Rainbow Six Y5S3.3 patch notes: Ace & Melusi nerfs, Glaz buffs, more

Rainbow Six: Siege’s Y5S3.3 patch is here, and it’s got some big changes. Meta picks Ace and Melusi are being nerfed, Glaz is coming back into the fray, and major changes to shield operators could completely change how the game is played.

Ubisoft is cracking down in Rainbow Six’s Y5S3.3 patch. We haven’t yet seen the power of Zero in pro play, but we’ve seen Ace and Melusi ⁠— and they need a tone-down.

Thankfully, the two Operation Steel Wave operators are getting a nerf in the Y5S3.3 patch. Frost, Oryx, and Glaz are getting buffed, and shield operators like Montagne are getting huge changes all players need to know about.

Ace & Melusi nerfed, Glaz buffed

Ace and Melusi, two of Siege’s newest operators, have already proven their potency despite only being out for a matter of months. Ace has been a must-have in most cases on attack, while Melusi on defense is pesky to deal with.

Ubisoft are stripping some of their power back to make them more manageable. Ace is losing a SELMA charge, making it easier to counter his hard breach. Melsui is also getting the MP5 as her new primary weapon, which is a downgrade from the powerful T-5.

Oryx will be the happy recipient of Melusi’s T-5 in a buff for the Void Edge roamer. Glaz and Frost are also getting some love. The Canadian defender will now have access to the ITA12S shotgun as a secondary, which will help her open rotates.

• Read more: Rainbow Six is finally going free-to-play on the Xbox Game Pass

Glaz will also have his vision recovery and movement penalization while scoping decreased. While it’s not a return to the Glaz of old, it should feel nicer to use.

Major shield changes for Montagne, Clash, Blitz, Fuze

The more ‘visible’ operator changes of the patch aren’t the biggest though. Arguably the biggest update of Rainbow Six’s Y5S3.3 patch is the changes to shield operators ⁠— Montagne, Clash, Blitz, and Fuze.

It’ll now be easier to break the guard of shield operators, but allies standing behind them will now be protected from explosions in front of the shield.

Instead of shield breaking at one value, there’s now a sliding scale of 50 to 100 damage. This will trigger different animations.

The shield protection effect for allies ⁠— and enemies ⁠— will work even if the shield operator isn’t actually equipping it. Damage is calculated based on exposure to the blast, and is more refined than it was before.

• Read more: MacieJay offers solution to balance Siege’s deployable shields

This opens up a whole new style of play, both for and against shield operators. You might find it easier to try and tap away at shield operators, but their allies are more protected to swing out from behind them.

You can find the full Rainbow Six Y5S3.3 patch notes below.

Rainbow Six: Siege Y5S3.3 patch notes

Operators

Ace

• Reduced the number of explosive ticks of the SELMA Aqua Breacher to 2 ticks (down from 3).

Frost

• Added the ITA12S as a secondary weapon.

Glaz

• Reduced vision recovery time to 0.4s (down from 1s).
• Reduced movement penalization by 50% to 12s (up from 6s).

Melusi

• MP5 primary will replace the T-5. Optics available on the MP5 will be the red dot, holographic, and reflex.

Oryx

• T-5 primary will replace the MP5. Optics available on the T-5 will be the red dot, holographic, reflex, and scope 1.5x.

Ballistic Shields

• The guard break effect occurs when operators with a ballistic shield are hit by an explosion or take certain types of damage (from a scale of a minimum of 50 to trigger the guard break to 100 damage).
• The severity of the guard break is proportional to the damage done to the shield. Electric damage and the minimum 50 damage threshold will trigger the minimum strength guard break animation.
• Melee damage, concussion FX, sonic bursts, and explosions of 100 damage or higher will trigger the the maximum strength guard break animation.
• Operators positioned behind a Clash, Monty, Blitz, or Fuze are now also partially protected from explosion damage (this still applies even if they are from the opposing team). This protection also applies if the shield is on the operator’s back. Damage taken from the explosion is proportionally calculated based on the operator’s exposure to the blast.
• Instead of folding Montagne’s Extendable shield, he now as a guard break animation.
• Shield explosion protection is reduced to 66% (down from 80%).

Weapons

TCSG12 + ACS12

• Damage drop-off is now more progressive to reach minimal damage at 50m (instead of 20m).
• Damage at max range increased to 68% (up from 48%).
• Suppressor damage penalization normalized to -12.5% regardless of range.

Gameplay Updates

• Changes to the defuser interaction that allow players to pick up the defuser, even in situations where it might have originally been inaccessible, due to falling into difficult-to-reach spaces.
• Improvements to the chat filter feedback system.
• The ban ticker has been deactivated for custom games. It will remain visible in all other game modes.

Bug fixes

• FIXED – Sometimes defenders spawn on top of each other when in 2nd Floor Master Bedroom on Chalet.
• FIXED – Players can’t vault over the half-wall/railing in 2F Library Stairs on Chalet.
• FIXED – Dropped defuser can be difficult to recover from behind the table of 2F Cigar Balcony on Kafe.
• FIXED – (PvE) Barbed wire spawns issues in Situation 10.
• FIXED – Poor lighting inside the cabinet between sofas in 1F Bar of Chalet.
• FIXED – Players can use a deployable shield to get to the counter next to the piano on Chalet.
• FIXED – Zero’s Piercing Camera can pierce and see through the ceiling in 1F First Aid on Plane.
• FIXED – Missing SFX when picking up generic items.
• FIXED – (PvE) Missing pre-barricaded doors/windows in Heavily Fortified Situation.
• FIXED – Cancelling a Ranked queue can sometimes trigger an abandon penalty even when the player did not join a match.
• FIXED – Secondary hard breach gadget’s blue light can sometimes be seen through a barricade when deployed on it.
• FIXED – Residual black smoke is visible after some soft walls in the Basement of Chalet are destroyed.
• FIXED – Minor map asset issues.