Ubisoft has officially revealed the first look at Rainbow Six Siege:Operation Twin Shells. This is the third season of the game’s ninth year and somehow the team still finds ways to surprise me as a fan who has been playing since the game’s release.
I saw Rainbow Six Siege:Operation Twin Shells is now live and from what I’ve been shown it looks like it’s going to have a substantial impact on the game when it arrives September 10, 2024. The modern Operator Skopós, hailing from Greece, is a wheelchair user, and her mentor and friend, who you may recognize as a recent villain in the game’s story, has transformed her wheelchair into a base of operations from which she controls not one, but two robotic shells that are her presence in the game as an Operator, and the way they operate will truly change the way you play as an Attacker and Defender.
You in shells
Skopós’s shells are called Talos and Colossus, but their names don’t matter as much as how they’re used. Skopós’ gadgets are divided between the shells, and you choose which one to load at the start of the match. When you control a shell, that machine becomes the energetic shell. It’s an Operator like any other in every way, although it only packs one of your chosen gadgets, but it has an advantage that no one else has.
The second projectile, the one you don’t control, becomes your idle projectile. The projectile crouches and deploys a shield in front of itself, but it doesn’t deactivate. Instead, you can switch between all available cameras and this idle projectile to get more information. The idle projectile will warn you when it’s being attacked, and you can switch control to it if an Operator ability is about to fry it or destroy it for the duration of the match.
I think most players will utilize their idle shell as a shield to hide behind when attacking or defending. This shield takes a while to move and your secondary shell is vulnerable, but if you can fine-tune your movement and switching between them, these shells can be incredibly deadly Operators.
The missiles have been modified to be EMP-proof, but far from indestructible. To protect them, Skopós enters Rainbow Six Siege with the all-new PCX-33 assault rifle and the P229 as a secondary weapon. He’s a dual-speed, dual-health Operator, landing squarely in the middle and being a powerful addition to both the attacking and defending sides.
Siege Cup Beta and Rollout
Rainbow Six Siege:Operation Twin Shells Brings Siege Cup Beta to PC, The Ultimate Competition Siege gameplay, and if all goes well, the feature will be rolled out to all platforms with Y9S4. In each Siege Cup, teams of five players must sign up and clear their schedule to ensure they can play each match from start to finish, until they are eliminated or won.
As you might expect, the Siege Cup rewards will be some of the most exclusive in the game. Additionally, matches played in both the Siege Cup and Ranked will now earn players Competitive Coins. These can be spent on uncommon cosmetics, giving you another reason to jump into the game’s most challenging modes.
To keep you in shape between matches, the shooting range will automatically load so you can shoot and move around without stopping while everything is being prepared behind the scenes. This is all great for seasoned players who want a top-notch experience, but Ubisoft is also working difficult on the implementation process and keeping the game as toxicity-free as possible.
For example, Operation Twin Shells introduced the Versus AI 2.0 mode, which finally lets players practice being a defender while a team of AI-controlled attackers attack them, getting them used to the established bomb-throwing gameplay.
Rewards and experience after the game are also getting a makeover. Instead of multiple screens showing all your progress and experience earned, everything is being simplified to a single end screen. Battle Pass progress, profile level, and anything else you can earn experience for at any given time will be tracked on a single screen. So whether it’s a timed event or you’re grinding to get levels to get into ranked mode, you’ll see everything and should be able to understand it without missing anything.
Between Y9S2 and Operation Twin Shells, Ubisoft reorganized its anti-cheat team to be broader and become one of the largest in the gaming industry. I was told that at any given time, there are six anti-cheat systems in play Rainbow Six Siege match, and there are usually more substitutions. This is something Ubisoft takes very seriously and is always looking to improve, so you should see less cheating in the game over time.
The first Siege Cup will be something of a guinea pig in terms of what to expect. Its anti-cheat system is similar to moving a book between shelves, bookcases, and floors in a library. Ubisoft believes it will facilitate prevent cheaters from invading the game or ruining its core experience.
Toxicity is of course bad for any game, and Ubisoft wanted to make it clear that its anti-cheat systems are also targeting toxic players. 75% of bans now happen 12 hours in advance, and all toxicity is taken into account when assessing whether a player should be banned. This includes team kills, profanity, and general bad behavior. But the good news is that you won’t be punished if you’re on the same team as a player deemed toxic by Ubisoft’s processes.
Balance is the key
Last but not least, I think it’s vital to discuss the balance updates coming with Operation Twin Shells. Solis, Dokkabei, and Nokk are all getting some changes, and I’m really excited about Nokk. First, Solis’ ability will now only utilize the center of the screen when energetic, and can be overclocked to reveal all the gadgets in the area with reworked visuals so you know what you’re looking at. You’ll need to wait for the overclock to charge before you can utilize it again.
Dokkabei now starts the match with 0 Chargers and gains one every 45 seconds, up to 2 per round. Ubisoft noticed that she was a bit too powerful and needed to be nerfed a bit, which is what they hope to achieve with this fix. I usually ignore her abilities and they never bother me, but I understand why this happens.
Nokk’s ability is getting the most significant change, going from a time limit to a movement limit. So you can activate the HEL device to make her incredibly difficult to see, hide her from cameras, muffle her footsteps, and just sit there. The ability will go on cooldown after traveling a certain distance, firing a certain number of shots, or performing a combo of actions.
These changes in balance and Skopós make Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Twin Shells is a season you can’t miss. I’m curious to see how players will utilize the modern Operator shells, what these balance changes will do to the meta, and which Operators are the most played in the game.
