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Rainbow Six Siege Operation Para Bellum mid-season patch brings major balance changes to many operators

The mid-season patch for Rainbow Six Siege's Operation Para Bellum is due out soon, and Ubisoft is now ready to share some of the major changes on the way.

As part of its Designer's Notes series of blog posts, the Rainbow Six Siege developer announced that the update will bring balance changes to eight of the game's operators.

Based on the data the developer has, particularly when it comes to pick and win rates for operators, it'll be making a balance pass that'll hit attackers and defenders. The names include Finka, IQ, Blackbeard, Glaz, Twitch, Jackal, Frost, and Dokkaebi.

Starting off with Finka, which Ubisoft says is too powerful, her ability duration has been cut from 20 to ten seconds. Smoke's gas canisters, which currently do double damage when the target is under Adrenaline Boost, now do less damage.

Though she's currently strong, the developer wants Finka to be more popular, which is why it's also replacing her stun grenades with frags.

IQ's frag grenades are being replaced with claymores, and her electronics scanner is having its range reduced to 15m from 20. Ubisoft believes IQ is currently too good, hence the nerf.

Blackbeard is not too powerful as it currently stands, though the developer wants to make him a bit more appealing, as well as make it harder for players to pick between his two main weapons. The MK17's damage is going up to 49 from 42, and the SR-25 is dropping to 61 from 72. Crucially, his rifle shield will now take 50 damage instead of 60 before breaking.

Glaz is strong in every situation, according to Ubisoft, particularly in Pro League. A simple solution for now is to nerf the damage of his OTS-03 to 71 from 85 to make him more situational.

In order to reduce Twitch's current pick rate in Ranked (60%), Ubisoft is dropping the damage of her FAMAS from 40 to 37. This should make her less desirable, but not destroy her popularity completely.

Jackal is getting one of the smallest changes. In order to increase his pick rate, the developer is reducing the risk that comes with scanning enemy footsteps by increasing the scanner's distance to 8m from 5m.

Frost has been deemed too weak by Ubisoft, so the plan is to make her more powerful and more fun to play. Her SMG damage is going up to 45 from 43, and her shotgun will now do 35 damage instead of 32.

This is just a first step, however, and Ubisoft will be looking into Frost's case further.

Dokkaebi's claymore will be replaced with stun grenades. Having smoke grenades and a claymore gave the operator more utility than intended, hence the changes.

The barbed wire's slowing effect is being upped from 45% to 50% in order to make the gadget more viable in all situations. Barbed wire HP is not changing, however, so it'll still take two hits to remove.

Some of these changes were deployed on the Rainbow Six Siege test server last week, while others have yet to make it. The mid-season patch does not yet have a release date, but it won't be the end of this wave of operator balance.

Ubisoft is also looking further into Alibi, Maestro, Ash, Twitch, Jager, Bandit, Frost, Kapkan, and Castle. Hit the link above for a rundown of what the developer has in mind for these operators.

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Sherif Saed

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Sherif (he/him) is VG247’s go-to shooter and Souls-likes person. Whether it’s news, reviews, or op-eds – Sherif is always eager to tell you about video games. He's one of VG247's most veteran writers, with 10+ years experience on the site.

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