are currently pressing for our community. Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and should only be used as a reference to give a general idea of where our focus currently is.
TOP ISSUES
SOUND BUGS Description: Muffled, missing sounds + various sound issues. Status: We have identified a bug that allows sound to travel more easily that intended through solid objects/walls. We are also continuing to go through videos that are sent to us to identify standalone sound/audio issues.
CONNECTIVITY Description: Players are losing control on their Operator and then being disconnected and presented with an error message. Status: We have dedicated a team specifically to these connectivity topics, and have identified a couple of issues that are sometimes interpreted as a “Denial of Service” attacks. These issues are a priority for us.
TOP GAMEPLAY TOPICS
SMOKE GAS CANISTER PROPAGATION Description: Gas from Smoke’s Gas Grenades clips through walls. Objective: Our goal is to rework the propagation so it is similar to the new Capitao fire bolt, and use this as an opportunity to revisit the visual. Status: [Target: During Y4S3] We have encountered an issue and will be pushing this change to Season 3 to ensure that it is released in a more comfortable state.
WEAPON SIGHT ALIGNMENT Description: Weapon optics are a few pixels off center in some situations. Objective: We want to implement a system to prevent most misalignment issues in the future. At the same time, we are improving the look of the guns in ADS by adding secondary motion, which is now possible due to the tech that keeps the scopes aligned with the reticule. Status: [Target: During Y4S3] Feedback is currently being gathered in internal play sessions.
SHOTGUN WALL DESTRUCTION IS UNRELIABLE Description: Shotguns are inconsistent when being used to destroy wooden beams. Objective: We want to ensure that the destruction of wooden beams is reliable, for both player comfort and ensuring we do not force players to spend extra time attempting to destroy wooden beams. Status: [Target: Y4S2.3] We are assessing the initial results of the change, and continuing to fine tune the destruction..
OPERATOR/GADGET KILL SWITCH Description: Operators that are disruptive due to exploits being removed from play. Objective: When an Operator or Gadget is disabled, provide players with feedback on what/why. Status: [Target: During Y4S3] We have a bit of programming work left, and some UI work as well.
DEBRIS STUCK IN WINDOW/DOOR BARRICADES Description: Debris sometimes remains stuck in the barricades on doors and windows, causing players to have different sight lines. Objective: Provide consistency for all players for barricade destruction. Status: [Target: Potentially Y5S1] We are currently in the design phase to determine how we want to approach this topic. We are exploring and prototyping different options.
ECHO YOKAI CLOAKING Description: With the deployment of the Y4S2.2 patch, we implemented a fix for Yokai being seen through the glass sections of Attacker’s shields. This had the unintended effect of making Echo’s drone invisible. Objective: Our balancing team’s intent is to make Yokai Drones more easily spotted in a later update. Status: [Target: TBD] We will address this issue in a future patch. Once we have more information, we will provide an update.
TOP BALANCING TOPIC
SOPERATOR BANS Description: We have seen a high ban rate for Blitz, Jackal, Echo, and Caveira in Ranked. Status: We are discussing how we want to approach topic of balancing around Pick/Ban in Ranked, and the Operators that are affected the most by it.
SMOKE Description: Adjustments to the damage curve for Smoke’s Gas Canister will move Smoke further towards an area denial role. Status: [On Hold] We are satisfied overall with how this is developing, but but need to put it on hold until other dependencies are delivered.
The Y4S2.2 patch will be primarily bugfixes aimed at cleaning up issues raised during the Test Server and during the early weeks of season release while we prepare for the next update and work on other major issues. Clash and deployable shields have previously been re-enabled on live servers across all platforms, but we are continuing to monitor the fix that went out.
GAMEPLAY
Updated parameters for Reverse Friendly Fire interactions with hostage
RFF triggers for hostage interactions have been aligned to be more reflective of global RFF parameters
Lesion Gu Mine Cloaking
Lesion Gu Mine cloaking mechanics have been updated with Echo’s cloaking mechanic to prevent detection through ballistic shields.
Idle Kick
Reduced Idle kick timer during prep phase.
Additional new idle-kick feedback warning prompt.
BUG FIXES
Fixed – Attackers can break their rotation axis through a series of steps, allowing them to spin like a top. No more Beyblade.
Fixed – Placing certain gadgets (Jammer, Prisma, Evil Eye, etc.) in front of a destructible wall segment can interfere with later attempts to reinforce.
Fixed – Shield operators can see an invisible Yokai VFX through their shield when the glass is damaged.
Fixed – Players can lose partial functionality if they started to defuse at the same time as another defender.
Fixed – Sometimes the Defuser can be pushed outside the bomb site by interactions with barricades and wall reinforcements.
Fixed – Players are kicked after putting the hostage in DBNO during prep phase.
OPERATORS
ECHO
Fixed – Echo drones fixed on a ceiling hatch continue to stay in place even after hatch is destroyed.
MOZZIE
Fixed – Mozzie’s hacked drone view for Defender Operators in Support mode are in color when they should be black + white. (Only Mozzie should see hacked drones in full-color).
NOMAD
Fixed –Airjab proximity SFX is not present in replays.
NØKK
Fixed – Glitches feedback in first person POV continues playing after leaving rappel.
WARDEN
Fixed –HUD becomes larger when deploying a shield, placing a reinforcement, or when on a ladder.
TWITCH
Fixed – Shock drone’s beams cannot travel through railings on some maps to destroy cameras
Fixed – Twitch drone view for Defender Operators in Support mode are in color when they should be black + white. (Only Twitch should see her drones in full-color).
LEVEL DESIGN
BANK
Fixed – Players can vault the shelves at 1F Electrical Room.
Fixed – Drone can be thrown into ceiling of 1F Teller’s Office.
Fixed – Missing entry prompt when rappelling down from EXT Low Roof Skylight.
Fixed – Operators clip through the South building’s wall when rappeling down EXT Low Roof while holding the hostage.
Fixed – Lesion cannot deploy his Gu mines on a specific location at the entrance of Ext Tunnel.
BORDER
Fixed – Players can vault and go through ceiling areas of EXT Pedestrian Customs.
Fixed – Missing drone collision with in 1F Workshop allows drones to scan without being spotted.
COASTLINE
Fixed – Attackers can vault onto the purple tarps from EXT rooftop.
Fixed – Defender drones lose reception in the 2F VIP Lounge drone hole.
CONSULATE
Fixed – Drones can be thrown between the floorboards above B Garage.
CLUBHOUSE
Fixed – Obstructed ADS vision in B Escape Tunnel.
Fixed – One of the soft walls in B Container cannot be reinforced from the outside at EXT Construction Site.
FORTRESS
Fixed – LOD issues with glass display in 2F Museum Room.
HEREFORD BASE
Fixed – Missing barricade at the start of a round in 2F Sewing Room.
VILLA
Fixed – Various window clipping and texture issues.
Fixed – Flash Bang effects can pass through the stained glass windows on Villa onto the other side.
Fixed – It is difficult to deploy Gadgets on some of the windows/flat window surfaces where they should be able to be deployed.
KAFE
Fixed – LOD issue in 2F Pillar Room.
Fixed – Players can prone and hide in a shelf in 3F Bar Backstore.
Fixed – Blocked windows from previous Kafe showing red outlines during preparation phase.
Fixed – Operators can hide inside the cupboards in 1F Dining Room
Fixed – Floating debris after destroying the wall in 2F Fireplace Hall.
Fixed – Minor missing visual elements.
Fixed – [Situations] Drone can remain stuck inside a tree after spawning in EXT Park.
OREGON
Fixed – Missing collision with doorstep when the floor is destroyed allows gadgets to pass through a beam.
Fixed – Operators can clip through the B Tower Stairs.
OUTBACK
Fixed – Players can vault onto the vending machine in 2F Garage Lounge.
SKYSCRAPER
Fixed – Missing compass location after rappelling towards EXT Dragon Statue.
USER EXPERIENCE
Fixed – Spamming of special characters in All Text chat causes freezing.
Fixed – Players are put into a situation instantly after cancelling a discovery queue.
Fixed – Updates to various UI elements.
Fixed – Fixes for some modeling and texture issues.
Fixed – Swapping between guns will make ADS to be offset when in Support mode.
