Earlier this month, Ubisoft teased that the reveal for the next season of Rainbow Six Siege, Operation Neon Dawn, would take place on November 8. The company promised a preview stream that would show off the next Operator coming to Siege, as well what gameplay changes to expect. Well, that stream delivered exactly what was promised. We now know all about Operator Aruni in addition to details on the Skyscraper map revision, existing Operator tweaks, and expanded accessibility options coming with the new season.
Seeing as the Neon Dawn preview stream largely focused on showcasing Aruni, we will start with her. She is a Thai Operator and an agent of Nighthaven that is supplemented by multiple prosthetics. Ubisoft explained that she suffered from a mine explosion that took her limbs and her sister’s life when they were young. Needless to say, the incident had a permanent impact on Aruni, both mentally and physically. She lives a very austere lifestyle and spends most of her money on charitable causes, and of course, acquiring cutting-edge prosthetics.
The next operator
Aruni’s artificial limbs augment her abilities in fact, while her connections with Nighthaven give her access to advanced tech. Her main gadget is called a Surya gate, and it allows her to act as a capable defender. The Surya gates can attach to any structure to block off doorways and breach holes. The gate itself produces a laser grid system which damages enemies and kills drones that pass through. Fortunately, Aruni and her teammates can pass through the gates. They briefly deactivate when allies move within proximity to them. Aruni can redeploy these throughout matches as well, so it makes her a versatile defender.
As for her prosthetics, Aruni’s melee allows her to punch holes into walls to create firing ports or even passthroughs. The best part is that she can resecure her own breach with a Surya gate, which allows her to create custom and secure patrol routes.
New heights and balancing acts
Ubisoft also spent a chunk of time going over the map changes coming to Skyscraper. That’s the luxurious Japanese-themed battleground, which you can see below. Players will find that several of the exterior balconies are now gone. Ubisoft also redesigned several rooms to create better cover and simultaneously eliminate notorious camping spots. The overall aesthetic of the map is now decidedly different as well. The exterior spaces feature different color tones and there are different textures inside as well. You’ll see for yourself when you jump in.
Ubisoft is also taking the opportunity to introduce some operator rebalancing for Jager, Hibana, and Echo. Jager will see a nerf on his ADS gadget which can now only catch one projectile before it’s forced to recharge. Habana now has a toggle option on her X-Kairos launcher which will allow players to choose how many pellets they want to fire. As for Echo, his drones will no longer be invisible. This change should force players using him to get more creative with hiding the devices. It will definitely be easier for opponents to find and destroy them, too.
Ubisoft also mentioned it will expand accessibility options with things like voice-to-text and text-to-voice. You can check out all of these changes to Rainbow Six Siege via the test servers on November 9 when Operation Neon Dawn goes live.
