North Star | Seasons | Rainbow Six Siege | Ubisoft (CA)
Rainbow Six Siege is introducing Year 6 Season 2, North Star! When some of our beloved Operators end up in a difficult situation, only the best of the best can come to the rescue. Introducing Thunderbird, a free-spirited pilot from the Nakoda Territories in Saskatchewan, Canada. Possessing a quiet strength, she uses the Kóna Healing Station to help the fallen on the battlefield.
This season, players can expect balancing changes to Melusi, Smoke, Mira, and Nøkk, a redesign of the scoreboard, and much more. New after-death gameplay will also be featured on the Test Server. Read the Patch Notes below for more information.
Dr. Harishva “Harry” Pandey
Director of Rainbow
“Steady hand and a clear head, I’m still not up for a joy ride with Thunderbird.”
You wouldn’t think such a calm individual on the ground was wildfire in the sky, but sometimes risks are necessary to save lives. Specialist Mina “Thunderbird” Sky’s quiet strength does nothing to hide her passion and dedication to her community.
Thunderbird
Primary Weapon
SPAS-15
SHOTGUN
Spear .308
ASSAULT RIFLE
Secondary Weapon
Bearing 9
Machine Pistol
Q-929
HANDGUN
Gadget
Barbed Wire
Bulletproof camera
Deployable Shield
Dr. Elena “Mira” Álvarez
Director of R&D
“Able to administer emergency aid unsupervised the Kóna Healing Station, like Thunderbird, is a friend to anyone on the field.”
UNIQUE ABILITIES AND PLAYSTYLE
When deployed on the ground, the Kóna Station acts as a point of safety for injured and downed Operators. All they have to do is approach the device, and the Kóna Station automatically boosts the Operator's HP or offers a revive.
MAP REWORK: FAVELA
Favela was originally made to provide players with a brand new destruction experience and was never intended for competitive play. While the destructible exterior walls on Favela map have allowed for interesting strategies, they never provided players with perfectly balanced gameplay. Attackers had plenty of entry points to breach, making it difficult for Defenders to guard their objectives.
The goal of this rework was to make gameplay on Favela map more balanced and competitive, while still retaining its element of fun.
The two main entryways on Favela's roof have been preserved. They were previously named 3F Main Stairs, 3F Back Stairs, and 3F Packaging and are now named 3F Red Stairs, 3F Trash Chute, and 3F Electrical. The map's small size, irregular exterior, and verticality also remain. The rest of the map, including the overall structure of the main building, has been completely remade, so players will get to experience a virtually new location that retains the same theme as the original Favela.
BALANCING
MELUSI CHANGES
- When active, the center of Melusi's Banshee Sonic Defense will now be vulnerable to bullets, lasers, explosives, and melee attacks. The outer shell that surrounds the center is bulletproof but vulnerable to explosions.
SMOKE CHANGES
- The propagation system in Smoke's Remote Gas Grenade has been reworked to prevent the toxic gas from traveling through walls, floors, and ceilings.
SHATTERED GLASS
- Players will now be able to use a melee hit to shatter the glass of Mira's Black Mirror, Maestro's Evil Eye, and the Bulletproof Camera. Shattered glass is opaque and prevents the devices from being used to spot opponents.
NØKK CHANGES – TEST SERVER ONLY
- To gather feedback, a few changes to Nøkk will be present on the Test Server only. When activated, Nøkk's HEL Presence Reduction won't set off proximity-based devices, but Nøkk will still trigger laser-based gadgets (like Kapkan's Entry Denial Devices and Aruni's Surya Gates). The noise reduction aspect of her ability has also been removed.
DEATH EXPERIENCE
DEATH CHANGES
- When a player dies they will now be able to skip over the first-person death animation. In addition, the slow motion and opponent closeup that were previously part of the death replay have been removed. This change was made to help keep players in the flow of action.
OPERATOR ICONS
- When a player is eliminated, a transparent Operator icon will appear in place of their body. The icon will remain for the duration of the round, just as a body would. This change was made to help players identify eliminated Operators and prevent unfair gameplay scenarios involving bodies.
GAMEPLAY AFTER DEATH – TEST SERVER ONLY
- To gather community feedback, the Y6S2 Test Server will have new gameplay after death. Attackers will be able to drive their own drones after death. As well, Zero's ARGUS Cameras, Mozzie's drones, Echo's Yokai, and Maestro's Evil Eye can be used by those Operators after death. Bulletproof Cameras (which now fire EMP bursts) can be used by Defenders after death. This feature aims to reduce downtime when players are eliminated and offer more ways for players to support their team and have an impact on the round.
HP REPLACES ARMOR – TEST SERVER ONLY
Operator armor will be converted to health (HP) on the Test Server. This means that 3-Armor Operators will have 125 HP, 2-Armor Operators will have 110 HP, and 1-Armor Operators will have 100 HP. This feature is being released on the Test Server so that TS players can try it out and the team can have additional time to finetune it.
SCOREBOARD 2.0
The scoreboard has been redesigned to provide players with more game context during matches. The new scoreboard displays the stages of each match and outcomes of each round as they occur, and Banned Operators are listed for Ranked and Unranked matches.
BULLET HOLES
The line of sight through bullet holes in soft surfaces has been blocked. This prevents unfair gameplay scenarios and encourages players to use a variety of strategies to eliminate opponents.
Note: Bullet holes in thin materials like window glass, barricades, and the inner cores of props are not affected by this change.
OPERATORS PRICE DECREASE
This season will see a price adjustment for 6 Operators. Ace and Melusi price will go down to 20,000 Renown or 480 R6 Credits, followed by Nokk and Warden whose price will go down to 15,000 Renown or 360 R6 Credits. Last but not least, Alibi and Maestro are now down to 10,000 Renown or 240 R6 Credits.
SEASONAL WEAPON SKINS
North Star's seasonal weapon skin is all about courage and hospitality. With the Medicant bundle, you will be a fierce aid to anyone in need.
The weapon skin will be released at season launch and is available for purchase throughout the season. Once unlocked, it remains in your inventory indefinitely and can be applied to all available weapons.
OPERATOR BALANCING
ASH
- Reduced number of Breach Rounds from 3 to 2.
- Increased R4-C vertical recoil. Horizontal spread will be more constant and stronger to the right, and long burst recoil will start on the 8th bullet instead of the 12th.
FINKA
- HP is now permanently granted, similar to HP granted by Doc's Stim Pistol.
MELUSI
- When Melusi's Banshee Sonic Defense is active, the core becomes vulnerable to bullets and melee attacks.
- The device now detects enemies' feet.
ROOK
- The deploy and equip interactions for Rook have been merged, so he now drops the Armor Pack and applies his own armor in the same movement.
VALKYRIE
- Valkyrie now has primary control over her Black Eye cameras, so she will take control over the cameras if another player is trying to use them at the same time (similar to Zero and Echo).
VIGIL
- Increased vertical recoil. Horizontal spread will be more constant and stronger to the the right. Long burst recoil will start on the 6th bullet instead of the 12th.
ZERO
- The ARGUS Camera now uses the same resource management system as the Shock Drone. A shot is recharged every 15 seconds. The device has infinite ammunition and only 1 shot can be stacked.
BEARING 9
- Horizontal spread is now more constant instead of randomly moving to the left or right, and the next shot is closer to the center.
SMG-12
- First shot kick has been reduced and vertical recoil has been reduced. Horizontal spread will be more predictable and constant to the left, and long burst recoil will start on the 12th bullet instead of the 6th.
TWEAKS & IMPROVEMENTS
GAME BALANCING
Smoke balancing
- The propagation system in Smoke's Remote Gas Grenade has been reworked to prevent the toxic gas from traveling through walls, floors, and ceilings.
- A new sound plays when the canister is detonated.
- Operators hit by the cloud will receive 15 HP of damage every 0.66 seconds until they leave the area of effect.
Shattered Glass Interactions
- Players are now able to use a melee hit to shatter the glass of Mira's Black Mirror, Maestro's Evil Eye, and the Bulletproof Camera. Shattered glass is opaque and prevents the devices from being used to spot opponents.
- When Mira's Black Mirror is shattered, vision is denied on both sides. When the canister is destroyed, the device now shatters and explodes instead of falling to the floor.
- When Maestro's Evil Eye is shattered, he has to open the device to see through it.
- The Bulletproof Camera is now melee-proof from the front, but a single melee hit will shatter the glass.
Area of Effect Rationalization - Area of effect feedback for Kaid's Rtila Electroclaws and Nomad's Airjabs has been updated to better represent their behavior.
- Area of effect feedback has been added to Ela's GRZMOT Mines and Jäger's Active Defenses to help players better understand their range.
PLAYER COMFORT
Defuser Interactions
- Auto pick up for the defuser has been removed.
- The pickup action is now manual like it is for other devices, but there is no animation and the prompt appears when the player is in range (they don't need to look at the defuser).
- Added key binding for drop interaction.
Font Updates - Updated Arabic and Korean fonts to distinguish between title and body text.
- Added a distinction between titles and other text for the Thai localization.
Interface Preferences Update
- Options to hide the names of teammates and opponents have been added to the Interface preferences in the Options menu. This allows players to have a cleaner interface, especially for the purpose of recording content.
Operator Statistics
- The Details & Statistics page in the Operators section has been removed. Players can now view stats through Ubisoft Connect (in the in-game overlay and on the website).
Scoreboard 2.0
- The new scoreboard aims to provide more information to newcomers about match format and evolution.
- Round history has been added to the scoreboard. New icons represent the status of each round as well as the position of match points and Attacker/Defender role swaps. Banned Operators are also displayed for Ranked and Unranked matches.
- Round history will be shown in the scoreboard for all PVP playlists and game modes. It supports matches of any length, including the infinite overtime used in some competitive tournaments.
Match Replay Improvements
- Reduced file size of replays.
- Changed the way matches are recorded and removed playback snapshots for rewind.
- Modified the method used to record the UI during a match to improve the stability of Match Replay.
- Added motion interpolation to make the animation smoother and more fluid.
- When using F10 on the screen, shortcut keys used for match replays are shown.
- Enabled Match Replay for tournaments.
- UX improvements for the control bar.
- The Match ID and REPLAY BETA label are now visible on the screen that presents the game mode and on the screen that shows the round number.
- Support for Observation Tools (Caster HUD).
- Support for Scoreboard 2.0.
Player Cards – Observation Tools
- Added feedback in player cards to show when an Operator is using Observation Tools. This info will be shown in the Caster HUD. It will also be displayed for eliminated Operators when they spectate one of their teammates. It aims to help players understand their team's synergy and how they can help one another.
GAME HEALTH
Abandon Penalties Update
- Penalties are now 60 minutes, 2 hours, 24 hours, or 48 hours depending on the level of escalation.
- Cooldown for Abandon Penalties has increased to 7 days (was previously 48 hours).
- Renown Penalties now have the same duration as matchmaking restrictions.
- This update only affects Ranked and Unranked.
Bullet Holes Exploit
- Line of sight through bullet holes in soft surfaces has been blocked.
Eliminated Operator Icons
- The bodies of eliminated Operators have been replaced with transparent icons.
Flash Hider and Compensator Rework
- Changed how the compensator works. It will now be more efficient at mitigating left and right recoil.
- Flash hider now only affects the 'up' speed, making the gun climb slower.
Squad MMR Restriction for Placement Matches
- From now on, the Squad MMR restriction will apply to placement matches, even if Squad members have never been ranked.
- The Squad MMR restriction is currently 700 MMR.
Map Rotations
- This season's reworked map is Favela.
- Ranked/Unranked Playlists: Favela is not featured in the map pools for Ranked or Unranked, so those playlists will remain unchanged.
- Newcomer Playlist: Favela replaces Coastline in the Newcomer map pool. The bomb sites are Coin Farm/Storage and Coin Farm/Bunks.
MAIN BUG FIXES
To learn more about the mischievous bugs we've fixed for this season, follow the link below.
BUG FIXES LISTVisit Other Social Channels
