Blood Orchid, the new update for Rainbow Six: Siege, is expected to land later today on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The new map 'Theme Park' will be available to everyone for free, while the new operators are a timed exclusive for Season Pass holders until next week when everyone will be able to unlock them using Renown or R6 Credits.
According to Ubisoft, this is the largest update ever deployed for Rainbow Six: Siege. It brings a ton of balance and bug fixes, an updated lighting system, increased texture quality on PC, optimized stability, reduced load times and a smaller memory footprint. New and improved servers will also be deployed around the launch of Season 3 to enhance stability, connectivity and overall performance.
You can find a recap of Blood Orchid's main additions below; if you're looking for the full patch notes, head to the official site.
Theme Park Map and Two New SDU Operators
In Operation Blood Orchid, players will have to raid an abandoned theme park, identified by the Special Duties Unit (SDU) – also known as the Flying Tigers – as a criminal organisation’s nest for narcotic manufacturing. After establishing a connection with the Hong Kong Triad, two Flying Tigers are chosen to lead a lethal raid in the Theme Park, a colourful and eclectic map filled with dynamic and fast-paced face-offs.
· Ying: Siu Mei Lin is recognised as an all-purpose operator. After a few operations, she decided to join Team Rainbow, representing Hong Kong’s Flying Tigers Unit. Equipped with the T-95 LSW and the SIX12 shotgun as primary weapons, she knows how to intervene in densely populated areas with her non-lethal unique gadget. Her Candela device is a new breed of flash grenade: when deployed, it releases a cluster of flash charges that can be anchored on surfaces, or it can be thrown out as a grenade or rolled along the floor.
· Lesion: Liu Tze Long is known to take his work seriously and to thrive in high-risk situations. Demonstrating a natural calm while handling highly corrosive substances, he’s also an expert in mine-clearing. Equipped with the SIX12 SD silenced shotgun and the T-5 SMG, Lesion can handle any situation with his Gu mines. When an attacker triggers these mines, they are injected with a toxin that deals an initial burst of damage, and then slower damage over time, limiting their speed until the affected player removes the poison dart. Starting with two Gu mines, his inventory will increase by one Gu mine every 35 seconds until it reaches a maximum of seven mines.
New Polish GROM Operator, Ela Bosak
· Ela: Ela Bosak is the latest and one of the youngest recruits to Team Rainbow. This thirty-year-old operator is a member of Poland’s Military Unit, GROM, and is equipped with the Scorpion EVO 3 A1 SMG and the F0-12 shotgun as primary weapons. Ela also is equipped with the RG15 pistol with a red dot sight, the first pistol in the game with a sight. She is known for her determination and prowess in the field. Her sticky Grzmot mines are proximity concussion mines that affect anyone within radius with reduced movement speed, aiming and vision. Ela’s signature move when in a downed state is the ability to trigger one last concussion mine.
