Jager has been a staple in Siege since the shooter's launch at the end of 2015. The German operator is one of just seven fast defenders—characters with a three-speed, one-armor rating—which makes him a reliable peeker and flanker for players who don't want to hibernate on the objective. His gadget cancels grenades, an invaluable unique ability until Wamai arrived a few months ago. He's great.
But now Ubisoft is indicating that Jager will no longer be a member of the Three Speed Club. In changes introduced yesterday to the test server, which Ubisoft uses to vet its balancing ideas, Jager became a two-armor, two-speed operator, joining Smoke, Mute, Lesion, Oryx, and others with that rating.
"Jager is a very strong roamer and multiple data points demonstrate his huge presence in-game," Ubisoft explains in the test server update. "To make his presence a bit less oppressive in-game, we’re looking to moderate that by reducing his roaming potential."
Changing the footspeed and related durability of an operator is a significant change to their DNA. Speculating a bit, it sounds like the introduction of Wamai two updates ago hasn't offset Jager's popularity too much. The ability to destroy attackers' utility remains powerful within Siege's meta at all levels.
Equipment shuffle
Other operators received notable changes to their arsenal, with Buck losing access to frags and Mozzie missing his Super Shorty shotgun, a sidearm that only three operators total wield. Ying continues to see buffs and adjustments. Here are the full notes:
BUCK - More keys, more open doors, more opportunities.
- Frag Grenades replaced with Claymores
- Increased Skeleton Key Magazine Capacity: Skeleton Key magazine capacity increased to 5 + 1, Skeleton Key max ammo count is now 25+1
Buck brings an exclusive soft breaching capability to his team that makes him the best at what he does, and we feel having Frag Grenades on top of that is a bit too much. The Claymore should reduce the punch in his kit from the frags, but do more to provide cover while he is soft breaching.
CAVEIRA - More customization!
- Added Razor Holographic Sight option to her M12
We feel like the Razor is a great addition for the M12 due to the good visibility it grants while aiming and gives it more customization options.
MOZZIE - Still a shortie <3.
- Removed Super Shorty secondary.
He is currently a powerful intelligence-counter and is a great roamer in the same breath. Altogether, this gives him very high game presence as a single Operator and we’re looking to tone down just how much he brings to his team.
YING - Giving our girl Ying a bit more love.
- Increased number of Candelas to 4 (up from 3).
- Replaced Claymores with Smoke Grenades.
- Increased T-95 LSW damage to 46 (up from 43).
Ying’s presence is still lower than expected even after improving her candelas in the Y5S1. We hope that giving her kit some more juice in her gadgets and weapon should help her out on that front.
As always, these changes could take a slightly different form when released into the full version of Siege, but traditionally the stuff that's released onto the test server is a preview of what we'll see in-game ourselves.
Unaddressed in these changes was the recent, horrifying, thematically discordant "Pizza Party" Mozzie promotional skin. The cosmetic continues to roam unchecked within ranked and unranked play, blending into Siege's various kitchen maps with near-perfect camouflage. Dare Ubisoft intervene to nerf pizza itself?
