Rainbow Six Siege
“Operation Neon Dawn"
Y5S4 patch notes
The last season in Year 5 of Rainbow Six Siege brings us Operation Neon Dawn. This new update continues the trend of the Ubisoft team adding 1 new operator. Since the last operator was an attacker (Zero), the Y5S4 adds a defender called Aruni.
The below Y5S4 patch notes will tell you everything you need to know about the newest update in R6S.
Simultaneously, Ubisoft releases the rework of yet another map – Skyscraper – and huge changes to key operators:
And many less drastic changes to other operators.
Last but not least, the way runouts work in R6 is altered, as well.
We’ve got plenty of information to get through in Y5S4 patch notes, so let’s jump right into it. Shall we?
Operation Neon Dawn - Release date
Operation Neon Dawn follows a typical Rainbow Six Siege patch release cycle, hence we have received the Y5S4 patch on the 1st of December.
NEW OPERATOR - ARUNI
The newest addition to the Rainbow Six Siege roster is a female defender from Thailand.
Her name is Apha Tawanroong, aka “Aruni”, and she seems to know where the Joker got his scars from.
ARUNI UTILITY
Aruni will be an interesting addition to the game. She’ll take the role of an architect on defense, similarly to Castle.
Her gadget is a Surya laser gate (Surya means “sun” in Thai). Surya will create an obstacle for attackers of laser wall deployable on:
- Walls, both reinforced and unreinforced
- Windows
- Hatches
- Doorways
Single Surya device is capable of covering space similar to single doors.
Once deployed, the Surya device:
- Becomes indestructible, but the laser itself can be temporarily disabled by attackers
- Prevents drones, projectiles, and other attacking utility from passing through it (destroys on contact)
- Damages attackers who decide to pass through it without disabling the lasers beforehand (40HP damage is dealt)
- Once Surya has been touched by either attackers or their utility, the lasers become deactivated until the cooldown is finished
- Reactivation of Surya lasers does not happen automatically. Instead, Surya needs to be shot by defenders after the cooldown (the device stops sparkling)
- Covers entire hatch, window, or space on the wall (from the gadget to the floor), but leaves a drone space when deployed on doors (similar to Castle’s Armor Panels)
- The device itself can be picked up by Aruni
- Surya allows friendly players and gadgets to pass through it – lasers deactivate automatically when friendlies are nearby
On top of Surya lasers, Aruni has another unique touch – her prosthetic arm grants her an enhanced punch ability. As a result, Aruni can create punch holes in walls of a size similar to shotgun holes. Plus, she’s capable of opening unreinforced hatches with a single blow!
ARUNI LOADOUT
Unfortunately, Aruni does not bring any new guns to the Rainbow Six Siege weaponry. Luckily for her, though, she is equipped with strong weapons!
Aruni is the first defender to have officially categorized DMR gun at her disposal (TCSG12 is considered as a shotgun) – Mk14 EBR.
For players who prefer using automatic weapons, Aruni offers community favorite P10 Roni (Mozzie’s SMG).
The secondary weapon available to Aruni is PRB92, a handgun used primarily by Brazilian operators (Capitao & Caveira).
Lastly, her universal gadget options complement her potential playstyle as she can use Barbed wires or Proximity alarms.
Map Rework - Skyscraper
The last map rework of 2020 is one of the most anticipated ones – yes, I am talking about Skyscraper coming in the Y5s4 patch!
Here are a couple of videos that showcase the new Skyscraper. Don’t about you, but I am pretty excited about this one!
OPERATORS' CHANGES
Jäger NERF
The infamous defender, Jäger, is going through yet another change. With his 90%+ presence rate over the years, he has been a target of multiple nerfs. Ubisoft has already nerfed his primary gun, speed ratings, and altered his gadget choices.
What change comes in Y5S4 patch notes for Jäger?
Well, it’s time for changing how ADS devices work. Up until now, a single ADS device was capable of intercepting 2 projectiles. Thus Jäger was capable of preventing 6 enemy projectiles from impacting the defensive team.
Now, each ADS will be able to intercept only 1 projectile, after which the device will enter a 10 seconds cooldown. During the cooldown period, ADS won’t intercept any projectiles.
The upside for Jäger’s mains is that ADS will have an unlimited number of charges, limited only by the cooldown period.
What will be the impact of this change?
Well, it should make “burning the ADS” an easier task, but one that requires coordination from attackers and cooperation between teammates.
This change to how ADS works should also modify where and how Jäger players place their devices.
As an example: Instead of spreading devices across two bomb sites and multiple entry points, Jäger may choose to place 2 or even 3 ADS at a strategically crucial position.
Lastly, this change may increase the pick rate of Wamai.
Will it make Jäger obsolete?
No, we don’t think so.
Echo Nerf
One of the most banned and hated defenders (at least to play against) is getting a huge nerf. In the last quarter of 2020, Ubisoft went full hammer and decided to nerf the Echo’s Yokai drones.
With the release of the Y5S4 patch, Echo’s drones will no longer be invisible when attached to the ceiling!
This change is huge for Echo, one that is likely to completely alter how Echo is being played and both his presence and ban rates.
Ubisoft developers try to ease the pain a little bit for Echo mains by re-introducing a deployable shield to his loadout options. But that’s a rather minor buff comparing to the nerf.
Hibana's X-Kairos change
The least controversial change in Operation Neon Dawn impacts Hibana. From December she will be able to change fire mode for the X-Kairos launcher. Instead of having 3 charges of 6 pellets, Hibana will now have 18 charges that she can deploy in 3 modes:
- 6 pellets
- 4 pellets
- 2 pellets
Hibana has always been the specialist in opening the hatches within the Hard Breach role group. Now she has even more flexibility to using her utility. She can open 4 hatches or deal with Castle barricades without losing much of hatch opening capabilities.
This is a very welcomed change, one that the Rainbow Six Siege community has been asking for!
RUNOUT COUNTDOWN CHANGE
The last major change in Operation Neon Dawn is the modification of how the runouts work in Rainbow Six Siege.
Runout is a defensive strategy of running out of the objective building to get a jump on the attackers. It can also be used as a way to rotate through external space but is primarily used to kill opponents.
Up until now the defender who left the objective building had 2 seconds before attackers were notified about such action. The Y5S4 update will give defender only 1 second before their location is exposed to the opponents.
Is this a good change?
I believe that 2 seconds did feel a tad long. It’s a change that will force defenders to commit to a runout much more and will eliminate certain runouts for a spawnpeek.
Additionally, runout modification should help new players when attacking.
OTHER CHANGES:
- Wamai & Valkyrie lose deployable shields
- Ash loses Stun grenades (in favor of Claymores) but gainst additional Breaching Round (has now a total of 3)
- Twitch gains Stun grenades but loses Breaching charges
- Capitao loses Stun grenades but gains Claymore
- Ace gains Breaching charges but loses Claymore
- Reinforcements are deployed faster
- Tachanka is not capable of Withstanding
What do you think about Aruni?
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