Late last week, the sneak peek trailer for Operation Neon Dawn was shared. The full reveal for the new character happened today as part of the European November Major. I had the opportunity to get hands-on with Aruni last week to get you all the details of this new Rainbow 6 Siege Operator. Operation Neon Dawn also brings with it some other welcome updates, including a map rework, improved accessibility, and Operator tweaks.
Aruni’s Background
Aruni joins a roster of 57 Operators for Rainbow 6 Siege. She is a Thai Operator, featuring facial scar and a prosthetic arm and leg. Aruni’s prosthetics connect to, what appears to be, a battery pack she wears as a backpack. During the hands-on event, it was shared that the Rainbow Six Siege team consulted veterans with prosthetic limbs during the Aruni’s development process.
While I’m not able to share all I learned about Aruni’s back story (we’ll have to wait for more info from Ubisoft), fictional character Operator Jordon “Thermite” Trace shared his thoughts on Aruni joining the Rainbow team.
“She’s real cerebral, always processing something upstairs and making connections that aren’t obvious to others. It’s why she was such a good detective. We did some work together in Bangkok, but most of that op’s details are still classified. She was hurt pretty bad… I thought we’d lost her.”
“Thing is, Aruni doesn’t dwell on the past – she’s focused on the future, on moving forward and making the world a safer place. I wish more of us shared her commitment to that philosophy.”
– Jordan “Thermite” Trace
The kind of character Thermite describes leaves us with the impression that Aruni has an optimistic vision of the future – precisely the personality type I’m seeking to play in games right now. Early in life, Aruni lost her sister in a land mine explosion, which heavily influences Aruni’s life motivations.
During the hands-on session, I had the opportunity to play with Rainbow 6 Siege pro player Vincere. Vincere recently joined Wildcard Gaming, where he and the team achieved success at the recent Oceanic Nationals playoffs. He’s interested to see how Aruni will fit into the dynamic game meta.
Aruni’s Stats and Weapons
Defender | Roles: Secure – Intel – Anchor
Aruni is a medium speed and medium armoured character. This mix of speed and armour for Arumi felt comfortable during the hands-on session. Arumi is fast enough to be able to respond quickly to rotations, and she is not fragile.
For her primary weapons, Aruni can use with the P10 Roni submachine gun and the MK14 EBR assault rifle. For her secondary weapon, Aruni carries the PRB92 handgun. To complete her kit, Aruni also has access to barbed wire and proximity alarms.
With her battery-powered prosthetics, Aruni has more powerful melee attacks. I this can help to create quick damage for rotations and increased visibility.
Here’s a link to a Twitch clip from the official announcement discussing the loadout.
Aruni’s Gadget – The Surya Gate
Aruni’s gadget is a laser gate, which will significantly damage any attackers daring to cross through the beams. Aruni can place the Surya Gate above doors, on walls, and across hatches. When placed above a doorway, a small gap is present, still allowing access for floor travelling cameras and carefully directed gadgets. Flying or jumping gadgets and utility projectiles will be disabled by the gate, which will also deactivate the gate while the beams recharge.
The gate automatically disables when a defender approaches, allowing them to pass through safely. It automatically reactivates again when the defender is no longer near the gate. There is a slight delay on automatic reactivation. Defenders will have to be careful not to sit too close and accidentally trigger gate deactivation.
The Surya Gate generators are indestructible. If the gate is damaged due to a utility projectile or attacker passing through the gate will deactivate for 30 seconds. Defenders need to shoot the generator (once it has finished sparking) to reactivate the gate.
Aruni can place up to 3 gates to defend map objectives. Aruni can also move the gates if required, enabling an adaptive defensive strategy for rotations.
The gate doesn’t stop bullets, or technically attackers, but it is a deterrent.
Other Updates for Season 4 – Operation Neon Dawn
Operator Aruni isn’t the only new update for Rainbow 6 Siege coming with Season 4. The updates listed below are subject to change prior to the official release of Operation Neon Dawn. Updates will be available on test servers tomorrow (November 9th or 10th depending on where you are in the world). The developers are working on shifting the “20 second” meta, encouraging increased team coordination for attackers.
- Skyscraper rework: Skyscraper has had a significant overhaul. The update includes the widening of rooms and layout improvements to allow for cleaner rotations. There are also fewer balconies and windows. This rework should have Skyscraper back the ranked map pool.
- Accessibility: Players will have to option to change the colour of their crosshair. Additional options have been added to convert text chat to voice, and voice chat to text.
- Hibana: Hibana’s X-Kairos Launcher can be configured to shoot 2, 4, or 6 X-Kairos
- Echo: Echo’s Yokai drone will now remain visible with placed on ceilings, and his shield is returning.
- Jäger: Jäger’s Active Defense System will have a cooldown of 10 seconds, with an indefinite number of charges.
- Ash: Changes to gadgets.
- Valkyrie and Wamai: Shields have been removed.
- Runout timers: A reduction of the outside timer detection to one second.
- Defuser: General improvements to defuser planting.
Major Announcement – Sixth Guardian
As part of the Year 5 Season 4 updates, the Rainbow 6 Siege team will launch the Sixth Guardian program. The team will be creating limited-time bundles for purchase, where the proceeds will go to a nominated charity. More details about the Sixth Guardian program will be announced soon.
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