Rainbow Six Siege’s Blackbeard could get “a complete rework, a bit like Tachanka”

"I've never been happy with Blackbeard to be entirely transparent with you"

Earlier this week, Ubisoft Montreal revealed in the Rainbow Six Siege Year 6 Season 1 designer notes that Blackbeard is in for some key nerfs when Crimson Heist’s launch arrives. The attacking op will see his shield’s health dropped by more than half and his MK17 damage dialled down – but, it’s possible we could see a more comprehensive rework down the line.

In an interview with the FPS game’s director Jean-Baptiste Hallé ahead of the Rainbow Six Siege Crimson Heist release date, we asked whether Blackbeard might see a nerf in Year 6 or beyond, given he’s not necessarily overpowered, but that his shield in its current state can be a point of frustration in a gunfight with the op. “I’ve never been happy with Blackbeard to be entirely transparent with you,” Hallé tells us.

“It’s a matter of priority. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up needing a complete rework, a bit like Tachanka had.” However, it looks like we won’t see anything along these lines hit the game soon. “Right now, we have higher priorities to tackle in terms of balancing, but I cannot be happy with Blackbeard’s state if he’s considered as frustrating as he is,” he continues.

“And we can see this pretty clearly, not just from social media feedback, but from surveys we run with our community where he is regularly considered a fairly frustrating operator.”

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So, while this doesn’t point to anything concrete, it sounds like an overhaul in the style of last year’s Tachanka rework for Blackbeard could be on the cards in the multiplayer game’s future. Tachanka was given some primary weapon and gadget changes when he was given a bit of a do-over, and it seems possible following these comments that Ubisoft might have something similar in mind for Blackbeard (and his pesky shield) – though, it’ll be worth waiting to see how the nerfs due to arrive with Y6S1 will shake out first.

Rainbow Six Siege Crimson Heist launches on March 16, so we won’t have long to wait to see how Blackbeard’s balance changes fare in gameplay.