The Operation Crystal Guard patch notes reveal big upcoming changes to various operators in Rainbow Six Siege.

While you might think Osa is the biggest new thing in Rainbow Six Siege Y6S3, but the game will host tons of changes in different gameplay areas.

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First and foremost, there are going to be several important Operator reworks with the launch of the new season. Starting off with Twitch, her Shock Drone will regain the ability to jump after a long time. The drone will have a bigger size, but its shock bullets will be more accurate.

Next up, IQ's Electronics Detector will get a quality-of-life improvement. Not only the covered range of the device will be increased, but also it will show you the type of each electronics device at the top right corner. also, you will be able to ping the electronics no matter you see it in plain sight or not.

Finally, there will be a buff for Fuze's Cluster Charge that allows the operator to bombard enemies through reinforced walls as well.

Aside from Operators, three maps will also receive minor reworks to make them more balanced. Below, you can check out the map changes and all the other balancing changes including the new Health system.

Rainbow Six Siege Crystal Guard Patch Notes

Map Rework

BANK

  • EXT Boulevard vehicles have been moved to new locations to prevent runout eliminations.
  • Some EXT Low Roof and EXT High Roof skylights have been blocked to prevent unfair firefights.
  • Line of sight into EXT Back Alley has been adjusted to prevent spawn peaks.
  • EXT Terrace has been updated to prevent spawn peaks.
  • Filing cabinets between 1F ATMs and 1F Lobby have been removed to prevent easy shots into the interior balcony.
  • All metal bars have been removed from B Vault to increase the ease of shooting.
  • A new alleyway named EXT Side Alley connects EXT Boulevard and EXT Back Alley.
  • Hatch in 1F Lobby now leads to B Vault.
  • Railing in 2F Skylight Stairwell is now destructible.

COASTLINE

  • The line of sight into the building from EXT Rooftop has been partially blocked to prevent unfair firefights.
  • Some windows in 1F Courtyard are now blocked, and all open windows can be barricaded.
  • A new 1F Reception bomb site replaces the 1F Service Entrance bomb site.
  • 1F Service Entrance is now located between the 1F Reception bomb site and the exterior door, preventing Defenders from planting the defuser directly at the exterior door.
  • Exterior wall in 2F VIP Lounge is now breakable and players can rappel up from EXT DJ Booth.

CLUBHOUSE

  • 1F Stock Room bomb site has been removed and there are now two bomb sites in 1F Bar, one behind the bar and one beside the stage.
  • A doorway has been added between the bar and stage in 1F Bar.
  • New props have been added to the bar area in 1F Bar.
  • A path now connects EXT Kennels and EXT Graffiti Area.

Balancing

AK-12 (Ace And Fuze)

  • Increased first shot kick.
  • Increased vertical recoil.
  • Horizontal spread is now stronger and more constant to the right.
  • Long burst recoil now starts on 10th bullet instead of the 12th.

Finka

  • Frag Grenade replaces Hard Breach Charge.

Sledge

  • Removed SMG-11.

Glaz

  • Increased magazine capacity of OTs-03 to 15 bullets (from 10).

Iana

  • Removed 2.0x scope from G63C.
  • Removed 2.5x scope from ARX200.

Twitch

  • Twitch now drives a standard drone during the Preparation Phase. Her Shock Drone is equipped during the Action Phase. It now jumps and fires lasers that destroy opponent devices instead of disabling them.
  • Note: The collision size of the Shock Drone has been adjusted, and as a result, it no longer fits through 6 drone vents. Level Design is working to correct this. The affected vents are located on the following maps:
    • Kanal - 2F Printer Room
    • Kanal - B1 Bathroom
    • Oregon - 1F Shower Corridor
    • Oregon - 1F Small Tower
    • Border - 1F Bathroom
    • Border - 1F Main Lobby

IQ

  • IQ's Electronics Detector is now equipped with the Ping System 2.0, allowing her to identify and ping electronic devices through walls, including those held by Operators, like the counter defuser and Vigil's ERC-7.

Mute

  • The area of effect for Mute's Signal Disruptor is now spherical instead of cylindrical, and the device lights up when active.
  • The area of effect is displayed for 2.5 seconds after deployment is complete.
  • Bullet collision is more accurate as the device's antennas and handles have been added to the collision.

Fuze

  • Fuze's Cluster Charge can now be deployed on reinforced surfaces.
  • When triggered, the sub-grenades take additional time to pass through reinforced surfaces, whereas they instantly pass through soft surfaces.

Flash Detection Changes

  • Ying's Candela, Blitz's G52-Tactical Shield, and the Stun Grenade use a new flash detection system that calculates flash duration. It takes the environment and angle of the explosion into account as well as players' distance and orientation.

Player Comfort

Post-Action Report

  • Post-Action Report has updated art representations in each tab. The information in the Battle Pass tab and the Packs tab is more specific and clear.

Shop - Esports

  • A free gift (Esports Pack) can be acquired in the Esports category of the Shop.
  • New items have been added to Esports Packs.

Display Area

  • Players can now scale the display area of the menu and in-game HUD. These options are in the Display section of the Options menu.

Weapon Magazine

  • Adjusted ammo count for primary and secondary weapons to set a consistent magazine ammo range for each weapon in a weapon type.

Damage Drop-off

  • Adjusted damage drop-off for each primary weapon type (except for shotguns with spread pellets) to have consistent, linear curves.
  • Unified damage drop-off for silencers (15%) across all primary weapons (except for shotguns with spread pellets).

Friendly Fire

  • To help combat toxicity, friendly fire for thrown device hits and launcher hits has been removed.
  • This change does not impact the effect of the gadget. For example, throwing a frag grenade at a teammate will not deal damage, but the explosion of the frag grenade will.

Rarity Icons and Cards

  • Improved the recognizability of different rarity categories for items and pack cards.

Match Replay

  • Added gamepad functionality.
  • Added support for Team Loadout.
  • Added support for Banned Operator icons.
  • Improved sounds overall.
  • Reduced replay file size.

Spectator Mode

  • Spectator mode now shows the Operators who have been banned by each team and displays the magazine ammo in the loadout info.

Opponent Rim Light

  • By default, opponents are now highlighted with a rim light, which helps prevent unfair camouflage. This Interface Preference can be turned off in the Options menu.

DBNO Scoring

  • Players will now get a kill score when they down or completely eliminate an opponent. Players will receive an assist score when they eliminate an opponent who was already downed by a teammate.
  • Note: The 'kill feed' will display the name of the last player to damage the opponent, whether or not they got a kill or assist.
  • The DBNO scoring event has been removed. This prevents players from gaining unfair intel when they down an opponent who isn't in their line of sight.

Screen Shake Reduction

  • Screen shakes that result from explosions are now reduced across the board and are completely removed from certain device explosions. This helps make shooting more precise and competitive.
  • Screen shakes are completely removed from explosions caused by:
    • Ela's GRZMOT Mines
    • Zofia's KS79 Lifeline concussion grenades
    • Echo's Yokai sonic bursts
    • Nomad's Airjab Launcher repulsion devices

Flinch Reduction

  • The flinch animation that used to occur when an Operator was hit by bullet damage is now reduced. This helps make shooting more precise and competitive.

MMR Rollback 3.0

  • To ensure fair players keep their MMR (such as when they win against a cheater), improvements to the system address the most relevant matches and restrict the time window in a current season when rollbacks occur.
  • The messages displayed by the system have been improved.

Game Health

HP Replaces Armor

  • Operator armor has been converted to health (HP). 3-Armor Operators have 125 HP, 2-Armor Operators have 110 HP, and 1-Armor Operators have 100 HP.

New Skill Distribution

  • The team detected a trend where Ranked players who reach Platinum don't play as much to reach Diamond. For this reason, Platinum now has smaller gaps between skill ranks, and more skill ranks have been added to Diamond, so high level players can climb skill ranks faster and have a greater sense of progression.
  • New Platinum gaps (old ones in parenthesis):
    • Plat III – 3200 (3200)
    • Plat II – 3500 (3600)
    • Plat I – 3800 (4000)
  • New Diamond gaps and skill ranks:
    • Diamond III – 4100
    • Diamond II – 4400
    • Diamond I – 4700
  • Please note: This is not Ranked 2.0 – that feature will require more changes and will come at a later date.

Individual Attacker Spawn

  • Players can choose whether they want to spawn with other players or spawn alone.
  • This setting is now always active in all playlists, allowing players more agency over their spawn selection and overall strategy.
  • Since the setting is now always active, the option to vote for a single Attacker spawn location has been removed from Custom Game settings.

Map Rotations

  • Ranked/Unranked: No rotation, since Favela was introduced to Ranked and Unranked map pools midseason during Y6S2.
  • Newcomer: Coastline replaces Favela in the Newcomer map pool.

Rainbow Six Siege Operation Crystal Guard is now available on Test Servers. You can try out all the changes coming with the new season and provide feedback for developers.

Rainbow Six Siege is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.