The Ubisoft game Rainbow Six Siege, which was released on November 26, 2015, was not a well-known game for its esports in the year it was released. In the post-release years, its popularity has grown as Ubisoft brought updates contributing to the game's esports. Unlike other FPS games, the fact that it has many operators has caused a lot of controversy in the esports arena and those operators influence the esports of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege.
Today, we will talk with you about the impact of operators on Rainbow Six Siege esports and move forward with examples. There are dozens of operators in the game, of course, each operator has an impact on esports matches, but we will proceed through a few specific examples.
Ash
Ash, one of the game's Entry Fragger operators, had a powerful weapon and a small hitbox. That’s why she was known as a character that cannot be hit, touched and fast. All players who like to play fast preferred Ash. Ubisoft also wanted to nerf Ash, who was picked almost every match. A player with a good aim could handle many things with Ash without the need for teamwork. She was dominating the game.
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One of the biggest reasons why she was preferred was the Flash gadget. Ash's Flash gadget was taken with the incoming nerf. Instead, Ubisoft gave Bridge Charge and Claymore to her. This change slowed down players playing the role of Entry Fragger. At the same time, her primary weapon, the Assault Rifle R4-C, has also been largely nerfed. For these reasons, the operator's selection rate in tournaments has dropped drastically.
These changes inevitably reflected on regular players as well. Ash's popularity waned and players began to prefer Zofia over Ash. However, that would not last long, with Zofia's success in esports and Ubisoft taking action.
Zofia
Unlike most operators, Zofia was an operator who could lift herself off the ground when injured. There was a similar situation in the European League 2020 Relegation match between Rogue and MnM Gaming on January 16, 2021, on the Consulate map. Rogue team was about to get the match point with a score of 6-1 and only Yuzus from MnM Gaming team was alive against AceeZ and korey. Injured by the Rogue team, Yuzus uses the advantage of the Zofia operator to heal himself upstairs and wins the round by killing AceeZ, who first came upstairs, and then Korey, who was trying to defuse the bomb downstairs. Many said that this is very powerful, and that her weapon is powerful, which makes Zofia one of the strongest characters.
Afterwards, Zofia's weapon recoil increased. When Zofia used her ability to get up, she used to get up with 20 health points. In the match we mentioned above, she was already nerfed and was getting up with 5 health points. So Yuzus made the clutch he made here with 5 health points. With the help of this controversial move, Ubisoft completely removed Zofia's ability to heal herself. Of course, this change also affected normal players. You can take a look at Yuzus's move to extend the match on behalf of his team below. Although MnM Gaming won this round, they lost the match against Rogue.
Ela
Another of the operators that has made the most impact in Rainbow Six Siege esports is Ela. Ela's Grzmot Mines is sticking to the wall. When someone passes near it, it is difficult to turn the mouse, and it slows down slightly and reduces vision. Ela was only affected for 3 seconds, while her opponent was affected for 7 seconds. Along with the concerns pouring in from players, Ela started to be affected for 7 seconds. Also, mines no longer have any effect on mouse usage. Normal players were also affected by this change.
Thatcher
Thatcher, an attacking operator, is also one of the operators that has a great impact on the game. When the operator uses the EMP grenade, it directly affects more than 20 defense operators. Most of the defense operators affected by Thatcher's EMP grenade are unable to use their gadgets for 10 seconds. For this reason, he is frequently banned in high elo matches and events. Banning the operator is also logical because it almost dominates the game. Normally, you can easily enter the area with a gadget, but this operator alone prevents it. With the ban of this operator, only 4 operators can come together and do what this operator can do. Ubisoft tried to change this operator twice, but could not go too far. They brought operators named Maverick, Kali, Zero, Flores as alternative operators to this operator. Still, these operators are not as helpful to the team as Thatcher.
Jäger
The last operator we will talk about is Jäger, formerly known as one of the strongest defense operators. He was successful in keeping the attackers in. He was an operator known as a roamer with 3 speed 1 armor. Jäger was sprinting around the Map, blocking the entry of enemies. Stéphane "Shaiiko" Lebleu is also one of the players who played Jäger very well. With the performance of Shaiiko and other players, the operator started to get nerfed over time. He used to dominate the map too much and block many things such as bombs, flashes, Zofia's KS79 Lifeline Unique Ability.
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These abilities made him a very preferable operator. Ubisoft Entertainment also brought Wamai and Aruni as alternatives, but Jäger was still preferred. Ubisoft buffed Wamai and nerfed Jäger. They changed Jäger's 3 speed 1 armor to 2 speed 2 armor. His primary weapon, the 416-C Carbine, was also nerfed. The recoil rate has also been greatly increased. As a result, players started not to prefer Jäger much.
Taking precautions against all these operators that affect the game, Ubisoft sometimes satisfied normal players with these changes and sometimes caused them to quit the game. The only known fact is that Rainbow Six Siege, which was not mentioned much in the esports arena at the time of its release, has made strides in esports with the changes brought by Ubisoft over time.
Are you a fan of Rainbow Six Siege too? You can watch the matches of the teams on the matches page of Luckbox and place bets. Don't forget to also check out our tournaments page.
