Secondary is a topic that often skirts around discussions of balance until it’s too prominent. Take frag grenades for example, until the concept of using them as depth charges came around they weren’t all that problematic. Even then, it was more a problem of too many meta operators having access to the gadget at once than the gadget itself.
But secondary gadgets are a huge aspect to balancing operators. Done properly an op with a niche primary gadget gets valuable secondary gadgets to make them a more well rounded pick and ops with powerful primary gadgets are limited by less powerful secondary gadgets. If you want to get deep in the weeds you can even take the guns ops have into account. Having the F2 is a hell of a reason to pick Twitch already. Her historical use has been the “Fragger go kill” op more often than a true tactical reason.
Unfortunately this approach to balancing hasn’t been how things go. Of course, you know that. The LMG meta didn’t start only because of the LMGs, it was helped because of a combination of powerful guns on meta ops with powerful secondary utility. Finka had an LMG, healed chip damage, and had frag grenades. Why would you not take her?
We’re in a similar situation with Lion right now. Sans the LMG of course. (Still has 50 bullets though) The guy has utility up the wazoo with the EE1D, a Gonne-6, and the pick of the litter when it comes to secondary utility. He’s a menace. This wasn’t always the case, as Lion was a decent pick, but not nearly so useful when he only had flashbangs. Secondary utility is clearly an aspect of gameplay that cannot be ignored when it comes to balancing.
But it isn’t just meta ops with already good kits getting frags, its also weak ops getting bad secondary utility. Look at IQ, she has a clear place in the meta but only just. Her primary gadget is only useful to counter information ops like Valkyrie and Echo, but is more of a reactionary pick. Her secondary utility doesn’t make her stand out. Breach charges or claymores and no Gonne-6. No utility burn and no utility clear. She’s got good guns, sure, but it’s Year 7. There’s very little room for a “Fragger go kill” op with nothing else going for them when Iana can do that and also bring frags.
IQ is in the unfortunate position of having a valuable but nonessential primary gadget and near useless secondary utility. Claymores stop run outs and breach charges open softwalls, but comp teams know how to watch flank and a softbreach op is almost always brought to attacking line ups. Unless there is a known information op brought by the Defense there is absolutely no reason to bring an IQ. And she isn’t alone in this struggle.
Buck was in a similar place until he was given a Gonne-6 and hard breach charges. I wrote about how those changes brought him back as a viable option here. On Defense you can have an op like Jaeger, where the choice is between a bullet proof camera and barbed wire. Barbed wire is effectively interchangeable with proximity mines and both are overlooked in favor of ops like Melusi, who force util burn while also revealing Attacker locations. Melusi also brings more useful utility in a bullet proof cam or impact grenades, an actual decision on what to bring on any given round. Gadgets like proximity alarms aren’t useful to the point where there’s no reason to even consider using them.
Unless you have a 500IQ plan for that barbed wire or claymore, there’s often no benefit to bringing the utility besides “It’s a meta op with nothing better” or “We already have 2 deployable shields.” Not great reasoning there. Powerful secondary gadgets like frag grenades and impacts should be and are balanced around. There’s a reason Thermite isn’t Fragmite anymore. There’s also a reason no hard breach ops have the Gonne-6. However, where’s the thought behind weaker ops and gadgets that have grown redundant?
As mentioned, barbed wire and proxies aren’t very useful anymore. That makes it the defacto gadget to give to new ops to make sure they aren’t over tuned. On Attack it’s the same thing except with breach charges and claymores. Claymores got a bit more valuable thanks to recent updates granting 2 of them per op, but they’re still nowhere as valuable as frags, flashes, or smokes. Obviously not every gadget can be as useful as frags and nitro cells but when I pick Nomad I never question whether breach charges or flashbangs will be more useful. The answer is blindingly obvious.
This isn’t to say proximity alarms are useless, or that breach charges will never be used. But rather they are weaker utility that is used more as a way to hold operators back rather than provide meaningful choices when it comes to secondary utility. When forced to choose between a deployable shield and proxies, the decision is nonexistent. The concepts of utility burn and utility clear are cemented into the meta game of Siege. It’s just a waste to make utility a ball and chain around operators, some of which really don’t need to be weighed down any more than their primary gadget already does. Utility should provide interesting ways to create new situations in Siege, yet some gadgets are getting left behind as balancing tools instead.