Rainbow Six Siege Year 4 is bearing down on us with the promise of another eight meta-defining operators, new maps, CTUs, and plenty more. After last year kicked off with the limited time PvE event, Outbreak, there is also a slim chance that Year 4 will deliver more than new gadgets and guns.
Interestingly, we heard about Outbreak and the roadmap for last year long before its release date – there was even a lengthy ARG to build hype for the zombie-slaying game mode. Ubisoft Montreal released their Year 4 roadmap at the Six Invitational 2019, but only released the nationalities of the upcoming ops and additional details such as what kind of map to expect each season. We no know everything about six of the Year 4 operators, but there is no information on the gadgets of the Season 4 ops from Kenya and India.
In addition to all of this, there are still some map reworks to look forward to, heaps of operators reworks, seasonal events that will add a lot more variety to each few months, and a some other details like changes to team killing and gadgets. There are even reworks to secondary gadgets, with the Deployable Shield now being able to attach to the walls and the Breach Charge now allowing for hot breaches.
Here is everything we know about Rainbow Six Siege Year 4, from new gadgets to when you can expect an official announcement.
RAINBOW SIX SIEGE YEAR 4 ROADMAP
The Rainbow Six Siege Year 4 roadmap and operators have been fully revealed at the Six Invitational 2019. Here is how each season will play out:
Rainbow Six Siege Year 4 Season 1
- Operation Burnt Horizon consists of two Australian operators
- New map called Outback
Rainbow Six Siege Year 4 Season 2
- One operator from Denmark and one from the US Secret Service
- Kafe map rework
Rainbow Six Siege Year 4 Season 3
- Operation Ember Rise adds one operator from Peru and one from Mexico
- Kanal map rework
- Highlights of the Rainbow Six Siege Ember Rise patch notes
- Ember Rise gameplay review
Rainbow Six Siege Year 4 Season 4
- One operator from Kenya and one from India
- Theme Park rework
There will be only one new map across the new year, but there are also plenty of planned operator reworks to look forward to.
Rainbow Six Siege Year 4 operators
Each new year of Rainbow Six Siege promises to add eight new operators across four seasons and counter terrorist units, most of which are based on real-life special forces teams like the GIGR and GROM. Ubisoft announced what nations will be represented in Year 4, but we still don’t know the exact CTUs for the final season.
Operation Burnt Horizon
The two Australian operators – attacker Gridlock and defender Mozzie – are now live in-game. Gridlock provides the attacking team with spike traps that can help secure flanks, while Mozzie can hijack drones and use them to aid the defending side. You can read all about their full loadouts in our Rainbow Six Siege Burnt Horizon review.
Operation Phantom Sight
Year 4 Season 2’s Rainbow Six Siege new operators, Nokk and Warden, hail from Denmark and the United States respectively.
Nokk’s background information is almost entirely redacted, but we know she spent time working with the Danish Jaeger Corps before joining Rainbow. Her gadget is the HEL, a glove attachment that can cloak her from cameras and reduce the noise she makes for a short period of time. This makes Nokk an exceptional roamer and flanker on attack. Her kit suits stealth, as she can bring the FMG9 SMG or silenced SIX12 shotgun, or a suppressed D50 as a secondary.
Defender Warden comes from the US Secret Service and his Glance Smart Glasses make him a solid anchor, especially against operators like Glaz, Blitz, and Ying. These glasses can be activated, instantly enhancing Warden’s sight so he can see through stun flashes and even smoke. To help him lock down the objective, he can bring the mighty SAS M509A1 shotgun or MPX SMG as primary weapons. We recommend taking the shotgun as a primary as Warden can bring the SMG12 as a secondary.
Neither of the Rainbow Six Siege Operation Phantom Sight operators has had a massive impact on the meta, but both make interesting flex operators.
Operation Ember Rise
Rainbow Six Siege Ember Rise adds an attacker from Peru, Amaru, and a defender from Mexico, Goyo.
Amaru’s gadget is the Garra Hook, which lets her rapidly ascend through destroyed hatches, up to rooftops, and even hot breach through a barricaded window. Her G8A1 LMG is an excellent tool for dealing damage over prolonged firefights, while her Supernova shotgun is great if you plan on using the Garra Hook to surprise foes or break open hatches. Her secondary weapon choices are solid, too: you can take the lethal SMG11 or helpful ITA12S shotgun.
Goyo can bring three Volcan Shields as his main gadget. These look like Deployable Shields from the front, but hide an explosive canister and fuel container that deals damage to nearby operators when shot and spreads a deadly fire that burns for 12 seconds. As these shields can be detonated by anyone, and even Maestro’s Evil Eye cameras, Goyo can anchor or roam, and his kit allows both, too. Goyo can take either the Vector .45 ACP SMG or the TCSG12 slug shotgun, which can carry and ACOG scope.
Other changes arrive with Ember Rise, such as the reintroduction of Pilot Program skins, a reduction in the map pool for ranked that removes Hereford, Theme Park, and Fortress, and tougher leave penalties in ranked.
Year 4 Season 4
The final two countries making their way to Rainbow Six Siege are Kenya and India. It’s tough to say what joint operation the two nations could be working on with no discernible ties between the two countries other than that they are both on the coast of the India ocean. We also know that the Rainbow Six Siege Battle Pass will arrive in Year 4 Season 4.
Rainbow Six Siege Year 4 release date
In case you didn’t know, the Rainbow Six Siege Year 4 release date has been and gone – Operation Burnt Horizon kicked things off for us.
But there, are still plenty more seasons before Rainbow Six Siege Year 5 and we’ll, as ever, be on hand to provide you with all the latest updates and Siege news.