Rainbow Six Siege is getting one more season this year, Operation High Calibre. The new season adds in a brand new Operator, changes up some balances and maps, but it’s the Operator that will really mix the game up for the better. It feels like Thorn, the new Operator, is a counter to last season’s new Operator, Osa. She’s got a bomb that explodes with razor-sharp projectiles and kills any Attackers caught in it. You have a chance to escape, back out, or shoot the device, but ultimately, it will create a sense of panic that no other gadget in the game has really brought until now.
The Razorbloom Shell is a trap. It allows Thorn to arm a room to her advantage and then camp out somewhere comfortable to take out any Attackers that move in. It’s just like how Osa can walk around with her shield, place it, and then attack without many repercussions from a single point. Both of these Operators are forts. They’re able to move forward with their defenses and create some serious boundaries for the opposing team to butt their heads against. I think it reflects real combat scenarios quite accurately, and I’m excited to see it in the game at last.
That’s not to say that every other Operator is useless. Far from it. What I’m saying is that Thorn is going to completely change what it means to play as a Defender in Rainbow Six Siege. I think that she’ll almost always be part of pro team compositions, and that there aren’t going to be any good counters for her gadget for a while. The fact that she can just pull together a fortified room with two gadgets and some well-placed cover is crazy.
I can’t wait to see what the community thinks of Thorn when she finally comes to the game. I think that there will be some love, some hate, but ultimately everyone is going to have a better time once she’s in. It’s been a while since Siege was mixed up this much, and I welcome the complete bulldozer of an Operator.
