Ubisoft details massive Ranked changes coming to Rainbow Six Siege

Rainbow Six Siege is going through some massive changes in Y4S3, but two of the biggest changes include a trimmed map pool and a new Champions rank. 

The Siege map pool for ranked has been a topic of debate for a while now. The rotation is crowded with uncomfortable maps that don’t lend themselves well to competitive play. Today, Ubisoft briefly outlined plans to trim the fat on the map pool for ranked. 

Up first on the chopping block are going to be Fortress, the unanimously despised Hereford Base redesign, and Theme Park. While Fortress’ exit won’t really help or hinder too much, Hereford Base really needed to go. The map is overall uncomfortable for many players and the lighting on the map has stunted players since the map’s rework in Sept 2018. 

The removal of Theme Park makes sense considering that the map will also be undergoing a rework. After Operation Phantom Sight’s Kafe rework, it looks like the level design team have really hit their stride. Kafe is hopefully the new standard that will make its way into the upcoming Kanal and Theme Park rework. 

While fans will have to wait another season for the Theme Park rework, Operation Ember Rise will see the reintroduction of Kanal into the ranked map pool. Kanal was slated for rework due to the ridiculous amount of spawn peeking and the uncomfortable Bomb sites. So far, all the signs point to a positive rework in the vein of Kafe. 

The second massive change hitting ranked is the inclusion of a new tier that tops Diamond. The newest rank is called Champions, and it’s an interesting prospect to think about. While Diamond has been the pinnacle of competitive play, it looks like the devs have decided to shake things up a bit. It resembles the dynamic between Masters and Grandmaster ranks in Overwatch. Y4S3 is shaping up to be bonkers if all of these changes go through.  

Fans can check out the Kanal rework on the Technical Test Server tomorrow, Aug 19. As far as the map pool changes, fans can expect those to hit with the launch of Operation Ember Rise in the near future.