Rainbow Six Siege X is going absolutely bananas with laser tripwires next season

Now that the launch of Rainbow Six Siege X is behind us, Ubisoft is back to releasing new operators at a steady clip. The first new op of the Siege X era is Denari, a Swiss defender with laser traps so flexible that Aruni must be green with jealousy.

I played a few rounds of Denari at a remote preview event last week and quickly got the hang of his T.R.I.P. laser emitters: He gets seven, you can toss them anywhere, and they can all link together into a web of stinging tripwires as long as nothing blocks their path.

If Denari's freeform laser webs sound like a straight upgrade to Aruni's laser prisons that only work on doors, windows, and walls, that's because they very well might be. Denari's lasers cover way more ground—they can link from an entire room away—forcing attackers to contend with them more often. With just two emitters, Denari can laser up a space that would require most of Aruni's gates.

Of course, flexibility comes with a catch in Siege: While Aruni's gates are indestructible and can be reactivated, T.R.I.P.s are as fragile as any other throwable trap. They can be shot, exploded, zapped, hacked, or deactivated with an EMP. As such, it's not always a great idea to invest all seven emitters to make one room light up like a bank vault, because losing just one connecting emitter might cut off the majority of the grid.

T.R.I.P. lasers don't shut down after somebody or something trips them, and they only deal 5-10 damage (it was so little I could barely tell it happened) as opposed to Aruni's punishing 30. They're annoying, but once you can see them, getting rid of them is trivial. Where a well-placed Aruni gate can force time-crunched attackers to abandon a plan, Denari is more about delaying the inevitable.

But there are other reasons to play Denari over Aruni. Here's his full kit:

• Speed: 3, Armor: 1 —An increasingly rare movement advantage in Siege.
• Primary weapons: Scorpion EVO SMG, FMG-9 SMG
• Secondary weapons: Glaive-12 slug shotgun, P226 MK25 pistol
• Gadgets: Deployable Shield, Observation Blockers

Denari's packing one of the most popular SMGs in the game: Ela's Scorpion EVO. That and his speed alone could make him a comfortable roamer, though his secondary gadgets suggest an anchor playstyle.

In his backup holster is a surprise that might steal the show: The Glaive-12, a new secondary slug shotgun that holds four shells per reload. Think of the Glaive as a pocket BOSG—it's a two-shot kill to the body with high destruction, so it's perfect for opening surprise angles or destroying debris blocking two T.R.I.P.s from linking.

Seriously judging an operator's viability this early is a fool's errand, but I am curious who Denari might replace in someone's regular rotation. Maybe Ela, but her concussion mines are much easier to hide than lasers, and they're more oppressive.

The more likely operators to lose playtime are Melusi or Alibi, two other defenders who are more attractive for their guns than their distraction traps.

If Denari sounds like a pass for now, you might be more interested in three maps getting "modernized" visual passes next season: Nighthaven Labs, Lair, and Consulate. We took a tour of the remastered maps in our play session and, yep, they look a lot better with Siege X's more dramatic lighting and updated textures. That said, it's a somewhat random trio of maps to group: Both Lair and Nighthaven are still new enough that everyone avoids them like the plague in Ranked (even though Nighthaven is excellent), so I suspect Consulate will be the only one that earns audible cheers.

The test server for Operation High Stakes—yes, Siege still names every season like classic Rainbow Six missions, it's fun—begins tomorrow, August 18. Test servers typically last a few weeks, so expect the full update to land early in September.