The latest Rainbow Six Siege season, Operation Steel Wave, has finally arrived for all players. The season hit test servers nearly a month ago, but the full launch was pushed back due to COVID-19 and the ongoing unrest across the United States and the rest of the world. The second big update of Year 5, Steel Wave include two new operators (Ace and Melusi), a rework of the original classic House map, a major redesign for Amaru, an Elite Skin for Echo, the usual array of balance tweaks, and more. As a bonus, some operators have also received a price cut! You can check out the launch trailer for Operation Steel Wave below.

　　Here’s are your Rainbow Six Siege Operation Steel Wave patch notes:

　　Two New Operators

　　Ace (Attacker)

　　Unique Ability - S.E.L.M.A. Aqua Breacher

　　We wouldn’t blame you if the term breaching makes you think of fiery explosions. If not with a hammer or a spark, walls have mostly been compromised by fire so far. With Ace, that’s about to change.

　　With the S.E.L.M.A. Aqua Breacher, water is the name of the game. It makes use of hydraulic pressure to burst through breakable and reinforced surfaces. The cylinder is thrown on whatever Ace is trying to breach, and then it opens to fully deploy. It explodes one time on floors, ceilings and hatches, but on walls the cylinder rolls down to deploy up to three times, if space allows. Each of these deployments leaves a clean rectangle breach, combining to create a hole big enough for an Operator to go through easily. The S.E.L.M.A. is quite versatile in nature and with multiple units available to Ace, its ability to be thrown at any height makes him an incredibly reliable hard breacher.

　　Melusi (Defender)

　　Unique Ability - Banshee Sonic Defense

　　Don’t be too alarmed if you find yourself slowed when there’s no barbed wire underfoot. You can trust your ears on this one, the Banshee has caught you in a moment of weakness. While its sound blares and alerts Melusi of your presence, you might not have much time to retreat to a safe distance.

　　The Banshee Sonic Defence is deployable on surfaces, much like Maestro’s Evil Eyes, but they don’t require any manual control. As soon as an opponent walks close enough to it, it will release its scream and slow them. It can be destroyed, but since it’s bulletproof, Attackers will have to dispense some utility or strike it up close. One of the best assets of the Banshee is that once Melusi has placed it, her teammates can make use of it just as well as she does.

　　Map Rework: House

　　At last, the classic Rainbow Six Siege House map has undergone some major renovations and is ready for more mayhem. While we strived to keep this map as casual as possible, we still felt there were some things we needed to change in order for it to be well balanced. The first item we need to discuss is the size of the house itself. With this rework, not only have some of the existing areas been made bigger, we also added an entirely new section on the South side, with two rooms on each floor and a staircase to connect them. With this new space, everyone will have more space to move and breathe, but we were also able to add a new Bomb site in TV Room and Music Room.

　　Many other areas have changed, but three required special attention. Firstly, Garage has been revamped, with only one of its doors being destructible and a new barricade being added to give a different access option, while still making a Defuser plant harder. Secondly, what was once Workshop is now a finished Girls’ Room with an attached walk-in closet. Thirdly, lines of sight have been reduced on the North side of the building, with the main door being blocked off and the shuttered window replaced with a hallway. As you play this new version of a classic map, you’ll notice some other things. The Living & Training Bomb site has been removed in favor of Master Bedroom & Boys’ Room. Most floors are now breakable, so vertical play will be a lot more viable. Some hatches have been added or moved. Overall, we applied our vision of competitive maps while keeping it fun and making it safer.

　　Secondary Gadget: Proximity Alarm

　　Rainbow Six Siege gets a brand new secondary gadget! This thrown sticky gadget is an essential intel-gathering tool, and it works just as well for anchors as it does for roamers. The Proximity Alarm’s small size makes it easy to place in a spot where Attackers might not see them as they navigate their way to the objective, making it all the more easy for Defenders to capitalize on the chaos that ensues when the alarm goes off.

　　Elite Echo

　　Have you ever wondered what each Operator might be like, in an alternate universe? In the future? Would they still be with Rainbow, and would they even still be good people? Echo’s Elite Set is one such glance into another world, where he is the hero of his own city, and no criminal can hope to match him in combat. This set contains Echo’s Tenkamusou uniform, victory animation, gadget skin for his Yokai Drones and weapon skins for the SUPERNOVA, MP5SD, P229, and BEARING 9, as well as the Elite Echo Chibi charm.

　　Steel Wave Weapon Skins

　　This time, two new seasonal weapon skins are coming your way to spice up your loadouts in two different ways. Let the Wooden Carvings skin lead you into battle, with its aged wood and chiseled symbols. Take a chill pill, the Beach Trip skin is here to make things a little more lighthearted and fun. Seasonal weapon skins are released upon season launch and can be purchased during that season. Once unlocked, the seasonal weapon skins can be applied to all available weapons

　　Operators Price Decrease

　　Four Rainbow Six Siege operators are getting a price decrease with this season. Alibi and Maestro are going down to 15,000 Renown or 350 R6 Credits, and Nøkk and Warden’s prices will be 20,000 Renown or 480 R6 Credits.

　　Amaru Changes

　　While Amaru has always been acrobatic and dynamic, she hasn’t always been as unpredictable as we wanted her to be. This season, we hope to give her the tools she needs to fulfill her role with a few tweaks. While her hook animations and timings will be smoother, what’s really important to point out is that from now on, she will only break barricades when she goes through them (although her hook will still break the glass on a window), and she will no longer need to break a hatch before going up, as she will breach it in the action itself.

　　Other Operator Balance Changes

　　Clash

　　Clash's SMG will switch from having a red dot to using the reflex's green triangle.Echo

　　Removed the camera shake effect from Yokai's concussion effects.Length of concussion effect is no longer affected by movement. Now has a fixed duration of 10s and the intensity of the vision disruption stays fixed throughout the effect.Replaced the Deployable Shield with Impact Grenades.Finka

　　Increased base hp to 30 (from 5) for teammates revived by Finka's Nanoboost. DBNO Players will stand up with 50 hp (30 from own base hp + 20 from Finka boost).Kaid

　　Added LFP586 secondary to loadout.Kali

　　Reduced LV Explosive Lance's fuse time to 1.5s (down from 2.5s).Improved CSRX 300 recoil through reduced weapon climb after each shot.Replaced P22 Mk5 with SPSMG9 in loadout.Nomad

　　Added PRB92 secondary weapon to loadout.Oryx

　　Reduced damage taken when dashing through walls to 5 (down from 10).Bulletproof Camera replaced with new Proximity Alarm secondary gadget.Added angled grip option to Oryx's MP5.Ela, Zofia

　　Eliminated the mouse sensibility modifier from concussion effect of the Bosak sisters' gadgets.Ying

　　Removed a Candela to bring it down to 3 (from 4 Candelas). - Changed for PC on 04-30-2020.If you need to know about every minor tweak and bug fix, you can check out the full, unabridged Operation Steel Wave patch notes, right here.

　　Rainbow Six Siege is available now on PC, Xbox One, and PS4.