Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3.3 patch notes, including Warden & Iana nerfs

The Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3.3 patch notes have been announced, and top fraggers have been targeted with nerfs to Iana and Warden in an attempt to curb the run-and-gun meta.

R6 Siege is a tricky game to balance, with over 60 Operators in the game, each with a different complex gadget. Ubisoft is very responsive to the meta though and always attempts to keep things on a level playing field - even if the best attackers and defenders typically stay near the top.

So, if you're after all of the changes coming soon in the Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3.3 update, make sure to continue reading to see the full patch notes, with adjustments to Frost, Sens, Iana, Warden, and plenty more.

• Catch up with all the changes for this season with the Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3 patch notes

Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3.3 patch notes

Here are all of the Operator balance changes arriving in the Y8S3.3 patch in Rainbow Six Siege:

Frost

• Welcome Mat Removal by a Teammate now takes four seconds (down from 4.3 seconds), and no debuff is applied to the captured player
• Welcome Mat Removal by self now takes four seconds (up from 2.5 seconds)
• A debuff will now be applied to players who remove the trap by themselves, lasting for 60 seconds and applying the following effects:
  • 20% speed reduction
  • Unable to sprint
  • Health set to 20 hp
  • Trail of blood is left behind the player
  • Counted as a entering the Down But Not Out (DBNO) state, so will die instead of being downed for the rest of the round

These changes are slightly different to those that were already on the test server, as they removed the incentive for players to revive their trapped teammates. The debuff should also help counter the run-and-gun meta by applying heavy downsides to players who revive themselves.

Iana

• Removed Frag Grenades
• Added Stun Grenades
• Added Gonne-6 as a Secondary Weapon

While I do love playing Iana, there is certainly a reason why she's considered to be unanimously the best Operator in the game - and frags play a big part in that. With the addition of the Gonne-6, she does not lose her counter-gadget capabilities, but this slightly reduces her attacking power.

Finka

• Added Frag Grenades
• Removed Gonne-6 as a Secondary Weapon

As almost the counter to Iana, Finka has had a nice buff with the addition of frag grenades. They have bounced on and off of her loadout ever since her release, but this addition should hopefully make her feel like a stronger part of the meta.

Gridlock

• Removed Breach Charges
• Added Frag Grenades
• Removed Gonne-6 as a Secondary Weapon

Gridlock is one of the most underrated Operators in the game due to her flank watch capabilities, and the addition of frag grenades to her loadout should only make her more viable.

Sens

• Reduced vertical and lateral recoil for the POF-9
• Reduced recoil increase after long bursts for the POF-9

It is not contentious to say that Sens is one of the least popular Ops in Rainbow Six Siege right now, and the near zero pick rate and -2% win delta certainly proves this. It has always felt strange that their weapon was weak with challenging recoil, but this change makes me want to give them a proper chance, and hopefully, they will see a rejuvenated place in the meta.

Tachanka

• DP27 damage increased to 60 (from 49)

This is a positive change to help Tachanka feel stronger, as his current rate of fire is a lot slower than most. While this doesn't make the gun any faster, it does increase his overall time to kill, allowing him to carve a niche if you can hit your shots.

Warden

• Armour increased to 3 (from 2)
• Speed decreased to 1 (from 2)

This is perhaps the biggest nerf of the lot in the Y8S3.3 patch notes, reducing Warden to his original 3/1 armour/speed balance. Warden has become the most popular defender pick this season due to his incredible roaming capabilities in the current run-and-gun meta.

This change should either push Warden players back towards the bomb site or make it easier for Attackers to deal with him when he is on a roam. I am glad that he has kept his 1.5x sight though, as that remains key to his gadget's success.

When does Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3.3 go live?

The Y8S3.3 update will go live in Rainbow Six Siege on October 10, 2023 at 2pm BST. It is thankfully the exact same time for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, so no console is ahead of behind in the overall schedule.

Ubisoft has informed players that there is expected to be roughly 60 minutes of downtime, but this can be extended if things don't go as smoothly as planned, so make sure to pay attention to official channels if the game isn't back up by 3pm BST.

Additionally, I always try and stay out of a ranked game at least an hour before the patch, as you never know how long a match is going to take, and the last thing I want is to be kicked in the depths of overtime.

That wraps up the complete Rainbow Six Siege Y8S3.3 patch notes though, giving you all of the Operator adjustments that are coming in the next patch. You can also see all of the pick rate and win delta info for Y8S3 so far on the Designer Notes page, so make sure to check it out.

We've got plenty more like this that you can read on our R6 Siege homepage, but make sure to find out all about the latest Operator Ram in our comprehensive overview.