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Rainbow Six Siege’s new update buffs Glaz, adds major shield nerf

The latest Rainbow Six Siege patch hands attacking op Glaz a big ol' buff

Carrie Talbot

Published:

Rainbow Six Siege 

The latest patch for Rainbow Six Siege is about to drop, bringing with it some pretty significant changes to the FPS game’s balancing. The Y5S3.3 patch notes have just hit the multiplayer game’s site, and there are some notable changes to attacking operator Glaz, the way ballistic shields work, weapon swaps, and more included.

As detailed in the latest Rainbow Six Siege patch notes, back-line marksman Glaz gets two key changes when the update goes live: “reduced vision recovery time to 0.4 seconds (down from one second)” and “reduced movement penalisation by 50% to 12 seconds (up from six seconds)”. These buffs are pretty intriguing as they tie into some questions Siege players have raised about Glaz in the past.

For example, as YouTuber Matimi0 highlights in this recent clip, the op’s previous abilities meant he could lob a smoke screen, and then move forward through it, using his scope to pick off defenders pretty easily – a little too easily, some in the community previously suggested. Subsequent changes meant he’d be slapped with reduced vision pretty quickly when moving – but now his vision depletes half as slowly, possibly giving him a real edge again.

Elsewhere in the notes, the big changes to ballistic shields include a nerf meaning the guard break effect – that is, the shield swinging away to the side – will now occur “when operators with a ballistic shield are hit by an explosion or take certain types of damage (from a scale of a minimum of 50 to trigger the guard break to 100 damage)”. The severity of this effect is proportional to the damage dealt to the shield.

Alongside these changes, it seems some weapon swaps are the order of the day, with Frost being handed the same shotgun Mira, Jackal, and Amaru carry, as well as Melusi being granted Oryx’s MP5, and Oryx receiving Melusi’s T-5.

ANALYSIS BY JORDAN FORWARD

Guides editor and resident Siege expert. Jordan’s not so sure this change is quite as apocalyptic as others in the community do…

Of course the game has changed a great deal since the ‘Glaz meta’ dominated competitive play, so it’s unlikely that the Spetsnaz sniper will ever be as powerful as he once was.

For example, new defensive operators like Wamai make it even harder to get smoke coverage on site before making an entry, while Warden’s arrival in Year 4 Season 2 ensures Glaz isn’t the only operator who can see through smokes. Likewise, new and reworked secondary gadgets like the deployable shield, bulletproof cam, and proximity alarm help the defensive team gain intel and vision for when Glaz does push in.

The main complaint about the competitive meta currently is that attackers need to spend too much time clearing out defender gadgets before collapsing on site. So, if a reinvigorated Glaz can reduce the amount of defender gadgets that attackers need to clear out before breaching, then this could even be a healthy change for the meta. However this affects the balance of Rainbow Six Siege, hopefully this version of Glaz will not be as miserable to play against as he was back in 2017.

Take a look for yourself in the full patch notes below (via Ubisoft):

ACE

  • Ace couldn’t handle all the thirst from his fans.
  • Reduced the number of explosive ticks of the SELMA Aqua Breacher to two ticks (down from three)

FROST

  • Shoot your shot(gun).
  • Added the ITA12S as a secondary weapon.

GLAZ

  • Lonely Russian sniper looking for some love.
  • Reduced vision recovery time to 0.4 seconds (down from one second).
  • Reduced movement penalisation by 50% to 12 seconds (up from 6 seconds).

MELUSI

  • MP5 primary will replace the T-5. Optics available on the MP5 will be the red dot, holographic, and reflex.

ORYX

  • T-5 primary will replace the MP5. Optics available on the T-5 will be the red dot, holographic, reflex, and scope 1.5x.

BALLISTIC SHIELDS

  • The guard break effect occurs when operators with a ballistic shield are hit by an explosion or take certain types of damage (from a scale of a minimum of 50 to trigger the guard break to 100 damage).
  • The severity of the guard break is proportional to the damage done to the shield. Electric damage and the minimum 50 damage threshold will trigger the minimum strength guard break animation.
  • Melee damage, concussion FX, sonic bursts, and explosions of 100 damage or higher will trigger the the maximum strength guard break animation.
  • Operators positioned behind a Clash, Monty, Blitz, or Fuze are now also partially protected from explosion damage (this still applies even if they are from the opposing team). This protection also applies if the shield is on the operator’s back. Damage taken from the explosion is proportionally calculated based on the operator’s exposure to the blast.
  • Instead of folding Montagne’s Extendable shield, he now as a guard break animation.
  • Shield explosion protection is reduced to 66% (down from 80%).

TCSG12 + ACS12

  • Damage drop-off is now more progressive to reach minimal damage at 50m (instead of 20m).
  • Damage at max range increased to 68% (up from 48%).
  • Suppressor damage penalization normalized to -12.5% regardless of range.

GAMEPLAY UPDATES

  • Changes to the defuser interaction that allow players to pick up the defuser, even in situations where it might have originally been inaccessible, due to falling into difficult-to-reach spaces.
  • Improvements to the chat filter feedback system.
  • The ban ticker has been deactivated for custom games. It will remain visible in all other game modes.

BUG FIXES

  • FIXED – Sometimes defenders spawn on top of each other when in 2nd Floor Master Bedroom on Chalet.
  • FIXED – Players can’t vault over the half-wall/railing in 2F Library Stairs on Chalet.
  • FIXED – Dropped defuser can be difficult to recover from behind the table of 2F Cigar Balcony on Kafe.
  • FIXED – (PvE) Barbed wire spawns issues in Situation 10.
  • FIXED – Poor lighting inside the cabinet between sofas in 1F Bar of Chalet.
  • FIXED – Players can use a deployable shield to get to the counter next to the piano on Chalet.
  • FIXED – Zero’s Piercing Camera can pierce and see through the ceiling in 1F First Aid on Plane.
  • FIXED – Missing SFX when picking up generic items.
  • FIXED – (PvE) Missing pre-barricaded doors/windows in Heavily Fortified Situation.
  • FIXED – Cancelling a Ranked queue can sometimes trigger an abandon penalty even when the player did not join a match.
  • FIXED – Secondary hard breach gadget’s blue light can sometimes be seen through a barricade when deployed on it.
  • FIXED – Residual black smoke is visible after some soft walls in the Basement of Chalet are destroyed.
  • FIXED – Minor map asset issues.

If you’re a fan, be sure to take a peep at our best Rainbow Six Siege operators and Rainbow Six Siege new operators guides for some tips, while you wait for the patch – it’ll be deployed on PC (only) a little later this very day.

Carrie is an RPG and open-world game fanatic, with more hours in Skyrim, The Witcher 3, and Divinity: Original Sin II than she'd care to admit. She's also pledged her soul to the Fable gods to make Fable 4 arrive quicker. A former PCGamesN news editor, she's off pursuing independent writing projects.