Rainbow Six: Siege’s next season is finally upon us. Operation Steel Wave is hitting live servers in just a matter of hours, with two new operators joining Team Rainbow, as well as a host of other new content.
After weeks of testing on the TTS, Operation Steel Wave is ready to hit live Rainbow Six servers. Ace and Melusi will be joining as the two new operators in Team Rainbow, House has undergone some renovations, and Proximity Alarms have been added as a new gadget.
On top of that, there’s been balancing changes to Amaru, Echo, Finka, Kali, Ying, and more. The update will hit on June 16, and we’ve got everything you need to know.
Ace & Melusi hit live servers
Ace and Melusi are gamechangers to hard breaching and roaming in Rainbow Six. Ace, the attacker, provides a new option to open up reinforced walls with his S.E.L.M.A. gadget. He can choose how big a breach he wants to make, creating interesting sight lines others can’t.
Melusi, on the other hand, is the ultimate roamer. With her Banshee gadget slowing down enemies within its radius, as well as making an audio cue, she can sweep by with her 3-speed pace and T-5 SMG primary to catch any stragglers off guard.
If you have a Year 5 Pass for Rainbow Six, you’ll be able to play Ace and Melusi right when the patch launches on June 16. Else, you’ll have to wait a week.
House rework now live
You won’t have to wait a week to play the new House rework though. After a few years of renovations, the owners of one of Siege’s fan-favorite maps have finally put the final touches on their property.
The second floor has been expanded with a few new balconies and a more spacious interior, making the map a bit less claustrophobic. Construction has been renovated into a pink bedroom on the top floor, with a music room being added on the first floor.
Bombsite-wise, a new site has been added on the top floor, split between Master Bedroom and Boys’ Room. The first floor-basement split bombsite has also been removed, with defenders having to defend Music and TV Room instead.
When does Operation Steel Wave release?
Operation Steel Wave will be dropping on June 16 around the world. The Xbox One patch will be deployed first, followed by the PS4 and finally the PC patch. The download size of each patch will vary from platform-to-platform, but it’ll be no bigger than 10GB.
You can find the times for the patch in your region and your respective platforms below:
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| Timezone | Xbox | PS4 | PC |
| PT | 5am June 16 | 6am June 16 | 7am June 16 |
| ET | 8am June 16 | 9am June 16 | 10am June 16 |
| GMT | 12pm June 16 | 1pm June 16 | 2pm June 16 |
| BST | 1pm June 16 | 2pm June 16 | 3pm June 16 |
| AEST | 10pm June 16 | 11pm June 16 | 12am June 17 |
Operation Steel Wave is on the way to save your day!
Maintenance Schedule:📅 Tuesday, June 16🎮 XB1: 8 AM EDT / 12:00 UTC🎮 PS4: 9 AM EDT / 12:00 UTC🖱 PC: 10 AM EDT / 14:00 UTC🌐 https://t.co/ndpxHslGlQ
Steel Wave: https://t.co/9BczNkwbPQAddendum: https://t.co/uEb0HGRWga pic.twitter.com/kDdgAHy8U6
— Rainbow Six Siege (@Rainbow6Game) June 15, 2020
You can find the full patch notes below.
Rainbow Six Operation Steel Wave patch notes
Balancing Changes
ACS12
- Increased the damage from 41 to 59. Increased ADS Speed.
- Increase the ACS12 RPM to 300 RPM.
Ace
- Operator released
Clash
- Clash’s SMG will switch from having a red dot to using the reflex’s green triangle.
Echo
- Removed the camera shake effect from from Yokai’s concussion effects.
- Length of concussion effect is no longer affected by movement. Now has a fixed duration of 10s and the intensity of the vision disruption stays fixed throughout the effect.
- Replaced the Deployable Shield with Impact Grenades.
Finka
- Increased base hp to 30 (from 5) for teammates revived by Finka’s Nanoboost. DBNO Players will stand up with 50 hp (30 from own base hp + 20 from Finka boost).
Kaid
- Added LFP586 secondary to loadout.
Kali
- Reduced LV Explosive Lance’s fuse time to 1.5s (down from 2.5s).
- Improved CSRX 300 recoil through reduced weapon climb after each shot.
- Replaced P22 Mk5 with SPSMG9 in loadout.
Melusi
- Operator released
Nomad
- Added PRB92 secondary weapon to loadout.
Oryx
- Reduced damage taken when dashing through walls to 5 (down from 10).
- Bulletproof Camera replaced with new Proximity Alarm secondary gadget.
- Added angled grip option to Oryx’s MP5.
Recruit
- Now has an ACOG. This is where all the lost ACOGs went.
Ela and Zofia
- Eliminated the mouse sensibility modifier from concussion effect of the Bosak sisters’ gadgets.
Ying
- Removed a Candela to bring it down to 3 (from 4 Candelas).
- Changed for PC on 04-30-2020.
Map Rework: House
At last, House has undergone some major renovations and is ready for more mayhem. While we strived to keep this map as casual as possible, we still felt there were some things we needed to change in order for it to be well balanced.
The first item we need to discuss is the size of the house itself. With this rework, not only have some of the existing areas been made bigger, we also added an entirely new section on the South side, with two rooms on each floor and a staircase to connect them. With this new space, everyone will have more space to move and breathe, but we were also able to add a new Bomb site in TV Room and Music Room.
Many other areas have changed, but three required special attention. Firstly, Garage has been revamped, with only one of its doors being destructible and a new barricade being added to give a different access option, while still making a Defuser plant harder. Secondly, what was once Workshop is now a finished Girls’ Room with an attached walk-in closet. Thirdly, lines of sight have been reduced on the North side of the building, with the main door being blocked off and the shuttered window replaced with a hallway.
As you play this new version of a classic map, you’ll notice some other things. The Living & Training Bomb site has been removed in favor of Master Bedroom & Boys’ Room. Most floors are now breakable, so vertical play will be a lot more viable. Some hatches have been added or moved. Overall, we applied our vision of competitive maps while keeping it fun and making it safer.
Amaru Changes
While Amaru has always been acrobatic and dynamic, she hasn’t always been as unpredictable as we wanted her to be. This season, we hope to give her the tools she needs to fulfill her role with a few tweaks.
While her hook animations and timings will be smoother, what’s really important to point out is that from now on, she will only break barricades when she goes through them (although her hook will still break the glass on a window), and she will no longer need to break a hatch before going up, as she will breach it in the action itself.
Secondary Gadget: Proximity Alarm
Our brand new secondary gadget is finally fine-tuned and ready to be used on the field. This thrown sticky gadget is an essential intel-gathering tool, and it works just as well for anchors as it does for roamers.
The Proximity Alarm’s small size makes it easy to place in a spot where Attackers might not see them as they navigate their way to the objective, making it all the more easy for Defenders to capitalize on the chaos that ensues when the alarm goes off.