Rainbow Six Siege new operators

New Rainbow Six Siege operators arrive every three months - here's everything you need to know about the latest batch

Rainbow Six Siege new operators are great at helping mix up the meta in the popular multiplayer game. Each new season introduces new operators that alter the competitive landscape and introduce exciting new tactics. As of Operation High Calibre, there are currently 62 operators. The recent announcement of the Year 7 roadmap means we’re expecting another four over the next 12 months, bringing the total up to 66.

Year 7 Season 1 has now been revealed, and we’re eagerly awaiting Operation Demon Veil’s release date, along with our first new operator, Azami. She hails from Japan, and while we know little else, we do know the remaining three new operators of the year come from Belgium, Singapore, and Colombia respectively.

Below you’ll find a full roundup of everything we know about the new Rainbow Six Siege operators so far, as well as a round up on last year’s new additions in case it’s been some time since you last logged in and you need a refresher on what’s new.

Rainbow Six Siege new operators Year 7

The upcoming new operators for Rainbow Six Siege Year 7 are:

  • Azumi
  • Unnamed Belgian operator
  • Unnamed Singapore operator
  • Unnamed Colombian operator

Rainbow Six Siege Operation Demon Veil operator

Azami is the new operator for Operation Demon Veil, the first operation of Rainbow Six Siege Year 7. Her gadget is the Kiba Barrier, a kunai knife which creates a bullet proof barrier around the point of impact. This makes Azami great for denying lines of fire, and she’s also the first operator introduced who can technically repair a surface after it’s been breached.

Her barriers aren’t indestructible – they can be taken out with only a few melee strikes and explosives, making them more flexible but ultimately weaker than Castle barricades. She has access to four barriers, but a cooldown timer prevents you from spamming them all at once.

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Her loadout consists of Kapkan and Tachanka’s 9X19SVN SMG, and the ACS12 slug shotgun. Her singular sidearm is the D-50, and you have a choice between barbed wire and impact grenades for your support gadgets. Azumi is classed as a medium armoured operator, with two health, and two speed.

There are a lot of tactical possibilities for Azumi’s gadget, and her ability to lock down sight lines can give defenders some extra breathing room on sites with lots of long angles and blindspots. You should read snippets from our interview with creative director Alex Karpazis, where he goes into detail about the cancelled prototype operators that lead to Azumi’s final design – designated ‘Patcher’ and ‘Flubber’.

Rainbow Six Siege's new Irish operator, Thorn

Rainbow Six Siege Year 6 operators

In case you missed it, there were four new operators released during Rainbow Six Siege Year 6. The current and final operation of the year – Operation High Calibre – introduced us to Thorn, but this past year has also seen Osa, Thunderbird, and Flores join the fray.

Thorn

A trap-based defender, Thorn is medium armoured – two health, two speed anchor – with a throwable explosive called the Razorbloom Shell. When an attacker steps within its range, the explosive shoots out blade projectiles after a short delay. Depending on where you are when it goes off, this could result in lethal damage, although an alert attacker will have a chance to get out of the line of fire in most cases.

Osa

Rainbow Six Siege’s first transgender operator is a great alternative to Montagne with her Talon-8 shield. These transparent barriers can be deployed on the ground in a similar fashion to defender deployable shields, and they can also be attached to windows and doors. These barriers may be bulletproof, but one hit from an explosive can instantly destroy them.. Osa is quite versatile as she’s able to lock down flanks and tricky lines of fire, while having the ability to stick a plant under cover in a similar fashion to Montagne.

Thunderbird

Thunderbird is the first new healing operator since Doc, able to deploy up to three Kóna stations on most horizontal surfaces. Stations can heal – and overheal – whenever you step into their range, but there’s a cooldown timer before they can administer another hit. They are a powerful buff for defending anchors, letting them hold down an angle for longer by replenishing their health over time.

Her lightly armoured one health, three speed also means she can be an effective roamer. If you want to lurk or even anchor with her as well, the stations can help facilitate this by topping up your health, keeping you in the round longer.

Flores

The ill-advised love child of a Twitch drone and a grenade, Flores’ RCE-Ratero Charge drones are very flexible. They can flush out anchors, clear utility, even soft breach from a distance if needed. The drones can be vulnerable when roaming, but once triggered they instantly attach to the nearest surface, rendering themselves bulletproof. After a short countdown, the drones are set to self-destruct.

Related: the best FPS games on PC

That’s everything we know about Rainbow Six Siege’s new operators. We’ll keep this guide updated as we learn more about Year 7, but in the meantime you can check out our guide to the best Rainbow Six Siege operators.