Rainbow Six Siege brings double the trouble with Operation Twin Shells

The team at Ubisoft Montreal kicked things off on Sunday with the reveal of the next season of Rainbow Six Siege. After revamping some of its current roster this spring, Siege is once again welcoming new players as part of Operation Twin Shells. The newest member of the Siege roster may look familiar to longtime fans of Ubisoft's tactical shooter series.

With Operation Twin Shells, Rainbow Six Siege welcomes Skopos. This defender is better known as Kure Galanos, the Greek agent last seen in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield. Recall that earlier this year, players witnessed the mission in which Gerald Morris, now known as Deimos, betrayed his teammates. One of those teammates was Galanos, who lost the use of her legs after the explosion at the end of the mission that presumably killed Deimos. Since then, Galanos has been working to get back into the field despite being confined to a wheelchair. In fact, she has used her chair to her advantage, turning it into a makeshift command center. While it doesn't allow her to get right back into the fight, it does allow her to control two different robotic agents.

Skopos' agents are unlike anything seen in Siege before. She can only control one robot at a time. The robot not being actively controlled sits in a resting position, protecting itself. This allows it to become a pseudo-barrier, so positioning the robots is important. The robot under active control can act as a normal Siege character. It's important to note, however, that if the attacking robot is destroyed, Skorpos is effectively neutralized. She cannot transfer control to the other robot, as their connection will be broken.

The Defense Robot acts not only as a defensive barrier, but also as an intelligence tool. The robot's shell has a camera that can be used by Skorpos and her teammates. When Skorpos is actively looking through the camera, she has the ability to change the states of the two robots, essentially switching places in the blink of an eye. Note, however, that the switch can only occur when the active robot is in a spot where it can deploy its Defense Shell.

Teamwork will be crucial with Skorpos' two robots on the field. The inactive hull is not invulnerable and can be attacked with explosives as well as gadgets from characters like Mute and Dokkaebi. It's also important to note that the robots cannot be healed or armored with Rook's vests. The happy compromise is that the robots don't need to breathe, making them immune to Fenrir and his fear gas.

Another key feature of Operation Twin Shells is a boost for the attack team's drones. Drones have remained largely unchanged over the past decade, but now the Siege team hopes to offer new tools aimed at keeping drones active. The new Drone Boost gives a player's drone up to three times more speed. This allows players to evade defenders who have spotted them or cover more ground in the preparation phase. The Drone Boost will also be available for Brava and her Kludge drone. On the other side of the coin, if Mozzie hijacks a drone with his Pest Launcher, he can also use its Drone Boost.

Ubisoft Montreal has frequently spoken about combating cheating and toxicity in Rainbow Six Siege. The team's recent efforts include implementing a process called “Binary Hardening” to prevent cheating schemes from entering the game. Bans are also coming at increasingly shorter intervals, as the Ubisoft Montreal team promises to punish cheaters more harshly than before. As for toxicity, the developers are implementing a revamped Reputation Center in the future in hopes of allowing players to build their reputation while punishing repeat offenders.

Operation Twin Shells will also include various balance tweaks, a new outfit for Jaeger, and more. Players won't have to wait long to get a look at this new content. Operation Twin Shells will be coming to the Rainbow Six Siege test server in the coming week. Monday, August 26.

This preview is based on a developer briefing held via Discord.