Parker Mackay · @InterroTalks
13th Mar 2018 from TwitLonger
What makes Lion so strong: my take on Lion's impact in Rainbow 6.
A number of people have asked about why Lion is such a focal point for so many pros this season so I felt it appropriate to explain why I think he's so powerful. I've seen a lot of people mocking those asking about Lion on twitter/reddit/Discord and frankly it's quite frustrating. Some people can't see why he's so, so dominant right now and we should be explaining our thoughts rather than dismissing those who ask us questions.
The following opinions are mine and mine alone.
Let's start with Lion's gadget at a basic level: You press a single button and his device activates across the entire map. Lion doesn't need to stop moving, he doesn't need to be near any enemies, the ability still goes off even if he dies after channeling it. The only way to prevent Lion from using his ability is to kill him before he can use it again. That's it.
Global abilities are new to R6 and pose an interesting challenge: how do you counter them? Lion, Finka, and Dokkaebi simply press a button and their abilities go out. None of those operators are particularly vulnerable when using their gadgets nor do they run the risk of needing to be near enemies to get their devices to work.
When you look at other operators, Pulse needs to be within a set range of the attackers and can't shoot while his sensor is out; Caveira is vulnerable when she's on top of an attacker and can be killed to stop the interrogation; and Jackal's ability updates every couple seconds to only show the location of one defender. Lion can conceivably reveal every defender to his entire team three times. That's incredibly strong on its own, nevermind the fact that he can still run, move, and shoot while it's active.
I've seen a lot of people saying "But you can counter Lion by not moving!" and they are technically correct; if you stay still you won't be detected by Lion's gadget. But that only works if you aren't being chased down or discovered by the enemy team. It's simply not an acceptable strategy at most levels of this game. That argument ignores the fact that you're likely going to be droned out, pushed from another attacker, flashed, naded, smoked, or any of the other tools attackers have to hunt down defenders.
Lion's gadget is versatile, too. He can use a scan early in the round to help pinch a roamer. Imagine you're off site and get droned out so you start to run only to have Lion's scan go off. You have two options: stay still for 4 seconds and likely get killed from the attacker who is assuredly pushing you or move and hope that you don't get shot through a wall/floor/barricade. Heck, even if you survive the scan you've still given your position away so the attackers can corner you with greater ease. It's a lose-lose situation with no real way out.
Additionally, Lion can use it when a plant is going down. In ranked and casual the defuser takes 3 seconds to plant. Lion's gadget lasts long enough that you can't move to throw a C4, a Smoke canister, or shift position to kill the planter or risk giving away your position to the attackers who are waiting for you to reveal yourself. You basically have to give up the plant at that point or else you likely get killed. In Pro League the plant time is 7 seconds so you have more wiggle room but you still need to sit idle while half of the plant goes down. It makes pushing the planter all but impossible unless you have a numbers advantage.
If you somehow survive all of that then Lion can use his gadget to deny a site retake or late round rotation. The defuser is down and you want to push up to challenge the remaining attackers? Freeze! Lion scan. Trying to come back to site for a late flank? Stop right there! Lion scan. Anchors under pressure and you want to move from one site to the other to help? Halt! Lion scan, again. You can effectively cut off flanks and retakes without committing any players to them, giving you more area to deny without expending much utility.
It has so many uses and can be applied in a number of ways that it makes defending against it an all but impossible task. When your only real way of stopping it is to sit still (and likely die) or to park yourself on Mute jammer then you know the defence is very limited on what options they have to stop it. Camping a Mute jammer, which has a small radius, is not a viable strat. You're largely immobile and can be pressured in other ways such as being Bucked from above or below or pushed with flashbangs.
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Yes, a solo queued player in your casual match may pop Lion's scan three times without any warning to the rest of the team resulting in them being wasted. Does that mean his gadget is underwhelming? No. Your Thermite could use his two charges on wooden barricades or your Smoke could toss his canisters in the first minute of a round. By the same logic people could assume those two operators are weak but no one would sensibly argue that. The same applies for Lion. In fact, I'd say that even amidst the chaos of solo queuing Lion's gadget will still reward teams that lack coordination due to how strong his gadget is at giving away the position of the defenders. Even with zero communication you can still see a glowing body through a wall and spray it down.
So those are my thoughts on why Lion seems to dominate so much or the game at the moment. I like Lion as a concept but I feel the execution may need some tweaking. I'd change Lion by removing one of his charges and making it so that only he could see the outlines. Doing this would raise his skill ceiling by requiring teams to coordinate and communicate around the gadget while having to use it at crucial times or else risk wasting it. It'd make for better team play and encourage players to speak with their teammates - both of which are things that all operators should be encouraging players to do. It'd still be a strong ability and would allow defenders to have a greater chance of playing around him and surviving detection.
If you have any feedback or criticism of what I've said I welcome your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading.