What’s up guys, Rogue-9 here and we have been once again blessed with the Rainbow Six
Siege Designer notes, which give us a closer insight into how each operator is currently
performing and how much they are picked.
As always, this also includes a bit of a background explanation from the devs, giving us their
reasoning behind the upcoming nerfs and buffs for Caveira, Rook, Doc, Clash and Kaid.
So, why don’t we take a look at these stats to see what they can teach us?
How are the individual operators performing and how have they changed since last season?
Follow me!
Many thanks to Massdrop and the PC37X gaming headset for sponsoring this video!
If you have been following my Twitch streams over the last couple of months, you will have
seen me wear this headset quite extensively and I have been really happy with it!
Sennheiser is of course known for making great quality speakers and great speakers translate
into great sound quality.
The microphone automatically mutes itself when flipped up and you also get a volume
control button on the other side.
Light and comfortable to wear even over long time periods, I would say that this headset
is a great all in one solution for anyone looking for a mic and headphone combo but
don’t just take my word for it.
The item currently has 563 reviews on the Massdrop website, with a great customer rating
of 4.5 out of 5 stars.
So if you’re in the market for a new headset, I can definitely recommend the PC37X and if
you use the link in the description below it shows Massdrop that you came from me!
Before diving into the stats, let me quickly walk you through what you will see in these charts.
On the X axis of the chart is the pick rate in percent.
This shows us how popular an operator is.
For example Ash is picked around 72% of the time, which means that in 7 out of 10 rounds
of Siege played over the last 3 months, there is an Ash on the attacking team (that’s quite a lot).
On the Y axis, we have the Win Delta in percent and this stat is an indicator for the operator’s performance.
It is calculated by taking the win percentage of team including the operator and subtracting
the win percentage without that operator.
So if over the last 3 months, attacking teams with an Ash won, let’s say 49% of the time
and teams without an Ask won 48% of the time, the thousands of rounds taken into consideration
would indicate that on average teams with an Ash are slightly more likely to win than without her.
I hope that makes sense?
Yes, I see you all nodding vigorously, so let’s move on.
One last note is on how we should interpret this information and indeed, how the developers interpret it.
The fact is, that these stats alone are NOT guaranteed proof of an operator being over-
or underpowered and the developers only use these charts as an initial indicator to see
which operators they need to take a closer look at.
They then go away and examine additional stats, as well as player and pro-player feedback,
before they make any decisions regarding nerfs or buffs.
And that’s actually quite important because the win deltas can fluctuate quite a lot without
any specific reason.
Take for instance Kapkan.
In season 2 he was one of the worst defenders of all and then, without any specific changes
to him (apart from the general recoil change for all guns) he became the second most powerful
defender in season 3.
Now, in season 4, once again without any change, he’s backed off a little and is only at
a win delta of around +0.6% (in my eyes not even enough to really conclude that he is
over performing).
Another great example here is Finka.
Last season her win rate was only around 0.25% and this season she’s back up to over 2.5%
making her the best performing attacker.
Long story short: fluctuations can occur and it’s important that you do take these figures
as what they are; an indicator of performance, not irrefutable proof of being over- or underpowered.
So, now that we have reminded ourselves of these principles let’s see who the best
and worst performers are this season and who has had significant changes.
I already mentioned Finka, queen of all attackers… except that she’s still only picked about 6% of the time.
But hey, that’s still 3 times more than last season so a drastic rise in popularity…
compared to a very humble starting position.
Why has she soared to such a high win delta?
Well, there’s not been a change to her since season 2 so it can only be down to players
starting to pick her a little more and using her more effectively.
She is still significantly under picked though and given her pretty mediocre performance
last season, I think when it comes to nerfing, a wait and see approach is absolutely fair here.
Blackbeard is also still a very strong performer, despite a slight decrease in pick rate and
win delta over last season.
For most players, his appallingly bad weapons and slow movement speed make him an OK pick
but since these stats are based on ranked matches at the plat or diamond level only,
he does quite well as always.
I understand that at high levels of play, the couple of extra bullets to the face he
can tank make him overpowered and even downright broken but for most normal players he’s
in an OK place and I even understand when players think he’s weak nowadays.
All in all, I can again understand why he’s not getting nerfed, despite being one of the
best performers on these charts.
And besides that, I would call all the other operators decently balanced from a win delta perspective.
Between + and – 1.5% is really nothing that would scream: “OMG this character is so
horrible, please do something!!”
I understand that at various skill and experience levels, different operators can feel really
frustrating to play against.
I think this frustration factor is a great term that Get Flanked mentioned not so long
ago on one of our Hot Breach Podcasts (available weekly on YouTube, SoundCloud, iTunes, Google
Play, Stitcher and TuneIn).
It basically covers operators that can feel overpowered when they take you down but that
aren’t actually that great when we go to play them (and also are not that great in
the win delta department).
Blitz is a perfect example here.
Getting rushed, flashed and melee’d by him can make me feel downright cheated but then
when I go to play him, I get melee’d through the front of the shield by the first enemy I flash…
ok then.
And his win delta over the last two seasons pretty much reflects this.
That’s not to say, that increasing player comfort is not on the dev’s agenda (as we
will see later) but at the very least, it explains why some of these frustrating ops
are not yet getting nerfed.
A few more interesting things I want to point out before we move on to the defenders.
Ash and Twitch have both increased their pick rates by a couple of percent or so and they
are still the most popular attackers by a country mile.
In fact, most attackers are always statistically under picked because every other match has
both of these ops on the team.
Their win deltas are also up slightly compared to last season but at +1%, there is no strong
indication that they are too powerful.
I do find it slightly sad though, that an operator that brings no vital utility to the
team gets picked in 7 out of 10 rounds.
I get that she’s a good fragger and all but I personally find operators with interesting
and useful gadgets more appealing.
Does Ash need a nerf?
Maybe not.
I personally think that the speed advantage of 3 speeds is still infinitely more valuable
than the armour advantage of 1 speeds and I would like to see the movement of the three
types of ops brought a little closer together still.
I have seen some arguments in the past for making all operators the same speed and I
do fully agree that that would solve a whole bunch of issues I experience when playing.
But I also see that it would change the feel of the game quite a bit and it’s debateable
whether that would be the right thing to do.
Nevertheless, slowing down 3 speeds would definitely be a great way at reducing Ash’s
pick rate without having to nerf her specifically.
Glaz’ performance has come down a bit and I wonder what his expected rework will do
to his performance and pick rate…
I guess we will see in about 3 months’ time (if the rework goes live with the start of year 4)!
Last but not least, I think it is also worth mentioning the new operator Nomad.
I was expecting her to be an underperformer due to her lacklustre guns and the pre-release
nerfs to her gadget.
But hey, look at that, she’s actually doing quite well with a mildly positive win delta.
GG devs, you got it right, I was wrong.
But now let’s head on over to the defenders and here we will also get some explanations
on why certain characters are getting changed.
Rook has been the best performing defender for 4 seasons in a row now.
I mention it every time I make a video about these charts.
He is underappreciated for sure.
His gadget is deployed at the beginning of the round and as long as everyone grabs a
plate, there is no possibility of failure.
Almost every other gadget, requires the operator to say alive in order to get the most out
of it but as Rook, you can increase the chances of winning gunfights for each and every one
of your teammates before the round even starts.
You are then free to peek whatever you want, your job is done.
Doc has increased both in popularity and performance since last season and so there we have our
explanation for the MP5 nerf.
Caveira has also increased in pick rate and win delta and even at plat and diamond level,
she is currently one of the best performing defenders in the game.
We don’t have any data at lower ranks but it is likely that she is even more of a menace there.
The devs highlight this in their commentary where they explain: “We are trying to make
her less frustrating to play against and reduce her power level at low to medium levels.
Lowering the damage, the number of bullets that need to hit the chest of an enemy to
put them in a DBNO state should be the same as before, but we reduce the penalty of being
hit by one shot.
Thanks to this, we can also normalize the falloff curve to be more consistent with other
pistols, which gives Caveira increased ranged and versatility.”
All of that is pretty much in line with what I mentioned in my recent test video but one
thing I did miss was the aspect of getting shot once.
Before the upcoming changes, a single hit at close range is still pretty much a death sentence.
Any Gu mine, electrical wire or even a fart in your general direction is enough to take you down.
Now at 65 damage, her pistol is still a 2 shot weapon but at least one shot won’t
be so devastating for the attacker anymore.
A lot of players argued that she did not need a nerf and I think they are completely right.
The nerf was not needed as such but the objective of the changes is not necessarily to change
her performance but to make her less frustrating to play against.
We will see how this plays out but I still believe that she will be fine in the long run.
Lesion is another of the highest picked and highest performing defenders and interestingly,
his stats are virtually identical to 3 months ago.
He’s a very useful operator to have in the team but again, not really in the territory
of being too powerful.
Jaeger and Bandit are quite interesting because they have basically changed places throughout the year.
Bandit used to be the most picked defender in season 1 & 2 but was overtaken by Jaeger in season 3 & 4.
Both have remained quite stable in terms of their pick rate over the last 3 months but
performance has increased just that little bit.
Kapkan and Frost are another interesting pair to look at since their stats in relation to
each other are basically unchanged but they have both slipped to the left and down.
This continues the interesting trend that the devs pointed out last season, that these
two ops seem to rise and fall in tandem.
Many of the underperforming ops are also not changed all that much.
Smoke, Castle and Tachanka sit comfortable in the bottom left corner of the table with
slightly changed performances.
Bikini has obviously not been pulling his weight in season 4 it seems because Tachanka’s
performance has once again fallen to the very bottom edge of the chart.
Must try harder next season… unless we’re getting a re-work…
That’s not a hint by the way I’m literally just taking a wild guess and it may or may
not happen; please don’t get your hopes up or the pitchforks out (whatever your opinion would be).
Clash has had a pretty miserable season.
She was new three months ago and not getting picked all that much even then but now, her
pick rate is the lowest of all and her performance is so abysmal that the devs had to add her
win delta separately.
Over the last season, if you had a clash on the team, you were almost 11% less likely
to win than with any other character instead of her.
And that’s at plat and diamond level where you would expect the teams to be the most
organised and to be able to take advantage of her the most.
That’s a clear “Yikes” from me and perfectly explains why they are switching the SPSMG9
over to full auto.
Last but not least, the new op Kaid has also been quite week since introduction.
His shotgun and sniper pistol can do a lot of damage in the right hands (even after the
nerfs) but single shot weapons will always be harder to use than full auto guns and his
AUG A3 is simply one of the worst SMGs in the game.
The Dev’s are buffing the gun slightly in the next patch and this is how they are explaining
it: “Kaid is performing below our expectations; we want to take a deep look in the future
to make him more attractive for the utility and creativity that he brings to a team.”
That’s perfectly fair.
There are a few cool things you can do with him, like tricking hatches on certain sites,
but all in all he’s just not been used to his fullest potential yet and especially his
weapons make him an underwhelming performer in ranked.
The devs go on to say that: “For now, the ADS of the AUG A3 was too slow, closer to
an Assault Rifle than an SMG.”
Eeeeehmm, yeah no.
His ADS speed was not closer to a rifle.
It was the exact same 450ms that we see for all rifles and as much as this explanation
makes it seem that this was a conscious choice, my money is still on the fact that this was a mistake.
It just never made any sense for this one SMG to be slower to ADS than all others.
And “in before” anyone comments: “But the AUG is a rifle!
You don’t know guns!”
No!
The definition of a submachinegun is: a select fire carbine in pistol calibre.
Right?
If you take a short rifle and put pistol bullets in it, then it is by definition and SMG and
Kaid’s AUG in real life is called the AUG Para and it is chambered for 9x19mm ammo.
So thank you to everyone who commented in the past (with varying degrees of courtesy)
telling me that I don’t know what I’m talking about but no, this is really an SMG.
Thank you for attending my TED talk.
And those are pretty much all the most interesting operators in terms of their pick rate, performance
or the change in stats from last season.
What do you think about the positions of your favourite operators?
Is there anything in this season’s stats that surprised you?
Leave a comment below and with that thank you for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video
and I will see you in the next episode!