Operation Deadly Omen: Rainbow Six Siege Operation Deadly Omen Test Servers now live: Designer's notes, Operator balancing, and more

Rainbow Six Siege Operation Deadly Omen is just around the corner, with Ubisoft ready to introduce a new attacker named Deimos to the meta. Before Deimos' arrival to the live build, the developers launched the Test Servers for gamers interested in taking a brief look at the upcoming season.

The Y9S1 Test Servers for Deadly Omen incorporate all the promised changes Ubisoft announced at the reveal panel. These changes also include the many Operator-balancing tweaks and weapon class reworks.

This article will guide you on how to play the Deadly Omen Test Servers while listing the important Y9S1 Designer's Notes in Rainbow Six Siege.

Downloading the Rainbow Six Siege Year 9 Season 1 Test Servers through Steam and Uplay

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Depending on whether you have Rainbow Six Siege on Steam or Uplay, you will have two separate ways of downloading the Test Servers on your device. Here's how you can download it on Steam:

Steam Rainbow Six Siege Test Server (Image via Sportskeeda)

Open Steam and head to the Games tab on the top left of your screen, and click View Games Library.
Once in the Library, look for Rainbow Six Siege Test Servers. Open the page and click on Install.

For Uplay users:

Rainbow Six Siege Test Servers Uplay download (Image via Sportskeeda)

Open Uplay and click on the Games section.
Click on the My Games drop-down menu and look for Rainbow Six Siege Test Servers.
Once on the page, you can download or locate the game files if you already have them downloaded in a different storage.

Both Uplay and the Steam versions take approximately 59 GB of your storage space.

All Y9S1 Designer's Notes for Rainbow Six Siege Operation Deadly Omen

Operator balancing

With the Y9S1 Test Servers rolling in, the Operator balancing changes have been the highlight of the upcoming patch. Here's what you can expect from the Test Servers:

AZAMI

KIBA BARRIER

Barriers have 999hp.
Barriers are vulnerable to bullet damage.
The damage dealt to the barriers depends on the weapons' caliber or destruction output.

FINKA

ADRENAL SURGE

Weapon reload speed increase bonus removed.
Clears the shields' Suppressive Fire debuff. Reduces its effect by 50% if applied while affected by Adrenal Surge.

Weapon balancing

The weapon classes are also seeing some major changes with the upcoming season.

GENERAL

New classes: Revolver, Sniper Rifle, Slug Shotgun.

LIGHT MACHINE GUNS

Movement speed was reduced by 10%.

ADS TRANSITION

Normalized and simplified ADS curve transitions:
Fast: Handguns, Revolvers, Shotguns.
Medium: Marksman Rifles, Sniper Rifles.
Slow Machine Pistols, Submachine Guns, Assault Rifles, Light Machine Guns, Slug Shotguns.

ADS SPEED

Reduced ADS speed from idle/walk stances:
Handgun: 240ms (from 200).
Revolver: 240ms (from 200).
Machine Pistol: 380ms (from 280).
Submachine Gun: 460ms (from 300).
Assault Rifle: 520ms (from 400).
Light Machine Gun: 560ms (from 450).
Marksman Rifle: 520ms (from 400).
Sniper Rifle: 520ms (from 400).
Shotgun: 340ms (from 250).
Slug Shotgun: 520ms (from 400).
Hand Cannon: 240ms (from 200).
Reduced ADS speed from sprint (same proportion).
Launchers are also affected. The ADS Speed depends on the type of sight.

Sights

IRON SIGHT

Category: No sight.

Magnification: 1.0x.
Added +10% ADS speed bonus.

SIGHT

Category: Non-magnifying.

Magnification: 1.0x.
Added +5% ADS speed bonus.

MAGNIFIED

Category: Magnifying.

Magnification: ~2.5x.
Attackers' distribution:
Available on every weapon.
Defenders' distribution:
9mm C1: Frost.
P10 Roni: Mozzie.
9x19SVN: Tachanka.
ACS12: Alibi, Maestro, Azami.
AR-15.50: Tubarao.
BOSG.12.2: Vigil.
Mk 14 ERB: Aruni.
MP5K: Wamai.
MP5: Doc, Melusi, Rook.
P90: Doc, Rook.
TCSG12: Goyo, Kaid.
UMP45: Castle.
UZK50GI: Thorn.
Vector .45 ACP: Goyo.

TELESCOPIC

Category: Magnifying.

Magnification: ~3.5x.
Available only on Attacking DMRs.

RETICLES

Increased middle dot size:
Holo A.
Holo C.
Red Dot C.
Magnified A.
Reduced middle dot size:
Holo B.
Magnified C.

UNDER BARRELS

LASER

Removed Hip Fire bonus.
Added +10% ADS speed bonus.

The Laser bonus has changed to ADS speed.

GRIPS

ANGLED GRIP

Removed ADS speed bonus.
Added +20% weapon reload speed.

HORIZONTAL GRIP

The "None" option is now called "Horizontal Grip".
Added +5% movement speed bonus.

VERTICAL GRIP

Bonus reduced to +20% vertical recoil control (from +25%).

BALLISTIC SHIELD

BASE

Movement:

Every operator equipped with a Ballistic Shield will keep it in front while sprinting.
An operator equipped with a Ballistic Shield can push through a barricade without having to hit them twice. Does not work from rappel.

Weapon handling:

The ability to hip fire has been removed.
Reduced accuracy during the shield unequip animation.
During the ADS animation with a shield, the weapon will not shoot until it is pointing forward.
Reduced ADS time to 0.5 seconds walking and 0.55 seconds sprinting (from 0.6 both).
The reload animation is performed behind the shield.
The reload will now be triggered automatically when the weapon runs out of bullets.

Melee:

New defensive melee animation.
The melee now deals pushback and 65hp damage (from 100% DBNO).
New gadget throw animation from behind the shield (the animation will arrive in a later update).
New gadget trigger animation from behind the shield.
The Ballistic Shield remains equipped while escorting the Hostage.
Touching fire will trigger the guard break with 40% intensity (same as electricity).

FREE LOOK

Can hold the FREE LOOK button to check your surroundings while keeping the Ballistic Shield aiming forward.
Can throw gadgets towards the direction you are looking.

SUPPRESSIVE FIRE

The operator will be suppressed if the Ballistic Shield receives too many bullet impacts.
Trigger: 10 bullets.
Maximum intensity: 40 bullets.
Fall off: 7 seconds.
While suppressed, the operator cannot sprint.
While suppressed, the visibility is reduced according to the effect's intensity.

OPERATORS AFFECTED

Blitz
Fuze
Montagne
Clash (only suppressive fire)