Ubisoft has rolled out the latest Rainbow Six Siege update (4.2), and as we’ve mentioned previously, it nerfs the Operator Ela and her submachine gun super weapon. Clocking in at 772MB on the PlayStation 4, the update has a host of bug fixes, gameplay improvements and lots more.
Check out the comprehensive Rainbow Six Siege update patch notes below.
Balance Changes
Ela’s SMG will have a reduced magazine size
We have decided to lower the magazine size of her SMG from 50 to 40 bullets.
Game Designer notes: Ela overpowers her competition. Players select her almost every round, and for a good reason. All of the data we have on her (such as win ratio, K/D ratio, and Kills per round) shows that she needs to be nerfed. We have found this to be primarily because of her SMG and to a lesser extent her concussion mines.
The recoil of her SMG was already nerfed slightly with Y2S3.2, but this did not have the impact that we hoped.
For now, we’re trying to balance her while keeping her SMG’s uniqueness, which lets her fight several opponents at a time better than other defenders. We will consider other ways of nerfing this weapon if this is not enough.
In addition to the reduced magazine size, we will be reducing the overall strength of concussion effects across the board.
Reduction in Concussion effects
With Y2S4.2 patch, concussion effects will no longer disable sprinting. It will still reduce movement speed and camera rotation speed, but affected targets will recuperate much faster (4 sec, instead of 7 sec). The effect on sight and hearing will still last a total of 7 sec.
Game Designer notes: This change will affect both Ela and Zofia. We believe this will most heavily impact Ela, as Zofia also has impact grenades to rely on for increased effectiveness.
Compared to other gadgets of this nature, the concussion effect is superior in almost every way: it greatly affects movement speed, massively slows down rotation speed, and also reduces a player’s ability to hear and see.
Ash’s R4-C nerf
We reduced the damage of the R4-C to 39 (from 41).
Game Designer notes: Ash is still a pick that is too attractive when compared to other attackers. We’ve compared her most popular weapon (R4-C) to other assault rifles stats and given the R4-C’s very high rate of fire (860), its damage is a bit too high.
*We are aware of a visual issue with Suppressed damage not displaying properly in the Menu. The values in-game are true to the table above.
Capitao’s Para-308 buff
We increased the Para-308’s raw damage is to 48 (from 43). We also slightly reduced the intensity of the random components of its recoil.
Game Designer notes: Capitao right now is not attractive enough. His gadget suffers from a few issues that will need long-term solutions, but in the meantime, it’s clear that his main assault rifle is too weak.
*We are aware of a visual issue with Suppressed damage not displaying properly in the Menu. The values in-game are true to the table above.
Twitch’s Shock Drone Ammo
We reduced the max ammo for each Shock Drone to 5 (from 15).
Game Designer notes: Twitch right now is too strong. There are several possible reasons, one of them being that her drones have the potential to deny an unreasonable amount of electronics from defenders. We feel that this change will force players to start making choices about when to shoot or to save their ammo, and which Defender gadgets to destroy.
Bandit’s barbed wire
Bandit will now have two barbed wire (down from 3).
Game Designer notes: Even if Ela has eclipsed Bandit’s pick rate, players still pick him too often. Reducing the number of barbed wires he has should bring him more in line with other Defenders.
Lesion’s Gu Mine refill timer
We lowered Lesion’s Gu Mine refill timer to 30 sec (from 35).
Game Designer notes: Lesion is in an OK place right now, but could use a slight buff. By reducing the refill timer, it will encourage his specific playstyle of staying alive as long as possible to increase the strength of his defensive gadget.
Other Improvements
Temporal Filtering
The T-AA has been fully implemented. As part of this, the Resolution Scaling and Sharpness Factor slide bars are in the Options menu.
With render scaling, you will be able to customize the ratio between render resolution and display resolution, which will allow you to maintain your target framerate. For example:
More details about Temporal Filtering and Anti-Aliasing can be found here.
Bomb UI Changes
We changed the player markers for players that are interacting with the Defuser. When a teammate is interacting with the Defuser, a new animation icon appears on the player. If your teammate is in the process of disabling the Defuser, you will also notice a new animated icon on that player. The new animated icon should make it easier to identify which teammate is currently interacting with the Defuser.
Additionally, once the teammate plants the Defuser, the progress of the Defuser replaces the round timer.
These are the first steps we are taking towards improving the Bomb game mode, and we will have more information about our next steps at the Six Invitational!
Caster Camera improvements
We will be making some adjustments to the Caster Camera. These adjustments will improve the viewer experience for those watching the spectator camera, but also provide them with more information in a more digestible format.
You can see a screenshot of the new UI here:
Bug Fixes
GAMEPLAY
FIXED – Shield exploit that involves Deployable Shields being held in front of an Operator.
FIXED – Attack Operators can appear as a 2D texture when approaching broken walls while holding the hostage.
FIXED – Certain operator weapons produce extremely bright smoke and can obscure the view of the players.
FIXED – Zofia dies after using Withstand when a match has a Handicap of 75 or less Damage.
GAME MODE
Terrorist Hunt
FIXED – Bombers do not always spawn during a Terrorist Hunt Classic on Tower map.
FIXED – Last three enemies of a wave will get stuck behind the reversed table in 2F Meeting room.
Spectator Camera
FIXED – Switching to Dokkaebi on support mode during her gadget animation will show her gadget screen empty.
OPERATORS
Dokkaebi
FIXED – Dokkaebi loses functionality, and a broken animation is present if Dokkaebi gets into DBNO state while hacking the camera system.
FIXED – No warning appears when Dokkaebi is out of Logic Bomb uses and tries to activate it.
FIXED – When in ADS, you do not need to hold the appropriate key to use Logic Bomb.
Echo
FIXED – Yokai is stuck and has framed camera rotation rate on uneven terrain/debris.
FIXED – The drones including Yokai have issues smoothly turning when navigating on certain destructible surfaces.
FIXED – The Yokai drone loses signal in multiple places on Tower.
FIXED – Echo drone can stick to the canister under Mira’s Black Mirror.
Zofia
FIXED – Zofia’s LMG-E should have 150 bullets instead of 151.
FIXED – Users can extend the bleed out timer by spamming Withstand.
Ying
FIXED – Ying’s Candela will not go through the Ramps of 3F Watchtower of Oregon.
LEVEL DESIGN
Chalet
FIXED – Players can prone between objects at 1F Trophy Room and be pushed inside the wall or outside at EXT Campfire Wood.
FIXED – Nitro cells do not inflict damage if detonated on the plants from 1F Great Room.
FIXED – Defenders in Prone stance in one corner of 1F Dining Room are not contesting the objective.
Bank
FIXED – Bullets pass through the desk located at CCTV room.
Clubhouse
FIXED – Player can be stuck inside a wall if they use the vault prompt on beer cases.
Consulate
FIXED – Castle’s double door Armor Panels do not cover the entire frame.
Tower
FIXED – Player can vault in a specific location to get on a window frame.
FIXED – There are lights on the side of the tower, which can block an Attacker’s rappel trajectory.
Kanal
FIXED – Due to a missing texture, players can exploit an area using drones and kill enemies.
Coastline
FIXED – Attackers can plant the Defuser from outside the objective at Ext Main Entrance.
Theme Park
FIXED – Attackers can place a drone inside the barricaded window of EXT Sweet Shops.
FIXED – Vault prompt is missing on the rooftop of the building.
USER EXPERIENCE
FIXED – Too much smoke appears when shooting with some weapons.
FIXED – Installing the latest graphics driver for AMD will cause a crash when explosives are triggered.
FIXED – Concussion and Sonic Burst effect applies to replays if applied after the start of replay.
That’s one hefty patch, no? What else should Ubisoft tweak next?
Source: Rainbow 6
