Most Broken Video Game Characters: Lion
The Search for the Most Broken Video Game Character
After two years of clawing its way back from a disastrous launch plagued by game-breaking glitches and failed mechanics, Rainbow Six: Siege was finally on track to becoming a major E-Sport. But just as it found its footing, the game had to dig itself out of the grave once again with the release of Year 3 Season 1: Operation Chimera and the controversial introduction of Lion.
Wallhack
A cheat allowing players to track enemies through walls in real-time.
While wallhacking is a notorious exploit in competitive first-person shooters, Rainbow Six: Siege introduced it as a legitimate mechanic with the arrival of Lion in Operation Chimera. Lion’s gadget, the EE-ONE-D aerial drone, could scan the entire map, and if an enemy moved during the scan, their exact position would be revealed to Lion’s entire team—not as a blip on a mini-map, but as a full-body silhouette visible through walls, essentially creating a legal wallhack.
Intel is often a team’s most valuable asset. The ability to see exactly where opponents are in real time is a game-breaking advantage, especially in a title built around destructible environments. Once a player’s location was known, they could be eliminated through walls, floors, or ceilings without the attacker ever exposing themselves. And the kicker? Lion’s drone could be used three times per round.
In a game as heavily tactical as Siege, this was an ability that simply didn’t belong. The community knew it instantly—calls for nerfs were immediate. Some players suggested reducing the number of scans, but this missed the point. People tend to ignore actions that don’t affect them, but as soon as one does, that action is a problem. Players would correlate their death to the fact that they got Lion Scanned, regardless how many scans they were able to avoid before—it doesn't matter how many times you get scanned when it only takes 1.
Lion disobeyed the fundamental nature of game, creating a problem that the developers didn’t know how to fix for over a year. So, they effectively benched him.
Tamed
On November 30, 2018, Ubisoft announced that Lion would be placed in “competitive quarantine,” meaning he was banned from selection in official Rainbow Six: Siege esports events. However, this restriction only applied to the professional scene—Lion remained fully playable in standard online matches. So while pro players were spared, the rest of the Siege community continued to suffer under the reign of The Lion King.
It wasn't until April 16, 2019, with the release of the Y4S1.3 patch, that Lion was finally tamed in a complete rework. Among several changes, the scan duration and the length of time enemies were revealed were both reduced. More importantly, enemy positions were no longer displayed as glowing silhouettes but as simple red pings, similar to Alibi’s decoys—finally stripping Lion of his “legal wallhack” and restoring balance to the game.
