Rainbow Six Siege’s new season adds a new operator, map, and cross-play

Get the most recent update Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six SiegeThe new operator is able to detect enemy tech and has a brand new map. Cross-progression can also be used. Operation Solar Raid will be the final season in Year 7, and Solis, the defender takes to the stage. This Colombian actor is equipped with a SPECI-IO Electro-Sensor device that can detect attacker drones. Solis has special gloves which interact with the overlay of her gadget, so she can trigger a cluster scan to find enemy tech.

The brand new map is called Nighthaven Labs, and it’s a mix between open sea, verdant cliffs, and a laboratory of technological marvels. Players will be able to break down the walls of the lab with Rainbow Six’s signature siege combat, so it’ll be interesting to see how players adapt to this new locale, especially since it will not be bannable in competitive play to allow players to learn the layout.

Solar Raid also offers many big changes in quality of life. A new system has been introduced in Ranked play. Players now compete for rank up through five divisions, rather than being linked to their performance on matchmaking. MMR is now known as “skill” in the system, a hidden value for all styles of play that does not reset at the end of a season. Matchmaking will match players with their peers to find an equivalent group. Players are free to team up with anyone they like.

Tuesday’s update also brings cross-play and progression over Ubisoft Connect, which will allow players to keep their account progress and unlocks across console and PC. In the Options menu, players can choose to opt out of cross-play. Ubisoft also made small changes to their quality of life, such as removing friend fire from team setup and giving Zofia/Capitao the ability to swap ammo types when unequipped.

Operation Solar Raid launches on Dec. 6 and will be available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.