Ubisoft revealed the first season of Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 9, Operation Deadly Omen. This season introduces Deimos, the first playable villain Operator in-game, and improvements to current anti-cheat solutions including data bans on machine learning and meaningful changes to attachments and shields that reinforce tactical gameplay.

Operation Deadly Omen unleashes Deimos, a fearsome new Attacker equipped with the DeathMARK Tracker gadget. The gadget reveals the target’s precise location as a live ping and Deimos’ location until the gadget’s time runs out or one is killed. Tactically, this probe can be used for anti-roaming, avoiding enemy flanking and to distract enemy Operators. A brutal Operator, Deimos can control any map by pinpointing an enemy’s location. Deimos is a two speed, two health Operator, and his loadout features an AK-74M or an M5904A1 as a primary weapon, with a brand-new powerful revolver, .44 Vendetta, as a secondary weapon.

In Year 9 Season 1, Rainbow Six Siege will continue to emphasize strategic play and teamwork as keys to success. To change the current meta in-game to be more tactical and have more impact on gadgets, shields will be revamped and important upgrades to Attachments & ADS will be implemented. Operation Deadly Omen, specifically, is focused on balancing mechanics and Operators for compelling gameplay. Additionally, Year 9 Season 1 will introduce a critical balancing update for the Japanese Operator Azami. This update is just one part of a balancing initiative to ensure Siege remains competitive and engaging for both Attackers and Defenders.

Important player comfort updates, such as Locker, a new inventory management menu, will also arrive to improve how players manage their cosmetics. Specifically, the Locker allows players to easily sort and view the cosmetics they own, making equipping skins more convenient.

Effective training and onboarding continue to be a priority, especially as the game calls back to its core tactical gameplay experience. The Versus AI Playlist continues to evolve, as this mode continues to be enhanced through new maps and additional Operators to practice with and play against. This mode will allow new and returning players to familiarize themselves with in-game tools and encourage experienced players to hone their skills in competitive play.

Additionally, Rainbow Six Siege remains committed to fair play in Year 9 Season 1. In particular, data bans, Ranked playlist restrictions, and new strike teams to update current solutions like QB and Mousetrap are just some ways the team will prioritize anti-cheat efforts this year.

YEAR 9 ROADMAP

Ubisoft also announced an ambitious Year 9 roadmap for Rainbow Six Siege, introducing four action-packed seasons, two new Operators, two Operator remasters, balancing changes, improved onboarding & training features, a cross-play update, a modern machine-learning Versus AI Playlist, further anti-cheat and anti-toxicity measures, and many more updates to reinforce the game as the ultimate tactical shooter experience.

During Year 8, Rainbow Six Siege introduced the Commendation System to reward positive play, four new Operators, one new map and an extensive map rework, new controller layouts, an industry-first Mousetrap system for anti-cheat detection, the new Arcade playlist, and more. In Year 9, Ubisoft continues its commitment in maintaining Rainbow Six Siege’s resonant and fair gameplay.

Operation Deadly Omen, the first season of Year 9, brings the terrifying villain Deimos to players’ control. Additionally, season one will introduce important updates, such as a new inventory management menu. Known as the Locker, this system is an easier way for players to organize, view, and access their skins collection. Following the Year 8 Season 4 Test Server Lab, other updates include a revamped shield mechanic for more balanced play and an attachments & ADS upgrade. The ADS upgrade will reward and reinforce a tactical playstyle by reducing access to magnifying and supporting a methodical playstyle.

Season 2’s remasters will relaunch fully upgraded Operators and breathe new life into some old favorites, beginning with Recruit, the starting Operator. Additionally, Season 2 will introduce the following: the full release of the Reputation System; map filters in the Standard Playlist; new maps and new Target drills in the Map Training Playlist; and the full release of Siege Marketplace.

Season 3 will introduce a new Greek Operator, long-awaited badges and career system, access to the Shooting Range during matchmaking, the Siege Cup tournament, and a revamped versus AI mode with a full new feature: AI can control attackers, allowing players to play as Defenders this time. The upcoming badge system is intended to celebrate and recognize player achievements, allowing players to showcase players’ dedication. Additionally, the Siege Cup event, a competitive tournament system, will offer players unique rewards. The new Versus AI playlist, which uses machine learning to replicate a specific Attacker playstyle, allows players to practice their defense in preparation for matches.

Finally, Season 4 updates include remastering a beloved American Operator and a cross-play update to access matchmaking with PC for Console players. Additionally, Season 4 plans to support anti-cheat efforts by implementing a system that will automatically kick cheaters and minimize the negative impact cheaters have on matches.

PLAYER PROTECTION

Rainbow Six Siege remains committed to fair, resonant gameplay for all players and maintains a zero-tolerance policy for toxicity and cheating. New strike teams will be able to update and reinforce anti-cheat solutions more regularly, including the QB System for PC users and Mousetrap for Console users. Year 9 continues to build on player protection features, such as new ranked playlist requirements, an update to the Reputation System, and improvements to data bans. In particular, the team improved on the machine learning-based data bans to be more effective in reducing the impact of cheaters, alongside improved account bans on PC. Mousetrap will be implemented within the Reputation System and there will be a full release of automated text chat moderation.

PLAYER COMFORT & LONG-TERM PROGRESSION

Following Year 8’s updates, more player comfort-focused updates will launch this year. Player comfort updates intend to improve the quality of life and add features for a smoother Rainbow Six Siege experience. In Season 1, these include improvements to rappel entry and exit as well as improved gadget pickup. Also coming in Operation Deadly Omen is the Locker, an easier way for players to sort, favorite, and manage their collected items. Furthermore, a new badge and career system that celebrates players’ achievements will be added, encouraging them to earn badges and use the career page to see an overview of their progress.

Players can also expect previsualization to be implemented for mechanics like projectile trajectory, drone jump, and deployable gadgets. Previsualization allows players to be more confident and precise with their gadget use, effectively onboarding new or returning players to the current state of the game. Trajectory previsualization will be available in all game modes and can be turned on or off in settings.

Additionally, Year 9 plans to introduce improvements for matches, including a new 1v1 preset for custom games and a better matchmaking system. Dynamic matchmaking will be tuned to each specific region, so players will be matched appropriately, regardless of where or when they play. The development team plans to launch After-Action Report 2.0 to provide better visibility for the end of the matches and provide more details on the match played.

BALANCING

The objective of balancing in Rainbow Six Siege this year is to break the run and gun meta to highlight utility and strategic play by emphasizing the balance between gunplay and utility. The goal is to ensure that gunplay is not the sole option in all situations, as well as to reinforce our Attackers lineup. In Year 9, the development team is focused on delivering meaningful balancing updates, split into three categories. The first being an Operator, loadout, or gadget update, to always be on top of current gameplay needs. The second category is system updates, split into separate entities that affect the game globally like an update to shotguns or attachments. The third and most significant category is a remaster, which is the most in-depth change and affects Operators’ base stats, loadouts, gadget capability, and more. An Operator remaster is a reimagining of them and their in-game use, like Tachanka in recent years. To ensure the Operator roster remains impactful to play, remastered Operators will be chosen from their pick rates, ban rates, and if previous balancing levers were ineffective.

Consequently, the team will implement remasters for two Operators, as well as balancing for Solis, Azami, Fenrir, and others. Season 1 also adds an LMG update, which along with the attachment update and new balancing levers, makes this weapon class more viable.

TRAINING & ONBOARDING

To improve how new players are introduced to Rainbow Six Siege, fully revamped onboarding features introduced in Year 8, including new Tutorials, will continue to receive updates this year. Specifically, Year 9 will expand the Versus AI and Map Training Playlist modes introduced last season. Season 1 will bring additional Operators and maps to the Versus AI mode, helping players develop in-game strategies based on the AI’s behavior. In Season 2, onboarding updates will continue to add Operators and maps. Furthermore, Season 2 will introduce a large update to Target Drill in the Map Training Playlist and more improvements.

Season 3 brings a new cover lane to Shooting Range, a new Drone Drill Playlist, as well as Additional Operators and Maps to the Versus AI Playlist. These features will offer players the effective tools to improve their competitive play and train strategic efficiency. Finally, Season 4 will receive more updates for the Versus AI and Maps Training Playlists, such as additional Operators and Maps. Understanding a map is key to succeeding in gameplay, and with more maps available, players can practice and develop stronger strategies across matches.

To learn more about the Year 9 roadmap, please visit: https://rainbow6.com/roadmap.

Rainbow Six Siege is now available to play on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, the Xbox One family of consoles, Xbox Series X | S, Windows PC.