As Rainbow Six Siege continues to reduce the number of new operators released each year, Ubisoft is focusing on maintaining and improving existing operators. That means complete rebuilds like Tachanka's planned for 2020, but it also frequently makes small adjustments to help struggling operators.

Upon the release of Operation Steel Wave, lead game designer Jean-Baptiste Halle introduced us to several underpowered operators in need of a buff. Most notably, Siege's silent infiltrator Nøkk's loadout will soon undergo a major change.

"It is very likely that (Nøkk's) primary weapon will be changed to give it a more powerful option.

"And Haleh said.

To balance Nøkk's powerful ability to move almost silently and not be seen on camera, Ubi canceled his original plan to give her an assault rifle. Instead, she became the only attacker limited to short- to medium-range SMGs; Nøkk is most effective when approaching while maintaining stealth, but she can also be used in close quarters with the Gu mines in Lesion, Grzmots and barbed wire in Era, and the proximity alarms that will be installed in the Steel Wave and Banshee noise generator, among many other gadgets that will interfere with her abilities, making it difficult.

With an assault rifle, Nøkk would undoubtedly be comfortable in a firefight, but Halle did not specify what her new weapon would be. A "more powerful option" might imply a SMG with a higher hit rate-perhaps one that can use ACOG sights, like Jackal's PDW.

Another operator to watch is Oryx, a wall-crushing defender released in March. His rimmer dash and hatch climbing abilities have not made him the imposing roamer he was touted to be. Halle compared Oryx's current situation to that of Amal, an attacker whose main gadget, the grapple hook, is often killed by noise and lethargic movements. The steel wave provides Amal with a much-needed buff, allowing her to hold her gun faster after hooking through a window. According to Halle, a similar buff will likely be applied to Oryx, making his unique abilities useful, but the team is taking its time analyzing him.

"We are absolutely considering the same changes we made to Amal. It's the same logic. When he dashed through the wall, we are probably now punishing him a little too heavily. We're probably going to help reduce the risk of him using [his abilities]." Halle believes that in the case of Oryx and Ammar, the studio used their abilities too conservatively." We are always a little afraid to add someone who could potentially destroy the entire team within seconds of entering the room." On the other hand, Oryx has seen a small quality-of-life change in the Steel Wave dash, losing only 5 HP instead of 10 when breaking through the wall.

While I understand the caution in balancing a potentially dominant mobility operator, I hope Oryx's big buff doesn't take as long to realize as Amal's. By the time Amal gets her buff in Steel Wave, her kit will have been unchanged for over 10 months.

Ubi is one of Siege's newest attackers, speeding up the response to Kali with her one-hit-kill sniper rifle that many players find difficult to use. While her high-powered scope and bullet penetration can be a definite advantage in rare long-range scenarios, scoping narrow passages is a quick way to lose a fight, and Ubi has addressed this issue with what is essentially a Steel Wave-Clash SPSMG9 machine pistol, a She has given her a good option for close to medium range fights. I expect that the SPSMG9 will be Kali's de facto main weapon for most players, with the sniper rifle as a backup for long range. This is a scenario that Hale would be happy to accept.

"It's perfectly fine if the sniper rifle turns out to not be playable for most people. I think it's a good solution to give her a new secondary weapon, which would be like her primary weapon," Halle said. 'The reason we created Kali is to be an alternative to Thatcher. If she is not played for a sniper rifle, then it doesn't work. So we would rather give her a better secondary and accept that it will be played as a primary, thereby increasing her presence in the meta and making her a successful replacement for Thatcher."

Ubi has spent the year since Warden's release tweaking his speed, smart glass, and secondary gadgets to make him a more potent pick on defense. Despite this, he has the worst pick and win rate of any defender. Many players attribute his shortcomings not to his speed or gadgets, but to his weapons. The MPX, which the Warden uses, is a statistically weaker SMG; its main advantage is its low recoil.

Players argue that the combination of a weak weapon and a highly situational gadget is a bad combination that makes the Warden a liability rather than a force to be reckoned with. Says Halle, "I think we can all agree that right now he is too weak and too situational." He cannot speak to exactly how the balancing team would change the Warden, but believes that giving him a strong loadout "certainly makes sense."

Siege pro players and influencers have recently expressed frustration with Siege's current top-level strategy, dubbed the "20-second meta."

The extreme "20-second" scenarios described by pros do not necessarily reflect the experience of many players; the majority of Siege matches are played at a lower level where defenders rarely use their gadgets as efficiently as the pros. Nonetheless, Halle agrees that this is a problem.

"We are looking at different things to remedy this. Of course, the balancing team is working on adjustments to make it easier for attackers to clear utilities and to reduce the amount of utilities that cause problems on the defensive side."

The recent patch that removed one of Goyo's three Volcán shields was the first The recent patch that removed one of Goyo's three Volcán shields was the first step in this process. There are other things we are working on to mitigate this problem. There's just a bit of a lag time between when we observe the problem and when we get around to implementing the solution."

One such final solution, Halle said, will be a new secondary gadget unveiled at Six Invitational 2020. The new tool will bring some attackers a weak alternative to Thatcher's EMP grenade, which temporarily disables the gadget. "More ways to temporarily disable the defender's utility is very interesting to us because it's no longer binary. It's like opening a window of opportunity, not just something that simply needs to be destroyed." According to Halle, the details of the new secondary gadget are still too early to tell, so the period of "lag" he refers to may last longer than expected.

It seemed a bit ironic to discuss the underwhelming Defender gadget when Ubi is preparing to release a Defender that fits the same bill: the Merusi. She is equipped with three Banshee noise generators that pulsate an obnoxious noise, slowing down attackers within range. The gadget is completely bulletproof and can only be silenced by explosives or melee attacks. It is an oppressive deterrent that attackers will want to destroy before pushing the bomb's placement. Halle believes that the power should be balanced by making the banshee vulnerable to melee attacks, but admits that adjustments may be necessary.

In case you missed it, Ubisoft has officially announced Operation Steel Wave, the Year 5 Season 2 update for Siege. You can read our hands-on with Ace, Melushi, and the new House here.

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