Ubisoft reveals first details of Rainbow Six Siege's next season

Ubisoft has revealed new details about the next season of Rainbow Six Siege, including a name: Operation Para Bellum, borrowed from the Latin phrase meaning “prepare for war.” The announcement also gives us our very first official look at a pair of new operators as they trudge through a field of wheat toward an Italian vineyard.

The operators in the art are consistent with leaks uncovered in March which named them Maestro and Alibi. The art also gives us a glimpse at Season 2’s new map, which Ubi is calling its “most competitive map to date.” Following the unique indoor-only layout of the game’s previous new map, Tower, the layout of the vineyard seen in the image assumes a more traditional Siege map with outdoor areas that converge on the winery complex.

Ubi also confirmed some of the new stuff coming in Operation Para Bellum, including a “new intel gadget,” a map buff for Clubhouse, Pick and Ban settings for custom games, a new defusing animation, and the usual set of bug fixes. That new intel gadget more than likely refers to the bulletproof camera, a secondary gadget already available on the last Technical Test Server that some defenders will be able to use. The camera has limited placement capabilities (it can’t be tossed across a room like Valkyrie’s black eye cameras) but is completely immune to bullets from the front, can see through smoke, and highlights enemies in yellow. It’s basically a little Glaz scope in a box.

Also making it into the update from the last TTS are the buffs for the Echo’s Yokai drone. Echo will now have two drones that can be deployed simultaneously, teammates will be able to see through the drone’s camera, and he will finally be able to scan targets with it like any other camera. It’s not a huge rework, but one that will give the Yokai drone more opportunities to be useful even after Echo’s death.

The issue of "dropshotting," where players quickly go prone while aiming down sights, making them a tougher target without affecting their aim, will also be addressed in Para Bellum. Dropshotting has existed in Siege for sometime in that unpleasant grey area between exploit and technique. After several versions of fixes in the TTS, Ubi is finally implementing an official solution.

The full reveal of Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Para Bellum will take place on May 19th and 20th during the Pro League Finals in Atlantic City, which will be livestreamed on Twitch. Assuming Ubisoft follows the usual pattern by launching a two-week TTS for Para Bellum leading into the final release, we can expect the official launch sometime in the first week of June.

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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.