Rainbow Six Siege (R6) players demand return of SMG-11 to Sledge

Launched in 2015, Rainbow Six Siege is a popular online multiplayer first-person shooting game that focuses on 5v5 action. Developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft, it is also one of the most played games on Steam.

The game emphasizes team cooperation and features destructible environments, thanks to AnvilNext 2.0 engine. After partnering up with ESL, Rainbow Six Siege has managed to turn itself into one of the most competitive e-sport titles.

Rainbow Six Siege lets players choose from a set of operators, each of which features a unique ability and weapons that help the team secure objectives. Ubisoft ensures that the game stays fresh by releasing new operators and balances the game by nerfing or buffing operator stats and weapons.

Having said that, the Rainbow Six Siege Y6S3 Pre-Season Designer’s Notes mentioned that the devs removed the SMG-11 from Sledge secondary weapon list. In case you are unaware, Sledge is an attacker side operator that excels at breaching surfaces that are not enforced using a hammer.

Since his primary weapons include an L85A2 assault rifle and an M590A1 shotgun, players often relied on his secondary SMG-11 for close combat. But the removal of the SMG-11 from Sledge’s secondary is causing a huge uproar in the Rainbow community.

It seems Ubisoft decided to make the changes owing to his pick rate in the pro league. On the other hand, players say that the change was absolutely unwarranted and are angry why Ubisoft makes decisions taking into consideration only the pro league players.

Now, many are demanding that Ubisoft return the SMG-11 to Sledge. Players argue that the SMG-11 is not the reason why pro league players picked him in the first place.

Moreover, some say that using SMG-11 requires practice because of its high recoil rate.

Ubisoft has already nerfed the only other breacher in the game, Buck. So players had no choice but to turn to Sledge if they wanted to destroy non-inforced walls and materials such as Maestro’s cam.

Sledge did not need to lose his smg-11. He was perfectly fine as is and, honestly, I would have rather had him lose the frags than the smg-11. I think any of having that gun makes them infinitely more versatile and it especially made Sledge so much better. This is really an awful change. He’s been fine for 6 years and this was not necessary
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If this SMG-11 change is permanent, the attacking team is just going to be left with 2 last luster soft breach operators. Ubi’s balancing descison here really shows that they did not think about this “balancing” change at all. The SMG-11 is a part of Sledge’s kit that should never be touched. It’s the same as removing Smoke or Mute’s shotgun or SMG-11 (or Buck’s frags for that matter).

WHY can’t Ubi just **TRY** giving Buck frags back on the TTS or main build or a few weeks. It really wouldn’t hurt at all. And also, the SMG-11 actually takes skill and time to master, unlike the OG R4-C or something. This change really pisses me off. This season was looking so good, and I was excited to hop back into Siege again, but now Ubi has CRUSHED one of my favorite main attackers.
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It looks like the uproar is a clear indication of how much Ubisoft caters to pro league players instead of making decisions on overall game stats. It still remains to be seen if Buck will be able to make a comeback and take on Sledge’s position as the popular breacher.

That brings us to the question, do you think Rainbow Six Siege developers should return Sledge his SMG-11? Make sure you share your thoughts with us in the comment section down below.

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Featured image source: Ubisoft

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