Today, Ubisoft fully revealed Operation Steel Wave, the latest content update that will kickstart Rainbow Six Siege Y5S2 (Year 5, Season 2).

Like previous Season updates, Operation Steel Wave will include a new attacker and defender Operator. Ace is the new attacker; equipped with the S.E.L.M.A. Aqua Breacher, the Norwegian Operator is a hard breacher who is considered brash and charismatic. The new defender is Melusi; hailing from South Africa, she can deploy the Banshee Sonic Defence to gather intel and slow her enemies.

The map rework coming with Operation Steel Wave is House. Yes, the classic casual map is getting some major renovations. Although the map is still considered casual, the Rainbow Six Siege team felt changes needed to be made. Some of the existing areas are a bit bigger, and there is an entirely new section on the South side of the map. The idea was to make it slightly more like a competitive map while still maintaining its fun factor.

A new secondary gadget is also being added with Operation Steel Wave. The Proximity Alarm is an intel-gathering tool that can be thrown on just about any surface. If your opposition steps within proximity of the device, it will trigger the alarm and give away their position.

A few tweaks have been made to Amaru with the new update to make her a bit more unpredictable. Her hook animations and timing will be smoother, and she will now only break barricades when she goes through them. She will also no longer need to break a hatch before going up with her Garra Hook as it will now breach automatically.

Some substantial changes to its Matchmaking Rating (MMR) system will be implemented with Operation Steel Wave. Rainbow Six Siege will now have unified MMRs fo each playlist, so it will no longer be tied to the region you play in. Additionally, for those trying to make it to Champions rank, you will now need to play a minimum of 100 matches, as well as reaching the 5000 MMR threshold.

Of course, this would not be a new Operation without a new Elite Skin. This time around, Echo gets the Elite treatment with the new Tenkamusou outfit. There will also be skins for your weapon attachments available for you to choose from.

Rainbow Six Siege is available now for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. If you want more specifics on Operation Steel Wave, check out our guide.