Rainbow Six: Siege has just revealed Crystal Guard, its’ third season of Year 6, which is bringing a number of rebalances, improvements and new additions to the game. First and foremost, Crystal Guard introduces Osa as a new playable character. This operator uses a shield which can be carried, attached to the floor and fixed onto window frames. The shield can provide valuable cover that you can still see through for a tactical advantage. Osa herself is the head of Nightraven R&D, where she designs gear for the other operators in her company. In an official blogpost, she’s described:

If one’s imagination is the only limit, there’s virtually nothing Osa can’t make.

Osa will also be Rainbow Six: Siege’s first transgender operator, which is a great step forward for the game as well as the industry, which could use some more transgender representation.

Crystal Guard will also introduce a number of quality of life improvements. Elite headgear and elite uniforms can now be paired together in any fashion so long as the player owns both of them with the same operator. Operator armor has been replaced with health (three-armor operators have 125 health, two-armor 0perators have 110 health, and one-armor operators have 100 health). Personally, I’ll appreciate the rim light which will now highlight enemy players, thereby avoiding issues with unfair camouflages (this can also be turned off in the pause menu).

Plenty of characters have also gotten reworked in this latest season. Twitch, IQ, Mute and Fuze have each gotten major character-specific updates, so if you use these operators then be sure to check out the full patch notes. As for other character changes, operators Maverick, Clash, Amaru, Goyo and Zero have all had their prices decreased, so now is the time to add them to your squad!

Finally, as with all good updates, there are also plenty of bug fixes and balance patches for devout Rainbow Six: Siege fans to comb through, including a number of reworks for the maps Bank, Coastline and Clubhouse. These reworks range anywhere from new doorways to alternate bomb placements, so staying up to date with these is a must for any players looking to dominate in the game’s new season.

Crystal Guard’s release date hasn’t been officially announced, but based on the test servers opening on August 17, the new season will probably drop around September 6.