Operation Brutal Swarm is just around the corner! In just two weeks, Rainbow Six Siege's upcoming operation will be released to the live version of the game.
Here's everything you need to know about the Y7S3 DLC release, including information on the new operator, stadium, and upcoming changes.
Note: More specific details were released with the Y7S3 pre-season Designer's Notes.
Meet Siege's new operator, Grim
Grim will be Rainbow Six Siege's newest attacker. Coming with Operation Brutal Swarm, Grim will be introduced to the game as an entry and roam-clearer.
Grim is a three-speed, one-health operator. His primary weapons include the 552 Commando and the SG-CQB shotgun. As a secondary gun, he only has access to the P229. His gadgets include three breaching charges and two claymores.
Grim's gadget is the Kawan Hive Launcher, which is equiped with five canisters packed with thousands of robotic bees. These canisters freed a swarm of bees that will detect any operator that walks through.
New map: Stadium Bravo
Coming with Operation Brutal Swarm, Rainbow Six Siege welcomes a "new" map to the game: Stadium Bravo. This map was part of the special play list that Ubisoft always releases during the celebration of the Six Invitational.
Ubisoft decided to release this map now as the map initially planned to be released with Operation Brutal Swarm is not ready to be released yet.
Balancing: PC, Console recoils separated
According to Rainbow Six Siege Creative Director Alexander Karpazis, Operation Brutal Swarm is a season of "balance".
Ubisoft has decided to separately balance the recoils from PC and Console, as PC players largely played with the Mouse and Keyboard, while Console players use a controller.
Balancing: PC New Recoil Explained
From Operation Brutal Swarm onwards, the way how recoil works will be different. The recoil for guns will change depending on how long you hold down the trigger. It will also be different depending on the type of gun you are using, with this being a potential nerf to the LMGs.
It will affect both the horizontal and the vertical recoils of the gun, so expect big changes to every gun in Rainbow Six Siege.
New Impact EMP Grenade
With Operation Brutal Swarm, Rainbow Six Siege welcomes the Impact EMP Grenade. This is an adaptation of Thatcher's iconic EMP Grenade -- which means its EMP effect lasts for a shorter duration than Thatcher's EMPs and has a smaller radius. However, it will certainly do the job.
The Impact EMP Grenade will disable all defender gadgets within a distance of 2 meters for nine seconds. Only nine operators will have access to this gadget, including Sledge, Montagne, Lion, Gridlock, Osa, Blackbeard, Dokkaebi, Nokk, and Recruit.
Rook's Armor to add Withstand feature
All players that are equipped with Rook's armor will be able to Withstand if they get put into a DBNO state. After Withstanding, players will have 20 HP. Remember to always pick up Rook's armor, or an attacker could do it for you!
Dokkaebi's Logic Bomb to affect dead defenders
Dokkaebi's ability has been buffed. From Operation Brutal Swarm, Dokkaebi will be allowed to use her Logic Bomb against dead defenders. Dead defenders won't be allowed to answer her call, as well... they are dead.
This could be a huge change, especially in high ranks and competitive, as defenders won't be able to gather information for their teammates.
New map ban system
From Operation Brutal Swarm, the ban map system will include five maps to pick from -- instead of three. However, teams will only be allowed to ban one map.
Ubisoft wants players to adapt to new maps, as the current map ban system doesn't have the desired effect.
Battle Pass: New Shop Discount
Battle Pass owners will have a 10% shop discount in the in-game's shop. It will apply to any item in the shop, and will affect both R6 Credits and Renown prices.
Battle Pass: Buy-for-a-friend
Players will be allowed to buy any of the versions of the Battle Pass and send it to a friend as a present. However, the current system will only allow this for players from the same platform.
On top of that, you can only send Battle Passes to people who you have been friends with for the last 90 days.
Castle Elite Bunde
It's finally here! Castle has finally been given his own Elite Bundle. It will be available from Aug. 22.
Player Behaviour: Players to report cheaters with match replay mode
With the launch of Operation Brutal Swarm, players will be able to report cheaters through match replays.
This is an important update, as sometimes players cannot report other players during a game. Now, people will have the option to go back to the replay and see if a player was actually cheating or not.
Player Behaviour: New penalties for abusive text chat
It's time to mute toxic players, literally. Players with a certain amount of penalties for abusive text chat and friendly fire will be penalized for several matches, meaning these won't be allowed to being toxic in a day-by-day frequency.
Players under these penalties will be allowed to send text messages to teammates, but teammates will only see them if they allow it.
Balancing: Muzzle Brake and Flash Hiders coming to all weapons in the game
In order to help control the new recoil, Ubisoft has decided to allow players to equip a Flash Hider or a Muzzle Break to any gun in the game. Prior to Operation Brutal Swarm, these were exclusive to a certain range of guns.
Balancing: New attachment distribution
Ubisoft has opened the door to operators having access to a new range of scopes and attachments, with the intention to avoid players stucking to the meta.
From Operation Brutal Swarm, Supressors won't affect the damage delivered by a gun.
According to Alexander Karpazis, these changes should bring some weapons to "a second life."
Operation Brutal Swarm Test Server
Operation Brutal Swarm's Test Server will be opened next week. Meanwhile, the operation will be released to the live version of the game on Sep. 6.