Operation Split Fire is bringing one of the biggest balance passes Rainbow Six Siege has seen in a while, and it targets exactly the weapons and operators the community has been complaining about. Y11S3 reins in the defender DMR meta, cuts the SMG-12 down to size, reworks how Dokkaebi’s calls behave, and hands Kali a package of buffs to make her sniper worth picking again.
Quick answer: In Y11S3, the MK14 EBR and AR-15.50 lose damage and their muzzle brake on defense, the SMG-12’s damage drops from 28 to 16, Dokkaebi’s Jegeo Payload becomes an interruptible upload that Mute and Tubarão can stop, and Kali’s CSRX 300 gets lower magnification, more ammo, and a faster fire rate. These changes are expected to go live on September 1, 2026.
Dokkaebi’s Jegeo Payload becomes interruptible
Dokkaebi’s call mechanic has been a constant headache on defense. Earlier in the season, a per-target cooldown tried to stop her from spamming calls, but the gadget still did too much for too little effort. Y11S3 changes how the call actually works instead of just adding another timer on top.
Going forward, the Jegeo Payload keeps a constant connection between Dokkaebi and the targeted defender. If that connection is broken, the call ends immediately. That single change opens up real counterplay. Mute and Tubarão can once again shut down calls, either through Mute’s jammers or Tubarão’s Zoto Canister. Killing Dokkaebi mid-upload also cancels it.
During a call, Dokkaebi’s tablet stays out and active, which means Solis and her Spec-IO scanner can pick it up and reveal her position. Her loadout shifts too, with the Impact EMP Grenades swapped out for Breach Charges. It’s a meaningful trade that pushes her back toward being a support pick rather than a lone-wolf information machine.
Kali gets buffs to her CSRX 300 and LV-Lance
Kali has drifted out of the meta for a long time. With Impact EMP Grenades everywhere and the reworked Thatcher covering the same anti-gadget role, there was rarely a reason to slot her in. Y11S3 addresses both her gadget flow and her rifle to make her competitive again.
The biggest quality-of-life fix is that switching to the LV-Lance no longer drops your ADS or lean state, so you can plant a lance without losing your aim. Her CSRX 300 sniper also gets a wide set of tuning changes, though not all of them are upgrades. Recoil and hip-fire spread go up as a trade-off for the extra ammo and quicker follow-up shots.
| CSRX 300 attribute | New | Old |
|---|---|---|
| Short magnification | 3.5x | 5x |
| Long magnification | 8x | 12x |
| Max ammo | 51 | 36 |
| Pump time | 0.8s | 1s |
| First shot multiplier | 3.5 | 2.5 |
| Hip-fire spread | 0.4 | 0.3455 |
| Recoil | Increased | |
Defender weapon nerfs: DMRs and the SMG-12
The DMR problem has been the loudest complaint on defense. After ACOGs were stripped from a large number of defender weapons, the MK14 EBR on Aruni and the AR-15.50 on Tubarão became the default gunfight loadout because they still hit hard at range. Y11S3 pulls both below the 60-damage line, strips their muzzle brake on defense, and bumps up first-shot recoil so they aren’t as forgiving on the initial tap.
The SMG-12 gets an even sharper cut. As a secondary it has offered a huge magazine, strong damage, and manageable recoil for a long time, which made it a near-automatic pick. Its damage is being more than halved, and both its magazine and reserve ammo are shrinking.
| Weapon | Changes |
|---|---|
| SMG-12 | Damage 16 (was 28); magazine 22 (was 32); max ammo 111 (was 129) |
| MK14 EBR | Damage 56 (was 60); muzzle brake removed on defense; first-shot recoil increased |
| AR-15.50 | Damage 59 (was 67); muzzle brake removed on defense; first-shot recoil and overall recoil increased |
Refinement tweaks to operators and gadgets
Alongside the headline changes, Y11S3 includes a set of smaller adjustments meant to nudge a handful of operators and gadgets rather than overhaul them. A couple are minor nerfs, but most lean toward small buffs.
| Operator / item | Change |
|---|---|
| Lion | EE-ONE-D warning duration 1.4s (was 1.5s) |
| Kapkan | EDD damage 62 (was 60) |
| Echo | Yokai Sonic Burst refill 15s (was 16s) |
| SPSMG9 | Damage 35 (was 33) |
| Claymore | Damage 155 (was 150) |
The data behind the Y11S3 changes
These adjustments trace back to the Win Delta versus Presence numbers from Y11S2.3, measured in Platinum and above on both PC and consoles. The graphs plot how often an operator shows up against how much they swing a round, which is what flagged the DMR gunners and Dokkaebi as outliers worth reining in.
The console numbers tell a similar story, with the same power picks sitting in the strong-and-overpicked corner of the chart.
Ban rates back up why Dokkaebi in particular is getting reworked. When an operator is banned that often in high-rank lobbies, it’s a clear sign the community wants a structural fix rather than another small tweak.
All of this arrives with Operation Split Fire, which also introduces Noor as the season’s new defender. The update is expected to go live on September 1, 2026, so the SMG-12 and DMR meta you know today has a firm expiration date. Until it drops, treat the numbers above as final targets and plan your loadouts around a defense that no longer leans on ACOG-less marksman rifles.
