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Rainbow Six Siege Operation Shifting Tides: 5 tips for playing the TTS
Rainbow Six Siege can be a complicated game to get into, but here's what you should be bearing in mind.
Rainbow Six Siege's Operation Sifting Tides is hitting test servers today, and if you're a PC player, there's nothing stopping you getting your hands on new Operators Kali and Wamai, and the reworked Theme Park map, ahead of their launch on the live game in the next three weeks.
We'll have tips and tricks for both Kali and Wamai ahead of the Operation's launch, but if you're an existing player looking to get to grips with what might be thrown at you, here are a few tips for how Kali and Wamai are going to mix things up.
You have to stop peeking windows now
For a long time, Rainbow Six Siege's meta has involved a certain amount of window peeking at the start of rounds, trying to take out the attacking team as they advance on the building.
Kali is phenomenal at long range. Her CSRX 300 rifle is capable of downing enemies with a single round to the torso, while hitting your enemy in the head will be an instant kill. Add the fact her bolt-action rifle has an adjustable zoom between 5x and 12x, Kali is in her element taking out window peekers.
Doc players might still have some luck with their ACOG-equipped MP5 SMG and the ability to self-revive, but any competent Kali player will just shoot you again as soon as you reappear, so it seems like it's not worth the risk.
Kali is weakest up close
Kali is a long-range monster, but less effective in close-quarters
© Ubisoft
We're saving the specific tips for the new Operators for their own special pieces, but if you're playing on test server in the meantime, you're going to need to know how to stop the new Ops.
Kali, as described above, is absolutely vicious at longer ranges. She excels at holding long angles and punishing peeks and denying rotations. The only way to beat Kali is not to play her games, and instead flank around her, getting close.
The easiest gunfight to win is the one with no opposition, so your best bet would be to try and flank around and get an angle on her from behind. If that's not panning out, up close Kali is relying on her secondaries. She's no slouch, with the P226 pistol and C75 Auto both being very capable up close, but they're still not as terrifying as the CSRX 300. Take advantage.
The bomb-site just got a brand new guardian
Wamai is a natural born anchor with heavy firepower
© Ubisoft
Wamai's strengths are all concentrated on the bomb site. While most dedicated anchors are 1 speed / 3 armour operators, Wamai is a 2 speed / 2 armour operator, but otherwise his weapons and gadgets both scream anchor.
Wamai's gadget is the MagNET, a confusingly named magnetic disc that can stick to any surface and will drag in any projectiles that come close. Whatever the projectile, the MagNET will reset the timer, drag it in and then let it go off, before the MagNET itself self-destructs.
This means the Wamai can turn flashbangs, grenades and even Capitao bolts back against you, so you'll need to be more aware of your team when you're tossing utility items into the objective, which is a bad time — especially if you're a Ying or Capitao and you accidentally blind or burn your entire team, which will likely make you unpopular.
Kali can frag gadgets through reenforced walls
Kali's explosive lance gadget is an explosive sniper-rifle round that can burrow into a wall and explode, damaging things on both sides. At its simplest, you can use this to blow up Bandit's batteries on electrified walls, but you can also use it to take out deployable shields, clean barbed wire or even hit one of Maestro's evil eye cameras.
On the flip side, if you're not Kali then you need to be aware she's great at leathering gadgets.
Her rounds do minimal damage to soft walls and can't punch through reenforced walls, and they also won't do a thing to Mira's Black Mirror gadgets, as they can't trigger the canister at the bottom of the window.
If you're a Bandit trying to trick with your batteries, you'll now need to listen out, not just for Thermite or Hibana, but also for the noise of a Lancer round burrowing its way into the reenforced wall you're protecting.
Bullet penetration works properly now
Kali is a pro at holding long angles
© Ubisoft
One of the most exciting things for the regular player is the way that bullet penetration in the game has been fixed. Previously, the way things worked is that bullets would do damage to the first part of an Operator that they hit, and then become inert.
This meant that if an operator was shot in the hand and then it passed through into the head, the victim would only take damage as if they'd been hit in the hand. This has now been changed.
Crucially, this means time to kill should be a lot faster in a lot of cases, because spraying someone down with torso shots would often involve shooting people in the arms a lot because of the way Rainbow Six Siege's characters moved, which could make frags inconsistent.
This has been cleared up now, so expect to down enemies and be downed yourself much quicker.
