Rainbow Six Siege players will finally get their hands on the Lion rework later today

During the Six Invitational, the developers behind Rainbow Six Siege unveiled the much-anticipated rework of its most controversial Operator, Lion. Although players were left disgruntled that the update didn’t arrive in time for the opening of Year 4, the rework is now ready and will debut later today on PC.

Lion was originally introduced last year as a part of Operation Chimera and its accompanying PvE event, Outbreak. His primary gadget is his EE-ONE-D, one of Siege first two global activations that scans the defending team if they move. While this was suited to the co-op event, players immediately found the ability to be broken, demanding a rework.

In the interim, Ubisoft changed things up by reducing his charges and enabling defenders to avoid the scan by simply standing still. Lion also became the first Operator to be permanently banned in competitive tournaments to avoid imbalance at professional level. Sadly, these changes did little to quell the frustration felt in the general Ranked pool, where players still felt that Lion was too powerful.

Ubisoft debuted the rework during the Six Invitational earlier in the year and finally released the patch notes ahead of its release today. This is “aimed at reducing the oppressive feeling of his ability while maintaining his intel-gathering role,” dropping the warning from 3 seconds to 1.5 and the scan time from 4 seconds to 2.

This is balanced with Lion going back to an increased 3 charges that only take 15 seconds to cooldown instead of 27, but the scan outline will be replaced by a red ping debuff. Like Mute, Vigil will also act as a hard counter with his ERC–7 cloaking him from scans.

Capitao is set to receive the most comprehensive overhaul aside from Lion, with changes being made to his bolts in order to “emphasize skill and not blind luck.” This includes reducing the tick damage from 19 to 12 and placing a realistic drop in trajectory after 10 metres. This is balanced by an increase in AoE for area denial; however it takes 2 seconds to reach full size.

Blitz is receiving a hefty nerf with the flashes on his ballistic shield increased to 7 seconds from 2, helping to stop players rushing at full speed. Kaid’s TCSG12 Shotgun is being nerfed with reduced ammunition from 61 to 51, while his AUG-A3 is getting a buff in damage from 27 to 33.

Nomad’s Airjabs have also changed with an idle effect that acts as a warning when deployed and her Claymore has been swapped for grenades. And finally, Maestro’s Evil Eyes will now automatically open their bulletproof window half-way when attacked by Thatcher’s EMP or Twitch’s Shock Drones, making them easier to wipe out.

The Year 4, Season 1.3 update will land on live servers for PC players later today, while console players will have to wait until tomorrow, April 17.

KitGuru Says: Lion does feel like an Operator that requires no skill to use, so it’s refreshing to see his interaction with the enemy team change. It remains to be seen just how effective this rework will prove, but we can all hope.

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