Rainbow Six Siege builds a wall with new character Azami

There are severals keys to successfully playing defense in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege. There's the tried-and-true "Shoot everybody until everybody dies" method that most casual teams adopt, but there's also the "keep away" method of making sure the Attackers can't even reach the bomb site. That likely means plugging a few glaring holes, which is just what Siege's newest Defender is designed to accomplish. Meet Azami, an Operator who likes to keep herself at arm's length through the aid of her unique ability.

Kana "Azami" Fujiwara is the face of Rainbow Six Siege's latest update, called Demon Veil. In this first major update of Year 7 (no, I can't believe it's been seven years, either), players are introduced to this brash Operator from Tokyo. While she packs a punch with her 9x19VSN assault rifle and ACS12 shotgun, it's her Kiba Barrier gadget that makes her a potent force on the field.

The Kiba Barrier looks like a normal kunai on the surface. However, when thrown against a surface, it expands into a foam-like barrier. The barrier is impenetrable, unable to be taken down with bullets or strikes. Imagine my surprise when I was on the Attacker side trying to bust into a safehouse through an outside window, only to find an unbreakable foam-like wall on the other side. The Kiba Barrier can prevent Attackers from coming in, but it's also useful for plugging up any holes. For example, if Flores were to blow a hole through a wall using his Ratero Charge, Azami can chuck a kunai at the open area and it would immediately expand to block access. Not only can nobody go through the hole anymore, but nobody could even shoot through it. This same strategy can be used to close up any open windows or exposed ceiling hatches or holes.

The only other thing to note with Azami is that you have to be fairly competent with your aim. As readers may notice through my gameplay video below, if you hit the floor, nothing happens and you waste a kunai. Your aim must be true in order for it to activate properly, since the kunai are such thin projectiles.

While Azami marks a major addition to Siege, she's not the only feature of the Demon Veil update. In fact, Ubisoft Montreal went beyond a simple map rework this time around. Instead, they put together a brand new map, the first in three years, called Emerald Plains. This will take players into a country club in Ireland, where teams will have to infiltrate a fancy chateau in order to find bomb sites. Emerald Plains wasn't available to play during this past week's preview session, but it will be ready to roll for the Demon Veil update.

The normal gameplay loop is being adjusted, as well. For the Attackers, players now have the option to change their Opeators during the game's Preparation Phase. What this means is, if your drone spots a specific Defender and it turns to be a hard counter to your Attacker, you can change your character before the start of the round. You'll have to act fast, though, because the window to change Operators closes shortly before the end of the Preparation Phase.

As for the Defenders, one of them is getting a fairly big change. Old friend Goyo is having his Volcan Shield totally overhauled. Because the shield tripped up as many Defenders as Attackers, that part of his primary gadget is being removed entirely. What's left is Goyo's Volcan Canister, which is now a much more versatile tool that can be attached to walls and floors. Clever Goyo players can place one at a likely point of entry and obliterate any Attacker teams as they try to enter.

One other major addition to Demon Veil is Team Deathmatch, which takes the objective nature of Siege and throws it all out the window. Ubisoft Montreal hopes players will jump into TDM playlists as a warmup for more competitive, objective-based outings. They're quick outings with players able to choose between most Attackers and Defenders. I tried TDM earlier this week and I have thoughts, but let's put a pin in that for later this weekend.

There's more to come from Rainbow Six Siege beyond Azami and the Demon Veil update throughout the weekend, especially as the Six Invitational 2022 continues to play out. Rainbow Six Siege's Demon Veil update is coming soon.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?