New Rainbow Six Siege Operation Dust Line details emerge

Rainbow Six Siege is getting its second major update this week in the form of Operation Dust Line. A teaser trailer confirmed as much last week, but now we know a little bit more about the new map and operators thanks to a Ubisoft Twitch stream that took place at the weekend. The DLC will coincide with a major balancing patch as well, which will usher in some dramatic changes to classic characters.

What we gleaned from the teaser trailer appears to be correct: the new Navy SEALs Valkyrie and Blackbeard will wield sticky cameras and a shield-mounted rifle respectively. Valkyrie will roll out with four Black Eye Cameras, and will boast a Spas-12 or SIG MPX as a primary weapon. Meanwhile, Blackbeard’s primary weapons are a Scar-H or MK-11. Both have Desert Eagle sidearms.

While patch notes for 3.0 are still forthcoming, there were some interesting changes revealed during the Twitch stream. Frost will no longer wield nitro cells, Thermite will no longer have frag grenades, and Buck will have frags instead of flash bangs. In terms of buffs, Tachanka can place his machine gun quicker and in more locations, while Montagne’s shield offers better frontal protection. Finally, IQ can see the outlines of nearby electronics rather than just their location.

More general updates include the ability to interrupt placing animations, meaning if you decide you don’t want to place a breach charge or mount a barricade halfway through doing so, you can stop it. You can also customize loadouts between rounds too, and the red dot on sights has been made smaller.

I'll update this when the full notes are released, but it’s already looking like the next R6 season is going to be a good one. For footage of the new maps and operators, this lengthy stream archive is your best bet. Operation Dust Line releases May 11.

Update: the full update notes have been published over here.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.