Ubisoft has fully revealed High Calibre, the fourth season of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege Year 6 that will not only add a new Operator in the defender Brianna “Thorn” Skehan and her Razorbloom Shell gadget, but also a rework of Outback, greater customization, new team colors, and more.
High Calibre Season, Thorn, and the new Battle Pass featuring a new exotic weapon skin will all be available November 30. To help give you a headstart on becoming the best Thorn you can be, we’ve enlisted the help of Rainbow Six Siege professional player and TSM FTX member Jason “Beaulo” Doty to share some of the best tips for using this new Defender.
Thorn and Her Razorbloom Shells Can Be a Big Problem For Attackers
While Thorn’s loadout includes a UZK50GI SMG, a Deployable Shield, and Barbed Wire, her Razorbloom Shells are the star of her arsenal. These shells can be thrown by Thorn and will stick to any surface it hits. After it detects an opponent, it “automatically propels a set of sharp blades in all directions, delivering lethal damage.” According to Beaulo, these are “proximity mines on steroids” that will strike fear into your opponents.
“Thorn’s main thing is her Razorbloom Shells which, in my eyes, are like beefed-up proximity mines or proximity mines on steroids because it alerts you to an enemy’s presence and it puts fear and this sense of danger into the attacker,” Beaulo said.
“To get the most bang for your buck out of Thorn’s Razorbloom Shells, probably put them in choke points, maybe right before they get to the site,” Beaulo continued. “If it comes down to the last minute execution on the attackers side, it really kind of speeds them up or slows them down and makes them a little bit clumsy and better positioned for you to react off of it.”
Despite Beaulo stating that these Razorbloom Shells aren’t “meta changing,” as there are other proximity mine-type gadgets in Rainbow Six Siege already, the flexibility that comes from the ability to throw them on higher or lower surfaces that would be otherwise unreachable sets them apart.
“Thorn is a little more versatile in the sense of a trap operator, because you can actually throw the gadget, you can throw it up high on the ceiling, you can throw it at the very bottom at the ground on the low end of the staircase, whatever it may be,” Beaulo said.
“I think it’s really good because if an attacker is about to challenge you at an angle and then all of a sudden they know their life is in danger, they are going to have to look at the ceiling or the bottom, completely away from head-level of where Thorn is probably going to be swinging,” Beaulo explained. “So, distracting the attacker to look away from you or divert their crosshair placement from your head is pretty impactful.”
Beaulo continued by sharing that Thorn can really be an asset to the Defenders during late-round play when the Attackers aren’t checking their surroundings as thoroughly as they would in earlier rounds.
“The real opportunities that Thorn can capitalize on and really benefit from are in the late-round, whenever the attackers get a little bit lazy,” Beaulo said. “They’ve done all the work in the pre-round and mid-round, and when it gets to the execution of the late-round, they might not be checking every single corner, they might not be checking every nook and cranny, so there are definitely going to be mistakes had on the attackers in the dying seconds of the round, and I think that’s where it’s going to really benefit the overall Defenders.”
While Thorn can be a… well… thorn in the side of the Attackers, Beaulo says she can also be countered relatively easily by most players who are cautious enough to look out for her Razorbloom Shells. Since Attackers have access to a drone, they have the ability to find Thorn’s gadget hiding around the map and alert their teammates to their location. This obviously adds another layer to an Attackers plan, but it’s an important one if Thorn is in play.
Beaulo also believes that Thorn is a great Operator for new players and veterans alike, as she has a “low-risk, high-reward” style of gameplay. Additionally, since her loadout includes a shield, barbed wire, and good guns, it makes it a good choice for those looking to learn the ropes of Rainbow Six Siege. For veterans, this variety of equipment will undoubtedly prove useful in many situations.
For those looking to learn a bit more about Thorn, Ubisoft has revealed that she was born in County Kildare, Ireland on June 18, 1993, and grew up on a farm that was known for both horse racing and military training. While most of her family members joined the military when they became of age, she chose to become part of the mounted division of Ireland’s national police force – the Garda Síochána – after one of her brothers led criminals to her family’s farm who ended up burning a stable to the ground, killing the champion horses inside. She quickly rose the ranks of the division and earned a spot at Garda’s elite tactical branch. One of her big achievements was redesigning the unit’s obstacle course, a move that would grab the attention of Caveira who, “upon barely completing the training exclaimed with exhaustion, ‘You want a job?’”
Rainbow Six Siege’s High Calibre Changes and New Features
As previously stated, High Calibre adds a bunch of new changes and new features to Rainbow Six Siege, including a rework of Outback that looks to improve balancing and player comfort. Alongside changing the main building and its exterior to help Attackers better strategize their assaults, there have also been soft walls added to the building and other areas have been cleaned up to “provide better lines of sight and balance.”
Test Servers are also getting a bit of a change and will now only be open at three times throughout a season. These three times will be labeled as Seasons Release, Lab Release, and Balancing Release. Season will contain content set to ship in the upcoming season, Lab will contain experimental content that the Rainbow Six Siege team will offer to players to gain feedback on features that are in development, and Balancing will test out Operator and other balancing changes.
Team Colors are changing from blue and orange to red and blue to “bring consistency to the UI and improve onboarding for newcomers.” While red and blue will be the new default, this can still be changed in the Accessibility section of the Options menu to any combination of red, blue, or orange. Teams will also now be referred to as “Your Team” and “Opponents” instead of “Blue Team” and “Orange Team.”
Customization is also taking center stage in Year Six, Season 4 and will let players customize their Operator’s abilities in their Loadout, view customization options in the Operators section for any character, customize their Operator Cards, and much more. There will also be new Exotic weapon skins that have a 3D effect and can be earned through Battle Pass progression.
As with most new seasons, certain Operators will see their price decreased, including Nomad, Kaid, Kali, Wamai, and Aruni. There will also be a ton of new player comfort and balancing changes, and one of them involves a Bulletproof Camera Rework that lets Defenders “rotate the Bulletproof Camera and use it to fire EMP bursts that disable opponent devices.”
As a reminder, you can unlock Thorn instantly with the premium Battle Pass available on the High Calibre season launch on November 30.