Rainbow Six Siege: Operation New Blood is the game’s second season for its ninth year. It looks back at the game’s past to make old Operators more viable while providing meaningful updates that will make the game healthier and offer more to seasoned veterans and newcomers.
Operation New Blood doesn’t bring a fancy new Operator to the table in Rainbow Six Siege. Instead, it goes right back to the beginning, to an Operator that’s more of a meme than anything else and transforms them into a viable character you can take into any match. Ubisoft invited me to a press briefing on the new season to show me what it’s all about, and I’m confident everyone, whether you’re brand new to the game or have played since day one, will appreciate the impact it’s going to have.
Recruit gets remastered as Striker and Sentry Operators
The part we all care about in each new season of Rainbow Six Siege is, of course, the new Operator. As I’ve already mentioned, Operation New Blood doesn’t add a new Operator because the team has completely revamped and remastered Recruit.
That’s right; the operator who caused everyone in the lobby to start a recruiting party is no longer there. Recruit now has two Operators: Striker for Attackers and Sentry for Defenders. They each feature slight visual tweaks so you can tell them apart, with Striker wearing a rappelling harness and Sentry donning a helmet.
The differences between the two are so much more than skin-deep, though. Their ability is to equip two of any of the gadgets available to the team they’re on. In many ways, this is so much more powerful than any other Operator abilities because you can create a character with gear that plays to your strengths without limitations. You can lay unexpected traps as Sentry to catch out incoming Attackers with combinations they can’t predict and bring the tools that fit you best as Striker to force Defenders to think outside the box.
The customization bleeds a little into the weapons the pair can equip. Striker can use the M4 and M249 primary and ITA12S and 5.7 USG secondary weapons. Sentry has a choice between the Commando 9 or M870 primaries and C75 Auto or Super Shorty secondaries. As with the gadgets, it’s up to you how you equip your Operator so you have every advantage when going into a match.
The reason the development team opted to remaster Recruit is because he was basically never used, as was the intention. He was there if you didn’t have an Operator to choose from as a backup, and because multiple players could use him, an unwritten rule evolved where everyone had to be Recruit if there was one Recruit in a lobby.
Now that Recruit is Sentry and Striker, only one player can use them, so there are no more Recruit parties. That’s a small sacrifice to make for the ability to bring an unexpected and overpowered loadout into every match, though. No longer is Recruit a joke. These new Operators should have teams quaking in their boots.
Fenrir and Solis reworks
In addition to Recruit’s glorious remaster, Ubisoft wanted to begin examining other Operators and bring them in line with the modern meta. With Operation New Blood, Fenrir and Solis are being reworked, so their abilities are slightly weaker, meaning teams don’t need to build around them or specifically counter them.
Solis’ SPEC-IO Electro-Sensor is a nightmare because it picks up electronic devices Attackers are using, be they drones, traps, or other devices, and pings them for the entire team. That ability is still intact, but it’s being limited to a 10-second capacity from 15. You’ll also need to allow the glasses to fully charge before using them again, so you’ve got to make every use count.
Furthermore, Solis now can’t use this ability during the Prep Phase, and even once that’s over, she can’t detect stationary drones that aren’t being used by an Attacker. So you could place a drone in the Prep Phase and use it in the middle of a match to work around Solis’ ability now.
Finally, Solis’ detection rate has been decreased to force players using her to step out of their comfort zone a bit more. You’ve got to weigh up the risk of exposing yourself against the possible rewards of traps and drones you think you’ve seen.
Fenrir is having his F-NATT Dread Mine capacity dropped to 4 from 5 and activation codes have also decreased from 4 to 3. This means he has fewer mines to detonate and can only lay three effective traps before the ability is useless, so players using him have to think much more carefully about how they’ll use the mines they have.
You can’t waste mines now. You’ve got to consider where Defenders will be, what the main routes are, how you want to push enemy players into a specific room or trap them somewhere, and make every mine count. The goal with these changes was to make Fenrir less scary, and he certainly sounds it with his ability curtailed.
With the launch of Operation New Blood, Fenrir will also lose barbed wire as a gadget and get observation blockers instead. Once again, this makes him so much less of a threat, so you don’t need to build a team or pick an Operator to specifically work against him.
Maps and modes
Map filtering comes to Rainbow Six Siege this season. This allows you to pick any map across ranked and non-ranked matches to get into the matches you desperately want to play. It should help players practice on the maps they’re uncomfortable with but also let us casual players stick to the maps we know so we can be useful for our team.
Later during Operation New Blood, Rainbow Six Siege‘s Attrition mode will return as a limited-time event. The rules of these matches eliminate all previously used Operators over rounds, and five are eliminated before you even start. It encourages play with new characters but also chaotic gameplay as players attempt to win using gadgets they have no idea how to work.
Ubisoft took a look at the Stadium Alpha and Bravo maps this season because they know they’re fan favorites, but they’re not built for regular play. That’s not changed, with better routes and clearer lines of sight to objectives specifically, so each map can be played like a traditional match and used more frequently.
It’s no secret that Rainbow Six Siege is a difficult game to get into. Operation New Blood changes the onboarding process to make it a bit more approachable. The Versus playlist is getting loads of new content, with more playable Operators like Blackbeard, Ace, and Hibana, and AI Defenders playing Vigil and Thunderbird to help provide a more realistic experience for those learning the ropes.
There’s also a new training mode, Endless Drill, that pits players against dummies they must hunt down and kill in a colossal building consisting of multiple floors. This training session can last for 60 minutes and sounds brutal, but it’ll help you figure out the mechanics you must know in every match without someone shouting at you or shooting you for being new.
Player protection
Speaking of player toxicity, Ubisoft is keen to reduce it as much as possible. It’s still working on the Reputation System that will eventually track your games played and the ratings others have given you based on your behavior, but it’s not quite ready yet.
More immediately, Ubisoft has made what it claims to be a seven-fold improvement in how it makes bans, resulting in 60% more player bans and a huge reduction in toxicity. It’s also working on DDoS detection and a slew of other systems that will make it easier to detect cheaters and create a safer space for everyone.
Marketplace and Membership
After a successful stint in beta, the Marketplace is opening up to all players above Level 25 in Rainbow Six Siege from June 25, 2024. This is where you’ll be able to buy and sell cosmetics using R6 Credits, meaning each one you earn now has far more value. I think the best part of Marketplace will be the ability to complete cosmetic sets you’ve got pieces of from past events or just get the entire set from someone who doesn’t want it.
The last new feature Rainbow Six Siege is getting with Operation New Blood is Membership. Think of this as the Fortnite Crew subscription of Rainbow Six Siege. The Membership fee, which is $9.99 per month or $79.99 for the year, awards you exclusive Epic cosmetics and the Battle Pass’s premium track. If you renew your Membership every month, you’ll get even more items, such as Operator Cards, for that loyalty.
Operation New Blood is a season that seeks to level the playing field in Rainbow Six Siege, so it’s easier to get into and compete against long-time fans once you’ve developed the necessary skills in its upgraded training. The aspects I’m most excited about are Sentry and Striker because I can’t wait to ruin the enemy’s day with my insane loadout and erratic behavior. I’m sure this will bode well for Attrition when it arrives, too.
