Rainbow Six Siege Y6S2 Patch Notes (North Star) (R6 Update Y6S2)

MAJOR REWORKS

GAMEPLAY AFTER DEATHhttps://youtu.be/7Jnu14Ke-54

• You have more opportunities to familiarize yourself with theses huge changes before they hit Live.
• We have more time to get your feedback and adjust things ahead of release, as needed.

What are the changes?

ATTACKERS

• Dead players can control and drive their own drone, including Twitch’s drone. You cannot drive the drone of another operator.
• Antennas are shown on regular drones when the owner dies, in order to help opponents know if the drone belongs to a dead or alive operator.
• The abilities of observation tools and gadgets can be used.
• i.e. Twitch’s and Zero’s lasers
• If you died with regular drones in your inventory, they will spawn at your original spawn location.
• An operator ability like Twitch’s Shock Drone won’t spawn after death.

DEFENDERS

Specifically for Defenders, we have added new tools to help counter the threat of Attacker drones:

• Bulletproof Camera Rework
  • The camera can now rotate.
  • The camera can shoot an EMP burst to disable Attackers’ electronic gadgets and drones for 8 seconds.
  • The first player in the camera can use the ability to shoot. Unlike operators’ abilities, there is no notion of ownership.
• Drone Counter
  • The Drone Counter is displayed exclusively to Defenders to help them track the number of regular drones their team has destroyed or captured.
  • This is intended to incentivize Defenders to be aware of the importance of destroying drones, especially in a context where dead players can still drone them out.
  • This counter is not meant to reveal extra intel to Defenders. It only reflects Defenders’ actions and doesn’t take into account special drones – only regular ones.
• Echo, Maestro and Mozzie can control and use their abilities after death.
  • Note for Maestro: Teammates will be able to rotate the turret like any other observation tool, although Maestro will maintain priority over other Defenders.

Some additional topics to consider about Gameplay After Death:

• A number of changes released before and during this season will also help player experience in this new context:
  • Yokai drones no longer have cloaking, limiting the potential source of frustration of dealing with invisible after-death drones.
  • The bulletproof glass of the Maestro’ Evil Eye can be shattered with a melee to deny vision when it is closed (same of the Bulletproof Camera and more on these below).
    • The introduction of the GONNE-6 helps a wider range of operators deal with these.
• While it will not be available in this initial test, Attackers being able to repick their operator in the Prep Phase (coming later in Year 6) will encourage players to more thoroughly scout the objective and Defenders’ setups to collect info, putting their drones at risk.
• We are actively exploring and looking for more options relating to:
  • Dokkaebi’s Logic Bomb affecting dead Defenders.
  • New secondary gadgets that can help with info denial.

DEATH EXPERIENCE

• Adjusted the flow and content of replays after being fragged

Gameplay After Death made it important to improve the flow from the moment a player dies, to when they can control their observation tools. We took this opportunity to revisit the entire death sequence that had remained untouched since the launch of Siege.

Our main focus was to help players understand how they died and keep them in the action. We feel it is important for players to understand exactly what happened in order for there to be an opportubity to learn. Thus, the camera will now look towards what killed the player for a few seconds (note: this can be reduced to two seconds in Custom Game settings) without slow motion or a sudden close-up on the opponent. Then, players can watch the replay to get additional details if needed.

Depending on their needs, players will be able to skip through this death sequence as quickly as they want in order to get into their cameras and help their team. We also wanted to make sure the amount of intel shared during the sequence was fairer. In this way, only relevant details to a given frag will be shared with eliminated players. For example, when dying to a Kapkan trap, players won’t be informed of how much HP Kapkan has, or where he is.

ELIMINATED OPERATOR ICONS

• When a player is eliminated, a transparent operator icon will appear in place of their body and remain for the duration of the round.

BULLET HOLES

• Line of sight through bullet holes in soft surfaces has been blocked

HP REPLACING ARMOR (TEST SERVER ONLY)

• Operator armor will be converted to HP:
  • 3-armor operators will have 125 HP
  • 2-armor operators will have 110 HP
  • 1-armor operators will have 100 HP
• Rook’s Armor Plates will grant a buff to permanent HP for the round:
  • Picking up Armor Plates will buff an operator’s maximum HP by 20 until the end of a round
• Any heals will heal up to this new maximum value for the duration of the round

SHATTERED GLASS

• A melee hit will now shatter the glass of Mira’s Black Mirror, Maestro’s Evil Eye, and the Bulletproof Camera
• Shattered glass is opaque and prevents these devices from being used to spot players
• When Mira’s Black Mirror is shattered, vision is denied on both sides
  • When the canister is destroyed, the device now shatters and explodes (solely a visual effect) instead of falling to the floor
• When Maestro’s Evil Eye is shattered, he has to open the device to see through it

SMOKE PROPOGATION

• Toxic gas from Smoke’s Remote Gas Grenade will not travel through walls, floors, and ceilings
• A new sound plays when the canister is detonated
• Toxic gas damage increased to 15 HP every 0.66 seconds while in area of effect

MUZZLE REWORK

• Flash Hider
  • Reduces the speed and intensity of vertical recoil
• Compensator
  • Reduces the speed and intensity of horizontal recoil

OPERATOR BALANCING

ASH

• Reduced Breaching Rounds to 2 (from 3)
• Modified R4-C recoil, harder to control:
• Increased vertical kick
  • Horizontal spread will be more constant and stronger to the the right
  • Long burst recoil will start on the 8th bullet (previously the 12th)
• Breaching Rounds are now immune to electricity

Population targeted by this change: Top Ranked and Pros.

FINKA

• Finka’s ability will fill up teammates’ base health. The exceeding boost health will be allocated as overheal

NØKK

• When HEL Presence Reduction is active:
  • Proximity-based gadgets are not triggered
    • Gadgets affected: Ela’s Grzmot Mine, Melusi’s Banshee, Proximity Alarm, and Metal Detectors
  • Laser-based gadgets are triggered
  • Sounds made by Nøkk are no longer muffled
  • Glitch effect cancels proximity immunity, resulting in the activation of any gadget in range

MELUSI

• Banshees are now deployed closed and will open when triggered, revealing a Banshee Core
• Banshee Cores are vulnerable to bullets and melee attacks
• The device now also detects enemies’ feet (previously detected head and hip)

VIGIL

• Modified K1A recoil, harder to control:
  • Mild increase to vertical kick
  • Horizontal spread will be more constant and stronger to the the right
  • Long burst recoil will start on the 6th bullet (previously the 12th)

ZERO

• Added same resource management system as Twitch’s drone to Argus Camera
  • Cooldown: 15s
  • Initial/Maximum shots: 1

WEAPON BALANCING

BEARING 9 (HIBANA, ECHO, THUNDERBIRD)

• Modified recoil, easier to control:
  • Horizontal spread will be more constant and closer to the center

SMG-12 (VIGIL, DOKKAEBI, WARDEN)

• Modified recoil, easier to control:
  • Reduced first shot kick
  • Reduced vertical kick
  • Horizontal spread will be more predictable and constant to the left
  • Long burst recoil will start on the 12th bullet (previously the 6th)

GENERAL BALANCING

AREA OF EFFECT

• Operators affected:
  • Jäger’s ADS
  • Ela’s GRZMOT Mine
  • Nomad’s Airjab
  • Kaid’s Rtila Electroclaws

Full Patch Notes

OPERATOR BALANCING

NØKK (Test Server Only)

• When HEL Presence Reduction is active:
• Proximity-based gadgets are not triggered.
  • Includes: Ela’s GRZMOT Mine, Melusi’s Banshee Sonic Defense, Proximity Alarm, and metal detectors.
• Laser-based gadgets are triggered.
• Sounds made by Nøkk are no longer muffled.
• Glitch effect cancels proximity immunity, resulting in the activation of any device in range.

TWEAKS AND IMPROVEMENTS

GAME BALANCING

Gameplay After Death (Test Server Only)

More info about this change can be found in the Designer Notes.

ATTACKERS

• Eliminated players can control and drive their own drones, including Twitch. You cannot drive the drone of another operator.
• Eliminated player drones have antennas, in order to help opponents know if the drone belongs to a eliminated Operator.
• Unique abilities that are used as Observation Tools can also be used after elimination.
• i.e. Twitch and Zero’s lasers.
• If you are eliminated with regular drones in your inventory, they will spawn at your original spawn location.
• Unused unique abilities do not spawn after elimination.

DEFENDERS

New tools have been added to help Defenders counter the threat of Attacker drones:

• Bulletproof Camera Rework
• It now rotates.
• It can now shoot an EMP burst that disables Attackers’ electronic devices and drones for 6 seconds.
• The first player to enter the camera view can shoot the EMP bursts. Unlike Operators’ unique abilities, no one has singular ownership over the use of the camera.
• Drone Counter
• A drone counter is exclusively displayed to Defenders to help them track the number of regular drones their team has destroyed or captured.
• This is intended to incentivize Defenders to be aware of the importance of destroying drones, especially in a context where eliminated players can still use them.
• This counter is not meant to reveal extra intel to Defenders. It reflects Defenders’ actions and only takes regular drones into account.
• Echo, Maestro, and Mozzie can control and use their unique abilities after death.
• Note for Maestro: Teammates can rotate the turret like any other Observation Tool, but Maestro can take control of it.

Armor Rework (Test Server Only)

• Operator armor is converted to HP:
• 3-armor operators have 125 HP.
• 2-armor operators have 110 HP.
• 1-armor operators have 100 HP.
• Rook’s Armor Plates grant a permanent HP buff:
• Picking up an Armor Plate will buff an Operator’s maximum HP by 20 until the end of the round.
• Heals can reach this new maximum value for the duration of the round.

BUG FIXES

GAMEPLAY

• FIXED – Desync between the reload animation and the inventory ammo on some weapons.
• FIXED – Small props and debris on the floor can block the fire propagation.
• FIXED – The fire propagates under the half-wall in Waiting Room on Border map.
• FIXED – Player cannot rotate their selected weapon if they are in the middle of prepping a device to be deployed on PC.
• FIXED – Pause timer for Local Custom Games has a maximum time of 10 minutes.
• FIXED – Nitro Cell deals only 80 damage in PVE.
• FIXED – Pulse’s Cardiac Sensor doesn’t detect opponents at a particular angle.
• FIXED – If a host leaves a Local Custom Game, the Pause/Resume feature is not immediately transferred to the new host.

LEVEL DESIGN

• FIXED – Multiple LOD issues on various maps.
• FIXED – Various issues with planting or picking up the defuser in specific areas on maps.
• FIXED – Exploitable gaps in various map areas.
• FIXED – While sprinting, Operators are unable to vault over the 1F Tellers counter on Bank map.
• FIXED – Attacker drones will lose functionality after going under the tables at 1F Restaurant on Tower map.
• FIXED – Multiple clipping, collision, destruction, and asset issues on various maps.
• FIXED – Multiple lighting issues on various maps.

OPERATORS

• FIXED – Maverick’s melee animation breaks when the Breaching Torch is equipped.
• FIXED – No feedback text when Oryx’s Remah Dash is unavailable.
• FIXED – Missing bonus score for for Tachanka’s Shumikha Launcher incendiary grenade kills.
• FIXED – Hibana’s first person view is offset when she rappels upside down, making X-Kairos pellets bounce off the wall.
• FIXED – Aruni’s Surya Gate deployment scoring is not capped at 3.
• FIXED – Flores does not take damage from his RCE-Ratero Charge if he uses another one at the time as the explosion.
• FIXED – Highlight around Alibi’s Prisma is missing.
• FIXED – Controller rumble issues for Jackal’s Eyenox.
• FIXED – Multiple scoring issues for various Operators.
• FIXED – Multiple device issues for various Operators.
• FIXED – Echo’s Yokai is briefly seen after being destroyed if the player presses the space bar at the same time.
• FIXED – Multiple minor animation issues.
• FIXED – Defenders’ phones appear invisible in Support Mode while players are resetting them after Dokkaebi’s Logic Bomb.

USER EXPERIENCE

• FIXED – On PC, the PS5 controller is not functional with the new input system.
• FIXED – Microphone icon inside the scoreboard may be missing.
• FIXED – Multiple UI and Options menu issues throughout the game.
• FIXED – Multiple audio, SFX, and, VFX issues throughout the game.
• FIXED – Multiple localization issues throughout the game.
• FIXED – Enabling RAW input randomly affects mouse movement.
• FIXED – Various cosmetic and shop issues.
• FIXED – Various Match Replay issues.
• FIXED – NVidia Reflex Latency Indicator is triggered by any shot in the gameplay session