Year 9 Season 2 brings a remaster to Siege’s first Operator and important balancing updates, Rainbow Six Siege Membership, and onboarding
Ubisoft has just unveiled the second season of Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 9, titled Operation New Blood. This season features a complete overhaul of the Recruit, the original Operator, along with impactful balancing changes, the introduction of the R6 Membership, and several other important gameplay updates, including Playlist optimization and player comfort changes.
A New Era for the Recruit
After nine years, Siege is reinventing its first Operator. The Recruit now sports a fresh look and introduces two new archetypes for playing as either an Attacker or Defender. Additionally, players can customize their loadout by selecting two gadgets from those available based on their role. This flexibility allows the Recruit to adapt to various strategies, fill gaps in team composition, and provide new players with opportunities to explore different secondary gadgets and gameplay tactics.
- Striker (Offensive Recruit): Striker can select two different gadgets from the wide range of attacking secondary gadgets. They’re armed with the M4 or M249 as a primary weapon, and a 5.7 USG or ITA 125 as a secondary weapon.
- Sentry (Defensive Recruit): Sentry can choose from any defensive secondary gadget in the arsenal. Sentry’s loadout features the Commando 9 or M870 as a primary weapon, and the C75 Auto or Super Shorty as a secondary weapon.
Since all players have access to the Recruit, Premium Battle Pass owners will receive an Operator voucher redeemable for any Operator. Players who already own all available operators will get 600 R6 Credits.
Balancing Changes and Gameplay Updates
Rainbow Six Siege continues to emphasize fair and strategic play in Year 9 Season 2. Operation New Blood brings balancing changes for Defending Operators Fenrir and Solis, who have been too dominant in matches and required significant attention from Attackers. Fenrir’s F-Natt Dread Mines have been reduced to four and are no longer bulletproof. For Solis, the duration and range of her SPEC-IO Electro Sensor have been reduced to reflect player feedback and maintain balance between Attackers and Defenders.
Introducing the R6 Membership
This season also marks the arrival of the R6 Membership. Active members will enjoy monthly drops of exclusive content, including time-limited gear, animated Legendary skins, 10x Battle level skips, a Bravo Pack, and access to the Premium Battle Pass for $9.99/month or a discounted $79.99/year.
Rainbow Six Siege Marketplace
Following the introduction of the Marketplace beta, starting June 25, players who have Two-Factor Authentication enabled and are at least clearance level 25 will gain access to the Rainbow Six Siege Marketplace. Here, players can safely and anonymously trade skins using R6 Credits.
Enhanced Training and Onboarding
Operation New Blood adds the Standard Map Filter with selections for the Ranked Map Pool, Non-Ranked Map Pool, and All Maps. Players can now curate their unranked matchmaking experience to resemble either casual or competitive play.
Training and onboarding remain a priority, with significant updates to ensure that new and veteran players can sharpen their skills. Players can now train their aim and map navigation with feedback in Endless Drill. Versus AI mode also sees significant map and Operator additions to diversify the training experience.
Additional Updates
Other updates for this season include changes to Caster Cards to improve the experience, adjustments to the Stadium layout, as well as player comfort updates for audio and flashbang customization.
Dive into Operation Heavy Mettle in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege on August 29th
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Microsoft Windows, Amazon Luna
