Ubisoft said in December that eight new operators will be added over the course of Rainbow Six Siege Year Three, from Russia, France, Italy, the UK, the US, and Morocco. Courtesy of the data-diving detectives of Reddit, we can now get a look (or at least a sideways glance) at two of them: Alibi and Maestro, members of Italy's special forces. 

The names aren't necessarily final, as the character icons are labeled as placeholders, but they fit with what we already know about them. Which, I readily admit, isn't much: There are two of them, and they wear the insignia of GIS—Gruppo di Intervento Speciale—the airborne counter-terrorism unit of Italy's Carabinieri military police force. 

The image of Alibi is flanked by two ghostly silhouettes, which also corresponds to an extent with data about new gadgets uncovered by redditors last week. Datamined references to holograms, decoys, and fading in and out suggests that she'll have the ability to distract and trip up enemy players with holographic images. Seems like Alibi might have attackers shooting at ghosts. 

Maestro is trickier to pin down. Ubisoft might have been shooting for something Pavarotti-like with the character (especially given his name) but he looks more like a banana republic strongman to me. He's also packing serious body armor and a bandolier of shotgun shells, so whatever he specializes in, you can bet that it's not especially subtle.

The most recent operators added in Operation Chimera—Lion and Finka—were both attackers. With the Italians next in line, I'd put money on them both being defenders, to restore the roster balance.

A leak is a long way from confirmation but we should be getting the official word on these two fairly soon. The Italian operators are scheduled to debut in the second season of Year 3; a start date for that hasn't been set but the first season began with the release of Operation Chimera earlier this month. 

Of the stuff added and changed in Operation Chimera two weeks ago, the introduction of Lion is having the biggest impact on the Rainbow Six Siege meta. Following last month's championship, year three of the Rainbow Six Pro League kicked off last week with matches that demonstrated how teams are reconsidering their defenses and attack compositions with Lion in the mix, who saw a near-100 percent pick rate throughout.

Lion, a two speed and two armor attacker, is seeing so much action thanks to his unique drone, the EE-ONE-D. Three times per round, Lion can scan the entire map for enemy movement. If an enemy moves during the four second duration of the scan, their identity and full body outline is broadcasted to Lion and his entire team.

On paper, it might seem like Siege's best players would have no problem dealing with Lion, whose ability can be countered by simply standing still for a few seconds. But teams have figured out creative ways to combo his scan with other tracking operators. Jackal’s ability to see enemy footprints and scan them to reveal a snapshot of an enemy’s location pairs perfectly with Lion’s scan. When both are in play, the enemy can’t escape being seen for at least a few moments—either they stay still and get revealed by Jackal, or move and be spotted by Lion. This combo is the surest counter to roamers we've ever seen in Siege.

Roaming has always been an important part of defense in Siege, as playing away from the objective forces attackers to spend time and resources dealing with lurkers before tackling the hostage or bomb site. But now that Lion can punish roaming so directly, teams are still feeling out how best to counter him. Some are relying on Mute, as his signal jammers can cancel out Lion’s scan if you’re near one. Others are even playing Caviera, a stealthy defender who usually sees zero use in Pro League, but has the distinct ability to hide her footprints from Jackal.

Last week’s match against Spacestation Gaming and Era Eternity saw another unexpected use of Lion, as his scan was timed alongside Fuze’s cluster of grenades to great effect. As seen above, Fuze readies his cluster charge while Lion coordinates with his scan to force the enemies below to stay still amid nearby explosions. This is particularly interesting as Fuze is typically one of the least picked operators in the scene.  

Lion’s scan has also seen use alongside the newly-buffed Blitz, who now moves faster when sprinting, to allow him to quickly close the distance on defenders and take the advantage in a fight. See this in action in the clip below—Valkyrie is forced to stay put while Blitz rushes in and takes her down.

Of course, incorporating these new operator combinations with Lion also means many teams are rethinking previously dominant attack compositions. Last season saw the rise of the Ying and Glaz meta that focused on filling the objective room with smoke and flash grenades while Ying planted the defuser and Glaz kept watch. Last week, this strategy was almost entirely unseen. The Lion's usefulness is forcing teams to give up traditionally no-brainer operators like Hibana, Buck, or even Ash.

Right now it feels like every part of the typical meta has been touched by Lion, as he is even useful for planting the defuser and preventing its disarming. Pausing enemy movement creates opportunities for an ally to plant, and subsequent Lion scans further discourage the defenders from challenging the defuser once it’s already ticking down.

Lion’s prevalence comes as little surprise to anyone who played him on the Technical Test Server before Operation Chimera’s release. The test server’s subreddit was ablaze for weeks with players in unrest over Lion and Finka’s abilities, calling them overpowered and against the spirit of the game. Ubisoft slightly adjusted Finka heading into final release by nerfing the resistance to stun grenades when using her Adrenal Surge ability , but Lion saw no change at all. The response post-release has been much more muted as players have gotten used to the new operators, though many still argue that they need a nerf.

The Pro League has historically been the place where operators are fully exploited, and Lion has so far proven to be an invaluable asset in every facet of an attack—be it hunting down roamers, launching a coordinated push on the defenders, or planting the defuser.

Moving forward, it'll be interesting to see how Pro League teams continue to react. Defenses will likely shift their focus to knocking him out of play early on or, as we saw last week, pulling back the roamers and staying safer on the objective. A potential mid-season patch could also mix up the status quo if Ubisoft decides that Lion has grown too powerful. 

Rainbow Six Siege's massive Operation Chimera update is now upon us, ushering in Year 3 with two new operators and a co-op zombie mode called Oubreak, which Evan enjoyed his early look at. The effect on player numbers has been immediate: the game reached a peak concurrent player count of 176,856 on Steam today, smashing its previous best.

Its popularity has exploded in recent months. According to SteamCharts data, its peak player count is now triple what it was just six months ago and already 50,000 more than its peak during February, which is a hell of a feat for a game that's more than two years old. That data doesn't include anybody playing on Uplay, either.

The Operation Chimera update also made all weapon attachments free for everybody, which is nice, and all of the original 20 operators are now free if you've purchased the Advanced, Gold or Complete Editions (although players that have already paid real money for the attachments or operators won't get a refund). 

Ubisoft isn't done tinkering yet, and during Year 3 it will add a map pick-and-ban system, rework the Hereford Base map, and more. You can find out all about the upcoming changes here. 

But it's not all sunshine and rainbows, and some players are upset about recent changes to the game's business model. The most upvoted post in the game's subreddit is a thread chronicling the complaints, chief among them the fact that limited-time cosmetic item bundles, called Outbreak Packs, will only be purchasable with real money, a move that the original thread's creator calls "anti-consumer".

Players are also upset about the lack of refunds for weapon attachments and operators, as mentioned above. If you spent a lot of money unlocking all those operators a month ago then tough luck, because you're not getting it back.

The update has come with a few bugs, too, which Ubisoft has detailed in this Reddit thread. They include some players not receiving four free Outbreak packs (which everyone was meant to) and "intermittent disconnections". If you're experiencing any problems, head to the thread to find out more.