In this latest edition of Designer’s Notes, we’ll go into detail about the balancing changes that’ll come with the Y8S4.2 Update and give you some insight into the reasons behind them.

Please note that we are using presence to gauge the popularity of an Operator. This notion had to be introduced to reflect the implementation of the pick & ban.

Presence definition: pick rate of an Operator when not banned. Win Delta: The Win Delta is aggregated from Operator’s Win Deltas per Bomb Site.

ZOTO CANISTERS

• Decreased to 3 from 4.
• No longer affect Maverick’s D.I.Y. Blowtorch.
• Electrical Insulation effect extended by 1.5 seconds after Canister destruction.

We’ve seen how Tubarão’s Zoto Canisters can be used with great success during his time on the live server. Although we’re still monitoring his position within the meta as the season progresses and players learn to play and counter play him, we did want to quickly readjust an aspect of his ability following feedback we’ve received. Reducing the amount Zoto Canisters to 3 will mean players will need to use them more strategically throughout the round. The freezing effect will no longer cause any delay to Maverick’s D.I.Y. blowtorch to better position him as a counter to Tubarão. The powerful synergy between Tubarão and Ops like Bandit, or Kaid is something we strongly believe in as it’s an integral part of what makes Siege and its operators so interesting. That being said, we did observe that in his current state, those synergies left little room for counter play from attackers. The electrical insulation on metal objects affected by the Zoto Canisters previously lasted only as long as the Canister was active on a surface. The added 1.5 seconds of electrical insulation allow attacking teams with strong coordination a chance to respond and forces the defense to be much more precise in the execution of their strategy if they want to succeed in denying the breach.

S.E.L.M.A. AQUA BREACHER

• Fuse time: Increase to 4 seconds (from 3.2)

Ace doesn’t have many downsides. The S.E.L.M.A. is safe to use, quick to explode, fast to use in succession, opens a relatively big hole, and can destroy bulletproof utility. Its main downside is that it can be destroyed during the breaching process to prevent it from creating a navigable hole. But when compared with the downsides of other Hard Breach Operators, this is clearly not enough:

• Thermite: Only 1 at a time, must be close to the wall, is exposed while using the charge, but creates a bigger hole.
• Hibana: Slow deployment, slow triggering, but can be used from very far and has a lot of flexibility.
• Maverick: Requires quite a bit of time, must be close to the wall, is incredibly exposed while using it, but he doesn’t have counters.

By increasing the fuse time, we want to give defenders a better chance to prevent the breach when a lot of resources are dedicated to protecting the wall. The extra time will increase the synchronization required between the breacher enabler (Thatcher, Impact EMP, etc.) and Ace to open an actively defended wall successfully.

LOADOUT

• Added Bulletproof Camera.
• Removed Impact Grenades.

Kapkan has a huge impact on every round regardless of the number of traps triggered. The way attackers must approach the map changes after spotting him or triggering one of his traps. They have to slow down and start paying attention to every window and door frame to ensure they won’t blow up. The last buff to the EDDs made this psychological effect even stronger because you may not get a second chance.

We considered that he already has enough tools to make attackers lose time and the Impact Grenades are helping him be more elusive, allowing him to create rotations on the fly and make attackers invest even more time hunting him through a minefield.

LOADOUT

• Added Smoke Grenades.

We are aware that Maverick is a bit situational without Frag Grenades, and despite not having hard counters, there are not too many situations that justify bringing him over other Hard Breachers and an EMP source. It is dangerous to rely on him as the main breacher because of the time and danger he is in while doing the job. And as a secondary breacher, someone more flexible, such as Ace or Hibana (even the Hard Breach Charge), is usually a less limiting choice for the team.

We hope that the Smoke Grenades can help him be more appealing as a secondary breacher and increase his flexibility, so he can also help with site execution, or even cover himself while breaching through reinforcements.

LOADOUT

• Added Deployable Shield.

We finished her transition to a more supportive role with the latest tweaks to the Kona Station and loadout changes back in S2.0 but it seems like her utility is not appealing enough.

The addition of the Deployable Shield will allow her to create genuine strongholds for defenders by herself. The protection from the shield and the backup from the Kona Stations can make any defender in these positions a hard target to deal with. You can add a few Active Defense Systems or Mag-Net Systems to prevent the shield from getting destroyed too easily and attackers will have a tough time trying to move you out of position.

Additionally, the SPAS-15 is also improved to encourage her to contribute to site setup.

We believe that these changes can make her more appealing to players who like to experiment with different setups and help their teammates from the backline.

RECOIL (PC & CONSOLE)

• First shot kick reduced.
• Lateral recoil increased.
• Elastic time increased.

OPERATORS AFFECTED

• Caveira
• Thunderbird

Automatic Shotguns were left on the sidelines during the Shotgun rework. We were aware that some of the changes introduced could be a bit scary at first sight, so we wanted to be sure that we didn’t enter a new Shotgun meta era by buffing the automatic ones too much.

Despite this, we don’t have plans to touch them again in the near future (we want to see how everything settles), As we wanted to buff Thunderbird, we found it a good opportunity to make a slight tweak to the SPAS-15. Depending on the effect of these changes, we might give similar treatment to the other automatic shotguns.

We are reducing the first shot kick, which eases landing consecutive shots on the target and taking full advantage of the automatic mode. On the other hand, we are increasing the lateral recoil and adding a clear tendency to the left, which also reduces its tendency upwards.

RECOIL (PC & CONSOLE)

• Vertical recoil increased.
• Horizontal recoil increased.

OPERATORS AFFECTED

• Ash
• Iana

Both the R4C and ARX-200 have received balancing changes to reduce their power level in the last few years, this has made players gravitate towards the G36C. That combined with Ash and Iana being two of the strongest fraggers on Attack have made the G36C the weapon with the highest Kill Death Ratio on Attack. This alone isn’t an issue; it is a strong weapon in the hands of Operators dedicated to "kills", but the difference between this weapon and other high KDR weapons in the game is too high. Access to the 1.5x sight is an element that strongly affects this weapon’s power level, but also differentiates it from its Loadout competitors the R4-C and ARX-200.

With all of that in mind we’ve decided to modify its recoil. It will be harder to control on every axis which will require players to use more "recoil control" attachments and increase the difficulty of long-range engagements while using the 1.5x.

BASE STATS

• Damage: Reduced to 32hp (from 35).

OPERATORS AFFECTED

• Amaru
• Mute
• Smoke
• Solis

For a very long time, the SMG-11 has been the weapon with the lowest Time to Kill among all automatic weapons by far. The change in damage will put it more in line with all the other weapons, while remaining among the fastest. The change will increase the bullets required to kill 1-armor operators by 1, rewarding precision and punishing spraying and praying.

We could have reduced the damage even more without affecting the TTKs, but we want it to remain appealing enough to pair with primary shotguns.

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