Rainbow Six Siege Blood Orchid DLC technical test servers officially begin today, offering PC players a chance to finally try out the three new operators and the Theme Park map. Unfortunately, the TTS is not available for gamers on the PlayStation 4 console (like myself), but several respected Siege YouTubers have shared their PC gameplay videos with fans, giving us the first look at Hong Kong attacker Ying, defender Lesion, and Polish defender Ela.
Courtesy of gameplay videos from YouTuber NukemDukem, here are my first impressions of the latest Siege Blood Orchid operators:
Ying: The 2-Armor, 2-Speed operator is armed with either a T-95 LSW or S612 shotgun primary or Q-929 sidearm. Secondary utilities include a choice of either breach or smoke grenades. Weapons-wise, the T-95 is a lightweight machine gun that offers a monster 80-round magazine. But what makes it so special is the T-95's quick reload speed, making it essentially a high capacity assault rifle. This alone makes Ying a very appealing operator. Time will tell whether future patches may nerf Ying's LSW.
Ying's Candela cluster also looks really fun, Candela has the unique ability to not require breaking barricaded doors or hatches in order to throw down the flash cluster. However, despite the multiple flashes and the likely wider area of impact, the actual duration of the flash effect isn't significantly longer. That said, Ying's special eye protection makes her immune to her Candela's effects (Ying is NOT immune to flash bangs thrown by other people). With the right timing and perhaps multiple openings to take a room, Ying can definitely pick off an operator or two before the flash bangs wear off.
Lesion: Another 2-Armor, 2-Speed, Lesion's choice of firepower are the Six12SD shotgun or the T-5 SMG. Like Ying, his secondary is the Q929 pistol. His secondary utility are a choice between the impact grenade and shield. Lesion's guns are nothing to write home about, but his utility is unlike anything we've ever seen in Rainbow Six Siege.
Sadly, we didn't get to see Lesion's Gu cloaked mines really influence any of NukemDukem's games, but essentially, his Gu cloaked mines cannot be detected unless IQ turns on her detection gadget. What makes Lesion more lethal is the fact that he can carry a total of seven mines per game, which can really overwhelm a team if a Lesion player has really sharp map knowledge.
That said, the Gu mines do have limitations. Firstly, Lesion's poison darts don't kill like Kapkan or injure like Frost. Instead, think more like Twitch, where each dart only takes away a portion of the health and does not immobilize the enemy. However, the pressure mounts when an enemy is stuck in a gunfight and must decide whether to push and engage the enemy or double back to pull out the dart and stop its effects. Lesion also does not have access to all seven Gu mines at once. Instead, a new mine will auto-generate every 35 seconds within the match in order to bottleneck Lesion's ability.
Ela: this GROM operator is a quick 1-Armor, 3-Speed. Her primaries are the Scorpion EVO 3 A1, F0-12 shotgun and RG15 pistol. Secondary utilities include impact grenades and barbed wire. The Scorpion SMG features a fire-rate that rivals Mira's Vector, but also features a magazine that holds 50 bullets. Ela's pistol uniquely features an integrated scope that isn't available for any other operator. Like Ying, we expect to see a lot of players use Ela for her weapons alone.
Ela's concussion mine is also extremely versatile. Like Valkerie cameras, Ela's mines can be thrown in order to stick anywhere. be creative with placement to really put the hurt on enemies. However, the effects of Ela's mines are less effective compared to Echo's concussion charges, which cause more disorientation for a longer period of time. Still, the mines generate a very loud noise, which will alert teammates where the attackers are pushing if the mines are strategically placed near particular windows and doors.
Also, be sure to check out this awesome Mythbuster gameplay video from YouTuber coreross to be even more familiar with Ying, Lesion and Ela:
Which operator are you most excited to use? Do you think they need to be nerfed? Let us know in the comment section below.
