Rainbow Six Siege: Blood Orchid Launches today; new ops, ‘Theme Park’ map
Ubisoft is dropping the biggest update yet. The Blood Orchid file promises to adjust lighting, stabilise framerates and cut loading times. More importantly, a new map with ‘Theme Park’ along with three new operators. Rainbow Six: Siege hasn’t seen new operators or a new map since January 2017.
Fresh Map is Fresh
‘Theme Park’ is a larger map. It’s convoluted and ‘misleading’ – this should lead to interesting ambushes and unexpected engagements. The map also features some verticality, like ‘Consulate’, there is a lobby area and areas to peak into large sections of the building’s interior from outside. 
The three operators are available to Season Pass holders immediately while the plebs have to wait until the 12th September. Then players can TK for taking the new characters as much as they like. Two operators, Ying and Lesion hail from Blood Orchid’s hometown of Hong Kong while Ela is the lonely Polish GROM incumbent.
Hong Kong’s SDU
Ying is an attacker armed with three ‘Candela’, a versatile six-pack of flashes. This special flasher can be rolled under doors or drone holes or shot through penetrable surfaces like Fuze’s cluster grenade. ‘Candela’ also comes with a timer but is vulnerable to Jäger’s ‘Magpie’ device and shock wires laid by Bandit. She comes with a choice of Claymore mine or smoke grenades. The SDU attacker carries a SIX 12 shotgun or T-95 LSW light machine-gun.
Lesion is the SDU defender and is armed with a rather unique gadget, the ‘Gu’ mine. This mine can be laid every 35 seconds by Lesion and is difficult to spot. It takes some health, stops victims from running as well as affecting their vision. Since Lesion can spot the mines and gets a points update when one goes off, it can be used as an alarm but also for meta-abusive wallbanging. Looking forward to that. An impact grande or deployable shield make for interesting secondaries. The defender comes armed with a SIX 12 SD shotgun or T-5 submachine gun.
The lone Polish GROM
Ela is the only three-speeder of Blood Orchid as the two Hong Kong ops are two-speeds. Her ability to roam as well as lay ‘Grzmot’ mines will probably be lethal. ‘Grzmot’ mines flash, disorient and slow attackers who step into their proximity. The mines can be stuck to any surface that Valkyrie’s ‘Black Eye’ cameras can stick to but are vulnerable to Thatcher’s EMP grenade and Twitch’s drone. She carries four for use in-round and another for when she is downed, giving team-mates a little safety to approach to revive. Ela’s secondary gadget is some barbed wire or a pair of impact grenades. Her loadout has a choice of Scorpion EVO 3 submachine-gun or FO-12 shotgun.
