Rainbow Six: Siege Ember Rise Goyo Breakdown

Rainbow Six: Siege’s newest Operator is an explosive addition to the Defender’s side.

Goyo is Ember Rise’s Defense counterpart to Amaru and seems like a clearer shoo-in for the meta. Traps have been popular for a while, especially in competitive, and Goyo’s Vulcan shields are a potent one. Goyo himself likewise has the chops to back up his gadget’s usefulness.

Baseline he is a two speed, two armor character. I’m not a huge fan of it on Amaru, and I’m not the biggest fan of it on Goyo either. I think both three-speed and three armor characters are excellent on defense, but the middle ground is pretty meh. Still, like Amaru, it is workable.

Rainbow Six: Siege Ember Rise Goyo Breakdown

The Vulcan Shield is Goyo’s unique gadget, and with it comes a modern new design for all Deployable Shields. As a side note, another attractive thing is how Goyo casually flips these suckers out like he’s whipping out a folding chair at a party. It’s a fun little touch.

Less fun (for the people on the receiving end) is how the Vulcan Shield works: any Attacker vaulting over it sets off an explosive charge that deals damage, lights them ablaze, and creates a damaging fire field similar to Capitao’s damaging crossbow bolt. It does 34 damage baseline, with 12 damage per tick (36 damage per second) and a 12-second duration. It is devastating to be caught in this blast, and few Operators can survive for long after being exposed.

The shield needs to be neutralized in other ways (any explosive works, as does shooting the charge from the other side), but even then it creates the fire on the ground, denying area even when it’s been destroyed, making it probably the most effective area denial tool in the game. It can be used to plug both doorways and walls, as Breaching Charges and Thermal Breach tools can set it off, making Goyo a soft deterrent to Thermite and Hibana pushes as well.

Take care not to set the Vulcan too close to a Hostage, as if it kills the Hostage; it is always the Defending team’s fault.

His weapons are equally devastating, with the choice of either Mira’s Vector .45 ACP or Kaid’s TCSG 12, both stellar guns. The Vector is a lot of people’s favorite SMG (I can’t seem to get a handle on it, but my taste in weapons appears to be a bit weird compared to some other peoples’), and has excellent all-around stats, with a high fire rate and accuracy, but low stopping power.

The TCSG 12, on the other hand, is a contender for my favorite gun. It takes me back to the days of sniping people as an Engineer in Battlefield Bad Company 2 with the slug M870. High stopping power, insane accuracy, suppressor capable, and impressive scope. What’s not to love?

His secondary option is less stellar, but with two of the best defensive primaries in the game, you don’t need your pistol much. The P229 (Hibana and Echo’s non-bearing nine sidearm) is merely okay, with decent stopping power, accuracy, and magazine size. Nothing to write home about, but reliable.

Even his secondary gadgets are excellent, with the choice of both Nitro Cells for holding down the fort and Impact Grenades for hardcore roaming strats (and a side of being able to remote detonate his own Vulcan Shield).

While I have no dearth of defensive Operators I enjoy, I still expect Goyo to become one of my new favorites, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t have at least an above-average win rate in competitive with his kit.