What’s up guys, Rogue-9 here and this video is sponsored by Squarespace the first class
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I’ll tell you a bit more about them later! Since we have a brand new balancing patch
out on the Rainbow Six test servers right now, I of course went in to see how all of
these changes will actually affect the game once fully released. There is a lot to cover
here and my original voiceover was over 40 minutes long, so to keep things manageable,
I will be splitting this patch info in to two separate videos. Keep an eye out in the
coming days for part two! As always, see the pinned comment below for timestamps to the
individual topics we will be covering today and with that, let’s go see what’s up!
The first change listed in the patch notes is an increase in Aim Down Sight time for
all weapon classes due to the accidental buff all of the guns received at the beginning
of Operation Ember Rise. Now this list of old and new ADS times looks straight forward
enough but before going into the tests I ran, let me first point out a couple of errors
and omissions in this table and of course there are also some nerfs and buff that need
to be discussed: Glaz, Kali, the BOSG & TCSG, as well as the entire shotgun and machine
pistol classes are all getting a bit of a rebalance and that is important to note too!
The claim that LMGs are going from 0.4 to 0.45s ADS time is not fully accurate, because
the current LMG times are either 0.35 or 0.4s, so while some of them are 0.4s right now,
it’s not all of them and that means that the nerf is harsher for some guns than it
is for others. Worse than this minor inaccuracy though, is
the claim that secondary SMGs are being nerfed from 0.1s to 0.35s because right now, their
ADS time is actually 0.18s (almost double what the patch notes would have you believe).
And then there are also a bunch of exceptions which are not mentioned. For almost a year
now, Mozzie’s Commando 9 has had the slow ADS time of the rifle class, despite being
modelled as an SMG in all other respects. The FMG9 used by Nokk and Smoke has always
had an aiming time of 0.22s instead of 0.2 like every other primary SMG and the French
LFP586 revolver aims in at 0.13s instead of the regular 0.1s for pistols.
But there’s so much more missing from here: Glaz, Kali, Blackbeard, the shied operators,
the TCSG & BOSG getting nerfed; there’s so many different things that we still need
to discuss that aren’t mentioned here, so let’s move over to that!
I can confirm that the new time for LMGs will indeed be 0.45s across the board for all of
these guns so they are finally getting a consistent ADS time and that’s a good thing in my eyes.
But as I mentioned, that also means that some guns are getting nerfed more than others.
Capitao’s M249, IQ’s G8A1 and Maestro’s ALDA are already at 0.4s right now and will
therefore only become 12.5% slower than they are now. All other LMGs are actually only
on 0.35s which means that they will be over 28.5% slower after the patch. But personally,
I don’t mind that. I would rather have unified stats for the weapon class and this is as
good an opportunity as any to make that happen. The new standardisation is also good news
for the three exceptions I mentioned earlier and I think that is especially important to
note for Mozzie. If you saw my Loadout META video for Mozzie where I compared the Commando
9 with his P10 RONI, you will remember that the only real advantages of the RONI were
its faster fire rate and faster ADS time. Well with the upcoming patch, the ADS times
are going to be the same for both guns and that means that for most players, the Commando
9 should be the better choice without question. The RONI just has too many downsides that
outweigh the one advantage of faster fire rate. Unless you are an incredibly high lever
player and you get most of your kills via headshots, my advice would be to stick with
the Commando (but do feel free to watch the Mozzie video if you want a full breakdown
of these two guns!). As you saw from the initial table, shotguns
are getting a bit of a buff and will now be the second fastest weapon class when it comes
to aiming, right after the pistols. This makes no sense in terms of the weight and size of
the guns compared to other classes but at the same time, I don’t think it will really
make much of a difference in the game. I don’t know why this choice was made but I see no
harm in it from a gameplay perspective, so what the hell? Fine, quick handling shotguns
it is! Now originally, the most significant balancing
shift that was intended for this patch, was the massive nerf to the aiming time of secondary
SMGs. As you can see in the background footage, machine pistols were supposed to go from a
0.18s ADS to a huge 0.35s ADS time instead. This would have given the SMG-11, SMG-12,
Bearing 9, C75 Auto and SPSMG9, slower handling than half of the other weapon classes (including
primary shotguns and SMGs) and would have placed them only just below the assault rifle
and DMR classes. There has been no public statement as to what prompted the plan to
completely nerf the MPs into the ground but it doesn’t even matter anymore because good
news everyone! Ubisoft have already announced that they are abandoning this plan and will
be changing the ADS time of MPs to 0.275s instead.
This will keep the secondary SMG class basically exactly where it is, slightly faster than
primary SMGs, so no nerf overall. Shotguns will still be quicker but that’s because
they are getting a relative buff as already mentioned. I personally am really happy to
see this plan get cancelled. In Siege, ADS times have always followed the principle of:
“the bigger the gun, the heavier it is and the longer it will take to bring up the sights”.
This not only made perfect sense but it also worked in terms of the balancing and honestly,
I have no clue what gave anyone the idea that the secondary SMGs needed a massive nerf.
But, thank goodness, there is no reason to dwell on this any further. Hurray and Huzzah;
danger averted! The machine pistols are safe! What would have been your thoughts on the
matter? Do you think super slow machine pistol aiming would have been a good idea? Let me
know by voting in the poll in the top right hand part of your screen now!
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of a website or domain! Now according to the patch notes, you’d
think that’s it right? But wait, there’s more! Both Kaid and Goyo’s TCSG, as well
as Dokkaebi and Vigil’s BOSG are currently classed as shotguns… because… well, they
are shotguns… But while testing the new system, I discovered that both guns will be
getting a hefty nerf, with their ADS times going from 0.2s now to 0.4s in future (so
double). And basically what I think is happening here is that Ubisoft is giving up any pretence
that these weapons are shotguns and just fully declaring them to be DMRs instead. In a way,
I have to say that I get it (at least from a balancing perspective). With the new penetration
system, shotguns are in the “no penetration” category except for these two slug guns that
have instead been put into the “full penetration” category, along with the DMRs and so fair
enough, I guess it also makes sense to nerf their ADS time to match this new classification.
And before we move on to Blackbeard, you guessed it: There is still more! You may have noticed
that the patch notes don’t mention shields at all and that’s fair enough, because the
shields are not really being changed. Their slow aiming time of 0.6s stays exactly as
it is and when you sling your shield onto your back, your pistols will have the new
unified ADS time of 0.2s. Their main ADS time staying the same though is still worth noting,
because if almost all other guns are being nerfed and shields stay the same, then that
means a relative buff and that’s a good thing. I know that the shield nerf was meant
to make them less frustrating to play against at the cost of their own effectiveness but
when all other operators can aim in at 0.3, 0.2 or even 0.1s, then 0.6 is pretty harsh
and if the overall nerf goes live, then at least this discrepancy won’t be quite as
massive anymore. But wait, there’s still more! Kali’s CSRX
rifle is keeping the exact same ADS time of 0.5s and while Glaz’ OTs-03 is getting nerfed,
it is only going from 0.35 to 0.4s which will be exactly the same as all other assault rifles
and DMRs. So for Glaz that means a minor buff and for Kali, that’s a major buff relative
to all other guns. I’m not sure why Glaz is getting buffed here, maybe it’s just
another part of the standardisation taking place but seeing Kali keep the old handling
while all other guns get nerfed will make her just a touch less garbage than she currently
is right now and I would say that’s probably a good thing.
And that really is it. In summary: I think that taking out the special ADS cases
of the LFP, FMG9 and Commando is a great move. Mozzie doesn’t really need the buff to be
fair but less confusion is always good so great move and the same goes for standardising
the LMG class. Apart from this though, I’m not sure that
I like the ADS nerf as a whole. I have been having a lot more fun with the game since
aiming became a bit snappier at the beginning of Ember Rise and personally, I would love
to see the faster times stay. I do appreciate that not everyone might share this opinion,
so please do go ahead and leave a vote in the poll in the top right hand corner of the
screen now. Would you like the faster ADS times to stay or do you want to go back to
the slower aiming we used to have in the past? Let me know!
That’s the general ADS discussion out of the way but there is of course still Blackbeard
because huzzah, he is finally being updated so that his rifles will aim at normal speed
(i.e. 0.4s under the new proposal) but once you attach his ballistic rifle shields, that
time is slowed down to 0.55s instead. This new and more nuanced solution also applies
to the SCAR H if you use the angled grip although there is a bit of an inconsistency with that.
Normally, the angled grip should reduce the ADS time by 40% and that does work as long
as the gun is left blank and no shield is attached. As you can see, in this case, the
0.4s time is reduced to 0.24s. So far so good! But when you attach a ballistic shield, your
time should be 0.55s x 60% equals 0.33s… but on the test server we end up with a consistent
0.4s instead. The angled grip in this case is less effective and only achieves a 27.27%
ADS time reduction instead of the regular 40%... Is this intended?
I dunno, maybe? But probably unlikely? Because why introduce a new anomaly when you are finally
clearing up all of the old ones? It just makes no sense, so my guess here is that it’s
simply a mistake. Ubisoft, that will be one more set of QA fees, please and thank you.
This oddity aside though, I like the fact that your ADS time changes when you attach
the shield. Blackbeard’s guns are pretty much the worst you can find on attack and
that makes sense for balancing because his face shield is so powerful but when you have
no shield attached, at least you can play more normally in future.
Echo is one of the most frustrating characters in the game right now and has a very high
ban rate. So in order to nerf him a little, he is being changed in a few ways.
First of all, Echo is no longer immune to Dokkaebi. This means that he can be called
by the logic bomb attack and not only will the ringing phone make him easier to locate
for the attackers, but importantly, he will also lose access to his Yokai drones until
his phone is silenced. A well timed logic bomb can now be the perfect counter play if
there is an Echo on the defender team waiting to deny the defuser plant. In addition to
this, Echo will now drop a hackable phone once killed AND even more importantly, his
drones will become accessible to the attackers if Dokkaebi manages to hack into the defenders’
camera system. This makes Dokkaebi a really strong counter to Echo overall because the
power of the Yokais is so much less if the attackers can see through them too. It makes
them really easy to find and the attackers could even use the intel against any remaining
defenders. There is also a second small change in that
the drones now have lights on them that will shine either blue, yellow or white depending
on who is using them but these lights are only visible when the drones are not cloaked,
so I see this having a relatively minor impact in most games.
All in all though, as great as this counter play might sound, I still have some concerns
as to whether or not this will actually help to reduce the Echo frustration. At the end
of the day, nothing much changes unless: • the attackers bring Dokkaebi
• AND she manages to stay alive until the plant goes down
• OR at least hacks into the system before getting killed
If you want to reduce the Echo frustration, you are forced into an operator choice and
even then, there is no guarantee that you will actually be able to impact that frustrating
at all. I can easily see that most teams in ranked and unranked would still rather just
ban Echo than be forced to bring Dokkaebi every round when she might not even have an
impact if she dies too early. Having this counter play potential is better than nothing
but it still feels like a bit of a band aid slapped onto a gushing arterial neck wound.
More work needed in future, I think. And that’s about half of the material I
have on the upcoming patch. Do keep your eyes peeled for the second part where I will discuss
weapon nerfs and buffs to Ela, Finka, Jäger, Nokk, Smoke & Maestro as well as some gadget
buffs and tweaks to Jackal, Ying and Glaz. So for now, thank you so much for watching
I hope you enjoyed the video and I will see you in the next episode!