Rainbow Six Siege update deals a heavy blow to Blitz and Montagne

What you need to know

• The new Y4S2.3 update packs a variety of balancing tweaks in Rainbow Six Siege.
• Heavy shield nerfs reduce hip-fire accuracy and melee impact.
• Jackal, Echo, Maverick, Nokk, and Glaz also see minor gadget tuning.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege has secured its latest mid-season patch, bringing a fresh wave of changes to Ubisoft's hit tactical shooter. The focus lies on major balancing adjustments impacting almost a dozen Operators, while addressing several community concerns in the wake of Operation Phantom Sight. Tailing its trial on the Technical Test Server (TTS), the formal Y4S2.3 patch is now live for all on PC, with an Xbox One and PlayStation 4 debut set for July 24.

The third patch of Phantom Sight drops massive changes to shield fundamentals, adjusting both hip-fire spreads and reducing the impact of melee attacks. All shield-bearing Operators see their hip-fire "cone" increased to reduce accuracy, while melee strikes now leave foes in a down-but-not-out (DBNO) state.

Ubisoft states Fuze, Montagne, and Blitz are among those most impacted by the changes, with adjustments bespoke to each Operator. Testing from Rainbow Six Siege YouTuber, Rogue-9, has reported a 43 percent increase for Montagne, now with the broadest hip-fire spread in the game. Blitz is also among the worst impacted, with a 77 percent increase while moving, reducing his rushing capabilities.

Y4S2.3 also brings miscellaneous changes to existing Operators abilities, including reduced durations for Jackal and Echo, alongside buffs to Nokk and Glaz post-Phantom Sight. The patch tackles a long-standing complaint affecting Maverick too, making his blowtorch louder through walls.

A deeper dive into the balancing notes can be found below, lifted from full Rainbow Six Siege Y4S2.3 changelog.

SHIELD HIP-FIRE

• Hip-fire cone increased.
• We have standardized the hip-fire penalization when you have a Ballistic Shield equipped. Having a shield equipped will now increase it by the same amount. Spread has increased for every Operator when a shield is equipped, but Fuze, Montagne and Blitz will be the most impacted by the change.

BALLISTIC SHIELD MELEE

• Performing a melee attack with a Ballistic Shield equipped will now only injure and DBNO the opponent, instead of killing them.
• The new changes for melee attacks while using a Ballistic Shield will impact Blitz, Fuze, Montagne and Recruit.

ECHO

• Reduced Yokai Sonic Burst disorientating effect base duration to 7 seconds (down from 10s).

We are running low on AAA batteries, so to save energy we're tuning down Yokai's power a bit.

GLAZ

• Reduced time it takes to trigger the vision penalty when moving or rotating, lowering the overall vision penalty when moving.
• Movement time before complete vision is lost is now 6 seconds (up from 2.5s).
• The speed at which the vision penalty is applied when rotating has also been slowed down.

Glaz has been feeling a bit left out so we gave him some incentive to join the party.

JACKAL

• Reduced the number of pings from a scan to 4 (down from 5), reduced time being tracked by 5 seconds.

You can rest easier now. Maybe.

MAVERICK

• Modified breaching torch sound SFX.
• Breaching torch sounds will now be easier to hear when Maverick is making a hole close to you.

Can you hear me now?

NØKK

• Increased Nøkk's ability duration to 12 seconds and increased the refill timer to 12 seconds.
• With the longer duration, and cooldown, you'll be able to better leverage her ability.

As per the law of equivalent exchange, you can now spend longer being spooky, but also spend longer getting a full refill.

In the meantime, Rainbow Six Siege is now available starting at $25 via Amazon.

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