Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Vector Glare Brings a New Operator

Operation Vector Glare kicks off today in Rainbow Six Siege, bringing something very surprising to distract Defenders and conceal the Attackers’ plans. Using their R.O.U. Projector System gadget, a new Attacker named Sens can deploy opaque, brightly colored walls of light in a variety of creative ways to hide their movements and gain a tactical edge over the Defenders. Sens is available now through the premium track of the Vector Glare Battle Pass and will be unlockable with Renown or R6 Credits in two weeks. Operation Vector Glare also delivers a bunch of free updates for all players to enjoy immediately, as well as a way to unlock free Operators by playing with your friends.

A new Team Deathmatch map, titled Close Quarters, puts you in an arena designed for fast-paced encounters. As the first map built exclusively for TDM, there are no defense-focused areas (like objective sites), and the hallways and staircases are color-coded to help you quickly reorient yourself after respawning (the better to hunt down the player who bested you). There is also a new shooting range that you can hop into with any Operator (even ones you haven’t unlocked yet) to test out their weapons and practice your aim before wielding them against opponents. Also: a new implementation of the reputation system coming later this season is aimed at players who repeatedly and intentionally incur the friendly fire penalty, plus a third secondary weapon slot is now available for some Operators to give them more loadout flexibility.

Operation Vector Glare marks the launch of the Squad Up Reactivation program, which rewards you with free Operators and more for bringing former players back into Rainbow Six Siege. If you’ve played Siege since the launch of Demon Veil, the first season of Year 7, then you are eligible to earn up to three free Operators from Year 6 (or equivalent rewards if you have them already) and an exotic weapon skin for the R4C assault rifle. All you have to do is recruit up to four players who haven’t played Siege in Year 7, squad up with them, play five PVP matches in any mode, and you’ll earn one reward per player. The returning players will earn rewards as well; at the end of the five matches, they’ll be granted an Operator from Year 4 or 5. Then, they can recruit more returning players, and earn the rewards mentioned above.

Now for a little more detail on the new Attacker, Sens: They hail from Belgium and come equipped with either the 417 marksman rifle or the new POF-9 assault rifle as their primary weapon, and the SDP 9MM pistol or the Gonne-6 as their secondary weapon. They can also bring along a hard breach charge or claymore as their secondary gadgets.

But let’s talk about their main gadget, the R.O.U Projector System. It’s a self-propelling wheel that, when tossed out, rolls along the ground dropping small projectors until it runs out of juice. These projectors create overlapping walls of light along the path of the R.O.U. (which can also ricochet off walls to make zig-zagging lines). The result is a wall that Operators can walk through, shoot through, or throw things through, but one they cannot see through. This presents opportunities for the Attackers to execute a sneaky defuser plant, pick up a downed teammate without being seen, or just draw the Defenders attention away from where the real action is. And if Glaz and his HDS Flip Sight are on the field, the R.O.U. walls get a lot more dangerous.

But Glaz isn’t the only one equipped to see through Sens’ light walls. Warden can use his Glance Smart Glasses to penetrate the veil as well, making him a strong counter for Sens. Defenders can try to stop the R.O.U. before it lays down projectors (with Jäger’s ADS or Wamai’s Mag-NET gadgets) or shut off the projectors themselves (with Mute’s Signal Jammers or an EMP burst from a bulletproof camera). Bulletproof cameras and Maestro’s Evil Eyes can also see through the walls, and impatient Defenders can use explosives (like an impact grenade) to destroy the projectors. The walls will go away after a short time as well, so Defenders can bide their time if they wish. But what will the Attackers be doing during that time? That’s up to you and your teammates to find out.

Operation Vector Glare is here with an all-new Battle Pass and Challenges to complete, and Sens is bringing a whole new tactical dimension to the firefights of Rainbow Six Siege. Log in now to see (or not see, as the case may be) what they can do.