Rainbow Six Siege is now gearing up to release another Season, and the second one as apart of it's Year Seven program, as it already feels like yesterday we were talking about the release of Sens.

With Year 8 Season 2 nearly here, Ubisoft is once again gearing up to release an amazing year of content for players.

Here's the full update notes for players!

As of now, the kick-off season for Year 8 Season 2, the developers have alluded to the notion that it'll release on May 30th, 2023.

So, expect these changes to kick in during this time.

• Ubisoft Connect: TBD
• Steam: TBD
• Xbox One: TBD
• Xbox Series X: TBD
• PlayStation 4: TBD
• PlayStation 5: TBD

Fenrir is the new Operator joining the game, and Ubisoft has detailed her below.

New Operator Loadout
Fenrir is a Swedish Operator who will be joining the roster of Rainbow Six Siege defenders as part of the Redhammer squad, the explosive unit led by Thermite. His loadout includes a choice of the MP7 submachine gun or the SASG-12 shotgun for his primary weapon, as well as the Bailiff 410 revolver as his secondary and either a bulletproof camera or barbed wire.

Fenrir’s F-NATT Dread Mines
Fenrir begins each round with a full complement of his Dread Mines, which he can strategically deploy by throwing them and sticking them to any surface. But simply deploying them isn’t enough to make them effective; Fenrir’s mines have to be activated and triggered to start affecting his adversaries. Once Fenrir has placed a mine, it can exist in one of three states:

Deactivated – This is the default state of the mine when it is deployed. A deactivated mine is bulletproof and therefore difficult for Attackers to remove, as they must spend utility – either explosives or EMPs – to destroy or disable them. However, a deactivated mine cannot release the fear gas, so it’s not an immediate threat.
Activated – In this state, the inner workings of the mine are exposed, and it can be easily destroyed by bullets and other damage sources. However, it is also dangerous, because as soon as an Attacker steps into its radius, it will trigger.
Triggered – A triggered mine releases a steady stream of fear-inducing gas as long as an Attacker is within range. Any Operator (except Fenrir) who steps inside the radius of the gas will have their vision drastically limited. Everything beyond a few meters will be blacked out, leaving affected players with very short view distance; an opponent lurking down a hallway will be completely obscured from view. Note that the gas does not obscure vision within the visible radius (only tints it slightly purple) and does not have any damaging or slowing effect on Operators.

GADGET BALANCING

OBSERVATION BLOCKER

BASE STATS

• Amount: 3 per operator
• Barrier maximum width: 5 meters
• Barrier height: 2.2 meters
• Type: Electronic
• Health: 1hp
• Vulnerabilities: Bullets, laser, melee, explosives

The Observation Blocker is the new Secondary Gadget available for Defenders. Once deployed, it creates a digital barrier that blocks vision from any Observation Tool, such as drones, Iana's Gemini Replicator, or Brava's Kludge Drone, so operators or gadgets cannot be spotted through it. This barrier is only visible from Observation Tools, so it won't affect operators in any way. The arms of the device will adapt to the space available, so the projection won't go through walls.

Currently, the only way to deny Attacker droning is by playing Mute, Mozzie, or Solis. The Observation Blocker will now also fulfill this role to a lesser degree, as drones can travel through the barrier with zero penalty. This gadget won't replace those operators, but it will reinforce the gameplay around denying information and allow for more flexibility when a dedicated operator is not required.

During the Preparation Phase, the device can be used to hide information regarding the operators selected or the actual defensive setup. Attackers will need to take more risks with drones to use Attacker Repick at its full potential as they won't know if a Defender is watching from behind the wall. It can also be used to force Attackers to be more accurate when gathering information, as any corner covered by an Observation Blocker can hide a threat.

OPERATORS

The Observation Blocker is added as a 3rd secondary gadget option unless it is specified in the Operator Balancing section below.

• Ela
• Rook
• Warden
• Caveira
• Kaid
• Maestro
• Pulse
• Alibi
• Jäger

OPERATOR BALANCING

ALIBI

LOADOUT

• Removed Deployable Shield
• Removed Impact Grenades.
• Added Observation Blocker
• Added Proximity Alarm.

Alibi's Prisma blocks line of sight, gathers intel, and tricks attackers. We want to double down on this fantasy by changing all her secondary gadgets to focus on those aspects.

The Observation Blocker will contribute to the mind games around the Prismas allowing you to hide them from drones to be more effective against Attackers. Proximity Alarms as an alternative, will gather intel and contribute to map control.

The removal of Impact Grenades will also help slow her down, as she will have to rely on the Baliff 410 to make all rotations.

CLASH

LOADOUT

• Added Deployable Shield.

To compensate for her limited fire power Clash will now be able to contribute more to the site setup. Similarly, to what was done with the Super Shorty, we wanted to give her more options.

GOYO

LOADOUT

• Removed Nitro Cell.
• Added Bulletproof Camera.
• Added Impact Grenades.

Goyo already has a lot of area denial with the Volcan Canisters, having access to the Nitro Cell fulfills a similar the similar gameplay intention of plant denial. We will replace it with a Bulletproof Camera, so he has an alternative to gather intel and protect his gadgets from being spotted or destroyed by various drones.

We will also give him Impact Grenades as a 3rd option to again encourage flexibility, so you can trigger a couple of Volcan Canisters without needing to have direct line of sight with them.

GRIM

KAWAN HIVE LAUNCHER

• Equip time: Reduced to 1 second (from 1.1).
• Rate of fire: Increased to 70 rpm (from 40).

KAWAN HIVE

• Activation: Time reduced to 0.4 seconds (from 1).
• Vulnerabilities: It is also vulnerable to bullets, laser, and melee damage.

HIVE

• Duration: Increased to 16 seconds (from 8).
• Size: Radius increased to 4.6 meters (from 3.6).
• Detection system: Now detects any part of the body, not only the head.
• Decay: Duration reduced to 4 seconds (from 9). The time between pings is normalized to 1 second (from 1/3/9).

LOADOUT

• Added Baliff 410 as a secondary weapon option.
• Added Hard Breach Charge as a secondary gadget option.

To make Grim's gadget more impactful, we will tweak some values with the objective of increasing the chances of applying the effect to a Defender.

First, we are making the Kawan Hive Launcher more responsive by reducing the equipping time and increasing the rate of fire, so you can fill up an area much faster. Secondly, the Kawan Hive will release its charge faster, so a well-placed projectile will easily catch defenders nearby. But take note a quick enough defender can still destroy it before this happens as the Kawan Hive is now vulnerable to more damage types. Finally, we are increasing the Hive's radius and duration, so it can better limit the Defender's movements, as a result the effect's decay will be reduced to make it less punishing to touch the area by accident.

We will also improve his loadout to increase its flexibility and allow for more creative ways to use the launcher.

We believe these changes will help him, but other options are being explored as these changes may not be enough to put him in line with other attackers, so more adjustments will come.

JÄGER

LOADOUT

• Removed Barbed Wire.
• Added Observation Blocker.

The Observation Blocker has great synergy with operators like Jäger that need to hide their utility from unwanted eyes.

PULSE

LOADOUT

• Removed Barbed Wire.
• Added Deployable Shield
• Added Observation Blocker.

It's difficult to compete with the Nitro Cell paired with Pulse's ability, but the Deployable Shield and Observation Blocker can be interesting if you want to play more passively, as they can provide you with some protection while feeding information to your teammates.

SMOKE

LOADOUT

• Removed Deployable Shield.
• Added Proximity Alarm.

Smoke is the one to go to when somebody asks for area denial. Even if he's not the optimal option in every situation, his loadout makes him consistently viable and useful. Without the deployable shield, we expect the decision won't be as easy and will leave some space for other area denial defenders.

TACHANKA

LOADOUT

• Added Proximity Alarm.

The Proximity Alarms will give Tachanka precise information about where to shoot his Incendiary Grenades and help him use resources more effectively.

THUNDERBIRD

LOADOUT

• Removed Impact Grenades
• Removed Nitro Cell
• Added Barbed Wire
• Added Bulletproof Camera

KONA STATION

• Cooldown: Reduced to 15 seconds (from 35).
• Healing: Reduced to 20 hp (from 30).

We want to make playing on top of a Kona Station fairer. On Consoles, where headshots are less likely, you may end up fighting against a defender that has +30hp because the automatic heal will trigger on the first tick of damage received. However, we are reducing the cooldown to get heals, so the Kona Station will be available more often when a Defender needs it and will reward staying there to fully heal, as the healing potential over time is higher than before.

Additionally, Thunderbird was released with a very strong loadout that encourages very aggressive play. We want to reduce her killing potential by removing the Nitro Cell and make the shotgun a meaningful option by removing her Impact Grenades. We will replace them with support focused gadgets that we believe fit her role better.

Operation Dread Factor also marks the long-awaited arrival of construction crews to the Consulate map. This is a full-on, floor-by-floor rework that will be free for all players when the season launches. The much-contested garage entry now has a half-in-half-out space that gives Attackers some cover to work with when breaching and entering, but also cuts off their long outdoor sightlines, forcing them to get in close to access the site. A new basement hallway gives some breathing room between the yellow stairs entry door, the garage, and the stairs themselves. The majestic circular main stairs are still in place, though there’s now a window entrance near the very top that sits opposite a cheeky exterior soft wall, which gives Attackers a higher entry point into the yellow stairs. There’s also a soft wall in place of the windows on the balcony above the main entrance, so Defenders will have to adjust their reinforcement priorities accordingly. You can explore the new Consulate rework and develop new strategies by playing it as part of the Discovery Playlist when Operation Dread Factor launches.