Do you think Blackbeard's shield is a little too powerful? Feel that Twitch's shock drone should get more time to shine? Wish that you had more ways to show off your medical prowess as Doc? Well, you're in luck! Significant changes are afoot in Rainbow Six Siege today as the Mid-Season Reinforcements update administers noteworthy changes to three Operators, adds new gadgets and attachments, balances some weapons, and fixes a host of bugs.
The biggest changes affect the three Operators listed above. Twitch is a bigger force to be reckoned with in the Preparation Phase, as she now deploys a fully functional shock drone in place of a normal drone. Furthermore, she'll get a second shock drone to deploy during the match, and putting it into play won't destroy her first shock drone (as is the case with normal drones). The shock drone is also quieter, faster, more low profile (no red light), and its darts travel farther. Defenders and their gadgets, beware!
Up next is Doc. There's no doubt this fella's stim pistol can be useful in a very specific pinch, but his utility is a bit broader now that the pistol shots can also heal allies who are not downed. Each dart now packs 40 HP of healing goodness, and it can even over-heal teammates to a formidable 120 HP (any points over 100 HP will slowly decrease over time). It's French health care at its finest.
Finally, we come to Blackbeard. His rifle shield has caused no shortage of consternation for defenders, but there's light at the end of the shield-occluded tunnel. Blackbeard now has two shields (wait for it...), but their HP has been drastically reduced (from 800 HP to 150 HP). He can switch between them manually by un-equipping and equipping them, and there's a little indicator on screen that shows their remaining durability. His pick ratio and win ratio have clearly shown that he is very powerful; this shield adjustment is meant to balance that out a bit.
There are also two new gadgets available to liven up the battlefield (read: make things blow up more often). Some attackers can now equip a Claymore mine that they can place in the environment to blow up any defenders that wander too close. On the defense side, the addition of the Impact Grenade will give some defenders a quick way to open holes in the environment or blow an opponent to smithereens. Careful around those hostages, folks!
Furthermore, new attachments have been added to diminish first shot recoil (the Muzzle Brake) and increase damage at long ranges (the Heavy Barrel). Three more operators received slight adjustments: Valkyrie has only three cameras instead of four, and IQ & Montagne can deploy and unequip their gadgets faster. A lot of weapons have been tweaked for balance, the team kill punishment policy has been revised, hit registration has been improved, and a raft of bug fixes have been implemented. This update is a big one, folks, and it's live now.
These updates are inspired in part by community feedback, so be sure to visit the forums or subreddit to let the team know what you think. To learn more about the rationale behind the Operator updates and read the full list of tweaks, changes, and bug fixes, check out the full breakdown article on the official site.
