Good news for fans of impromptu jumping through windows. Ubisoft has released details of the upcoming Rainbow Six Siege "mid-season reinforcements" update, which will make changes to Kapkan, Blitz, and Ela, incorporate improvements to the netcode, and make a number of balance changes and bug fixes.
The Spetsnaz defender Kapkan will carry five "entry denial devices" after the update, and their laser tripwires will fade out and disappear when they're deployed, making them much harder to see and avoid. The important part for those about to stumble across one of these devices is that instead of being instant kills, the mines now deal 60 points of damage. That may still be enough to kill you, but at least it's not a guarantee anymore. Kapkan is also being changed to a 2-speed operator (he was previously 1-speed), enabling him to cover more ground and thus more effectively set up his defenses.
GSG9's Blitz is getting a small buff that should make him more effective on the attack. "One of Blitz’s biggest drawbacks is that he is extremely vulnerable without his shield protecting him. This is especially the case when sprinting," Ubi said. "We found it difficult to close the gap between some Defenders and Blitz, who needs proximity to use his shield flash. To remedy this downside, he will now be able to sprint with his shield still protecting him."
Ela, the GROM operator who joined the game in the recent Operation Blood Orchid expansion, is being nerfed slightly, because "her win and pick rate were too high when compared to other operators," Ubi wrote. To rein her in, she will carry three Grzmot mines after the update instead of four, and both the intensity of her SMG recoil and the speed at which it tops out are being increased.
To address issues with ping abuse and "peeker's advantage," the update will also make network improvements including latency alignment, pawn-to-pawn physics, hit validation and replication improvements, changes to ping displays, and new connectivity icons "that will help you monitor the status of your client, of the server, and of your network connection." The specifics of those improvements, and why they're necessary, were covered in detail in a blog post that went up last week.
The Rainbow Six Siege mid-season update is set to go live tomorrow. The full run-down is available on Steam.
