Rainbow Six Siege: Year Six, Season Three – Crystal Guard – has arrived and brings with it a new operator Osa, the new transparent and bulletproof Talon-8 Shield, various map reworks and operator balancing, elite customization, and much more. In addition to explaining everything new in Crystal Guard, we invited Rainbow Six Siege expert Coconut Brah to come by and share some of his best tips and tricks for Osa and everything else new in this season.
Launching on 00/00/0000, Crystal Guard will introduce the world to the previously mentioned Anja “Osa” Jankovic, an engineering prodigy from Croatia who “brings expertise to Nighthaven with her quick wits and unapologetic enthusiasm for ‘60s sci-fi movies.” Osa is great for creating defensive positions, as her Talon-8 Shield will protect her and her teammates from fire.
The shield can be carried by Osa or deployed on floors or window frames, which gives her a protective line of sight as its bulletproof glass is see through. While the shield will cause trouble for many, operators like Smoke, Tachanka, Clash or any other with impact grenades or a Nitro cell in their kit will be able to destroy it with ease.
Osa’s arrival and these new changes can be a lot to learn and, as previously mentioned, Coconut Brah joined us to share some of his best tips and tricks to master these new additions in no time.
Osa’s Talon-8 Shield is arguably the biggest shake-up in Crystal Guard, but it has so many more uses than simply protecting Osa and her friends. The first trick from Coconut Brah that illustrates its many uses involves placing the shield on windows to bait a run-out player.
If Osa or another teammate are hiding behind the shield placed on a window on the outside of a building, this could be an opportunity for another Defender to run to the player’s flank and get a free kill. However, if you are working with another Attacker who is waiting for this run-out, you can turn the tables and stop the attack in its tracks.
Speaking of baiting, there is a trick called Claymore Baiting that will surely be a headache for the Defenders. Osa has the ability to crouch and put her shield on the ground to protect herself in a location or to even to protect the defuser. While she will be protected, a quick melee or C4 from a Defender can remove that protection and open her up for a lethal attack.
Luckily, you can use this to your advantage with Claymores. All you have to do is plant a Claymore next to you and place the shield down to try to hide it from your opponent. When they come in for the kill or try to get you away from the defuser, you can step back and the Claymore’s explosion will kill them while you are protected from the blast with your shield. Even if they get a melee attack on you and you are killed by the Claymore’s blast, that’s still one less Defender.
The last trick from Coconut Brah has to do with vaulting over the shield. While you can’t stand on the Talon-8 Shield as it will break, you can vault over it and shoot while you are in the air. You can use this to shoot through windows or access points you wouldn’t have been able to reach otherwise.
Alongside Osa, three of Rainbow Six Siege’s maps – Bank, Coastline, and Clubhouse – will be getting rebuilt from the ground up to “enhance balancing, environmental destruction, sound propagation, and lighting.” Bank, in particular, has remained mostly untouched over the years and will now feature a full art rework.
Coconut Brah had a couple tips for these new maps as well, including for those that start from the Jewellery Front spawn point on Bank. Instead of taking the new walkway to the Alley spawn, players can go to the right and repel up the tall building in front of them. They can then jump down to the wall connecting the building and the smaller building that is partially covering the walkway to reach that farther rooftop to take a safe spot that gives you a great view of many windows and the Lobby. It’s a safe space that’s father back but not outside the spawn or out of bounds.
Those checking out the updated Coastline Map and find themselves in VIP will see a new shelf that has a vase on it. If you reinforce the wall to the left of that shelf and place your head between the shelf edge and the vase, you will have great line-of-sight that is not only protected, but includes a door that players in DJ Booth will most likely need to go through if you did reinforce that wall.
Armor has also been replaced with Health (HP), which means 3-Armor Operators will now have 125 HP, 2-Armor Operators will have 110 HP, and 1-Armor Operators will have 100 HP.
Some player comfort improvements have also been added, and one of these changes will be the opponent Rim Light, which will highlight enemies to prevent unfair camouflage. This will be turned on by default, but it can always be turned off in the Options menu.
Down But Not Out (DBNO) Scoring has also been adjusted, and players will now get a kill score when they down or completely eliminate an opponent. An assist score will be earned when they eliminate an opponent who is already downed by a teammate. Furthermore, the DBNO scoring event has been removed to prevent players from gaining unfair intel when an opponent is downed that isn’t in their line of sight.
Twitch, IQ, Mute, and Fuze will all be getting adjustments this season, and a new flash detection system will be in place for Ying’s Candela, Blitz’s G52-Tactical Shield, and the Stun Grenade will now take the environment and angle of the explosion into account in addition to the players’ distance and orientation.
Five Operators will also see their price lowered during Crystal Guard, with Maverick and Clash going down to 10,000 Renown or 240 R6 Credits, Amaru and Goyo going to 15,000 Renown or 360 R6 Credits, and Zero going to 20,000 Renown or 480 R6 Credits.
In the customization department, this season “features an explosion of colors in a kaleidoscopic pattern” in the Holographic Bundle, which is the newest weapon skin that has been released at the start of Year Six, Season Three and will be available throughout the season. Other big changes include the ability to equip any headgear with an Elite Uniform as long as they are both owned and belong to the same Operator.
Rainbow Six Siege’s Crystal Guard season is out now on all platforms, and those who don’t want to wait to try out Osa and her Talon-8 Shield can purchase the latest Premium Battle Pass to add her to their roster immediately. Additionally, those who wish to give Rainbow Six Siege a try will be able to do so free-of-charge from September 9-12. This is the same time period that the base game will be 85% off, meaning new players can purchase Rainbow Six Siege for $5 USD.