Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3 Operation Heavy Mettle: Release date, new Attacker, Frost rework, more

Rainbow Six Siege moves onto its third season of Year 8 with Operation Heavy Mettle. The update is massive and includes a ton of new additions in the form of a new Attacker, game mode, operator balances, and a lot more. So, here’s a rundown of everything arriving with Rainbow Six Y8S3.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege turned eight in 2023 and the third season of the year is upon us shortly. Ubisoft is constantly updating the meta with new additions and changes and it’s no different for Y8S3. Both new and veteran players will get to experience a plethora of new content with Operation Heavy Mettle.

Some of the major highlights of Rainbow Six Y8S3 include a new Attacker, game mode, Operator balancing, and playlist updates. Apart from that, some weapon reworks are also on the way along with certain quality-of-life updates.

With that said, here’s a rundown of everything on the way with Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3 Operation Heavy Mettle.

Contents

• Operation Heavy Mettle release date
• New Attacker ‘Ram’
  • Ram’s weapons and gadgets
• Frost rework, Grim Buff, Operator balances
• Weapon rework, Quick Match 2.0, TDM mode, more
• New Commendation System
• New playable tutorials & Quality-of-life Updates

Ubisoft

Bu-Gis are chaotic and can mask sound under different scenarios.

Rainbow Six Siege Operation Heavy Mettle release date

Rainbow Six Siege Operation Heavy Mettle will release on August 29, 2023.

This is the third season of Rainbow Six Siege Year 8 and Ubisoft has prepared a plethora of new content for players.

Ubisoft

Ram is another South Korean Operator after Dokkaebi.

Operation Heavy Mettle introduces “Ram”, a new Attacker capable of heavy destruction

Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 8 Season 3 is going to be massive and it starts with a new Attacker, Ram. She is part of an all-female unit of the South Korean Special Forces and will join the Redhammer Squad, the team of Destruction that includes Ash, Buck, Sledge, Thermite, and more.

Her primary gadget, Bu-Gi, is an auto breacher that’s loud, gritty, grounded, and destroys anything on its way like barricades, deployable shields, flooring, soft walls, etc. Before activation, her Bu-Gis acts like an electronic gadget, and after activation, it turns into a mechanical gadget.

These tank-like devices are bulletproof but not indestructible. It means these can be easily and immediately destroyed by a C4 or an Impact Grenade. It also has a large red canister on the rear that you can shoot to destroy it. If you’re playing as Solis, you can detect these devices, and they can be jammed by a well-placed Mute Jammer as well.

Ubisoft

Ram’s R4C pays homage to Ash’s R4C with ACOG days.

Rainbow Six Siege Ram’s details: Weapons and gadgets

Ram will be a 3 Health 1 Speed Operator in Rainbow Six Y8S3. Here’s what Ram’s arsenal looks like in Operation Heavy Mettle:

• Primary Weapons: R4C, LMG-E
• Secondary Weapons: ITA 12S, MK1 9mm
• Primary Gadget: Bu-Gi (a total of four)
• Secondary Gadgets: Stun Grenade, Hard Breach Charge

Unlike Ash, you’ll have the option to attach both 1.5x and 2x Scopes on Ram’s R4C. This will bring back a lot of memories for Ash Mains, who used to rock an ACOG on her primary weapon till 2019. Considering how good the weapon is, it’ll be a welcoming change for all the players.

Ram’s gadgets make her an excellent Operator for vertical plays and destroying a lot of gadgets you can find in choke points and narrow corners.

Operation Heavy Mettle: Frost rework, Grim Buff, Operator balances

Rainbow Six Y8S3 brings the much-awaited Frost rework. You can now deploy Welcome Mats much faster, and players who get trapped can either pull it off themselves with a severe debuff or have a teammate come help them without getting the debuff as it has always been.

The debuff lasts 60 seconds, reducing players to walking speed, and leaving blood trails. It takes players 4 seconds to free themselves from the Welcome Mat.

Grim has been buffed. The alternative mode in his Kawan Hive Launcher will allow canisters to bounce off a surface instead of directly sticking to them. Fuse‘s Cluster Charges can now pass through a deployable shield or Osa’s Talon Shield which adds versatility and gives players new ways to adapt to the environment.

Thunderbird gets a new Elite skin in Operation Heavy Mettle.

Ubisoft

Ram’s Bu-Gis have alternative modes that allow it to move either in a straight or curved path.

Operation Heavy Mettle: Weapon rework, Quick Match 2.0, Weapon Roulette, and more

The entire Shotgun weapon class has been overhauled with Rainbow Six Y8S3. This includes all shotguns except the Slug Shotguns.

• The Shotgun rework brings more precision when ADS’d and more destruction when not ADS’d.
• It causes even more destruction when moving and not ADS’d.
• Other Shotguns now have Bailiff’s efficiency, making them more consistent and viable.

Making rotations between two bomb sites will be much easier now using Shotguns. The Shotgun rework looks promising enough to shake the constantly evolving Rainbow Six Siege meta yet again.

Apart from that, a new Team Deathmatch mode called “Weapon Roulette” is on the way where all players have the same weapon and it changes to a random new one after a short period of time. This game mode could be ideal for players to learn weapons and their attachment, and also warm up properly before hopping onto Ranked.

Unranked is now known as “Standard”. It’ll act as a midpoint between Ranked and Quick Match where map and operator ban phases are removed and overtime rounds to reduced to 1.

Quick Match 2.0 will make matches quicker with a change in planning to action phase timers. Ubisoft has soft reset the skill level of this mode and brings a new pre-setup system on the defender side. This includes a predeployment of reinforcements and rotation holes.

Attackers are now insured with Attack Protection, consisting of a 10-second invulnerability phase at the start of a round for a safer approach to buildings.

New Commendation System

Starting Operation Heavy Mettle, Rainbow Six players will get a new way to interact with one another. The new commendation system showcases the positive aspects where you can commend two teammates at the end of a game, in up to three different categories:

• Valor: Positive and Level-Headed
• Dedication: Reliable and Stays Engaged
• Guidance: Knowledgeable Strategist

You may also choose to commend the other team as a worthy opponent. It will work in a similar fashion to Overwatch 2’s Endorsement system. If you engage in this commendation system properly, you’ll be rewarded with Alpha Packs. This new system also adds up to your Reputation in-game.

Ubisoft

The new Tutorials are a perfect way to learn the basics of Rainbow Six Siege.

New playable tutorials & Quality-of-life Updates

Rainbow Six Operation Heavy Mettle introduces new playable tutorials that provide in-depth guidance to newcomers. These are new first-time user experiences that put special emphasis on the core mechanics of the game.

It includes:

• Basics, Attack, and Defense sessions.
• Explaining how core mechanics work such as leaning, verticality, secondary gadget, unique abilities, and more.

This will make newcomers more confident as they’ll be well-accustomed to how an actual game works.

Rainbow Six Y8S3 also includes some quality-of-life updates where they can:

• Remove HUD from the replay cam to capture perfect moments
• Use a “Free Cam plus hide UI” that’s available to all spectators
• Kick and promote players from the squad

Some changes are also coming to the Battle Pass with Operation Heavy Mettle to make it easier for players to target rewards they might want.

So, there you have it — that’s everything you need to know about Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3 Operation Heavy Mettle. For more about the game, be sure to check our other content and guides:

Rainbow Six Siege Operator tier list | Rainbow Six Siege ranks explained | Is Rainbow Six Siege worth playing in 2023? | Rainbow Six Siege cross-progression support | Rainbow Six Siege on PC and mobile difference | Difference between Rainbow Six Siege Vulkan versus normal | How to get Renown fast in Rainbow Six Siege | Rainbow Six Siege Prime Gaming rewards | Crossplay | Six Thorn guide | Osa guide