Rainbow Six Siege Operation "Shadow Legacy": Release Date, Patch Notes, New Operators, New Map, Seasonal Skins, Trailer, Gameplay And More

Published: Sep 10, 2020, 4:17 Updated: Apr 08, 2021, 9:05

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It's been revealed that the next Operation in Rainbow Six Siege is called 'Shadow Legacy'.

Rainbow Six Siege's second season in year 5, Operation Steel Wave, released on the 16th June.

The update brought with it a wealth of content for players to enjoy.

However, the next season's Operators appear to have leaked and it's got a SERIOUS Splinter Cell vibe - one of Ubisoft's other famous Tom Clancy properties.

While it's a stretch to expect Sam Fisher's return to be in Rainbow Six, it's definitely an exciting prospect that the next Season could tie into Splinter Cell.

Here's what we know about Year 5 Season 3 in Rainbow Six Siege.

You can read all about Operation Steel Wave by clicking the links below:

Latest News

Shadow Legacy Is Out Now! - 10th September

Despite absolutely no fanfare from Ubisoft, the new Operation has landed.

Ubisoft only tweeted this:

🛠Scheduled Maintenance🛠There will be some maintenance today.PC: 9:00 EDT/13:00 UTCXB1: 10:00 EDT/14:00 UTCPS4: 11:00 EDT/15:00 UTC Downtime: 1 Hour Per Platform.There will be data repackaging with this maintenance, so there will be a larger than usual download size.

— Rainbow Six Siege (@Rainbow6Game)

September 10, 2020

Test Server Patch Notes - 1st September

Check out the past patch notes here:

Holo

Based on feedback we've decided to give back the old Holo to some operators while swapping the new Holo to others to gather more data and feedback. This change should give players more agency when choosing between using the new holo vs other alternatives. This will also only impact DEF operators with 1x zoom scopes only. We'll be closely studying and monitoring the performance of the two Holos and player feedback as well, so please tell us what you think between the two!

Re-added old Nato Holo to in place of the new MH1 Holo for:
- Wamai (AUG A2)
- Oryx (Mp5)
- Pulse (Ump 45)
Added new Nato Holo to replace old Holo for:
- Castle (Ump45)
- Doc (Mp5)
- Echo (Mp5SD)

Nomad

Giving Nomad more options on her scopes to make them feel and look a bit better.

ARX: Removed 1.5x, Added 2.0x
AK: Removed 2.0x, Added 1.5x and 2.5x

1.5x Scope

Added raiser to the 1.5x Scope to alleviate the issue of the visible iron sight/front pins when in ADS.

BUG FIXES

FIXED - Crashing while observing through Zero's camera as it deploys through an unbreachable surface.
FIXED - Drones can fall OOB from a gap between the rocks on Chalet.
FIXED - Drones sometimes spawn facing the wrong way and not facing the objective building.
FIXED - Missing collision with some rocks on Chalet.
FIXED - Missing decals from Zero's gadget when deployed on wainscoting on indestructible walls.
FIXED - Missing occluded SFX when deploying while standing away from the awll and rappelling.
FIXED - Missing score/timer from the UI during match point.
FIXED - Montagne can unequip his shield while being guard broken.
FIXED - Players can hide under the table of B Wine Cellar in Chalet.
FIXED - Red dot is not aligned.
FIXED - Thatcher gets 10 points instead of 5 points for disabling Melusi's Banshee.
FIXED - the book display cases on Chalet are missing the glass panels
FIXED - Unmuting another user that you blocked does not unmute them
FIXED - Various clipping issues.
FIXED - Various HUD/UI issues.
FIXED - Various LOD issues.
FIXED - Various PvE issues for Chalet.

KNOWN ISSUES

Crashing issues when entering Alibi's bio
Crashing issues when viewing Ash's G36C default skin in loadout
The right and middle mouse buttons are inversed when editing key bindings
Nomad cannot shoot Airjabs with ARX200 in Training Grounds mode
1F Main Entrance defender cam cannot be accessed on Chalet
Missing VOs
Lesion's Gu mines are not deploying on stairs.
Players can reverse plant on Chalet.
Issues with activating/deactivating Vigil's gadget while leaning.
Looking into SC3000K

Check out the past patch notes here.

Shadow Legacy Gameplay - 16th August

Check out the gameplay primer below!

Release Date

Ubisoft cheekily stealth dropped the new season on September 10, which perhaps shouldn't be a surprise given Sam Fisher's sneaky nature.

That means you can download it NOW!

New Operators

Ubisoft has confirmed that Sam “Zero” Fisher is the next Operator coming to Siege. In a new reveal trailer for “Operation: Shadow Legacy,” Fisher breaks the fourth wall: “You should know better than to write me off. Consider this a teaching moment.”

Sam Fisher, also known as Zero, arrives alongside the new season.

He'll be free to Year 5 pass owners, but you'll need to unlock him with Renown or R6 Credits from a week later if you don't have it.

An invaluable intelligence gatherer, Zero is an attacking operator with medium speed and medium armour.

While in the majority of his solo adventures, Sam Fisher can complete missions without killing anyone, he's just as lethal in the world of Rainbow Six: Siege as any other operator.

So who do we have in the fourth season? Rumours are that we're set to get an attacker with a drill camera and a defender with a robotic arm and laser gates. However, there's speculation that the Defender is an actually a Season 4 Operator.

Zero has the SC-3000K from the Splinter Cell franchise as a primary weapon option, as well as being able to swap it out for the MP7.

He also has a silenced 5.7 USG sidearm to ensure he remains as quiet as possible. His equipment includes a claymore and frag grenade.

Sam Fisher's SC-20K Assault Rifle

Fisher's key ability is a gadget, known as the Argus Launcher.

This nifty toy fires Argus projectiles that can bore straight through breakable and reinforced walls, floors and ceilings and create camera vision of both sides.

That's not all, though, as each can fire a single laser that can destroy gadgets or deal the killing blow to enemy operators.

Photo via Gamer Felonies

So far Ubisoft has only confirmed one Operator, where most Operations include two.

Allegedly, the second Operator is named Aruni, who can tear down barricades with a single strike and punch holes in walls.

There doesn't seem to be a limit on this ability, currently - she will also be equipped with Dokkaebi’s Mk14 EBR.

Photo via PapaCapinya

Is this legit? PapaCapinya certainly seems to think so and reliable Siege leaker Kormora seems to back this up with what they have been told.

She is also equipped with a gadget called the Surya Gate, described only as a laser reinforcement.

It appears to be a device that can be positioned in certain locations to form a protective laser grid.

When Aruni approaches her device the grid lowers allowing her to pass through.

This gadget will allow her to control certain locations and force attackers to consider their movements across the map.

Chalet Map Rework

Here is the walkthrough of the reworked Chalet:

Here are the details of the Chalet changes:

A major change on the Chalet rework is the ability to rappel all the way up and traverse the rooftop.
One hallway was added to improve rotation between the sites in the Basement.
Trophy site switched out for a new one in Dining.
The biggest changes are with Bedroom and Office. The stairs that led up from the first floor have been moved to connect Trophy. And a brand-new room replaces the balcony next to Master Bedroom: the Solarium.
The Bathroom no longer connects directly into Bedroom, but rather serves as a rotation point.
A few other noticeable changes include the extension of the Mezzanine to connect to Office Balcony (where most windows have been blocked), and Wine Cellar no longer being separated into two rooms.
There is also a window above the garage to put pressure on attackers on that site.
Although it's not noted, the team has also removed that pesky horizontal window in the basement kitchen, something that caught me out more than a few times in the past!

Shadow Legacy Patch Notes

Here are the patch notes coming to Season 3 'Shadow Legacy':

LOADOUTS

Montagne: Hard breach charge replacing Stun Grenades.
Ying: Hard breach charge replacing Breach Charges.
Fuze: Hard breach charge replacing Smoke Grenades.
Finka: Hard breach charge replacing Breach Charges.
Amaru: Hard breach charge replacing Claymore.
Nøkk: Hard breach charge replacing Breach Charges.
Capitão: Hard breach charge replacing Stun Grenades.
Lion: Hard breach charge replacing Claymore.

MAVERICK

Maverick now has an additional blowtorch canister, with 6 in all (up from 5).
This gives players more leniency when rationing their fuel to open hatches. On average it requires approximately 2.3 canisters to open a hatch, so an extra canister will be a bit more forgiving of mistakes.

IANA

The Gemini Replicator (Iana's hologram) is now able to use the Ping 2.0 system.
The hologram is a carbon copy of Iana and controls related to the Ping System are the same as well.

We hope that this change will reinforce the level of synergy and cooperation that Iana brings to the attacking team, we also hope that it will also rationalize and streamline her ability.

THATCHER

EMPs will now disable gadgets instead of destroying them.
Thatcher's EMP effect increased to 15s (from 10s when applicable).
Picking up a disabled gadget will remove the EMP effect.
The EMP effect will not affect gadgets within the Operator's inventory.

The following gadgets affected by Thatcher's EMP are now disabled for 15s instead of being destroyed prior to Y5S3:

Nitro Cell
Kapkan's Entry Denial Device
Jäger's Active Defense System
Lesion's Gu Mines¹
Ela's GRZMOT Mine
Mute's Signal Disruptor
Smoke's Remote Gas Grenade
Kaid's Rtila Electroclaw
Mozzie's Pest Launcher
Bandit's Shock Wire
Echo's Yokaï Drone²

When affected by Thatcher's EMP, Gu Mines will now lose their cloaking ability, and won't be triggered nor destroyed when stepped on.

The Yokai Drone was already disabled by the EMP Grenade, however, the Sonic Burst Charge refilling was still happening. It is no longer the case in Shadow Legacy as the Sonic Burst Charge refilling will be suspended during 15s as well.

Bandit Tricking (and other similar techniques):

Now, a disabled battery can be picked up to remove the disabled state. However, this takes more time to perform than deploying a new battery after the first one had been destroyed.

Bandit tricking should remain very efficient against slower hard breachers like Hibana, Ace or the new Hard Breaching Charge.

EMP Effect and IQ's Electronics Detector:

In addition, we have updated IQs gadget feedback when she locates a disabled electronic device.

The white outline around the electronic gadget is still present but the pulse animation around the gadget is not displayed.

Thatcher mains will have to think a bit more and increase synergy with their teammates, before spending their resources.

We are aware that this is a big change for Thatcher which should lead to more consistency around the EMP effect in Siege.

It may improve Defender performance as a consequence, but we'll monitor the impact of this change and react as we feel necessary.

GAME BALANCING

New Sights/Scopes
- New M4S Red Dot Sight – 1.0x zoom, which functions as a ‘no zoom’ sight
- New MH1 Holo Sight – Alternative Holo that offers a clean sight and new reticule.
- New ACOG (1.5x Scope) – An ACOG with short-to-medium range magnification
- New Scope (2.0 Scope) – With medium range magnification
- Modified Sights
- 2.5x ACOG – Zoom level changed.
- 3.0x Scope – No longer a unique option, and will be an option for most DMRs (depending on balancing needs)
- Redistribution of Sights/Scopes
- With the introduction of new sights and scopes, we’ll be redistributing them based on operator, gameplay, and balancing needs.

PLAYER COMFORT

Minimum MMR Gain/Loss
- Winning/Losing a ranked match will now give a minimum of 25 +/- MMR gain or loss. We’ve also tweaked the MMR gain/loss distribution to prevent diminishing MMR returns for players who play lots of ranked games.
In-Game Report Notifications
- You will now receive in-game notifications after a player that you reported is sanctioned. These will replace the ‘Thank you’ emails for reporting a banned player. Play nice. Play fair. Report those that don’t.
Vote-To-Kick Removal (Later in the season)
Caster HUD
- A new player card is present at the bottom-centre of the screen that will help viewers swiftly notice which player they're spectating. This is extremely useful, especially when switching quickly between players' views.
- Player's life bar has new feedback to easily spot players taking damage
- Activating and deactivating the defuser has a new VFX to make this action more noticeable when it occurs during the round
- Drone Info is now present in the player card even if the operator is dead or in the DBNO state
- Abilities and gadgets have new VFX for their states when they are ready, active, cool-down, etc.
- Hostage and Secure Area game modes are now shown as feedback in the HUD

GAME HEALTH

Gadget Deployment Refactor
- Moving forward with our push for behavioural consistency, we’ve built further on our Y4S4 projectile map asset destruction changes and brought it to deployables.
- To make gadget deployment behaviour more predictable and consistent, deployable gadgets will now either destroy fragile/smaller map assets when deployed on them (paintings/posters) or deploy without impediment on normal textured surfaces (panelled walls/carpets).
ADS Sensitivity System
- Players now have the option to customize ADS sensitivity in the Options menu. With the ADS Sensitivity System, ADS is more consistent across all sight/scope magnifications. You can customize sensitivity levels per zoom level according to your personal preference by selecting the ‘Advanced’ option in the Options menu.
Vault Detection
- Improvement of the vault detection system will make vaulting smoother, easier, and make vault behaviour more consistent.
RFF + Hostage Rules Update
- We’ve updated the RFF rules around hostage to be more consistent and transparent to prevent ambiguity and abuse.
MMR Rollback Cap
- The cap for MMR rollback has been raised from your max MMR for the season to your max MMR + a fixed amount. We hope this will give a bit more flexibility for MMR rollback and reduce some of the frustrations surrounding it.
Sound Refactoring
- We have begun the process of refactoring our sound system, which will essentially repackage the way sounds are stored and connected to the game. For more information on what that means and how it will improve our sound system, please see Top Issues & Community Concerns

Test Server Patch Notes:

You can check out all other changes, features and additional content coming to the next season below.

Thatcher Changes

The Disabled State for Electronic Gadget (DSEG) is an update aiming to add a “disabled” state for gadgets, besides “active” or “destroyed”.

The duration of these states depends on the ability from the opposite operator that caused the gadget to be disabled. Gadgets in that state can still be deployed and can still be detected by Operators with the proper gadgets.

In this new phase, Ubisoft is aiming to implement a loss of functionality for all Defenders gadgets across the board when Thatcher uses his EMP Grenade.

Rather than having some gadgets destroyed and others disabled for a short amount of time, they're choosing to unify the behaviour of gadgets affected by Thatcher and have them all be disabled temporarily.

New Secondary Gadget: Hard Breach Charge

The Breach Charge is a new Secondary Gadget for the Attacking team.

Much like the Breach Charge, this gadget is meant to be deployed on a wall, hatch, or barricade, and blast through it. However, the Hard Breach Charge also works on reinforced surfaces and leaves a medium-sized hole that Operators can navigate.

Take care not to stay too close, because the charge is automatically activated shortly after deployment is done!

Shadow Legacy Weapon Skin

Enjoy the Penumbra Cell weapon skin, a reinvention that will make you relive the glory of Splinter Cell.

With the arrival of the new operator, Zero, Ubisoft is revisiting the franchise to offer you a seasonal skin you won’t want to miss out on.

The weapon skin is to be released upon season launch and can be purchased during that season. Once unlocked, the seasonal weapon skins can be applied to all available weapons and will remain in the player’s inventory indefinitely.

Ping 2.0

On top of regular yellow pings, you’ll now be able to use contextual pings both while in Character and while using Cameras and Drones.

You’ll also be able to keep pinging after being eliminated, so your ability to give your teammates intel will remain.

Here are some key changes:

You can reveal opposing Operators by pinging their primary gadget.
Regular yellow pings have assigned numbers to make for easier callouts.
The reticle used to determine where your ping will go can be turned off in Options.
When using a controller, the default Ping input has been switched with the Swap Fire Mode input.
Take the time to familiarize yourself with this new system. It’s bound to change the way everyone approaches and considers sharing intel with their team.

Map Ban

Map Ban is a new feature that will allow players to gain more control over the maps they play in Ranked and Unranked.

Before a match, each team will be able to ban one map from a random pre-selection of three maps from the pool.

Banning the same map will result in a random selection from the two remaining maps while banning two different maps, by elimination, will result in the selection of the remaining map. Players can also choose not to ban any maps.

Match Replay

A new feature, only available in the test servers, is being added.

Match Replay, a function that records your last matches - up to 12 of them – locally on your own PC.

Recorded at an average of 30 MB per minute of gameplay, this feature is enabled by default in General Options and you’ll be able to access a “WATCH” section directly from the menu allowing you to playback your last few plays.

Once you’re in the replay, you can use the Spectator mode tools to check any top-down view or any first-person view.

The aim of this feature for this season is to gather feedback before pulling it back to polish and improve it.

New Optics And Sight Colours

New optics and sight colours are being added to allow for a better experience to players that are colourblind or visually impaired.

Menu section now includes an “ACCESSIBILITY” tab that proposes various colour options adapted to different forms of colour blindness (Deuteranopia, Protanopia and Tritanopia).

A custom option is also available for anyone to adjust the sight colours to their preference. Players will get to preview those sight options in small and full-screen mode before making their choice.

We aim to increase the comfort level for all of our players and ensure everyone has the best experience possible.

Reinforcement Pool

Rather than have 2 reinforcements per player, Operators will now take from a Reinforcement Pool, including 10 available reinforcements to share with teammates.

The pool will decrease by 1 for each reinforcement used and will increase by 1 for each failed reinforcement.

At the moment, the number of reinforcements is not available in the HUD for the caster. The HUD for the Reinforcement Pool should be added in the coming months.

Siege Stats

Players can now access their history through a brand new feature called 'My Siege Stats' on the Rainbow Six Siege website.

By just using your username, you will be able to access your stats for the current season and break it down into monthly and weekly summaries.

You’ll also be able to access your previous seasons, add friends to see how their stats stack up to your own, receive weekly personalized recaps of your best matches and check out the advanced stats pro players use to track their performance!

SquadFinder

A Squad Finder feature is also being added to the website to help players find perfect teammates and build the best squad in the game.

SquadFinder allows players to create a profile based on their in-game data and play habits and set-up a request following their game sessions, languages, playstyle and game mode.

The matching system will then connect them to players with similar stats and with good compatibility. From then on, you can send and accept friend requests, allowing players to gain new teammates and friends to join the fight.

Operator Price Changes

This season will see a price decrease for seven Operators:

Amaru - 20,000 Renown or 480 R6 Credits
Goyo - 20,000 Renown or 480 R6 Credits.
Maverick - 15,000 Renown or 360 R6 Credits
Clash - 15,000 Renown or 360 R6 Credits
Ying - 10,000 Renown or 240 R6 Credits
Lesion - 10,000 Renown or 240 R6 Credits
Ela - 10,000 Renown or 240 R6 Credits

Year 5 Road Map

Year 5 Pass

So what does the Year 5 pass include?

1-year* VIP Membership
6 new Year 5 operators
6 Matheadgear and 6 uniforms
1 R6 Charm
1 Seasonal Weapon skin
1 full Operator Bundle (Jäger Byte)

VIP Perks:

7-day early access to each season's new Operators
10% discount in in-game shop**
5% Renown boost
30% discount and 30% faster progression on Battle Passes
0,3% Alpha Pack Boost

Guides

If you're looking to get more Renown or improve your gameplay, check out our guides here:

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