Rainbow Six Siege Void Edge: Everything we know

rainbow six siege void edge release date
(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Rainbow Six Siege Operation Void Edge ushers in the game's fifth year. The sizable update adds two new operators, a map rework, and a bunch of quality-of-life tweaks that many players will appreciate.

If you've already watched the Void Edge reveal from the Six Invitational 2020, you haven't seen it all. Ubisoft left many of its biggest balancing changes out of the panel and sneaked them into the official patch notes. Don't worry, though, we have you covered. Here's everything you need to know about Rainbow Six Siege Operation Void Edge.

When is the Rainbow Six Siege Void Edge release date?

Ubisoft has officially announced that Operation Void Edge is launching worldwide on March 10, 2020. On PC, Siege will go down for one hour while the new season deploys starting at 9:00 AM PST/12:00 PM EST.

Meet the Rainbow Six Siege Void Edge operators

Defender: Oryx

  • Ability: Remah Dash
  • Primary weapons: MP5 SMG, SPAS-12
  • Secondary weapons: Bailiff 410, USP40
  • Secondary gadgets: Barbed Wire, Bulletproof Camera

Oryx is a hardcore Jordanian brute. His specialty is roaming with fluid mobility. He doesn't use a gadget, but rather employs his Remah Dash ability, which is used to burst straight through soft walls, get a small speed boost, or shove enemies to the ground. He's also the first operator able to climb up through hatches. Oryx can choose to hoist himself up through the hatch or hang from it to scout the room ahead.

Attacker: Iana

  • Gadget: Gemini Replicator
  • Primary weapons: ARX2000, G36C
  • Secondary weapon: MK1 9mm
  • Secondary gadgets: Smoke Grenades, Frag Grenades

Iana is a two-faced trickster: she employs her Gemini Replicator to project a perfect clone of herself onto the map, which you control for up to 15 seconds to scout the route ahead. Her hologram can run, sprint, vault, and aim, but it can't shoot, melee, or ping. It also looks and sounds just like a real operator, so it can be used to bait defenders or mislead them with footsteps.

The Gemini hologram is destroyed with a single bullet and can be reused on a cooldown. Enemies that shoot the hologram aren't spotted like they are with Alibi's decoys.

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

How one of the game's most beloved maps is being reworked

In Void Edge, Ubisoft is reworking one of Siege's oldest and most loved maps: Oregon. A lot has changed, but plenty has stayed the same, too. Here are the architectural facelifts you'll notice when you jump in:

First floor

  • A new hallway adjacent to the Meeting Hall connects Big Tower to the kitchen.
  • The dining room's exterior door is gone and a new door connects Small Tower to the dining room.
  • The white staircase now extends downward toward basement.

Second floor and above

  • The dorms have been revamped and the large central window has been repositioned.
  • Kids room now connects to Attic with a new door.
  • Attic has a small expanded are that connects to Kids Room and a new window to Oregon's exterior.
  • Small tower's upper floor has an additional room and adjusted window placements.

Bottom floor

  • Layouts have been significantly revamped for Laundry Room, Storage, and Construction.
  • Laundry hatch has been moved to a less-central location.
  • One meeting hall hatch has been removed.
  • A new freezer corridor connects a new staircase and unites Basement with the west side of Oregon.

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

These are the biggest balancing changes

Lesion

  • Gu mines visible to Lesion only when in direct LOS and within an eight-meter distance.
  • Removal of initial Gu mine damage tick.
  • Gu mine damage increases to six damage per tick (instead of four).
  • DBNO players now immune to GU Mines. Being DBNO will still trigger them but the GU mines effect will not apply.

Twitch

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(Image credit: Ubisoft)

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  • Twitch’s drone will use a charge system similar to Yokai drones instead of a set ammo count. Drones will start with the maximum ammo count of three shots and it will take 30 seconds to recharge a new shot.
  • Drone start a round with three shots (instead of five).
  • Maximum carrying capacity of three shots per drone.
  • Drone shot cooldown reduced to 1one second (from two seconds)
  • Drone taser damage reduced to one hp (down from ten). Evil Eyes and Jager’s ADS gadget health also reduced to one hp.
  • Increased recoil for Twitch’s F2.

Warden

  • Cooldown removed on Warden’s gadget.
  • Warden now controls gadget usage time and can deactivate it manually, with a maximum activation time of ten seconds.
  • His ability recharges at the same speed than it depletes. When fully depleted, it takes ten seconds for it to be completely recharged

Loadout updates

  • Dokkaebi: Stun grenades replace frag grenades
  • Maverick: Frag grenades replace stun Grenades
  • Nokk: Frag grenades replace Claymore
  • Compensator removed from DMRs

Along with Iana's two additional frags, this loadout change adds three more to the total number of operators that can carry frag grenades. The compensator attachment had no effect on DMRs, so it's being removed.

Patch notes addendum

Ela

  • Reduced recoil now only applies to the first 11 bullets
  • Increased resettle time after burst firing
  • Faster uptime to increase vertical recoil
  • Slightly increased recoil + spread

Ubi is walking back Ela's recent buff during Shifting Tides. Her Scorpion SMG will still have reduced recoil, but only for the first few shots in her clip. According to Ubi, the initial buff was a bit too powerful and raised her win delta sharply.

Ying
After a few weeks of testing on the TTS, Ubi has decided against giving Ying frag grenades. This is likely due to her having too much utility on top of having the most powerful flash grenades in the game.

Read on for the patch notes addendum blog post with the full list of bug fixes.

Client-side debris will be less annoying

Ubisoft is changing how debris works when breaking door and window barricades. Instead of smashing into large wooden chunks, a melee hit will produce small wooden scraps that don't obscure the player's vision. Debris remains client-side, but its negative effect on a match should be mitigated.

Attacker drone spawn

You might've missed this new feature, but it's pretty neat. When attacking, your prep phase drone will no longer spawn at a random location outside the map. Instead, it will spawn closest to your operator's chosen spawn point. For instance, if you choose to spawn in the back alley of Bank, your drone will automatically start nearest to Open Area or East Lobby.

Operator price decrease

Another round of price decreases is coming to operators released at this time in previous years. Here's the update as listed in the patch notes:

  • Jackal and Mira: 10,000 Renown or 240 R6 Credits
  • Lion and Finka: 15,000 Renown or 350 R6 Credits
  • Mozzie and Gridlock: 20,000 Renown or 480 R6 Credits
Morgan Park
Staff Writer

Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.