Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 4 Season 4 content, Operation Shifting Tides, like the ones that have come before, includes two new operators, a reworked map and a host of small changes to make the game better. Ubisoft has already teased some of the expansion in a trailer (below) but, Operation Shifting Tides certainly earns its name.
Like Ember Rise before it, Shifting Tides introduces new operators who have the potential for massive change. The new attacker Kali comes equipped with Siege’s first bolt-action sniper rifle while defender Wamai’s Mag-NET gadget could see Jager being played far less.
Operation Shifting Tides also reworks Themepark to provide a better gameplay experience, more balance and better competition.
Rainbow Six Siege Operation Shifting Tides
In my hands-on, I managed to have plenty of time with both Kali and Wamai and test out their weapons, loadouts and gadgets. Both new operators have been well designed with plenty of potential to upset the established meta.
Kali’s Sniper Rifle is an absolute beast and is certainly something to fear, especially from players who know what they’re doing. The defender Wamai, on the other hand, could be the new Jager. His Mag-NET gadget functions similarly to the Magpie but with some pretty significant differences that could make it far more useful.
Kali’s CSRX 300 packs an insane punch. Obviously, a headshot is an instant kill but a body shot means an instant down. It’s able to “obliterate wooden barricades and unreinforced hatches” and it has a variable 5x and 12x scope.
When Kali downs an enemy with the CSRX 300, they’ll spin to face the direction of the shot. This helps provide some more intel for their team. The CSRX 300, while deadly, can’t penetrate reinforced walls or hatches, however, Kali’s gadget can help her get past these hurdles.
Her LV Explosive Lance is an “under-barrel mechanical projectile that explodes within a set radius to destroy gadgets on both sides of breakable and reinforced surfaces.” The LV projectiles burrow into surfaces and then explode on both sides.
As Ubisoft puts it;
That line of Bandit batteries protecting your reinforced walls?
Gone
Helpful Mute Jammers?
Gone
The lance will still be useful when it hits a surface it can’t burrow into. So, Kali can remove Maestro Evil Eyes, barbwire and deployable shields. The LV Lance can’t open Black Mirrors so Kali can’t replace a breaching character but her Sniper Rifle and LV Lance certainly give players some awesome new toys to play with.
As for Wamai, players have been asking for an alternative to Jager for some time and Team Rainbow has finally delivered. His Magnetic Neutralising Electronic Targeting System or Mag-NET system is a gadget that sticks to surfaces and will act on any attacker projectile that passes within its radius.
The Mag-NET stops the projectile, resets its timer, pulls the projectile towards itself and the projectile detonates at the Mag-NET’s location. Finally, the Mag-NET itself explodes. Each Mag-NET can only grab on projectile and the projectiles will still go off. This means Flash Grenades will still flash and Frag grenades will still explode. However, they go off at the Mag-NET’s location and not where the attacker intended.
The Mag-NET is fairly powerful but it doesn’t affect Hibana’s X-Kairos Pellets or Twitch’s Shock Drone Charges. The actual Mag-NET device can be destroyed pretty easily if attackers spot them but how they differ from Jager and many other gadgets is that Wamai gains them gradually over the round.
The same way that Legion accrues Gu mines, Wamai gets Mag-NET charges.
Regular readers will know that I’m not very good at Rainbow Six Siege but both Kali and Wamai gave me some new ways to play and some utility in the rounds that I normally wouldn’t have. Kali’s Sniper Rifle meant that I was able to stay out of the action and try and take some shots to help my team.
Her LV Gadget also let me create some breaching opportunities while maintaining a safe distance. For me, Kali was great for staying out of the action but I can tell that good Rainbow Six Siege players will be deadly with her from any range.
Wamai also made me feel a little safer as he stopped projectiles from murdering me and gave me a heads-up as to where the enemy was coming from. Of course, using the Mag-NET works best when in proper communication with your team and can be used to really mess with the attackers in new and interesting ways.
Overall, the two new operators are definitely going to be interesting going forward and it will be particularly fascinating to see how the pros adapt to them.
Operation Shifting Tides is coming to Rainbow Six Siege to finish off Year 4.
Leo Stevenson attended an Operation Shifting Tides event as a guest of Ubisoft. Travel costs were provided by Ubisoft.
