Over the years, the game has developed a solid community as the developers have always had an ear to the ground. The Rainbow Six Siege January 2025 update, or Y9S4.2 as it is officially called, is a major milestone in the evolution of the tactical shooter. After a slight break since the last update in November 2024, this is the first update of the year. The players are waiting to see how the changes in gameplay dynamics will turn out. With the onset of 2025, Y9S4.2 will shake up the meta and enhance the overall experience of the game, as promised.

Operator Balancing Changes

Buck

  • Buck’s Hard Breach Charge has been taken away.
  • In compensation, Buck now uses a Claymore.

Kapkan

  • With the removal of the Nitro Cell, Kapkan now gains utility in a more positive light. While he was previously capable of setting explosive traps that dealt damage, he is now equipped with Barbed Wire.

Lesion

  • His mines now take 30 seconds to refill instead of 25. 
  • Capped the amount of mines he can hold at 8 instead of the previous 9.

Oryx

  • Reduced the recovery time after dashing to 0.2 seconds as compared to the previous value of 0.5 seconds. 
  • Moreover, when dashing against a wall, the recovery time is now also 0.3 seconds instead of 0.5 seconds. 
  • Lowered the recovery time when Oryx dashes into an enemy from the previous 0.5 seconds to just 0.1 seconds.

Ram

  • Removed his ITA12S shotgun from his loadout.

Sledge

  • His health goes down from 3 to 2. but now moves faster, with speed going at 2 instead of 1.

Weapon Balancing Adjustments

G36C

  • Reduced the magnitude of both vertical and lateral recoil.

TCSG12

  • TCSG12 shotgun has received a damage output buff, from 63HP to 75HP.

Weapon Calibers

  • Made changes to the way that slugs are able to destroy things.

Weapon Classes

  • Changed Slug Shotguns’ starting range of damage drop-off to 15 meters from its previous value of 25 meters.
  • Raised Slug Shotguns’ endpoint from 35 to 25 meters.
  • Slug Shotguns’ damage drop-off minimum threshold has also been changed from 70% to 60%.

Quality of Life and Gameplay Bug Fixes

Audio

  • Resolved some sound problems in order to better align them with the game and its objective. This includes the Blackbeard Sprint SFX, which was out of sync with his animations.

User Experience

  • Fixed the addition of Tachanka’s elite skin ‘Slava Korolyu’ in the Weapon Skins menu, which was not listed previously for the Bearing 9 Machine Pistol.
  • Updated the information about Breach Charges in the Battle Pass menu for the current season.

Gameplay

  • Resolves the issue of a match never finishing despite the majority of players voting to cancel the round. 
  • A bug related to the Observation Tools has also been fixed. These tools used to lose signal when placed at the edge of surfaces while the player is moving in the horizontal direction.

Level Design

  • Fixed the red walls depicting defender area restriction which could be vaulted over during the Preparation Phase.
  • Made a fix targeted an exploit on the House map where operators, after standing on a bench, could exceed the height of a shed by smashing a garden gnome in the EXT APC Area.
  • Resolved the Hatch issue during explosions, which did not completely break in the 1F Lounge of the Kanal map. 
  • Addressed the issue where players could previously hop on a vending machine with Azami’s Kiba Barrier in the 2F Break Room at the Border map.

Operator Bug Fixes

  • Resolved the issue in which Blackbeard’s Breach ability could be executed during a guard break, but only under certain timings.
  • Fixed the glitch that occurred when a player attempted to use Ash’s Breaching Round while simultaneously rappelling. The rapelling hook was found to be retained even after usage.
  • Fixed a bug for Blackbeard where statistics of primary weapons were wrongly compared with the H.U.L.L Deployable Shield.
  • Updated sight issues where MK17 CQB iron sight was seen through the player camera while aiming down sight.
  • Addressed the incorrect loadout menu entries for Additional Magazines or Magazine Size which inaccuracy displayed “0”.
  • Made fixes to damage of bullets disappearing on Blackbeard’s H.U.L.L Deployable Shield while out of the scope.
  • Fixed an issue when the H.U.L.L. Deployable Shield took damage when Blackbeard sprinted and received a melee hit at the same time.
  • Repaired a caster mode problem, focusing both Blackbeard’s H.U.L.L. Deployable Shield and the weapon currently in use when he spawned on the map.
  • Corrected Osa’s Talon-8 Clear Shield inconsistency, where Osa can breach untouched barricades while she was repelling with her shield. She did so by using an “Enter” prompt was present.

Conclusion

The Rainbow Six Siege January 2025 update will surely change the way players enjoy the game. The changes and adjustments made are a major step forward. Those modifications were needed, were motivational, and could add great value to the Siege experience. With the multitude of competitive events being held this year alongside the new content, community engagement remains vital as every match will be a unique, exhilarating experience to all participants involved.