Ubisoft will bring Operation Twin Shell as the third season in year nine of their popular shooter Rainbow Six Siege this September. This season is loaded with major changes which are aimed at improving the player experience.
Rainbow Six Siege faced both ups and downs in its ninth year, however, Operation Twin Shell is looking promising. The upcoming season will arrive with a Defender Operator, Skopos, who is equipped with a new weapon
Other than a new operator, the update will also feature major balancing changes to a few operators, Versus AI 2.0 Playlist and Drone Boost feature
When will Rainbow Six Siege Y9S3 Operation Twin Shell release?
Rainbow Six Siege Y9S3 Operation Twin Shell will be launched on the official server on September 10, 2024. On the day of release, the servers will face a maintenance downtime for a few hours which will be notified on R6S social media channels.
Operation Twin Shell will be bringing various changes and additions to Rainbow Six Siege, so here’s a complete rundown of what to expect:
- New Defender Operator (Skopos): An operator that can switch between two positions within the map on command.
- Solis Rework: Ubisoft adds a new set of changes to Solis’ SPEC-IO sensor and an additional Overclock mode.
- Nokk Rework: Nokk’s ability will face changes to Hel Presence Reduction ability that allows her to stay out of camera sight and be silent longer.
- Dokkaebi Nerf: Her Logic Bombs will recharge over a 45-second period and will be able to have only 2 changes at max.
- Drone Boost: Drones in Siege will have a boost feature which would speed up drones for a short duration.
- Versus AI 2.0 Playlist: The Versus AI mode will receive a Defender simulation mode which will help train players for Defense.
- Siege Cup (Beta): Rainbow Six Siege will add an in-game tournament system that will provide exclusive rewards.
- New Graphics API: The new season will see the removal of Vulcan API, and add support of DirectX12.
- Anti-Cheat Improvement: Siege will introduce Binary Hardening that makes new cheat development harder and disrupts existing cheats.
- Claymore Activation: Claymores activate instantly, instead of having a 0.2-second delay.
Complete deep-dive into Skopos and loadout she brings
Skopos is going to be the first operator who stays out of the map physically but will have two usable robot bodies. The robots are called V10 Pantheon Shells, each of which has a 2-Speed and 2-Health stat rating.
What makes Skopos special, is her ability to switch between bodies on commands. Thus, allowing her to technically teleport across the map. However, the elimination of the active body results in death.
The V10 Pantheon Shells also cannot benefit from healing gadgets as their body are made out of metal. Regardless, both bodies have separate HP bars, so switching to an unharmed shell will result in having full health.
Skopos will be receiving a new primary weapon, which is effective and has a good range. Here’s a quick look at how loadout will look like:
- Primary Weapons: PCX-33 (New Assault Rifle)
- Secondary Weapon: P229 (Pistol)
- Primary Gadget: V10 Pantheon Shells
- Secondary Gadgets: Impact Grenades and Proximity Alarm.
Unlike other operators, Skopos will only have access to one primary and secondary weapon. This has likely been done since she has two bodies which already make her quite powerful.
A detailed look at the major balancing changes and other additions
Rainbow Six Siege developer team released their designer notes, aka patch notes detailing every change arriving with Operation Twin Shell. The original documentation is long, so here’s a shortened version for your ease:
Operator nerfs and buff:
Dokkaebi nerf:
Dokkaebi is one of the most impactful operators who has been highly picked and banned on ranks. To make her less taxing on players, Ubisoft is nerfing her Logic Bomb ability.
This nerf blocks her from using the ability at the start of a round which denies early rushes. Here’s what the official patch notes prescribe about her ability changes:
- Initial charges: 0
- Refill time: 45 seconds
- Max. resources: 2
Nokk buff:
Ever since the release of Operation Phantom Sight, Nokk hasn’t been able to show her potential to the fullest. Operation Twin Shell will finally make her shine as a stealth operator, which was originally intended.
Instead of draining her Hel Presence Reduction bar over time, Nokk now only drains it while running or shooting with her ability on. Slow movement, on the other hand, doesn’t drain her ability, helping her stay invisible on cameras indefinitely.
Now, these changes don’t make her Hel Presence Reduction infinite. The ability to recharge time has been drastically increased, so reckless consumption will be punished. Here are details on the ability recharge changes:
- Max. resources: 10 seconds
- Time to complete refill: 120 seconds
- Min. resources to activate: 20%
Gadget adjustments
Claymore:
Good claymore placements will now be rewarded as claymores have been buffed. Instead of having a 0.2-second delay, it would now explode immediately. So, destroying it while pre-firing when vaulting out a window is not an option.
Proximity Alarm:
Players will not obtain point awards once the proximity alarm detects someone. This has been done, as players have been using the point system to get pre-placed C4 kills even without hearing the alarm.
Weapon Balancing Changes
Only two weapons in Rainbow Six Siege will receive balancing changes with Operation Twin Shell. The weapons in question are FMG-9 and R4-C.
FMG-9: (Affects Smoke and Nokk)
- For PC: Reduced first kick, horizontal recoil and recoil will remain stable for longer during a sustained fire burst.
- For Consoles: Reduced lateral recoil.
R4-C: (Affects Ram and Ash)
The R4-C will now have 25 bullets per magazine, instead of 30 per magazine. This change is similar to Jager’s 416-C nerf, which ended up being effective.
