Highlights
- Rainbow Six Siege's Year 8 Season 3 update, Operation Heavy Mettle, introduces a range of new content, including operator balance changes, a shotgun rework, and modified game modes.
- The standout addition in the update is the new operator, Ram, who specializes in breaching defenders' sites with her unique gadget, the BU-GI Auto Breacher.
- Ram's BU-GIs are safer and more versatile than similar gadgets possessed by other operators like Sledge and Buck, making her a potentially powerful destruction operator in the game. However, there is a possibility that Ram may be nerfed in the future to maintain balance.
Rainbow Six Siege recently presented all the new content arriving in the game's Year 8 Season 3 update. The new season, dubbed Operation Heavy Mettle, will add all sorts of changes into Rainbow Six Siege. The update will include operator balance changes, a shotgun rework, and several modified game modes for players to experience. However, the most significant addition coming to Rainbow Six Siege is the new operator, Ram.
Joining Team Rainbow's Redhammer squad will be Bo-Ram Choi, a female operator from South Korea. Codenamed "Ram," she's an attacker who specializes in ramming through defenders' sites through the use of her unique gadget, the BU-GI Auto Breacher. The BU-GI is a remote-activated, automated drone that's destroys soft floors/walls, barricades, and deployable gadgets (such as shields and barbed wire) in its way, making it the perfect tool for ruining defenders' setups. Currently, Ram possesses four BU-GIs, and they're bulletproof minus the red cannister on their rears that can be shot to destroy them. Overall, Ram's shaping up to be an exciting new character to Rainbow Six Siege, but she may be too good upon release.
What Makes Ram So Powerful in Rainbow Six Siege
Ram has potential to be the best destruction operator in the game. She functions similarly to Sledge and Buck, who also specialize in ruining defenders' sites with their respective gadgets. However, Ram's BU-GIs are safer and more versatile than Sledge's Breaching Hammer and Buck's Skeleton Key shotgun. Ram gets four BU-GIs which are automated rather than manual gadgets, and they can also turn slightly in one direction to destroy a certain path of surfaces or gadgets.
Sledge's Hammer can slam holes into soft floors/walls and destroy deployables like barbed wire and shields similarly to the BU-GI. Yet, Sledge leaves himself vulnerable because he has to hold his hammer instead of his gun, and he has to be up close to hit his target. Buck's Skeleton Key can demolish soft floors, walls, and ceilings quickly and widely, but he cannot dismantle bulletproof gadgets with it. Also, if Rainbow Six Siege operators Sledge and Buck aim to destroy soft floors above defenders' sites, they're at risk of getting eliminated by nitro cells from below or getting flanked and caught by enemies.
Ram doesn't have to worry about Sledge and Buck's issues for the most part since players just need to toss their BU-GIs and flip a switch to commence destruction. After activating the BU-GIs, Ram can proceed by pushing site or watching for flanks. Not to mention, Ram's equipped with two powerful Rainbow Six Siege primary weapons, the fast-firing R4-C and large-magazine LMG-E, making her not only promising with her gadget, but with potential to get eliminations as well.
How Ram Might Be Nerfed in a Future Rainbow Six Siege Update
Ram's introduction to Rainbow Six Siege is similar to the addition of Ace, an attacking hard breacher who power creeped the original hard breacher, Thermite. Ace is significantly better than Thermite because his three SELMA Aqua Breachers can create three decently-sized holes through multiple reinforced walls swiftly, and Ace possessed a more lethal weapon, the AK-12. There have been several nerfs to Ace's gadget and the AK-12's recoil and available sights in some R6S updates, but Ace remains to be more popular among players than Thermite.
Maybe it's too early to tell if Ram will power creep her counterparts, as Sledge and Buck still have their own distinct uses and weapons that players might prefer over Ram's kit. If Ubisoft nerfs Ram similarly to previous powerful operators, the likely options would be to reduce the amount of BU-GIs from four to three, decrease the gadget's runtime, or add more ways to stop the gadget. Aside from shooting the BU-GIs' cannisters, the only other ways to destroy them are with impact grenades and nitro cells. Ubisoft needs to add more ways to destroy the mechanical gadget, as BU-GIs are immune to all sorts of gadgets like Bandit/Kaid's electricity and Aruni's Surya Gates.
Rainbow Six Siege is available now, for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.