Rainbow Six Siege 4.3 Patch Notes live, balancing changes and Vulkan

Rainbow Six Siege’s next update packs a ton of changes, from a now-vulnerable Echo, Maestro’s misplaced ACOG, and the welcome boost of Vulkan API support.

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Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege soon receives its third mid-season patch underOperation Shifting Tides, scheduled to introduce a vast lineup of balancing adjustments, bug fixes, and Vulkan API support on PC. The free update deploys title-wide this week, currently on track for January 28 availability on PC, and January 29 on Xbox One and PlayStation.

The broadest change under Patch 4.3 impacts gameplay balancing, with adjustments to all weapon aim-down-sight (ADS) times, alongside various Operator tweaks. For Rainbow Six’s arsenal, that means up increased times from 12.5 to 175 percent, determined by weapon class. The change follows a notable ADS speed buff inOperation Ember Rise, reigning back times closer to initial values.

The update also debuts seven new Operator adjustments, impacting Blackbeard, Echo, Ela, Finka, Jager, Maestro, and Ying. Among the most significant player-facing changes is a nerf to Echo, soon hackable by Dokkaebi, with Yokai drone cameras accessible over phone hacks. Jager’s 416-C will receive a damage reduction from 43 down to 38, while Maestro loses his ACOG sight on the ALDA LMG. Finka and Ela also receive buffs, improving Spear .308 damage, and reducing Scorpion recoil.

The implementation of Vulkanalso treats PC players to a new graphics API, providing a DirectX 11 alternative that optimizes rendering, striving to reduce the usage of system resources. That could result in title-wide performance boosts for some setups, increasing the fluidity of tactical gameplay.

The full list of Rainbow Six Siege Patch 4.3 changes and bug fixes is located below, asprovided by Ubisoft.

VULKAN API

The Vulkan API available to test on PC, for further details on what it is and how to activate it, check out ourVulkan blog.

BALANCING

ADS

*(Modified based on feedback from Test Server)

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BLACKBEARD

ECHO

ELA

FINKA

JAGER

MAESTRO

YING

FMG9

BUG FIXES

GAMEPLAY

OPERATORS

LEVEL DESIGN

USER EXPERIENCE

Matt Brown was formerly a Windows Central’s Senior Editor, Xbox & PC, at Future. Following over seven years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Microsoft’s gaming efforts. You can follow him on Twitter@mattjbrown.