Rainbow Six Operation Solar Raid details: Operator Solis, Nighthaven Labs map, ranked rework
UbisoftRainbow Six Year 7 Season 4, Operation Solar Raid, is here to wrap up a big 2022 in Siege. New operator Solis and the Nighthaven Labs map are joining the rotation, as well as the long-awaited ranked rework. Here’s what you need to know about Y7S4.
The Rainbow Six Year 7 roadmap has changed a lot since February, but players can expect a huge drop of content in Season 4 as Ubisoft ties off all the loose ends as promised at the start of the year.
With delays to the new competitive map as well as ranked rework in Operation Brutal Swarm, they will finally be pushed through at the end of year. On top of that, there’s the new operator Solis, the Nighthaven Labs map, crossplay and cross-progression across all platforms, and more.
Here’s what you need to know about Rainbow Six’s Operation Solar Raid.
UbisoftWhat’s coming in Rainbow Six Operation Solar Raid?
New Colombian defender Solis
Obviously, a new Rainbow Six Siege expansion means another operator. In Operation Solar Raid, that is a new defender in Solis, a Colombian who excels at tracking down attacker utility.
Using her SPEC-IO Electro-Sensor gadget, she can see attacker utility through walls like drones and various other gizmos. She can also send out a pulse to ping them out to team mates and coordinate anti-breach strategies.
She also boasts a relatively powerful arsenal for a defender: the P90 SMG and the ITA12L shotgun are in her back pocket. When combined with a denial option like Bandit, she can really hamper the attacker side.
Nighthaven Labs map, based in Singapore, released after delay
Despite being pinned for release in Operation Brutal Swarm originally alongside Singaporean operator Grim, the region’s new map will be coming in Rainbow Six Operation Solar Raid instead.
Ubisoft designed it to be technically challenging, and don’t expect players to get a hang of its layout easily. With many staircases internally making for a roamer’s paradise, there’s going to be trouble around every corner for both sides.
UbisoftRanked rework going live
Also planned for Operation Brutal Swarm, the Siege ranked rework missed its first release window. However, it will be going live as part of Operation Solar Raid.
MMR will no longer decide a player’s rank, but it will affect matchmaking. Instead there will be a visible skill rating that won’t reset season-by-season — that means no placements either.
A new rank between Platinum and Diamond is being added, Emerald. There will also now be five divisions per rank, rather than the arbitrary scaling between five to three to one. And regardless of your rank, you’ll be able to queue with your friends of all skill levels.
Finally, rewards are being revamped. You will now earn more on your ranked grind with Alpha Packs being dished out like hot cakes on top of the existing rank-specific cosmetics.
Crossplay and cross-progression goes live across all platforms
Crossplay and cross-progression are now fully implemented in Rainbow Six Siege as of Operation Solar Raid. While PC players have enjoyed most of the benefits of crossplay, their console counterparts have since caught up.
Crossplay on console will be between Xbox and PlayStation at both last-gen and current-gen levels. There won’t be any cross-input crossplay though, so no PC players in console lobbies.
Cross-progression, however, will apply to both PC and console. Players can merge their accounts and the cosmetics and currencies in them to use across all platforms. Things like ranks and MMR will not translate.
UbisoftADS movement changes headlines balancing update
Balance-wise, Ubisoft isn’t adjusting a huge amount in Operation Solar Raid. However the small tweaks being made to Rainbow Six Siege could revolutionize the meta.
The ADS movement change now means all operators move at the same speed while scoped in. This is a significant nerf to three-speed operators, who could breeze through the map with their guns out.
On top of some operator speed changes to Dokkaebi, Osa, and Sens to go alongside the new system, Capitao and Zofia have received quality-of-life updates to their gadgets. You can find out more with the full patch notes here.
Rainbow Six Operation Solar Raid release date
Rainbow Six Operation Solar Raid will go live onto the TTS on November 21, 2022. It will then hit live servers on December 6, 2022 after two weeks of testing.