In Rainbow Six Siege Year 5 and Year 6, Ubisoft is spending less time pumping out new operators to spend more time improving the ones it already has. Lord Tachanka’s long-awaited rework is the first product of this initiative. Speaking to PC Gamer at the Six Invitational 2020, game director Leroy Athanassoff shared another operator that’s in need of a significant rework: Clash.
“Clash is problematic,” Athanassoff said. “She is one of the top candidates to be reworked because we have issues with shields right now in the game. They are super frustrating.” As we’ve reported in the past, shield operators feel hella busted, but Clash is a special case. Unlike Montagne’s purely defensive extended shield, Clash’s can slow enemies with mounted taser guns. Fighting Clash is like trying to punch a wall while running through molasses.
When Clash was revealed in 2018, Ubi envisioned her as a support operator that spends her time zapping instead of shooting. If she needed to join a gunfight, she’d have to find a safe place to put away her shield.
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Starting to get a hold on the whole 360 clash thing. from r/Rainbow6
Problems arose when players quickly discovered a different way to play Clash—an aggressive strategy that utilizes an exploit with her weapon swap animation. To get around the few moments of vulnerability while Clash pulls out her gun, players quickly turn around to block bullets with the back-mounted shield and turn back around when ready to shoot. For many players, it’s an irritating playstyle that goes against her intended design. Frustration with cheesy spin shooting has made her among the most banned operators on defense.
Athanassoff shares players’ concerns and plans on doing something about it. “A lot of people complain about playing against Clash, but even playing as Clash is not super interesting,” he said. “She’s a really good candidate for a rework.” As for a release window, he would only say that it’ll probably happen during Year 5 or Year 6.
Another operator under the microscope at Ubi is Amaru, according to lead game designer Jean-Baptiste Halle. Despite being such a recent addition to Siege, Amaru is among Siege’s worst operators. The process of firing her grappling hook is so slow and loud that using it exactly as intended often gets her killed.
Speaking to PC Gamer, Halle expressed regret at how the grappling hook wielder is currently balanced. “I think we were a bit too conservative when we released [Amaru]. We were a bit afraid of the whole idea of her getting into a room super fast and killing everyone,” he said. “We definitely feel like there is room to let shine a bit more and punish her a bit less for using her grappling hook.”
In many ways, solutions to Amaru’s problems can be found in new defender Oryx, who can climb up through hatches or hang off the edge to scout ahead. He shares the same weaknesses as Amaru, except that his climb is quiet and allows him to catch attackers by surprise. Halle said there’s no official release window for Amaru’s changes, but it is something Siege’s balance team is looking into right now.
