Ubisoft is holding another Rainbow Six Siege free weekend this month, giving gamers who haven't yet sampled its terror-busting pleasures (or who just prefer to play when it doesn't cost anything) a chance to dive in and shoot some bad guys.   

The free weekend begins on February 15 (so not this weekend, but next) and runs until February 18, and will include access to the full game, including all maps, modes, and Operators. As always, progress will carry over if you opt to purchase the full game once the weekend is complete. 

The free weekend will actually run longer if you play on consoles, until February 19 on Xbox one, and February 20 on PlayStation 4. I have no idea why that might be, but if anyone at Ubisoft tells me I'll be sure to let you know. On the upside, once the free weekend is over for everyone, PC players will be able to tackle the upcoming Outbreak co-op mode on Rainbow Six Siege test server. The new mode will become available to all players on March 6 and run until April 3. 

Rainbow Six Siege is also on sale for up to half price, but that applies (mostly) to consoles too: The Standard edition is 40 percent off on the Ubisoft Store but all other editions, and all editions on Steam, are currently still full price. 

Rainbow Six Siege is getting an alien-shooting four-player cooperative mode. If you'd told me that two years ago, I wouldn't have believed you. While it's among my favourite shooters, RS:6 isn't a funny or lighthearted game. It's very serious. 

But it's happening, and while we won't get the full reveal until the Siege Invitational this February 18, Ubisoft has rolled out a second trailer. Embedded above, it features ye olde operator Ash calling Russians (who are, obviously, usually the baddies) to help with a rather pressing matter. I would hazzard a guess that the pressing matter is aliens, and the requirement to shoot them.

The Outbreak event will launch to coincide with Operation Chimera, the next expansion which will usher in Year 3 of the tactical shooter. Two new operators and a few other details have been (scantily) detailed, and you can read about all that over here.

The Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Chimera tease-fest continues today with a new trailer hinting at the outer-space origins of the Outbreak that will signal the start of Year 3, and finally revealing the names of the two new Operators who have been brought in to help clean it up. 

Lion, a French Operator, and Finka, a Russian, will join Smoke, Ying, Buck, Kapkan, Ash, Doc, Tachanka, Glaz, and Recruit in the town of Truth or Consequences, which has fallen prey to an extraterrestrial parasite called the Apex, delivered to our neighborhood courtesy of an old Soviet space capsule. Only these operators will be playable in Outbreak—"We made a selection of Operators who are the most adapted and relevant for this specific game mode, from a design standpoint," Ubi writes.

Anyway, these alien organisms have transformed the population into "horrific creatures"—Ubisoft seems to be studiously avoiding the word "zombies"—spread across five unique archetypes, each with its own unique abilities. In response, the government has cordoned the town and issued orders for a team of three Operators to go in and clean house.   

In a bit of a surprise, the new mode will also have three exclusive maps, which will be larger, more open, and more linear than the competitive maps because they're designed specifically for co-op play. They will retain the game's "trademark destruction elements," however, so players will still be able to blow big holes in walls to facilitate movement, ambushes, or just because it's fun. 

Outbreak will be playable at two difficulty levels, Normal and Pandemic, with the latter offering stronger monsters and friendly fire, "making positional awareness and communication all that much more necessary," Ubisoft said. "Additionally, players will have to make smart use of barriers and fortifications to defend against an enemy that doesn't mind taking a few bullets as it rushes its target."  

Rainbow Six Siege Year 3, and the month-long Outbreak event, will begin on March 6. More information about what's in store will be revealed during the Six Invitationals Finals, which runs February 18-19 and will be broadcast on Twitch. 

The pantheon of great videogame weapons is dominated by shotguns, rocket launchers, and the odd sword or hammer. And it makes sense, these tools are responsible for the large majority of blood you’ll spill in most games. It’s a shame though, because there’s something wonderful and elegant about a perfect grenade toss—that graceful arc through the air before unleashing untold, instant destruction. If the rat-a-tat of a gun is the string section of an orchestra, grenades are that ear-splitting crash cymbal. Pound for pound, grenades can be every bit as satisfying—and there’s no shortage of wacky grenades that rival the most absurd guns.

In honor of these little death dealers, we’re rounding up the best grenades in PC gaming—from the satisfying shockwave of FEAR’s frag grenades to the divine chorus that spells doom for your team in Worms. If you like watching things explode (or implode!), we’ve got some good ‘nades for you.

Holy Hand Grenade - Worms 

Few grenades are capable of triggering horrific childhood memories quite like Worms’ Holy Hand Grenade. I vividly remember the dread of seeing one plop down next to several of my worms, a chorus of angels singing a triumphant “Hallelujah!” before blasting them all straight to hell. It’s the enormity of God’s holy wrath contained in the tiniest of weapons. Compared to Worm’s other assortment of absurd weaponry, the Holy Hand Grenade is elegant and simple: You throw it and count to three—four shall thou not count, neither count thou two, accepting that thou then proceed to three—and revel in the obscenely large explosion capable of destroying a huge portion of the map. And if the initial blast doesn’t finish off your enemy, you can always rest easy knowing it’ll send them soaring through the air to a watery grave. Monty Python might have invented it, but Worms’ hilarious variation is what really made this one of PC gaming’s most iconic grenades. — Steven Messner

Pulse Grenade - Destiny 2 

I generally don’t like a damage-over-time ‘nades, but until these were nerfed they were straight up broken in Destiny 2. Pulse Grenades are arc-powered pineapples that are exclusive to the Warlock Stormcaller and the Titan Striker subclasses, the latter of which could carry two at once with the top skill tree. Toss a Pulse Grenade down and the initial impact sends enemies pinwheeling through the air. Anything not killed instantly is then flash fried by repeated bursts of electrical energy that look like a fire in a sparkler factory. The funny thing is that Pulse grenades were absolutely garbage in Destiny 1, but for the sequel they were buffed to be good enough to melt bosses, whilst almost every other grenade got reduced to water balloon effectiveness. But that’s Bungie’s sandbox balance team for you. The daft bastards. — Tim Clark 

N6A3 Fragmentation Grenade - FEAR 

*Slow motion voice* Get dowwn!

I don't know what porn is, but watching a N6A3 fragmentation grenade explode in slow motion is grenade porn. The explosion bends the air into a visible concussive bubble, a shockwave that sends office supplies flying and men's asses to the ground. There's a half-second of quiet as everything floats away from the grenade's center, and then pop, fire and shrapnel fill the screen and dissolve the men and their asses into errant blood spatter textures and goofy little giblets. It takes some time for the smoke to clear. Exhale with it as you try to convince yourself FEAR came out over ten years ago. — James Davenport 

Medic grenade - Killing Floor 2 

Killing Floor 2 is so focused on shooting and blowing stuff up that even its medics get to shoot you (with love) and blow you up (with vitality). I love that KF2's medic class doesn't have to slow down or weild a Team Fortress 2 or Overwatch-like proton pack to do the job: just alt fire to stick a teammate with a healing dart, or throw a medic grenade to pop a cloud of blue smoke for everyone to suck into their lungs. It’s not the most impressive visual effect, but nailing a toss and capturing your struggling teammates in the cool, healthy embrace of your medicinal gas, which also damages Zeds, can prevent a team wipe—and I love saving my teammates by violently chucking metal at them.— Tyler Wilde

Boogie Bomb - Fortnite Battle Royale 

Would you rather your digital avatar be torn limb from limb by bits of shrapnel or would you rather lose control of it altogether, forced into some stupid boogie nights wiggle as your executioner watches and laughs? Sure, Fortnite Battle Royale's Boogie Bomb is cute, but the reality is a horror show, a tool built for humiliation. Death by one such mirror-plated 'nade is like being taken to the influencer gallows, where you're forced to tromp around and bash cymbals together for a meme-hemorrhaging audience before the floor gives out. I'll take the shrapnel, please. — James Davenport

Thermal Imploder - Star Wars Battlefront

The best grenades don’t always have to have to do something wacky, sometimes it’s all in the presentation—and in that regard the Thermal Imploder is unparalleled (except by FEAR’s N6A3 ‘nade, maybe). EA’s Battlefront stuck relatively close to Star War’s canon when it came to weaponry, but the Thermal Imploder is an exception I’m willing to make. The blast effect is gorgeous, but it’s really the bwah-bwuuuuh! of its detonation that makes this grenade stand out. If FEAR's frag grenade is grenade porn for the eyes, then the Thermal Imploder is grenade porno music for the ears. — Steven Messner

Candela - Rainbow Six Siege 

The fanciest flash grenade in video games, Ying's 'candela' spits out not one but six independent flash charges in quick succession, making it hard to shield yourself from. It also has strangely nuanced throwing behavior. If you cook it, up to three LEDs will illuminate on the candela before throwing. The more lights that are lit, the further the tactical light ball will roll along a floor. And separately, you can simply affix the thing to any 'soft' wall in Siege to flash through the wall. It's fun to hurl into a bombsite or hostage room, knowing at the very least you've sent anyone inside scattering. — Evan Lahti

Singularity grenade - Borderlands 2 

I played most of Borderlands 2 solo as Maya, so singularity grenades, which suck enemies into a little black hole before exploding, were my best friend. I sampled a few other grenade mods in the early hours, but once I found my first singularity, I never looked back. I'd actually hold onto low-level singularity mods instead of using higher-level bouncing betty mods and the like. They're that good, especially for Maya, whose super skill preys on clusters of enemies. They're also fabulous with rocket launchers, and I have fond memories of gawking at their Geforce PhysX particle effects. Remember when that was still novel? Where do the years go... — Austin Wood

Frag Grenade - XCOM

On the surface, frags in XCOM are not that impressive. You can cause more damage by shooting someone, their range isn't great, they destroy equipment so you can't salvage stuff off anyone you do manage to kill with them, and lining up that bubble showing where they will land can be annoying. It's not flashy, it's not special, it doesn't draw attention to itself. It's the Jimmy Stewart of handheld explosives. But the humble XCOM frag grenade is in everybody's inventory from mission one, they destroy cover, and you don't have a percentage chance to miss with them. They always lands where you want and cause enough damage to kill a baseline sectoid. The number of turns where I've messed up every easy shot and found myself in a situation where someone's fucked unless I can cause precisely three points of damage to that one guy over there are beyond counting. In those situations, the XCOM frag grenade is the best.— Jody Macgregor

Incendiary Grenade - The Division 

If the twenty first century has taught us anything, and so far it probably hasn’t, it’s that blowing people up is bad. But for real transgressive thrills you can’t beat setting (pretend) people on fire.  I think my love of immolating NPCs began with TimeSplitters on PS1, because Free Radical Design went the extra mile to code in really scared HOLYFUCKIMONFIRE screams. But it was with The Division that my pyromania took root. I main the Firecrest gear set which is built around setting dudes on fire. Mostly with the rinky dink flamethrower turret, but also with the extra Incendiary Grenades the gear grants. Pop one of these spicy little peppers and it spills liquid napalm over a satisfyingly wide surface area. Enemies caught within the nade’s roast radius start flapping around like, well… like their arses on fire. With the Wildfire talent enabled the burn spreads to their colleagues in that satisfyingly organic way that Ubisoft games seem to have nailed. I dunno, man. Burning is just the best. — Tim Clark

Ubisoft has shared a sneak peek into the upcoming Rainbow Six Siege Year 3 Season 1 expansion Operation Chimera, which will add a pair of new operators to the game and the co-op Outbreak mode, set on a new map based in a small town in New Mexico that's struggling with some unusual problems. 

The nationalities of the new operators—one from Russia, the other from France—were revealed in November of last year, but today's tease gives the first details about what they bring to the party. The French operator, with an astounding service record and a long list of regrets (I have no idea how that impacts TTK), uses a drone to maintain the perimeter in quarantined areas, while the Russian specialist (who may not actually be Russian, the announcement says they moved to the country to pursue their studies) employs "self-dissolving nanobots" that can apparently be put to use in a number of different ways. Maybe these nanobots provide a temporary buff to him, or teammates?

They've been drafted into Rainbow Six as part of a newly formed CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) Threat Unit. They'll be part of the standard multiplayer roster and also playable in the time-limited Outbreak mode, in which teams of three operators try to contain an epidemic in the Biblically-named town of "Truth or Consequences." Ubisoft hasn't come hard with the details but my impression is that this medical intervention will be less about years of theoretical research that slowly evolves into practical applications, and more about shooting everything that looks like it's about to express a sudden craving for brains. 

The Outbreak event will be open to all Rainbow Six Siege owners, and will feature exclusive headgear, uniforms, weapon skins, and charms available in Outbreak Packs. The packs will be available for 300 R6 Credits each ($2.50), and Ubisoft guarantees that no duplicates will drop. Some items will also be available via gameplay. 

A solid go date for Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Chimera has not been announced, but Ubisoft said that more information—the announcement promises "all the intel your heart desires," so it will presumably be the full and final lowdown on what's happening and when—will be revealed during the Six Invitational, which will run February 13-18 and be broadcast on Twitch.

Update: We've added Maverick and Clash, and juggled a few other operators based on balancing tweaks and how they sit in the current meta. 

There is no true 'best' Rainbow Six Siege operator. Which character is best depends on the map, the objective location, your playstyle, and your opponent.

We can, however, outline recommendations for which operators we think are best for most players, in most situations. Rook has simple, essentially guaranteed utility. Thermite is useful on Consulate, and a bunch of other maps that require hard breaching. Here, then, are the operators we value most in the meta right now.

New operators

Rainbow Six Siege's final season of 2018 will take us to Morocco for Operation Wind Bastion, where we'll be introduced to two new operators from that nation's special operations unit: one attacker, one defender. We'll meet them, along with a new map, on November 18. Expect an update to this guide around then.

ATTACKERS

The two most useful attackers

Hibana or ThermiteThere are three characters who can breach reinforced surfaces in Siege. Though Maverick can poke tactical holes with his blowtorch, Thermite and Hibana specialize in opening up fortified walls and hatches, their gadgets setting the table for a successful attack.

If you don't have one of these operators, you're probably going to make things easier on the defending team, who will have to hold fewer angles. Hibana in particular is a valuable counter to defenders like Mira, knocking out her one-way mirrors from safety.

Look, you can make a rock band without guitarists, but having at least one of these dudes is probably a good idea.

Very useful

FinkaGood guns and a fantastic gadget make Finka a useful operator on nearly any team. Her gadget gives a teamwide buff, steadying aim, increasing health and picking up any operators who have been downed. This can be used to great effect just before a push, tipping the scales of a firefight into your team's favor. A recent nerf decreased how long each Adrenal Surge lasts and slowed down the ADS speed increase, but well-timed uses can still make a big difference in a fight.

Her Spear .308 assault rifle is still underwhelming in terms of damage and fire rate, but her SASG shotgun and 6P41 LMG are interesting choices for more aggressive playstyles (rushing with a shotgun can be extremely effective in the right hands). Finka technically has the easiest gun handling in the game, considering you’ll almost never be in a fireright without her buffs applied. Because of this and her simplistic gadget, she’s very friendly to new players. Her recent addition of frag grenades doesn’t compliment her flow as much as their previous owner, IQ, but they’ll get the job done either way.  

MaverickMaverick’s kit is interesting because he disrupts aspects of Siege’s meta that have been set in stone since launch, and there isn't really a hard counter to his quiet blowtorch, which can dislodge defenders from entrenched positions even if it doesn't directly lead to kills. 

The risk for Mav comes with how close he has to be to a surface to perform his handiwork. Working the blow torch takes a lot of practice and finesse to cut maneuverable holes (and not get headshot by a vigilant defender), so he’s not going to be the perfect replacement for Hibana or Thermite. What he does best is assist in destroying mute jammers/batteries, opening sightlines for teammates to use, and utilize his light step and quiet torch to flank the enemy from an angle they’re not watching.

The rest of his loadout places him somewhere similar to Ash’s fragging potential, depending on your style. His M4 assault rifle is a powerful but jumpy weapon that’s easy to recommend for most, but his AR-15.50 is also a great DMR that hits like a truck. Consider a suppressor on either weapon to enhance his stealth capabilities.

ThatcherThatcher is the no-brainer sidekick to a Hibana or Thermite. If a defending team has deployed Mute's jammers or Bandit's batteries, they've countered your hard breacher. Thatcher is the counter to that counter: his EMP grenades can kill at least 10 different gadgets, including static surveillance cameras.

For months now, Ubisoft has been planning a rework of Thatcher that makes him less of a powerhouse over electronics. The first step of this process was recently implemented, meaning his EMP grenades will no longer destroy any sort of camera, just disable them for 10 seconds. Ubi has bigger plans for his playstyle, but for now he still remains dominant over Bandit and Mute’s denying efforts. He also has three different primaries to pick from (including a shotgun), and can can carry a claymore. A downside is that he can't carry a SMG as a secondary.

IQUndervalued; she's Pulse, but as an attacker. Lurk under the objective and pop traps and gadgets at will. Her main drawback is that she requires coordination and communication between teammates to get full value from her kit. A recent nerf to her kit took away frag grenades and lowered the range on her scanner. She now sits in a similar place as Capitão: an operator without the destructive tools that help them use their gadget better. IQ is still great for tracking down Valk cameras and spotting jammers, but her kit limits what she can do to get rid of them. 

YingHer candelas are uber flash grenades that spit out charges in multiple directions. Though they can be untrustworthy, combining them with smoke grenades, which Ying can carry, usually means you're able to create a visual wall in a doorway or window, allowing your teammates to gain a foothold on a bombsite. Ying's especially useful in 'perimeter' bombsites, where attackers can immediately enter the objective room from the exterior of the map. Just keep in mind that all characters have a natural defense against flash grenades in Siege: turning away. A recent buff to LMG damage has also made Ying a stronger pick for firefights. 

TwitchHer shock drone is usually less effective than Thatcher's EMP, but at the moment it's one of the only ways of safely dealing with Mute, Mira, Kapkan, and a host of other electronic traps. Experienced players will gun down her weaponized drones quickly, but Twitch still carries one of the better ARs in Siege in the F2 (aka FAMAS), with the option of a semi-auto marksman rifle instead. 

Viable, but not essential

BlackbeardThink of him as the only operator in Siege with a helmet. A helmet that can quickly break. With his disposable shield up, he's the slowest operator in the game, moving at 62.5% the baseline speed, making peeking more difficult. He pairs well with Montagne or Blitz, as they combine to create layers of protection for peeking.

LionHis gadget, the EE-ONE-D sonar drone, can reveal the location of any moving defenders for a few seconds—with full body outlines. Popping a scan at the right time can give roaming defenders a difficult choice-stay still and be unable to flank, or move and reveal their position to the attacking team. 

When it works, it’s incredible, and can lead to some early picks. But more often than not the scan doesn’t tend to hit anything, merely inconveniencing enemies for a few seconds rather than revealing them. Lion’s guns, while good, don’t quite make up his usually counterable gadget. Fantastic in certain situations, but far from a must-pick.

SledgeOn objectives with a soft ceiling, he's your guy. Knocking out the roof over defenders' heads will send them scattering for safe positions, and is a great way of priming an objective for an attack. There’s really nothing bad to say about good ‘ol Sledge. He’s just fantastically balanced. 

ZofiaWith Sledge, she's the only soft breacher who can make a big hole without warning. Then again, her utility (concussing and breaching) is something almost every attacker can carry in weaker forms. Her M762 assault rifle is great for mid-to-long range, and despite her slower speed, Zofia is a great way to bring the destruction of Ash while having more concussion that’s safer to use. 

MontagneA unique tank who can fully protect himself from one direction with an extendable shield, Montagne's presence can make defenders uncomfortable. But if his teammates don't support him, he can equally find himself in awkward situations, unable to lower his guard without getting killed. 

BlitzUnlike Montagne, he's got gaps in his armor: small segments of Blitz's hitboxes are exposed, even when he's crouching. In close, though, his ability to blind enemies without dropping his guard is paralyzing. But with a recent buff that increased his speed and allowed him keep his shield up while sprinting, he has become a defender’s worst nightmare if you find yourselves alone together. 

AshSmall hitboxes, highly mobile, and the ability to breach ceilings. For players that favor aggression, Ash is still a reasonable pick in the current meta. 

CapitãoIn January 2018, his Para-308 AR got a buff from 43 to 48 base damage, along with slightly reduced recoil, changes that made it a much better primary weapon. His gadget, however, remains situational. 

Capitão's flame crossbow bolt can kill or flush out defenders who are camping around a corner, but you'd often rather just shoot someone than fling a gadget arrow at them. Though, with Clash now in the picture on the defender side, Cap’s crossbow has emerged as an excellent counter when fired at her feet. 

BuckVersatility. Buck's combo shotgun/AR or shotgun/marksman rifle mean he can adapt for different situations more quickly than other characters. His shotgun is a great tool for ambushing anchors through soft walls. He's also one of the only attackers who carries frag grenades, an excellent piece of kit.

DokkaebiAfter months of players trying to figure out Dokkaebi’s position in the meta, it has become clear that she excels as a supportive attacker. Her two Logic Bombs are useful when timed with attack pushes or for rooting out roamers. Her camera hacking has seen a buff with all of the new types of cameras that have joined the fray, like Evil Eyes, bulletproof cameras, and both Yokai drones.

She’s also one of the few attackers with access to smoke grenades, making her great for planting the defuser or pursuing the hostage. With the new recoil system introduced with Operation Grim Sky, SMGs have taken a big hit to their viability. The recoil of Dokk’s SMG-12 is now a bucking bull. Fire it in bursts or let loose at extremely close range. Her MK14 rifle picks up the slack in long-range engagements with particularly controllable recoil and potential for high damage output.

JackalAnother supportive attacker, Jackal excels at making life harder for roamers, and easier for his allies. His ability to track footprints can not only help allies engaged in firefights across the map, but also make for the occasional wallbang kill. His secondary shotgun is almost like having a small version of Sledge’s hammer. It’s a handy tool for opening doors, windows, and quick murder holes in ceilings/floors.He’s also equipped with smoke grenades, making him excellent for targeted assaults onto positions where you’ve tracked an enemy. His C7 is one of the most controllable and accurate assault rifles in the game. 

Not recommended

FuzeOne of Siege's longest-enduring memes, Fuze is famously a bad idea in hostage situations. His indiscriminate grenade launchers spit bombs through any soft surface over a radius of a few meters, hurling in semi-random arcs that are usually easy to avoid. These explosive pucks can help take out enemy gadgets, but they also won't spare the lives of any valuable drones your teammates have snuck onto an objective. Useful and fun for newcomers looking for easy kills and destruction.

GlazSiege's sole true sniper, Glaz's high-penetration bullets are lethal on a few bombsites, like the garage on House, but his lack of utility and versatility is too frequently a liability. He's not who I'd want in a 1v3 with 60 seconds on the clock. Tunnel vision is also a problem, leaving him open to counter-peeking outside his field of view.

DEFENDERS

Safe bets

Mute or BanditOn many maps and in most objective rooms, you're gonna want to deny breaching of a couple critical surfaces. Mute and Bandit's gadgets provide an extra layer of defense to reinforced walls—either will block Hibana or Thermite's breaching charges. And both of these operators have the added benefit of being a nuisance to drones.

If your opponent is dumb enough to not bring a Thatcher, Mute or Bandit will make life a lot harder for them. Mute's utility has only gone up in Operation Chimera, with his jammers acting as a hard counter to Lion's scan.

Rook or DocFor inexperienced players, Rook and Doc are safe bets. Having a durable anchor on your team who plays on or near the objective is a good idea. Rook improves the survivability on everyone on the team with his bag of armor plates (known colloquially as t-shirts or sweaters), and Doc, if he stays alive, can erase damage. Both of these defenders can attach ACOG scopes, too, allowing them to guard chokepoints from a safer distance.

SmokeAn excellent anchor, Smoke can literally cover chokepoints with his asphyxiating gas grenades. The gadget allows him to 'eat' the clock better than any other operator: he can block entry to single-room objectives (hostage, secure area) with the poison cloud, daring enemies to run through it and risk death. His kit is also pretty strong: an SMG primary or secondary, and the option of barbed wire or impact nades. Though, with the recent nerf to SMG recoil, his SMG-11 is no longer the unofficial primary weapon it used to be. 

JägerThough his ACOG scope was taken away in a 2017 nerf, Jäger's mobility and 416-C Carbine make him an effective defender for players who like to play fast and peek aggressively. His gadget shuts down attackers like Thatcher, Ash, Fuse, and even Hibana in some situations, in addition to eating up the stun, frag, or smoke grenades that most operators can carry.

Very useful

ElaSpeedy and versatile, with thin hitboxes and one of the best traps in the game right now. Lurk around the corner from one of your concussion mines and peek after it triggers to catch dazed attackers. 

MiraSeen often in high-level play, her one-way mirrors are powerful deterrents, and practically obligatory on a few objective rooms. One common strategy is to pop a small hole just outside the edge of her gadget's window, then lean out to shoot through it after you've watched someone through the one-way mirror. I'm less keen on Mira's fast-firing SMG, which is a little too hot to handle. 

ValkyrieKnowledge is power, and Valkyrie's sticky, throwable cameras can potentially feed your team with information. Half the battle, though, is knowing where to put them—Siege has 19 maps, and each map has a handful of objective rooms, so you might have to memorize 40 or 50 camera positions to truly maximize her ability. Here's an easy one: remove a barricade and toss one of her cameras outside at the start of a round to give your team another external view. 

Viable, but not essential

Alibi Dubbed the “ultimate roamer” by Ubi before her release, Alibi’s kit excels at roaming around the map and wasting the enemy’s time. Her Prisma decoys are great for playing mind games with the attackers when used either outside or inside the objective. At worst, they’ll slow the attackers down. And at best, they’ll shoot the decoys and broadcast their position to your entire team. Her Storm SMG is amazing at close range, so capitalizing on those fooled by the Prisma is a deadly combo. 

After months in the meta, most players are accustomed to Alibi's tricks. Ubi may have to shake up her kit in 2019.

ClashOne of the most radically unique operators in Siege, Clash is the very first defending shield operator. Her electro shield is functionally similar to Montagne’s extending shield, except Clash’s shield is always extended and she can’t melee or shoot while it’s equipped. What she can do is electrify enemies to slow down and damage them for a few seconds. This ability is simply a nuisance when she’s working alone, but powerful when backed up by teammates capitalizing on disadvantaged enemies.

Clash can be a great help with backup, but becomes a mediocre anchor with a good machine pistol when alone. Because of this, the chips have to fall in place for her to be utilized completely, and that takes coordination that isn’t always easy to come by in Siege. If “professional Monty” is already your specialty, then Clash is a fun and refreshing take on that role. But make sure you trust your squad to back you up when needed.

LesionThe most dangerous thing in cargo shorts since Lara Croft, Lesion carries a great SMG and a gadget that hurts the enemy while providing some passive info—enemies yelp in pain when they step on the trap, can't can't sprint until they pull it out. The key is staying alive long enough to maximize the distribution of his Gu mines. Pair his gadget with Frost's bear trap to create a potential insta-kill.

CaveiraA genetically-engineered superlurker, Cav can sprint silently in bursts of about 10 seconds by activating Silent Step. Players who excel at using cameras (or simply their ears) to locate enemies can use this quiet movement to stage crushing ambushes. And if Cav can isolate an enemy, she can perform a melee takedown 'interrogation' to temporarily reveal the position of all remaining enemies—pulling this off usually guarantees a win.

KapkanLast year, Kapkan received a rework to his kit that completely altered his play style. He’s now a two-speed and has five traps that no longer have laser tripwires, making them much easier to walk into. He can also take impact grenades, opening him up to be an effective roamer with traps scattered across the map. Clever placement of his traps can make a big difference in firefights when the attackers have already lost most of their health to them. Kapkan also has access to the excellent VSN SMG and SASG shotguns, each one of the best in their classes.  

EchoAn insane annoyance, in the right hands. His drones are the only ones in the game that can stick to ceilings, where it perches invisibly as an elevated camera, ready to smack attackers with disorienting ultrasonic bursts (another form of concussion, basically). After a recent buff that gave him an extra Yokai drone, he feels much more viable as an anchor who can watch multiple points of entry and still protect his own body.  But still, he’s an operator who takes tight team coordination and timing to truly maximize, and talented players can shoot accurately while concussed, negating much of the impact of his unique ability.  

Pulse Pulse sniffs out enemy movement with his heartbeat monitor. The option of a nitro charge allows him to play below a bombsite, using his handheld wallhack in combination with the C4 to blow up attackers from safety. He's a strong lurker who can feed info to his teammates, but his gadget takes more finesse to operate than it seems.

Maestro Maestro performs great on many maps, but an adjustment to the recoil behavior of his LMG in October 2018 pushes him a bit down our list. His gadget, the Evil Eye, remains a multi-purpose bulletproof spotting tool and harassment turret—one of the best gadgets in the game in some objective rooms. Place these strategically in or around the objective to make effective call-outs, destroy attacking gadgets with the laser, and even take down enemies with annoying zaps of five health at a time.  

Not recommended 

VigilA tough one to grade. In the hands of a crack shot, his slug-firing shotgun is devastating, and one of the few guns in the game that can quickly break a Blackbeard. His K1A SMG is an excellent weapon at close-to-mid range, making him a generally good roamer. I go back and forth on the usefulness of his ability, which cloaks him from drones and cameras, but signals his general presence in the process. For me, knowing that Vigil's somewhere in a room is usually about the same thing as knowing exactly where he is, and he can't cloak forever.

FrostShe's fun, but nine out of ten experienced players will dispatch Frost's ankle-biting 'welcome mats' before stepping into them. Her SMG is also one of the slower-firing guns of its type in Siege, a game where any headshot is a one-hit kill. 

CastleCastle's walls can often be as much of an obstacle for defenders as they are for attackers, denying flank routes and preventing barricade wallbangs. They make the room you're trying to guard more rigid, but often that inflexibility can make your defense more predictable. With a well-organized defense, his barricades can come in handy on some maps, but he’s hard to recommend to players without a tight gameplan.

Avoid completely

TachankaNo amount of buffs can fix the Spetznaz soldier affectionately known as "Our Lord and Savior." If it's your first time playing Siege, Tachanka's shielded, static turret might seem powerful: it's a big gun fed by a big, 61-round frisbee that can cover a hallway or chokepoint. Unfortunately, it's countered by the most mundane gadget in the game: a drone. Revealing Tachanka's position almost instantly undoes his effectiveness, and the small rotation radius of the turret limits the positions he can place it. Otherwise, his mag-fed shotgun is a disaster. May he live on in memes. Amen.