Ubisoft has officially announced Crystal Guard, the third season of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege Year 6 that will add a new Operator in Osa alongside her transparent bulletproof shield, reworks of Bank, Coastline, and Clubhouse, tweaks to Twitch, IQ, and Fuze, and much more.
To help share a bit more about Crystal Guard, Rainbow Six Siege’s art director Alexander Karpazis spoke to IGN about this new season, including how Osa will change the game and how both Attackers and Defenders will have to adjust their strategies when she’s in play.
The Attacker Anja “Osa” Jankovic is an engineering prodigy from Croatia who utilizes Talon-8, the previously mentioned transparent bulletproof shield that can not only protect her and her teammates, but can help the Attackers safely gain more intel in the field when she strategically places it on the map.
“This is going to be a huge meta shakeup, introducing Osa,” Karpazis said. “This is probably our most defender-centric operator on the attacking side, and she’s bringing her Talon-8 shield to the mix. It’s one of most defender-centric gadgets we’ve introduced, but giving it to an attacker kind of flips the script and it makes for a lot of interesting and new ways for an attacker to approach any kind of site.”
These interesting and new ways to approach a site include blocking off angles that Defenders had previously been able to use, but Karpazis warns Attackers that an unprotected Osa can cause those advantages to go away quickly.
“When you are approaching a site now, you actually have the ability to block off angles that Defenders could usually use to attack you from and be more aggressive,” Karpazis explained. “That also means that the entire Attacking team has to help Osa pushing forward, watching her flank, since she can be really exposed at times, and making sure that she can get her job done too.”
Even if Osa’s teammates aren’t protecting her as they should, she’s no slouch in the offensive department, as she comes equipped with Thermite’s 556XI Assault Rifle, Lion’s PDW9 Submachine Gun, and the PMM Handgun, the last of which Karpasiz says is one of the strongest in the game.
As for the Defenders, Osa can cause a ton of trouble if an opposing team doesn’t properly prepare or know how to fight against her and her shield. For example, while the shield will block most damage from the front, a melee strike to it or an explosive attack can turn the tide of battle.
“On the Defending side, Osa is going to be a huge pain.” Karpazis said. “She’s going to be able to cut off access, and even when she is approaching from the front, she’s pretty intimidating. She has a lot of intel, she’s protected with her shield, which means that communicating with your team is essential. Making sure you get flanks off is essential now.
“So, you have to try to work around Osa and try to get rid of that gadget as fast as possible. She has multiples of them, so as soon as she plants, either a quick melee to the gadget will make it opaque - meaning that there is less information the attackers are getting - or, if you use an explosive, you can get rid of the gadget and that means one less trick up Osa’s sleeve.”
Crystal Guard also brings with it some light reworks the maps Bank, Coastline, and Clubhouse.
To start, Bank will have new rotations externally that will allow for faster traversal, and the team is “closing off windows and making it a little easier and safer on the upper levels for Defenders to protect themselves.”
For Coastline, the windows in the main, central area are being standardized so that any defender can put up barricades. Furthermore, the team is making sure that “Attackers don’t have a huge line-of-sight on the roof.”
Clubhouse will be getting one of the biggest reworks, and that includes a bomb change and new ways to rotate around the Stage.
We’re talking about a pretty sizable change,” Karpazis confirmed. “We’re moving the bomb on the first floor next to Stage, and we’re also creating a few more ways to rotate around that Stage area. We’re also making sure there is more rotation room outside of the map for Attackers to move around into position.”
As previously mentioned, certain Operators are also getting some tweaks, and Fuze’s is one that Karpazis hopes will make more players try him out. With Crystal Guard, Fuze will now be able to use his Cluster Charge gadget on reinforced walls.
IQ will now be able to tag items and know what items she is looking at through walls whenever she is using her wrist-mounted Electronics Detector gadget. Twitch’s Shock Drone will now be able to jump, and its electrical charge will now be a laser charge that will “go forever and not fall off in damage.”
Lastly, Karpasiz shared the team’s excitement over adding an Elite Skin for Lion, which is based on Resident Evil’s Leon S. Kennedy. The team, “loves Resident Evil 4, so [they] are really happy to represent Leon in [the] game.” The Lion Elite Skin is now available in-game.
Rainbow Six Siege’s Crystal Guard season is live on Test Servers, and Osa will become available on August 18. All players who purchase the latest Battle Pass will unlock Osa, and those who wish to give Rainbow Six Siege a try will be able to do so free-of-charge from September 9-12. Also during that time, the base game will be 75% off, meaning new players can purchase Rainbow Six Siege for $5 USD.
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To help share a bit more about Crystal Guard, Rainbow Six Siege’s art director Alexander Karpazis spoke to IGN about this new season, including how Osa will change the game and how both Attackers and Defenders will have to adjust their strategies when she’s in play.
The Attacker Anja “Osa” Jankovic is an engineering prodigy from Croatia who utilizes Talon-8, the previously mentioned transparent bulletproof shield that can not only protect her and her teammates, but can help the Attackers safely gain more intel in the field when she strategically places it on the map.
“This is going to be a huge meta shakeup, introducing Osa,” Karpazis said. “This is probably our most defender-centric operator on the attacking side, and she’s bringing her Talon-8 shield to the mix. It’s one of most defender-centric gadgets we’ve introduced, but giving it to an attacker kind of flips the script and it makes for a lot of interesting and new ways for an attacker to approach any kind of site.”
These interesting and new ways to approach a site include blocking off angles that Defenders had previously been able to use, but Karpazis warns Attackers that an unprotected Osa can cause those advantages to go away quickly.
“When you are approaching a site now, you actually have the ability to block off angles that Defenders could usually use to attack you from and be more aggressive,” Karpazis explained. “That also means that the entire Attacking team has to help Osa pushing forward, watching her flank, since she can be really exposed at times, and making sure that she can get her job done too.”
Even if Osa’s teammates aren’t protecting her as they should, she’s no slouch in the offensive department, as she comes equipped with Thermite’s 556XI Assault Rifle, Lion’s PDW9 Submachine Gun, and the PMM Handgun, the last of which Karpasiz says is one of the strongest in the game.
As for the Defenders, Osa can cause a ton of trouble if an opposing team doesn’t properly prepare or know how to fight against her and her shield. For example, while the shield will block most damage from the front, a melee strike to it or an explosive attack can turn the tide of battle.
“On the Defending side, Osa is going to be a huge pain.” Karpazis said. “She’s going to be able to cut off access, and even when she is approaching from the front, she’s pretty intimidating. She has a lot of intel, she’s protected with her shield, which means that communicating with your team is essential. Making sure you get flanks off is essential now.
“So, you have to try to work around Osa and try to get rid of that gadget as fast as possible. She has multiples of them, so as soon as she plants, either a quick melee to the gadget will make it opaque - meaning that there is less information the attackers are getting - or, if you use an explosive, you can get rid of the gadget and that means one less trick up Osa’s sleeve.”
Crystal Guard also brings with it some light reworks the maps Bank, Coastline, and Clubhouse.
To start, Bank will have new rotations externally that will allow for faster traversal, and the team is “closing off windows and making it a little easier and safer on the upper levels for Defenders to protect themselves.”
For Coastline, the windows in the main, central area are being standardized so that any defender can put up barricades. Furthermore, the team is making sure that “Attackers don’t have a huge line-of-sight on the roof.”
Clubhouse will be getting one of the biggest reworks, and that includes a bomb change and new ways to rotate around the Stage.
We’re talking about a pretty sizable change,” Karpazis confirmed. “We’re moving the bomb on the first floor next to Stage, and we’re also creating a few more ways to rotate around that Stage area. We’re also making sure there is more rotation room outside of the map for Attackers to move around into position.”
As previously mentioned, certain Operators are also getting some tweaks, and Fuze’s is one that Karpazis hopes will make more players try him out. With Crystal Guard, Fuze will now be able to use his Cluster Charge gadget on reinforced walls.
IQ will now be able to tag items and know what items she is looking at through walls whenever she is using her wrist-mounted Electronics Detector gadget. Twitch’s Shock Drone will now be able to jump, and its electrical charge will now be a laser charge that will “go forever and not fall off in damage.”
Lastly, Karpasiz shared the team’s excitement over adding an Elite Skin for Lion, which is based on Resident Evil’s Leon S. Kennedy. The team, “loves Resident Evil 4, so [they] are really happy to represent Leon in [the] game.” The Lion Elite Skin is now available in-game.
Rainbow Six Siege’s Crystal Guard season is live on Test Servers, and Osa will become available on August 18. All players who purchase the latest Battle Pass will unlock Osa, and those who wish to give Rainbow Six Siege a try will be able to do so free-of-charge from September 9-12. Also during that time, the base game will be 75% off, meaning new players can purchase Rainbow Six Siege for $5 USD.
Continue reading...