Nøkk is Getting a Significant Buff in Rainbow Six Siege’s Next Patch
During the year 6 reveal panel last night, Ubisoft detailed lots of new changes and additions headed to Rainbow Six Siege in 2021. While we won’t get to try much of the changes such as driving drones after death until later on the year, the upcoming Y6S1 patch is still packed with content. In addition to a new attacking operator, Operation Crimson Heist will bring big balancing changes to several operators including a buff for Nøkk, tweaks to Kali, and yet another nerf for Blackbeard.
Nøkk
Released alongside Warden in Operation Phantom Sight, Nøkk is widely regarded as one of the weaker attacking operators due to the situational nature of her HEL Presence Reduction. To improve her pick rate and strength, the upcoming patch will allow Nøkk to bypass proximity-gadgets. Players will be notified of this effect activating when the color of the device on her hand changes color.
When activated, the HEL Presence Reduction will render her immune to Ela’s Grzmot Mine, Melusi’s Banshee, Kapkan’s Entry Denial Device, Proximity Alarm, and metal detectors found on certain maps. However, if Nøkk undergoes the glitch effect when sprinting or vaulting, the immunity will be paused.
“Nøkk was initially designed as a counter-intel Operator, but not every intel tool is a camera,” writes Ubisoft. “Devices triggered by proximity give very useful information as the activation’s sound cue provides information without requiring players to lower their weapon. We want to make Nøkk’s gadget more interesting to play and useful against more defensive setups.”
Blackbeard
Y6S1 also nerfs Blackbeard by reducing his shield health from 50 to 20. The damage of his MK17 assault rifle has been reduced from 49 to 40. Ubisoft hopes this change will reduce the “frustration” faced by others when going up against this operators.
Loadout changes to Finka and Dokkaebi see them both losing frag grenades in favor of stun grenades. Additionally, Twitch’s stun grenades have been replaced by smoke grenades. Both attackers also now have access to the GONNE-6 explosive secondary weapon.
After a slight nerf last patch, Kali will be receiving a tweak to her controversial “1-shot-DBNO” mechanic. Read up on the designer notes to learn what the exact changes are.
