What Does Win Delta Mean in Rainbow Six Siege Patch Notes?

When it comes to the Rainbow Six Siege patch notes, developers not only share the upcoming changes but also try to explain the reason behind all the buffs or nerfs. As a result, you might encounter a chart called Win Delta in most Rainbow Six Siege Designer’s Notes updates. But, what does it mean?

Simply put, Win Delta is a major parameter in a statistics chart of Ranked matches in Siege. The chart represents the Pick Rate (Presence) and Win Percentage (Win Delta) of each operator in Siege. The entire chart has been divided into four regions:

• Underpicked, Too Weak: Low Pick Rate and low Win Percentage
• Underpicked, Too Strong: Low Pick Rate and high Win Percentage
• Overpicked, Too Weak: High Pick Rate and low Win Percentage
• Overpicked, Too Weak: High Pick Rate and high Win Percentage

Keep in mind that the charts above only contain the data from Ranked matches in the Platinum, Diamond, and Champions tiers. Most of the pro Rainbow Six Siege players are playing in the aforementioned tiers and they are probably affected the most with every minor change.

How Win Delta and Presence Affect Operator Balance

Any time that an operator records a very high or a very low value in each one of the two major parameters, there is a high possibility of upcoming nerf or buff for that character. Take Tachanka - ahem… Lord Tachanka - as an example. Before the rework, Tachanka’s Win Delta was low enough that he was out of the chart most of the time with a Presence near to zero. But now, he has a way better record than before, though he is still an Underpicked operator in high-tier matches.

In the Y6S1.3 update for Rainbow Six Siege, the data showcased a very high Presence for Jager, leading him out of the chart. This was followed by a weapon nerf for the operator that reduced his 416-C magazine capacity and increased its recoil. Now, when you take a look at the latest Defender pick rate, Jager is inside the chart with a significant reduction in Presence.

The same goes for Ash, who lost one Breaching Round and saw an increase in the recoil of her R4-C prior to the beginning of Y6S2. The operator’s Presence has been reduced significantly since then, which probably led to a dramatic increase in the pick rate of Zofia, who is the latest nerfed operator. This new nerf will cut down from Zofia’s Presence and distribute it to all the other Attackers.

On the other hand, an operator like Frost who has got a balanced pick rate and a high win percentage receives a nerf as well by losing her x1.5 sight. This will probably result in lower Presence and Win Delta for the operator in the next update.

Every Season, the Win Delta chart in Rainbow Six Siege is being shared by Ubisoft in Designer’s Notes updates. Although some believe that it’s impossible to make all operators balanced enough to get them closer to the center of the chart, Ubisoft has relied on the Win Delta and Presence data in Rainbow Six Siege for a long time now, and it doesn’t seem to be a subject of change anytime soon.

Rainbow Six Siege is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. It’s also playable via Xbox Game Pass.