Meta-shifting balance changes coming to Rainbow Six Siege with nerfs to Lion, Blitz and Vigil

Big balance changes are coming to Rainbow Six Siege in the Midseason, with nerfs to popular Operators like Lion and Hibana, and a buff to LMG damage.

These changes were announced in a Midseason Designer’s notes blog posted to the official Rainbow Six site.

“The Designer’s Notes series will provide you with insight into our Balancing team’s thoughts on Operator balancing around the middle of each Season,” Ubisoft said in the blog.

“These will come after we have reviewed the data and feedback from the new Operators and changes.

“We utilize data and player feedback to make decisions on adjustments. With that in mind, we wanted to share some of the data they have been looking at for our various Operators.”

The biggest changes centre around the attacking Operator Lion, whose Scan ability will no longer highlight enemies when they stop moving. The number of charges the ability has is also being reduced from three to two, and the cooldown between charges is being increased from to 20 seconds.

“Our data indicates that Lion is currently too strong. He is close to 100% pick in Pro League,” Ubisoft said.

“This is only a first step to give Defenders more options of counter-play against Lion’s detection. We are still looking into improving how Lion’s detection works and your feedback will help us get a better idea of how to proceed.”

Further changes that will be introduced with the new balance patch are as follows:

• Jäger’s Magpies won’t destroy Hibana’s X-KAIROS pellets anymore.
• Blitz’s shield flash range is being reduced from eight meters to five meters. The amount of charges will also be reduced from five to four.
• Vigil’s Electronic Rendering Cloak will now deplete its charge in 12 seconds, instead of 30 seconds. But it will now refill in six seconds instead of 12.
• Hibana’s Claymore will be replaced with a Breaching Charge to reduce her utility.
• Ying’s Smoke Grenades will be replaced with a Claymore.
• Damage has been buffed on the LMG-E, T-95 LSW and M249. While the 6P41 has had its short and medium range damage reduced slightly, with a buff to its long range damage. LMG recoil will be assessed when the new recoil system is implemented.

Currently in Year 3 of its cycle, Rainbow Six Siege recently surpassed 30 million registered players across all platforms.