Many operators have had periods of domination throughout Rainbow Six Siege's history. Some of the most remembered ones are Blackbeard's 800 HP rifle shield, Lion's Operation Chimera EE-ONE-D scan, Iana's GONNE-6 and fragmentation grenade era, or Finka's LMG and Adrenaline Boost combination.
With very limited counters and with their abilities being not just insanely strong but also requiring almost zero skill to be used, these attackers ended up becoming one operator armies. In other words, they could do absolutely everything on their own.
Nowadays, Dokkaebi is in a similar state. Her Logic Bombs and the versatility of her loadout make her an indispensable operator to any attacking lineup. She's too good to be left out.
In this article we will look at the South Korean's evolution in Rainbow Six Siege throughout the years, explain why she's so overpowered, and explore what Ubisoft could do to nerf the operator.
Dokkaebi's evolution throughout the years
The South Korean attacker has always been special. She was released to the game in December 5, 2017, as part of Operation White Noise and, since then, the attacker has always been seen as a considerable threat.
In Operation Chimera, Dokkaebi was Lion and Jackal's partner in crime, as cleaning roamers became a kids' game. Called defenders were forced to hang up the call manually to stop the buzz, as no call timer was released until March 2019. It was then when Ubisoft allowed defenders to block calls using Mute's jammers.
Following these changes, Ubisoft gave Dokkaebi nothing but love. The South Korean got fragmentation grenades in September 2019 and, in January 2020, Dokkaebi's hack was extended into Echo's Yokais.
One year later, in March 2021, Ubisoft made some changes to her loadout, replacing the fragmentation grenades for stun grenades and the C75 Auto with the GONNE-6. Finally, in May 2022, Dokkaebi got back her C75 Auto and was given Impact EMPs.
From then until now, minimal changes have been made to Dokkaebi. The only change made was how Logic Bombs were distributed during a round, with the attacker getting access to each one of her calls every 45 seconds. This change was made so players wouldn't use Dokkaebi so aggressively, making sure to use her as a support force rather than a lone wolf operator.
According to the Y9S3.3 graphics released by Ubisoft, Dokkaebi's presence in PC lobbies located in Platinum and above is of almost 30% despite having a ban rate of 43%, the second highest in the game.
Overall, Dokkaebi is the fourth-most played operator in the game, only behind Buck, Ace, and Ash, who are the best operators at soft breaching, hard breaching, and bulletproof-utility clearance.
Why is Dokkaebi so strong?
To explain why the South Korean attacker is so strong, we must start with the basics: she's a three-speed operator, which allows her to move quickly around the map.
Her weapon loadout is also incredibly strong as it includes three of the best weapons in the game, which are the Mk 14 EBR Marksman Rifle, the BOSG.12.2 Shotgun, and the SMG-12 Machine Pistol.
While the first two strengthen Dokkaebi's position in long and mid-distance gun fights, the latter is a great option when it comes to short-distance plays. She can easily swap her primary and secondary weapons, which makes her extremely dangerous in many different situations.
In terms of weapons, there's another one that must be mentioned: her GONNE-6. While this gun isn't designed to kill, she can destroy bulletproof devices with it. Therefore, players can decide how to use the South Korean operator: getting the SMG-12 to play aggressively or getting the GONNE-6 to prioritize supporting tasks.
Which takes us to the next talking point: Dokkaebi's gadgets. As of now, Dokkaebi can decide whether to bring two stun grenades, two smoke grenades, or two Impact EMPs. This makes her the perfect support, as she can adapt herself to multiple scenarios.
Last but definitely not least, Dokkaebi's unique ability is too much. First, Dokkaebi's Logic Bomb can be used to call defenders twice in a round, which gives the attackers a decent idea of their positions based on the sound. During the length of every call, dead defenders are pushed off cameras.
Secondly, Dokkaebi and the rest of the attackers get unlimited access to defender cameras after hacking a defender phone, which they automatically drop after being killed.
To top it off, there are hardly no counters against Dokkaebi's Logic Bomb, with the only ones being:
- Mute's Signal Disruptors.
- Destroying phones left by dead teammates.
- Shooting defender cameras after Dokkaebi's hack.
Overall, Dokkaebi has access to a versatile operator and a unique device that simply does too much for too long. If that wasn't enough, playing her unique abilities hardly takes any skill (it's about pressing a button) and their effects are not limited to Dokkaebi but they are also shared to all of the attackers.
So, let's head to the million-dollar question: how could Ubisoft nerf Dokkaebi? Is the South Korean operator so strong that Ubisoft should start thinking about an ability rework? Here are some potential Dokkaebi nerfs:
How to nerf Dokkaebi?
We believe changes should be made to Dokkaebi's Logic Bomb and loadout. Here's a look at both of them:
Note: Some players believe Dokkaebi shouldn't be able to do both hacking cameras and calling defenders. We believe both can coexist, but they must be considerably be nerfed. Therefore, we have focused on limiting rather than replacing or eliminating.
Logic Bomb
Dokkaebi's Logic Bomb is what truly makes the South Korean operator a huge attacking threat. Here are some potential nerfs to balance Dokkaebi's Logic Bomb:
Adding a timer to the Logic Bomb hack, two hacks per round
Right now, Dokkaebi only needs one hack to have complete access to every defender camera, including Valkyrie's Black Eyes, Maestro Evil Eyes, and Echo's Yokai Drones for the whole length of a round. It only takes an early kill to have full power over the defenders' flow of information.
We believe this should be limited. Therefore, we have decided the following nerfs would make Dokkaebi more balanced:
- Introduce a timer to Logic Bomb hacks. After a phone is hacked, give attackers unlimited access to defender cameras for 30 seconds.
- Dokkaebi to be able to use her Logic Bomb hacks twice. This way attackers could have up to 1 minute of unlimited access to defender cameras.
These changes would increase the skill required around Dokkaebi's hacks while also forcing her to communicate with her teammates to decide when is the best time to get the best out of defender cameras.
In the future, if a buff was to be needed, Ubisoft could increase the timer from 30 to 40 seconds. However, we think 30 seconds is good enough.
Logic Bomb calls to be reworked, Dokkaebi to call one defender per call
Dokkaebi's calling system is overpowered. Right now, Dokkaebi can call everyone at once and defenders can't do much about it other than manually hanging up the call — which can be a death sentence if an attacker is pushing their location.
Shortly, Dokkaebi's calls are like Lion's scans as they affect every defender regardless of their location on the map. However, Lion's scans alone are easily countered by just staying still. To make them really dangerous, they must be combined with other operators or gadgets.
To nerf Dokkaebi's calls, we think her gadget should be presented like Deimos' scans. Here are the changes that we would make to her calls:
- Dokkaebi can only call one defender instead of calling everyone at once.
- To call a defender, Dokkaebi or a teammate must spot the operator first.
- The targeted defender can't stop the call but the call automatically hangs up after 12 seconds.
- Dokkaebi's number of calls would still be two, a third could be added if a buff is needed in the future.
Again, this change would increase the skill required to play Dokkaebi. Additionally, Dokkaebi's map control strength would be reduced abysmally, as she would only be able to track one operator per call.
Last but not least, you may have noticed we didn't mention dead defenders being pushed off cameras during Logic Bomb calls. Well, with Dokkaebi only being able to call operators who are alive, the feature of pushing dead players off cameras wouldn't be a thing anymore.
Dokkaebi's loadout
Dokkaebi's loadout is the least of our concerns. While Dokkaebi's loadout is undoubtedly strong, we believe changes should be made to her weapon package, while smaller tweaks could be made to her gadget pool.
With the majority of players choosing Dokkaebi's SMG-12, we believe keeping her GONNE-6 is a good idea. It forces players to decide whether to bring gun-power or destructibility. However, with Dokkaebi also having access to the C75 Auto, the idea of removing her SMG-12 is tempting.
Combined with her Logic Bomb and her stun grenades, Dokkaebi's SMG-12 allows her to easily push an opponent's position. Although she would still be able to do so with her C75 Auto, a weapon that's still good but not as great as the SMG-12, it wouldn't be so easy. Here's a comparison of both guns:
- Damage: SMG-12 (28) vs. C75 Auto (35)
- Fire rate: SMG-12 (1,270) vs. C75 Auto (1,000)
- Magazine: SMG-12 (32) vs. C75 Auto (26)
- ADS Time: SMG-12 (0.36) vs. C75 Auto (0.34)
- Reload Speed: SMG-12 (2.91) vs. C75 Auto (2.90)
While the C75 Auto is slightly better in terms of ADS Time and Reload Speed, the differences in both fields are too short to even be noticed, with the only difference to be worth mentioning being damage. Meanwhile, the SMG-12 excels in magazine and fire rate, which is exactly why this weapon is the better option. Additionally, the SMG-12 has access to a scope and vertical grip, which allows players to slightly improve the feel of the gun.
In terms of gadgets, we don't think Dokkaebi should be nerfed. An optional change would be swapping her stun grenades for Claymores; however, we think this change should be made if Dokkaebi's state in the game is still overpowered after nerfing her Logic Bomb.
Conclusion
To conclude the article, let's have a simple look at how Dokkaebi's Logic Bomb and loadout would change:
Logic Bomb changes
- Dokkaebi's hacks to give full access to defender cameras for 30 seconds.
- Dokkaebi to be able to hack up to two phones.
- Dokkaebi to be able to call one operator per call. Similarly to Deimos' ability, the operator must be spotted first.
- Dokkaebi to have two calls per round.
- Targeted defenders can't hang up the call, call to last for 12 seconds.
Loadout changes
- Dokkaebi to lose her SMG-12.
We believe these changes would require Dokkaebi to put more thought before using her Logic Bomb. Undoubtedly, more skill would be required to get the best out of the South Korean attacker, and, at the same time, defenders wouldn't have to face so much pressure from her.
In Dokkaebi's current version, the South Korean can immediately play more aggressive after hacking the defender cameras as she knows the attackers will have unlimited access to them for the whole round, eveb if she dies. However, if a time-limitation was added to her camera hacks, Dokkaebi players would have to decide between two playstyles: one in where they play aggressive around their calls or one in where they support their teammates through her two Logic Bomb hacks.
Regarding Dokkaebi's calls, her Logic Bomb being limited to just one operator per call automatically transforms the South Korean's ability to an anti-roamer tool, instead of being used as a lazy but overpowered gadget.
All in all, Dokkaebi's position in the game has been too strong for too long. Her concept is great, but there's no skill behind such an overpowered tool. The changes previously discussed would limit her abilities to a point where they would still be useful, but she would still expose herself while also needing the help of her teammates to get the most out of her Logic Bomb.