Rainbow Six Siege's Operation Steel Wave is coming up pretty soon, the new season is bringing in two new Operators: Ace and Melusi. Ace is the new Hard Breaching Attacker while Melusi is a new 3-speed Defender. They both look like they're going to have a marked impact on Siege for the foreseeable future, provided their time on the Test Server doesn't leave them radically changed from what they are right now.
Let's take a look at Melusi to figure out what makes her tick and how to get the most out of her:
10 ABOUT THE BANSHEE
Melusi's unique gadget is her Banshee Sonic Defense device. This can be placed on either a floor or a wall, and when enemies get within about six meters of it, the device activates, slowing enemies in the radius and making a sound alerting everybody to their presence.
9 BANSHEE GROWS STRONGER W/ PROXIMITY
One interesting note about the Banshee device is that the slowing effect grows stronger the closer the Attacker gets to the device. It's going to feel like wading through molasses if they want to walk through the effect of the gadget, giving Melusi and/or her team more than enough time to pounce.
8 BANSHEE IS BULLETPROOF
Possibly the most important fact about the Banshee is that it's bulletproof. You aren't going to be able to see it and simply shoot it in order to get rid of it, it's going to take a lot more work than that. There are a few operators who can take care of it with their own gadgets (which we'll get into later), but one way everybody can take care of the device is by meleeing it. That might take some doing considering the effects that the Banshee is going to have, but the enemy may not have the luxury of an alternative option.
7 WEAPONS
Melusi has access to two different primary weapons: The T-5 SMG or the Super 90 Shotgun. The T-5 is a very solid gun and is usable in just about any situation in Siege, and is likely going to be the choice for most players. That being said, the Super 90 Shotgun is by no means a useless weapon, and those who like using shotguns are definitely going to feel at home using it.
Melusi's secondary weapon is the RG-15 handgun, one of the best handguns in the game.
6 COMBO W/ SMOKE OR GOYO
There are a few different interesting operator combinations utilizing Melusi, one of which is by using her alongside a Smoke or a Goyo. It's going to be a little bit easier using her with the former because Smoke can toss his smoke grenades into an area without the enemy really being able to do much about it, if they don't kill him while he's doing it. That said, sometimes an enemy is given no other real choice but to get up close and personal with a Goyo shield.
Either way, the Banshee device is going to make it significantly more difficult for an enemy to get out of the damaging effects that either of these two operators' gadgets create.
5 COMBO W/ LESION
One of the more oppressive things you could do with a Melusi is combining her with a Lesion. They both have gadgets that severely impact what an Attacking team is going to be able to accomplish in a realistic time frame because both of their gadgets slow Attackers down to a crawl until the gadget has been dealt with. Blanketing an area with Gu Mines and Banshees is going to make tackling a certain area hell for Attackers.
4 COMBO W/ ELA/ECHO
Along the same lines as that last point, combining a Melusi with an Ela or an Echo is going to have a similar effect. Both of these operators produce a concussion effect creating a difficult scenario for Attackers to deal with. This is especially going to be true with a roaming Ela and Melusi wandering around the map, capitalizing on the confusion.
3 COMBO W/ BARBED WIRE
A combo possible with a bunch of different operators is with Barbed Wire. While this effect doesn't stack between Barbed Wire and the Banshee, splitting them up allows you to really cast a wide net when it comes to blanketing an area in oppressive utility.
Between the two of these, Attackers are going to be slow at just about any avenue, and Defenders are going to have a lot of audio-based intel to make use of when it comes to locating the brunt of the Attacking push.
2 COUNTERED BY FINKA, EXPLOSIVES, THATCHER, AND KALI
Melusi does have quite a few counters to contend with. The usual counter of Thatcher and Kali applies, those they will simply deactivate the Banshee for a short time as opposed to destroying it. However, explosives are going to destroy the Banshee, like with Ash or Zofia's utility. Finka can use her ability to utterly negate the slowing effects of the Banshee, essentially just turning the Banshee into a weird-looking proximity alarm.
1 OVERALL
Overall, Melusi is going to be able to fit into a lot of different lineups. She's going to fulfill the same role that a lot of other Defenders already fill; it's just going to be a personal preference as to whether you bring her or someone like Lesion, Ela, etc. Combining operators like her together can create an ultra-oppressive scenario for Attackers, but keep in mind that doing that is going to prevent your team from bringing something else that might be equally (or more) important.
At the end of the day, if Melusi wasn't a 3-speed with a pretty good gun, she probably wouldn't have the same impact that she's going to have. Her fragging potential elevates her above her utility's status.