Y9S1.3 Designer's Notes: Iana gets Impact EMPs, Azami's Kiba Barriers nerfed, Impact Grenade nerf, Lesion to lose Impacts, and more!

With the BLAST R6 Major Manchester just around the corner, Ubisoft has unveiled the content of the game's upcoming patch. The announcement regarding Y9S1.3's patch included multiple nerfs and buffs as the defender operators could see their precious win-rate falling in the upcoming weeks.

Here's everything you need to know about Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege upcoming update!

Impact Grenade nerf

Ubisoft is introducing a nerf to one of the most well-known defender gadgets in Rainbow Six Siege, the Impact Grenade. The damage will be reduced from 60 HP to 40 HP while the radius will be reduced from 3 meters to 2 meters.

As of now, these are all of the operators who have access to Impact Grenades in Rainbow Six Siege:

• Azami
• Caveira
• Clash
• Echo
• Goyo
• Maestro
• Melusi
• Rook
• Valkyrie
• Vigil
• Wamai

With these changes, defenders won't be able to impact trick most of the hard-breaching charges used on the attacking side. Additionally, it won't be easy for defenders to deal with Montagne and Blitz using Impact Grenades, as they won't be as deadly as before the deployment of Y9S1.3.

We recognize the growing significance of Impact Grenades over the years. They play a crucial role in site setup, facilitate defenders' swift rotations, aid in clearing attackers utility, deny walls, and even eliminate adversaries. However, we acknowledge their excessive versatility, which prompts us to address their killing potential and wall-denial capabilities.

We have implemented a reduction in damage. As a result, double-impacting an enemy will no longer result in an immediate kill. Also, opponents must be even more damaged to employ a grenade to secure the elimination - Ubisoft's official blog post.

As a consecuence, attackers will be in a much better position to win on multiple maps, especially Clubhouse, Oregon, and Kafe, where impact tricking and using shield operators is crucial.

Azami's Kiba Barriers

Ubisoft is nerfing Azami's Kiba Barriers once again. With the launch of Operation Deadly Omen, the Japanese operator gadget lost its bulletproof condition. Now, its situation is getting slightly worse as they won't be as strong as they used to be.

According to Ubisoft's Designer's Notes, these are the changes made to Azami's Kiba Barriers:

• Increased by 10% the damage received by High caliber Handguns and Revolvers.
  • Handguns: .44 Mag Semi-Auto, D-50
  • Revolvers: .44 Vendetta, Keratos .357, LFP586
• Increased by 10% the damage received by Medium caliber Submachine Guns and Assault Rifles.
  • Submachine Guns: K1A, P90, UMP45, Vector.45 ACP
  • Assault Rifles: 416-C Carbine, 552 Commando, 556XI, AK-12, AR33, AUG A2, C7E, C8-SFW, Commando 9, F2, F90, G36C, L85A2, PARA-308, POF-9, R4-C, SC3000K, Type-89
• Increased by 5% the damage received by High caliber Assault Rifles and Light Machine Guns.
  • Assault Rifles: AK-74M, ARX200, M4, M762, Mk17 CQB, Spear .308, V308
  • Light Machine Guns: 6P41, ALDA 5.56, DP27, G8A1, LMG-E, M249, M249 SAW, T-95 LSW

Iana to get Impact EMPs

Iana is losing her stun grenades. Instead, she is getting Impact EMPs. She will keep her Smoke Grenades.

Lesion's Gu Mines nerfed

Lesion currently is the highest picked operator in Rainbow Six Siege with a pick-rate of 40%, closely followed by Doc and Fenrir.

Therefore, Ubisoft is making some changes to nerf his gadget, starting with a reduction of the damage delivered by the Gu Mines (from 5 HP to 3 HP) and an increase of his gadget refill timer (from 20 seconds to 25 seconds).

Additionally, Ubisoft is removing Lesion's Impact Grenade. Instead, he is getting Observation Blockers.

Nokk

Ubisoft is buffing Nokk as her HEL Presence Reduction is getting some tweaks. While the duration of the gadget has been increased from 20 to 30 seconds, the cooldown has been been increased from 20 to 30 seconds too.

Oryx

Oryx's Remah Dash will be able to destroy Deployable and Talon shields (Osa) without being interrupted.

Sens

Ubisoft is increasing Sens' number of R.O.U. Projector System from three to four.

Ballistic Shield

Given the changes previously shared regarding Impact Grenades, Ubisoft is making a tweak to the Ballistic Shield as the trigger threshold has been reduced from 50 to 30 damage.