It’s official: Rainbow Six Siege’s Jäger is now a two-speed, two-armor operator. The Y5S1.2 update also introduced a series of tweaks to several operators and weapons, including Buck, Goyo, Mozzie, Ying, Caveira’s M12, and the TCSG12. The changes made their way to the live servers today after a three-week stint on the Test Server.
The set of changes aims to impact operator balancing and presence. For some operators, such as Ying, this means giving her an extra set of tools to encourage her to be picked. For Jäger, however, it’s all about reducing the discrepancy between him and other characters.
The GSG9 defender had plenty of room as a roamer. His useful gadget and potent weapon reinforced his capacity to take down unsuspecting enemy players and still provide value to a match, which made him by far the most picked defender.
The Y5S1.2 Designer’s Notes show that Jäger’s pick rate is above 90 percent in high-rank competitive matches, approximately twice as high as Valkyrie, the second-most picked operator. “Jäger has been incomparable in terms of presence and win delta for an incredibly long-time,” Ubisoft said. These tweaks aim to close the gap between him and other defenders.
The new Jäger will play differently. His reduced speed may force him into a soft-roam role since his gadgets take some time to place. The previous nerfs to his 416-C contribute to reducing his firepower.
Jäger isn’t the only operator who saw key changes. Mozzie and Goyo received significant nerfs in the latest patch.
Mozzie lost access to his Super Shorty shotgun, which allowed him to manipulate the map. The Shorty, coupled with his intelligence-denial gadget and solid weapon, made the operator a common pick, with an over 40 percent presence and a positive win delta.
“By removing the Super Shorty from his loadout, we aim at not only removing Mozzie’s ability to remodel bombsites, but also to address his capacity to create escape routes on the fly while roaming,” Ubisoft said.
Ubisoft also reduced the amount of Volcán Shields that Goyo can bring into battle. Unlike most of the tweaks in the patch, this change aims to adjust the field in pro play. The operator has a negative influence on ranked matches, according to the Designer’s Notes, but he can prove to be lethal with enough synergy and teamwork. The change to Goyo is accompanied by another nerf to the TCSG12, which dropped its damage from 84 to 57.
Buck also saw a tradeoff in his arsenal. Ubisoft removed frag grenades from his kit but gave a boost to his Skeleton Key to offset the change. “By removing his frags and giving more gadget ammunition, we expect players to have to operate a choice between an excellent downward attacker and a versatile soft breacher,” Ubisoft said.
But not every operator was hit with a nerf. Ubisoft added several buffs to Ying to increase her viability. The operator has a pick rate of less than five percent and a negative win delta, which makes her a rare sight and a detriment to teams. To rectify the situation, Ubisoft increased the firepower of her T-95 LSW and gave her an extra use of her unique gadget, the Candelas.
