The highly popular first-person tactical shooter video game, "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege", is set to receive its latest update today, Dec. 15. The update, described by the game's developer as "a mid-season reinforcement patch", will contain a myriad of new changes that are all aimed at improving the game's competitive balance; the update also introduces a newly redesigned PvP map, along with a few changes on some of the characters' stats.

One of the biggest changes in this update is the tweaking done for the game's arguably weakest operator, Tachanka. Ubisoft even admits in the patch notes that this operator has the lowest pick rate out of any other character in the game. The main reason for his low pick rate is that the character's mobility and attack power tradeoff is highly imbalanced. To counter this, the update added a new shield for Tachanka's turret --- making it hard for other characters now to kill him once they find him.

Despite having a shield that protects Tachanka from headshots to where his turret is facing, other players can still outflank him to get the advantage. His shield can also be destroyed if enough damage is done to it. To avoid imbalance with the character's defense capabilities, the turret itself will also get additional recoil and spread values. The update tweaks some of the other operators' stats as well --- including Fuze, Bandit, Smoke, and Blackbeard. Moreover, several weapon stats have been adjusted to further promote a more balanced gameplay.

As for the new PvP map, the game's developers have redesigned the standard "Bartlett University" map, which was only previously made available for non-PvP modes. The map itself now contains several environmental elements as well, making it more suitable to be a competitive arena. Furthermore, several areas of the map can now be completely destroyed to allow for a more dynamic battleground. The update also comes with a number of bug fixes and enhancements, which can be found on the full patch notes.