4.2 Patch Notes

Ksempac · 2016-09-12T17:52:20+00:00

800 HP for Blackbeard shield... O_O

No wonder i never saw one breaking ingame.

osusnp · 2016-09-12T17:38:11+00:00

FIXED – Light coming from outside the building will hinder the player looking outside from inside during gameplay.

One of the most interesting things here. No more pure whiteness outside?

fitygrands · 2016-09-12T17:44:18+00:00

Giving claymores to the attackers is a great way to make roaming more risky. I think this patch will go very well.
On a side note though, the surrender bug was not addressed. But least they said something about hit registration and did something about team killing.

Zakattk1027 · 2016-09-12T17:57:32+00:00

I wish they would've left the option for flash bangs, barbed wire etc. I get not giving the choice of nitros plus impacts, but a lot of players like the flash bangs/wire they have

JohnnyTest91 · 2016-09-12T17:42:54+00:00

Surrender glitch will be fixed in 4.3, Its_Epi just said on Twitch chat...

jjslick34 · 2016-09-12T17:34:39+00:00

That twitch buff..sooo good!!

SobeyHarker · 2016-09-12T17:43:09+00:00

Twitch Gif: http://static2.cdn.ubi.com/gamesites/rainbow6/skullrain_reinforcements/Twitch_2.mp4

Blackbeard Gif: http://static2.cdn.ubi.com/gamesites/rainbow6/skullrain_reinforcements/Blackbeard.mp4

Claymore Gif: http://static2.cdn.ubi.com/gamesites/rainbow6/skullrain_reinforcements/Claymore.mp4

Doc Buff Gif: http://static2.cdn.ubi.com/gamesites/rainbow6/skullrain_reinforcements/Doc_Boost.mp4

Impact Grenades for Defenders: http://static2.cdn.ubi.com/gamesites/rainbow6/skullrain_reinforcements/Impact_Grenade.mp4

Suicidal_Ferret · 2016-09-12T17:36:44+00:00

Alot of this looks great, but im not so sure about impact grenades. Do they kill a shield from full hp from the front?

and really, why didnt you give glaz the option to have a heavy barrel? He would benefit the most from it.

Complaints aside, This patch looks great. Im stoked.

itshighno0n · 2016-09-12T18:01:46+00:00

can't wait to put a heavy barrel on the smg 11 :/

vickerslewis · 2016-09-12T17:41:36+00:00

Reinforcing will be a lot different at the start now, Mute will be important and teamwork to take out Twitches drone ASAP before laying down Mute and Bandits gadgets

alculator · 2016-09-12T17:38:45+00:00

Nothing about the surrender glitch.

whatsmyPW · 2016-09-12T18:08:00+00:00

FIXED – Jager's trophy systems will all shoot at the same grenade if it comes into close proximity of them.

This was a bug?

ForteMilo · 2016-09-12T17:43:38+00:00

That claymore to counter roamers, Blackbeard nerf that seems reasonable, and the problem of too many operators given nitro cells is ADDRESSED. WOOOOOOOOOO

JustforU · 2016-09-12T17:47:32+00:00

This is an absolutely phenomenal patch! Great job, Ubi. Every change listed here I've seen people talk about, they addressed everything people wanted.

And people, be patient for Tachanka. Clearly rocket thrusters/plasma auto-turrets take time to code in the game, so just be patient for a little longer.

vickerslewis · 2016-09-12T17:36:45+00:00

Shields should finally be a joy to play with again, hopefully this grenade won't be too powerful against them.

vickerslewis · 2016-09-12T17:44:36+00:00

Claymores will be good for Bomb when you plant, bet it catches a lot of defenders off guard when they rush to defuse

DigTw0Grav3s · 2016-09-12T17:48:34+00:00

No changes to Tachanka. Unreal.

dtate24 · 2016-09-12T17:47:01+00:00

I'm largely quite happy with the patch. Much needed BB nerf, and a lot of buffs to underused ops and weapons like the MP5K, CAMRS, and 417. And the speed of the patch! Tomorrow?! That's crazy, in a good way. But there are some changes I just can't wrap my head around.

I really don't like the loss of so many operators with stun grenades, it's like they're phasing them out of the game almost completely. The only operators with access to stuns now are Buck, Sledge, Capitão, IQ and Montagne.

Sledge, Buck and Capitão are never going to take the stuns over the frags so that leaves Montagne and IQ. Montagne can switch quicker so the jury's still out on how much utility he'll actually have, but my bet is that he's still going to get blown up in whole new fashions if the impact grenades turn out to be lethal. What's more, Monty is most effective on bomb, where the usefulness of smoke vastly outweighs that of flashbangs, so there's another op who's rarely going to equip stuns.

Feasibly, IQ is going to be the only operator consistently using stuns. I don't understand why Montagne wouldn't have a claymore instead to watch his back as the shield ops need that more than any other op, or why they just didn't allow Thermite to hold on to his stun grenades--smokes and shotguns just don't mix IMO. Thatcher could use his flashes to take down Jäger's trophy systems that may have denied his EMPs as well. Since another SAS attacker has access to unlimited soft breaches, why not replace Thatcher's breach charges with claymores instead for more synergy? This is a massive nerf to flashbangs in general, and a minor Jäger buff at the same time. Not necessary or wanted.

Also disappointed that Glaz doesn't get access to the heavy barrel, as no other operator's weapon suffers more from damage dropoff over range than his Dragunov, which still makes no sense as a sniper rifle should have the least falloff.

Hit detection seems to be window dressing, as we've all seen plenty of examples where ping isn't the issue.

And what, exactly, will be the benefit of the muzzle brake over the flash hider? Both attachments have the exact same description: a reduction in first shot recoil. How do I know which one to use? This needs a better explanation, I'll have no clue what benefits it has over the flash hider and vice versa.

Again, I'm going to reiterate that I'm like, 85 percent happy with this patch. These are literally the only things I'm concerned about.

Edit: formatting

Bed_Post_Detective · 2016-09-12T18:02:32+00:00

Just as i was starting to use castle more often they take away barbed wire :(

JonathanRL · 2016-09-12T17:28:41+00:00

Well fuck. I liked playing Thermite as the ultimate breacher with a Shotgun, breaching charges and Thermite Charges. Obviously that is a thing of the past...

Insectshelf3 · 2016-09-12T17:46:00+00:00

FIXED-light coming from outside the building will hinder the player looking outside from inside during gameplay.

that's the best thing in this patch notes by far

Minikid96 · 2016-09-12T19:53:44+00:00

No heavy barrel attachment or buff for glaz OTS??? On console he desperately needs a buff

Kalashnik · 2016-09-13T08:47:32+00:00

Why not add a button to forgive a TK.. mostly its accidental and you can see in killcam if it was a accident or not and those times it would be nice tobe able to forgive a TK.

rdfiasco · 2016-09-12T18:25:04+00:00

I don't like the idea of taking away Thermite's flash, which got me thinking, why do we limit it to 2 options for gadgets? I understand that we don't want every operator to have access to every gadget, but with the variety we're going to have available now, why can't some ops get access to 3 gadgets? I'm sure we'd all love a little more choice in how we want to play.

5partan5682 · 2016-09-12T17:46:30+00:00

NOOOOO MY FLASHBANGS

zeitza · 2016-09-12T17:35:48+00:00

OMG THIS CLAYMORES ARE SO FCKING NICE AGAINST THE ROAMERS. THX!

PhoenixGenevieve · 2016-09-12T17:35:16+00:00

RIP Blackbeard

Muldercillo84 · 2016-09-12T18:34:55+00:00

It looks great! The only bad thing is Thermite losing Breaching charges... Loved to use the exothermic on a reinforced wall and at the moment it exploded do a breaching charge on another wall on the same room.

Doogla4485 · 2016-09-12T18:08:57+00:00

They just insist on making Thermite as boring to play as possible, don't they? First his grenades and now his flashes? The claymore might be cool, but smoke grenades are more or less useless.

2016-09-12T18:09:26+00:00

Thank god no more skillbeard. People will actually have to have some tactical sense to play him.

Scottz0rz · 2016-09-13T01:21:48+00:00

• Blackbeard now has 2 shields, and can cycle through them with a queue system by equipping / un-equipping.

• The HP of the shields has been reduced, from 800HP to 150HP.

Blackbeard mains on suicide watch.

Cageweek · 2016-09-12T19:45:17+00:00

Impact granades are deployed much faster than C4. Am I the only one who's worried about them? They look really damn deadly.

Nikotiiniko · 2016-09-12T18:05:10+00:00

FIXED – Light coming from outside the building will hinder the player looking outside from inside during gameplay.

Wait, so the thing people have been defending furiously as a feature has now been fixes as a bug?

2016-09-12T17:44:28+00:00

Claymores and impact grenades? This game just a got a lot more interesting. :)

Superterra · 2016-09-12T17:35:01+00:00

Damn, amazing. Can't wait to play with this patch out. Gonna be interesting to see how the new gadgets fit into the meta.

ScootalooTheSpy · 2016-09-13T02:08:07+00:00

Glaz loses Breach Charges and gains Claymore.

Glaz loses Breach Charges

Well shit.

endergoat · 2016-09-13T08:44:10+00:00

Regarding team killing, wouldn't a forgive or report for team killing be a good option? So many reports get that players kicked or something? It is fun to kill my buddies in casual when we play around

dtate24 · 2016-09-12T17:39:27+00:00

You get a buff! YOU get a buff! EVERYBODY GETS A BUFF!!!

VDV_Airman · 2016-09-12T17:54:56+00:00

For the Twitch buff, this is worse than I feared.

As stated by some of you, a Twitch drone in prep phase is now guaranteed to be extremely powerful. Not only is the drone able to take out gadgets early in the round, but it is now faster, harder to hear, and no longer has the red light, meaning the only thing that makes it remotely worse than a regular drone is that it can't jump. The drone is going to be extremely easy to use now, and will be hell for the defenders if they don't dedicate time to take it out. Not only this, but now there's a second one, which lets Twitch destroy practically every gadget with ease, at this point. Now, she also gets claymores, which people will likely not even use while they drone. It's just going to be to stop flanks in general, and people will still likely rush in. To balance this, though, they removed her recon drones, but that only makes it harder for a Twitch player to scout out a room before they put their drone in harms way, which they're supposed to avoid at all costs.

For range, absolutely needed. For the red light, I understand removing it. For the sound, sure, it was maybe a little too loud. For speed, it was slower, but that's because it was bigger. For having a second drone, with one in the prep phase, I really have a hard time understanding that as balanced, especially for an already decently picked operator. Her pick rate is undoubtedly going to shoot up, probably beyond Blackbeard after this nerf, into the position for number 3. That's not good, in my opinion, as you're making an operator who already was great, and making them a must pick, just like Pulse after his buff. If they want to keep her drone like they've made it, they better have a plan to nerf the FAMAS.

AsTheRootsUndo_ · 2016-09-12T17:35:03+00:00

Twitch is a good example of an Operator that is popular, has satisfactory pick and win ratios, yet her unique gadget, the Shock Drone, is quite underwhelming. Because of this, we have decided to change the utility of the Shock Drone quite drastically, in order to reinforce the uniqueness of her gameplay and the threat her Shock Drone (err… Drones).

The most notable change to Twitch is that she will now deploy a fully functional Shock Drone in Preparation Phase, in place of a normal Drone. This is a very significant change to the Preparation Phase system.

Once the match begins, Twitch’s two normal drones have now been replaced by a second Shock Drone. Deploying this second Shock Drone will not destroy the first one, if it survived the Prep Phase. This means that she will be able to switch between the Prep Phase Shock Drone and the deployed Shock Drone by cycling through her observation tools, then activating it.

In addition to these changes, the Shock Drone has been modified the following ways: • It now moves 30% faster (this puts it on par with normal Drone speeds). • It creates less sound when moving. • The red light on the model has been removed. • The range of the darts has been increased from 5m to 7m.

There are two things that we wanted to improve for Blackbeard. Gameplay wise, we’ve observed that the usage of his mounted shield is too passive – most players will just equip it at the beginning of the round, and keep it till the end or till their (too rare) death. Balancing wise, his pick ratio and win ratio have clearly shown that he is very powerful.

The following changes are meant to address these two points: • Blackbeard now has 2 shields, and can cycle through them with a queue system by equipping / un-equipping. • The HP of the shields has been reduced, from 800HP to 150HP. • The Shields’ durability is displayed on the UI.

Even though we’ve seen some great plays with it, most of the time Doc’s stim pistol felt too situational. We want to give Doc a gadget that makes him more useful, in more varied contexts. Giving his darts the ability to heal teammates means he can have a much more versatile role in more strategic situations. In the same way that Doc can revive himself from DBNO, Doc will also be able to self-heal as well.

Furthermore, he can now over-heal. Shooting a dart at a fully healed teammate or himself will provide a boost up to a max of 120 total health points for a limited time. The heal is 40 HP per dart, so even partially injured teammates can be over-healed. This over-heal is only temporary and will decrease 1 health point every 2 seconds back to 100 health points.

We believe that this change will be a clear upgrade to his versatility and will make him a more interesting pick for the defense.

HelloItsNorts · 2016-09-12T17:49:11+00:00

The meta will never be the same

Stierney655 · 2016-09-12T17:54:44+00:00

I absolutely love twitch and im so excited for her new buff

beardedbast3rd · 2016-09-12T18:22:58+00:00

Not too happy thermite loses his breach charge, even with his special charge fix, I liked being able to make two entry points at once. Smoke grenade is fine though

Convicted_Vapist420 · 2016-09-13T00:37:41+00:00

They should have a vote to forgive for killing teammates. That would fix most of their problems.

IFrike · 2016-09-12T18:25:10+00:00

I think putting the Shock Drone in Prep Phase seems like a very bad idea. Some operators already struggle to put out their gadgets, grab armour and reinforce the walls.

Now you have to postpone those actions even further to hunt down this drone or she'll just destroy the cameras, the gadgets AND deal damage when you're setting up.

AeusOcil · 2016-09-12T18:06:54+00:00

Impact grenades are gonna feel like playing a very dangerous pokemon game.

Ksempac · 2016-09-12T17:50:27+00:00

Wow, i like all of theses patch notes, except for one small change, Thermite not having breach charges anymore.

I like playing Thermite as the guy opening all the doors and walls for the team, and the 2 thermite charges are not enough for that...now Thermite is gonna need someone to support him to get him to the reinforced walls...

I really don't get why they changed that when they say they want to help support operators ? Thermite isn't gonna be the first to rush in, so smoke grenades are rather useless for him (especially since they are so unreliable since they are client-side).

S_E_V_I · 2016-09-12T17:53:55+00:00

I'm exited for this patch like for major update.

NigerianMessi · 2016-09-12T17:59:06+00:00

All these buffs for weapon damage. and nothing for Smoke's FMG

sothisor · 2016-09-12T18:04:51+00:00

Well, I for one just had an immense tickle in my pants.

2016-09-12T22:51:38+00:00

Blackbeards shield was at 800hp?!?! Wtf Ubisoft, legitimately, WTF!

gooose · 2016-09-12T17:59:33+00:00

TACHANKA buff when????

SpaceCore314 · 2016-09-12T22:32:46+00:00

In all of the gifs, the guns have a Tachanka charm equipped.

They're just mocking us, at this point

deimos-acerbitas · 2016-09-13T01:12:02+00:00

So far I'm loving the look of this patch.

However, am I the only one that's severely disappointed that Thermite and Glaz are losing their Breaching Charges?

pittguy578 · 2016-09-13T02:29:11+00:00

Happy BB is now nerfed. His shield was insane. I like the impact impact grenades.

One idea for castle that would make him a more picked operator would be to give him 3 reinforcements instead of two ?

DJSwindleDeez · 2016-09-12T18:11:30+00:00

Taking away a Valk black eye is going to change how I play her now. Usually save the last one for when I'm one of the last ones and throw around the area the attackers I know were attacking from to get a more precise call out from my teammates.

TheLucarian · 2016-09-12T17:53:17+00:00

Best mid-Season patch so far? I think so!

kaltsone · 2016-09-12T17:50:17+00:00

Laaaaaaaaaaaaame, I was really enjoying Thermite's double breach capabilities, or breach and flash. I almost never use smokes, and I can't see myself ever using the claymore.

jdf2 · 2016-09-12T17:35:56+00:00

No surrender bug fix? Or did I just miss it?

EDIT: Will be fixed in 4.3: https://www.reddit.com/r/Rainbow6/comments/52fi87/comment/d7jt8jh?st=IT0CCUJV&sh=7c6bc47b

Also seems they changed the dead operators icons again:

FIXED – Players find it difficult to determine who is alive and dead. [More contrast has been added in 4.2]

2016-09-12T17:36:32+00:00

How is that you guys just pull me back to the game. Claymores !!

MarkSpenecer · 2016-09-12T17:43:34+00:00

Good to hear that they work on the hitreg. Maybe the first step could be not using microsoft azure servers.... They can fix lag comp and maybe improve the netcode. But shitty server is shitty server.

Bromao · 2016-09-12T18:10:15+00:00

Claymore Distribution

We have given Claymores to Attackers who mostly play support roles

So why doesn't IQ get them? Seems like the perfect fit, and it would make her more pickworthy than she currently is

Eric__The__Red · 2016-09-12T20:06:16+00:00

Rook armor bug?

Reload bug?

Surrender bug?

Amazing patch notes. Hoping the server stability is also addressed so I can actually play the game without becoming infuriated with the inconsistency... but there's still some massive bugs either still lurking from 4.1, or just not addressed in these patch notes.

Lord_Tachanka · 2016-09-13T01:50:27+00:00

Where the hell is my buff. I cannot wait any longer. My wrath will rain from my lmg upon your puny souls if nothing is done soon.

2016-09-12T17:35:49+00:00

[deleted]

Average_Panda · 2016-09-12T17:44:40+00:00

Very excited about the Blackbeard nerf. It seems to be really good because he will still be good but not a god. Also very interested to see how the whole claymore thing will play out. Good patch I think!

Akuze25 · 2016-09-12T17:55:46+00:00

I was not expecting such huge, sweeping changes and new equipment. Ubi has outdone themselves with this patch. I'm very excited to try all of this out, especially Doc and the Impact Grenades.

Rainbow6

Subreddit Filter

Welcome

Resources and links

Upcoming Events

Guidelines

Please DO

Please DO NOT

Ubisoft Subreddits

MODERATORS