'Rainbow Six Siege' Velvet Shell Update Teased: Could Spain Operator Have Cloaking Ability?

Ubisoft shared its "Year 2" road map for Rainbow Six Siege back in November, teasing new operators from Spain, Hong Kong, Poland and South Korea. The first update featuring Spain is slated to arrive in the March-April time-frame. On Thursday, Ubisoft shared its first teaser for its next update on Twitter:

"Operation Velvet Shell approaches," teased Ubisoft in its brief caption. "More info in the coming weeks, with a full reveal at the Six Invitational!"

Like past Rainbow Six Siege updates, Operation Velvet Shell is slated to introduce two new operators (one attacker and one defender) and a new map. Previously, Siege released its Japan update, Operation Red Crow, which featured a surveillance defender named Echo, who utilized a special 'Yokai' flying drone that stunned and disrupted enemies with a high-frequency soundwave.

The characteristic's of Echo's special ability strongly associated with the update's title, given that a Crow is known for both its intelligence and its shrieking caw. Does that suggest the title Velvet Shell also hints a future operator ability?

From the Operation Velvet Shell's teaser art, the pixelated fabric may point towards the high-tech cloaking capes that are reportedly used by stealth operatives. If this is true, then we can only imagine the change in dynamics in multiplayer games.

If the operator with the special cloaking device is an attacker, the surveillance cameras will most likely be useless. That said, we imagine defenders like Mute could possibly disrupt the device's ability. Pulse's heartbeat sensor could probably give away the stealth operators position as well. While I'm not sure whether Kapkan's laser traps will work against the cloaking device, we imagine Frost's welcome mats will still bite.

If the new stealth operator is a defender, then attackers will have to think twice before entering since the drones might not see the invisible operator. However, I imagine a marker will show the operators position if he or she is out of bounds. Attackers like Twitch may be able to see the electric signal the cloak gives off, while Thatcher's EMP grenade could disable the cloak for good.

According to Ubisoft, more details regarding Operation Velvet Shell will be revealed during the Six Invitation Event live stream on Feb. 5, at 10 a.m. EST. tay tuned as we hope to learn more about the upcoming Rainbow Six Siege update in the weeks ahead.