Weakest Rainbow Six Siege Operators Get Buffed

If you like to play Kapkan or Mute in Rainbow Six Siege [official site], I have some great news for you: both are being buffed in today's Update 3.3. Oh, and if you shoot your team too many times Ubisoft might ban your ass now too.

Defending is going to get a lot more interesting now that Kapkan's trip wire gadget can be placed at any height along a doorframe. Previously, it could only be placed at a particular height and had a red screw that stuck out of the opposite wall giving attackers a pretty clear indication that a trip mine was waiting for them. After today, that red screw is gone and you're free to position the mine at any height. The red laser's intensity has also been reduced, making it harder to spot, and Ubisoft have even turned down the aural cues when it's deployed. Overall, it should be a lot more deadly.

Mute has also been given a sizeable buff to his signal disruptor. It's been increased 50% from 1.5 meters of radius to 2.25. "This range will let you jam larger areas around walls as well as reinforced ones, as well as making it almost impossible for drones to jump through," Ubisoft says.

The patch notes also detail why these operators were buffed in the first place. "Kapkan had the 4th weakest win ratio and 2nd lowest pick rate," the post reads. "Mute had the 5th lowest pick rate, 2nd lowest kill/death average, and 2nd lowest win rate. As players have become more experienced with the game, they know how to counter these Operators. By making these changes, we hope players will find new ways to play these Operators."

The 3.3 patch also introduces harsher punishments for team killing by enforcing progressively longer bans for repeated offenses and could even lead to a permanent ban. Ubisoft has said that it's something that they'll review on a "case by case basis."

With the new penalties in place, popping your squad in the back of the head has the following punishments:

• First offense: Banned from Ranked Matchmaking for 15 minutes, 50% renown penalty for 30 minutes.
• Second offense: Banned from Ranked Matchmaking for 30 minutes.
• Third offense: Banned from Ranked Matchmaking for 2 hours.
• Fourth offense: Banned from Ranked Matchmaking for 24 hours.
• Fifth offense: Banned from Ranked Matchmaking for 7 days.

Pretty serious stuff!

Finally, if you're into paying for microtransactions, the renown boosters are essentially twice as effective now, letting you grind out new operators that much quicker.

Instead of taking my word for it, you should read the patch notes here and get all the info straight from that horse's mouth.