Rainbow Six Siege's Three Blood Orchid Operators Detailed

Unfortunately, the wait for Rainbow Six Siege's Blood Orchid update will be longer than expected. In addition to a new release date, Ubisoft today shared more details about Blood Orchid's three Operators.

While we've already seen teases for the two Hong Kong characters, the third Operator has remained a mystery. A post on Ubisoft's blog today provides us with the first official details on the character, who is named Ela. She's a member of Poland's counter-terrorism unit, GROM, and serves as a Defender. She has Grzmot mines that can stick to any surface and detonate when they detect nearby movement. They don't deal damage, but they do disorient and stun enemies. (When she's downed, she can detonate one on her, too.) She's also equipped with a new pistol as a secondary weapon to go along with shotgun and SMG options as primary options. The specific models were not shared.

As for the other two new Operators, the blog post confirms the previously leaked details on their gadgets. Ying is an Attacker who carries a Candela, which are spheres that launch blinding flash charges into the air when deployed; Ying is immune to the effect thanks to special glasses she wears. Candelas can be tossed or rolled like a grenade--you can even cook them, though doing so causes them to take longer before actually detonating. Alternatively, they can be attached to a breachable surface so that they go through and detonate on the other side.

Lesion is a Defender who uses Gu mines, which are cloaked and thus invisible to anyone but Lesion (and IQ's gadget). When stepped on, they inject poison into an enemy that distorts their version and deals damage. Affected enemies can follow an on-screen indicator to pull the needle out and end the effects sooner, but doing so leaves them vulnerable to attack. Lesion can have as many as seven mines deployed at a time, though these are acquired over time; he doesn't start out a match with a full helping. He can also see indicators for all of the traps from anywhere on the map, letting him know when one is triggered.

Along with a new map called Theme Park, these characters represent the bulk of Blood Orchid's new content. The map will be free at launch for all players, while Year 2 season pass owners will get all three characters; everyone else will be able to purchase them with in-game currency later. More details are expected during a stream this weekend, with a full release now tentatively planned for September 5.