A potentially meta-changing gadget is coming to Rainbow Six Siege in Year 8.
Revealed during the Year 8 panel at the Six Invitational 2023, Ubisoft shared that they are set to add a secondary defender gadget in Year 8 Season 3 that will affect how attackers drone.
The new gadget, which will be introduced sometime around Sep. 2023, will function as an “observation blocker” that effectively projects a small, opaque screen to block lines of sight. The size of the projection is not too large -- it cannot completely block a wide doorway or window, for example -- but it is tall enough to effectively block the entire height of a doorway and window.
Because the gadget is only an electronic projection, attackers will be able to move their drones through the projection to pierce the veil -- but that will obviously come at the risk of having the drone being seen and shot.
Attackers will also not experience any issues physically looking down any hallways where the projector has been deployed, as the gadget will only affect drones.
This is a change that will force attackers to position and move their drones more than they did before. They will also have to do so with greater care, as information gathering will slow down.
The change is likely in conjunction with the fact that an attacking lineup will soon be able to bring up to 18 drones if there is a Flores, Twitch, and Brava. This will make life as a defender significantly harder, with little that will be able to be hidden from attackers even with the use of Mute jammers, Mozzie pests, or barricades.
These issues have already become prevalent in professional play and high ranks, where droning has been combined with yellow pings to devastating effect -- often players find themselves blown up by grenades, pre-fired, or wall-banged with little warning.
The new changes should thus relieve defenders of some of the pressure of hiding, especially on smaller maps like Coastline and Consulate where there is usually little room to manoeuvre.