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Rainbow Six Siege’s Operation Split Fire Adds Shield‑Breaking Defender, Ranked Overhaul and Drone Racing

Stricter matchmaking rules plus enforced PC security aim to curb cheating and reshape who can reach the game’s top leaderboards.

Overview

  • Ubisoft revealed Operation Split Fire during the EWC grand final on Saturday and said the Test Server opens August 17 with the full season launching September 1.
  • The season introduces Noor, an Egyptian Defender who uses the Horus Lance Launcher to attach up to five projectiles to shields or surfaces that erupt in flame to disrupt shield-led attacker pushes.
  • Ranked 3.0 is being revised with hidden MMR removed, five placement matches, larger RP swings, a soft seasonal reset that moves top Champions down to Emerald 3, and limits on mixed-rank squads entering Champion lobbies.
  • A mid-season Legend Division will create a solo-queue public leaderboard that requires Champion rank, a prior Platinum season, positive reputation, two-factor authentication, and the ShieldGuard Secure Platform (Secure Boot, Windows Memory Integrity, TPM 2.0).
  • The update also adds a limited 3v3 Arcade (September 8–22), the Wasteland Circuit drone-racing event (September 23–October 13), targeted map updates starting with Villa, and operator and weapon balance changes that target the shield meta.