Rainbow Six Siege has dozens of weapons that all take time and practice to master. It’s no small feat, but we’re here to make the learning process a little easier by breaking down all of Siege’s weapon types and attachments to help you find your play style.

Weapons

Assault rifles are held almost exclusively by the attackers and, in terms of raw stats, are the most powerful weapons in Rainbow Six Siege. They punch hard, fire quickly, and sport a superior range to the SMGs held by defenders. The main differences between ARs and SMGs are their damage and effective range. Damage values differ for every weapon, but ARs damage are usually 8-15 points higher than SMGs. They also have superior damage drop off, meaning you can fire from farther away without losing damage in the process.

When using an AR, always take advantage of your superior range ability to use an ACOG scope. Peek from far angles and prioritize opening broader sightlines. You’re also best off taking at least one attachment to help control rapid-fire recoil, like the compensator or vertical grip. If you prefer a more close-range approach, the holographic and reflex sights are valid options.

Submachine guns are held primarily by defenders. Because of their weaker damage, limited sight attachments, and steep damage drop off, they require a more reserved approached compared to assault rifles. SMGs excel at mid-to-close-range combat, which can be perfect for defenders. What they lack in damage and range, they make up for in fire rate and recoil. In most cases, position yourself with an SMG so that the attackers must come to you. Watch closer angles and use your high fire rate to dish out max DPS and overpower your enemy’s assault rifle. Because of their relatively low recoil, SMGs are great candidates for the angled grip that enables quicker aiming.

Light machine guns are held primarily by attackers with the exception of Maestro’s ALDA 5.56. For many players, they’re an interesting alternative to assault rifles with advantages and weaknesses. The most obvious plus for LMGs is the clip size, which is usually at least double that of assault rifles. Time spent reloading is time wasted, but with an LMG, you rarely have that problem. Damage values are about on-par with most ARs, but they do have high recoil and lower fire rates to balance them out. Positioning with an LMG is like using an AR, but longer-range fights are riskier with higher recoil. Mid-range fits the LMG best, but always take advantage of your higher ammo count. Consider skipping the ACOG in favour of a holographic that makes rapid fire manageable. In prolonged firefights, be more aggressive and push in. You’ve got the ammo to spare.

Shotguns are the most situational weapon you’ll find in Siege. Carried by both attackers and defenders, shotguns require an entire shift in play style to best utilize them. One blast can take down an enemy at extreme close range, but any further and you won’t hit much. Each shotgun shell fires eight pellets at a random pattern within your reticule. Each pellet does the advertised damage on the weapon, usually from 30-48. Shotgun positioning is all about catching the enemy off-guard. Lock down close angles, hide in cheeky corners, and avoid long hallways brawls.

There’s always an inherent risk when trying to get so close, but the rewards can be sweet. Shotguns come in a few flavours: semi-auto and pump. Semi-auto shotguns fire quickly at a lower damage while pump shotguns punch harder at a slower speed. Though, there are a couple of outliers. The ACS12 is the only shotgun that can fire completely automatically while the BOSG and TCSG12 (carried by Vigil/Dokkaebi and Kaid respectively) are shotguns that behave more like a DMR.

The marksman rifle, or colloquially the DMR, is an attacker-exclusive weapon type that is fired only at semi-auto. This is the closest that you can get to a proper sniper rifle in Siege. Like shotguns, they’re a different beast than the rest of Siege’s arsenal and require a different playstyle. The biggest advantage for DMRs is their superlative damage drop off. Each shot carries its highest damage over a very long range. This fact, and their controllability makes the DMR the best way to pick off defenders from across the map. Damage swings from 61-71 damage, which easily outperforms ARs. ARs still have the advantage in DPS thanks to their full auto mode, but DMRs are fantastic for those who prefer a more precise tool. If you find yourself struggling to control rapid fire recoil, the DMR is a refreshing alternative.

Pistols in Siege are always a great option as a backup weapon. In most games, sidearms feel like an afterthought, but Siege pistols can drop an enemy at close range just as well as its larger brethren. Damage can range from the 30s to 50s depending on which you use, but it’s important to know that they suffer from steep damage drop off. They won’t do much from all the way down a hallway, but they can end a fight quickly in a pinch when you run out of ammo in your primary. Use them in emergencies, but always try to take fights from close range and fire as quickly as possible to get the most DPS out of your shots. As of last year pistols have almost no recoil, so it can be clutch in a moment of panic.

Attachments

The reflex, holographic, and red dot sights all serve the same purpose of giving a clearer view of where you’re aiming. When it comes to deciding which one to use, it comes down to personal preference. Which reticule gives the clearest picture or makes for easier headshots is up to you, but there are some facts to know. The holographic and red dot sights have the most precise center of aim, but also obscure the most peripheral vision with their outer casing. The reflex sight is a larger triangle with less precision, but has a small casing that doesn’t hinder your view.

The ACOG is easily the most popular attachment around. Usable by every attacker and only a select few defenders, the ACOG is the only sight that magnifies your aim and makes long range shots easier. But it also comes with a few drawbacks. The outer casing blocks much of your peripheral vision while scoped in and it also takes longer to aim. This makes it difficult to use at close range without suffering from tunnel vision.

Most weapons offer the choice of either the angled or vertical grip. The angled grip speeds up the process of aiming down sights (called ADS time) and the vertical grip reduces your recoil and bullet spread. In most cases, players prefer the vertical grip for its help with shooting precisely and winning fights. If you feel like you’ve got a handle on your weapons recoil, consider the angled grip to help you ready your weapon quickly and be ready for surprise skirmishes.

The compensator is the most common muzzle attachment used in Siege. It helps to lower recoil during rapid fire, and since that applies to most weapons in the game, you can’t go wrong with it. Alternatively, the muzzle break drastically lowers the recoil of your first few shots. If you know you’re going to secure a headshot on the first try, it’s a massive help. Try both and see which one matches your shooting habits. If you tend to expunge an entire magazine trying to secure a kill, the compensator is probably your choice.

The flash hider is a bit of an anomaly among the muzzle attachments. Its main function is to eliminate the muzzle flash from your peripheral vision each time you fire. The muzzle flash can slightly obscure the target you’re aiming at, so avoiding this can mean better accuracy. The flash hider also has a slight help to recoil, but only to the first few shots. It’s similar to the muzzle break, but less effective. It’s an interesting tradeoff that means more on some weapons more than others.

Attaching a suppressor significantly reduces the sound of your weapon, but not as much as you’d expect from playing other shooters. Shots can still be heard from very far away, but the real bonus here is with the threat indicator. The threat indicator is the white arrow that appears when someone shoots near you, alerting you from which direction the shots came. Firing with a suppressor won’t trigger this thread indicator, so it can allow you to strike with a lot more stealth. There is a rub, though. The damage reduction will often mean an enemy needs 1 or 2 extra shots to take down. There is also the opportunity cost of reducing your recoil with another attachment, so consider all other options before a suppressor.

The extended barrel is situational as an attachment, but it has its legitimate uses. The extended barrel extends the range that your gun can fire without suffering damage drop off. As we’ve discussed, this is especially useful for SMGs that suffer this drop off the worst. But while it can seem like a no-brainer to use the extended barrel, the extra range will often only amount to 1 or 2 fewer shots needed for a kill. Most players would rather use something that will reduce recoil. The longer barrel can also lead to your giving your position away around a corner because of the longer barrel sticking out.

The laser sight stands alone in its own category of attachment. The laser shoots out of the front of your gun and increases the accuracy of your hip fire. The downside is that the laser is visible to any enemies lurking nearby. In a game where hiding your position is tantamount to victory, giving it away just by aiming down a hallway can be frustrating. For this reason the attachment isn’t seen very often, but if you account for the visible laser it can be a big help. 

Wrap Up

We hope this breakdown will help you in your adventures learning Siege, but there’s still a lot to know. It’s important to find the weapons and attachments that work for you, so you can worry about the more important details of Siege. Like not getting shot through a wall.

With the ringing in of 2019, Rainbow Six Siege is about to enter its fourth year of new operators, new maps, new cosmetics, and other stuff. Year 3 brought Siege some of its most interesting operators to date, so players are eager to see how Year 4 Season 1 will set the tone for what’s to come. Ubisoft has yet to say anything official, but an easter egg and some possible leaks do give us something to go on.

Australia-bound?

Speculation about Siege heading to the land down under started around the release of Wind Bastion in November. While perusing around the new Fortress map, redditor Manysuchcases noticed a projector setup in the briefing room that depicted a map of Australia. Ubisoft loves to inject new maps with references and easter eggs, so it’s unlikely that the map was included for no reason. Siege’s 44 operators have done a great job of representing many regions of the world, but the entire country/continent of Australia has been left out thus far, so in theory it makes a lot of sense.

Who are the operators?

Late in December, a series of supposed leaks began showing up on 4chan and gaming forum ResetEra. They all have one thing in common: Australia. ResetEra user Kormora posted a supposed description of the new Australian operators given to them by an “industry friend.” The post calls the operators Gridlock and Mozzie. Gridlock is an attacker that places “red web trackers” that damage defenders and make noise when triggered. Mozzie is a defender who places a device that can assume control of attacker drones when they drive into its range.

To give the leak more credibility, Kormora followed up the initial post with a supposed image of Gridlock’s web tracker, which you can find above. The image is a bit blurry and the geometry of the web theoretically wouldn't be too hard to produce in Photoshop, but the concept of the trap is believable. The strange part to me is how the web gadget seems to awkwardly hang over the edge of the stairs. You can chalk that up to it being fake or just an early build of the content. 

Kormora’s friend also told them Kanal would be receiving a rework in Year 4 Season 2 and a theater mode is in the works. Ubi is continuing its commitment to reworking older maps, so the Kanal claim is as good as anyone’s guess. Players have been asking for proper replay tools for a long time, so hard to tell on that one too. Replay tools, likewise, are one of the necessary technical ingredients for a more robust anti-cheat system.

Just a few days after all of this business, a 4chan user dropped another supposed leak that depicts the two new operators assuming their idle positions on the main menu. The original post seems to be gone now, but you can see the image below reposted to the Siege subreddit.

This one looks pretty good. The most obvious connection here to Kormora’s forum posts is Australia, but there are a few other things that stay consistent. If Mozzie is supposed to be a female defender who anchors on objective controlling drones, the woman working on the motorcycle sure looks ripped enough to be a 3-armor. That would make the motocross helmet dude Gridlock, but there’s nothing to support this necessarily. In the corner we can also see a thumbnail of a new map. That doesn’t look much like a Kanal rework, which would assume it’s a complimentary Australian map. If we also assume Australia will be Year 4’s first season, this supports the claim that Kanal would be coming later on, like Season 2.

It’s fun to take all of this at face value, but ultimately your expectations should be tempered. All of the evidence seems to point in the same direction, but it’s not hard to imagine Photoshop wizards going wild after seeing the first easter egg a month prior that hinted at Australia. It’s an easy way to add credibility to something fake, after all.

When is Year 4 Season 1 releasing?

As usual, Ubisoft has yet to say anything concrete about a release date. But using the tried and true Pro League schedule formula (RD= Pro League + ~14 days), it’s not hard to figure out. The Rainbow Six Invitational is being held from February 11-17. Assuming Year 4 Season 1 is unveiled in full at the end of the Invitational on Feb. 17, we can also surmise that the Technical Test Server for the season will begin Tuesday Feb. 19. The test server typically runs for two weeks and is then fully released a few days later. This gives us a rough release date around the first week of March 2019. This is consistent with last year’s Operation Chimera, which also released around the same time.

It’s 2020, and Rainbow Six Siege has 52(!) operators. As each new year has tossed eight faces into the roster, who to pick has only gotten more complicated. Modern Siege is full of laser beams and smart glasses, but good team composition still requires the basics: fraggers, supports, roamers and anchors. No one operator fills each job perfectly. Sometimes, a situation calls for the light touch of Maverick’s blowtorch instead of Thermite’s blunt breaching charge.

We want to help you overcome choice paralysis and guide you toward the best operators for your playstyle. Here’s our full breakdown of the Rainbow Six Siege operators we recommend under the current meta.

The best Rainbow Six Siege operators, January 2020 log

With the introduction of Operation Shifting Tides, Year 4 ended with Kali and Wamai: operators that remix an old idea and bring something entirely new to the table. They’ve only been in the meta for a short time, but it’s clear that both can be very strong in the right hands. Shifting Tides also brings a rework to Theme Park that smartly compresses its layout and improves the viability of each defense site.

We’re weeks away from the Six Invitational, where Ubisoft will unveil its Year 5 plans and the first new operators of 2020. Rumors are already circulating that give us a hint at what’s to come, but we also have our own list of hopes and dreams.

ATTACKERS

Thermite & Hibana

Thermite and Hibana are the bedrock of good team composition. They’re the two main hard breachers in Siege, and their ability to destroy reinforced walls is important to every match. A round of Siege is often won or lost based on how much of the defense the attackers were able to tear down, and these two cut the deepest. If you’re looking to give your team the best chance in most situations, take one of them. And a team with both of them isn't in a bad spot.

Very useful

Kali

Siege's second sniper confidently wields the new CSRX 300, a powerful bolt-action rifle with a scope that magnifies 5X or 12X. It only takes one torso shot to down enemies and a bullet can punch through seven walls. In a pinch, her LV Explosive Lance grenade launcher can take out anti-breach teach in the same way as Thatcher. Her Lances are a bit less reliable when facing the Bandit Trick, but they’re also great for destroying defender utilities like deployable shields, barbed wire, and Maestro’s Evil Eyes.

Her power comes with a big caveat: if you miss, you’ll probably die. That’s a lot to ask for you and me, but she’s a great fit for seasoned Counter-Strike AWP veterans.

Sledge & Buck

Sledge and Buck are two sides of the same coin, both accomplishing the same goal in different ways. They both excel at soft breaching: Sledge with his titular hammer, and Buck with his rifle-mounted shotgun. They’re both two-speed ops and both carry frag grenades, so the choice between them really comes down to the preference between Buck’s unmatched breaching speed and Sledge’s versatility. Bring one when you expect an enemy to pick an objective room with a soft ceiling, like Drug Lab on Theme Park.

Maverick

Maverick is a hard breacher like Thermite and Hibana, but his playstyle couldn’t be more different. He cuts through walls with the subtle hum of his blowtorch instead of the piercing boom of a breaching charge. He excels at exposing Bandit batteries and Mute jammers on reinforced walls, but he can also dominate as a stealthy flanker, opening smaller murder holes to catch enemies off guard while his teammates draw attention from elsewhere. His versatile kit makes him a solid pick in almost any situation, but his blowtorch does take practice to use efficiently.

Ash

Ash is FPS comfort food: a pure run-'n-gunner with a powerful rifle and a lot of breaching power. Her greatest strength is the R4-C, which boasts all-around great stats with low recoil. Paired with her breaching grenade launcher that allows her to quickly open soft walls, she excels as a rusher who can overpower weaker defender weapons. 

Thatcher

The perfect wingman for a good attack, Thatcher sets ‘em up so Hibana and Thermite can knock ‘em down. His EMP grenades can be thrown on the outside of a wall to destroy or disable electronic devices in its large radius. Most often, this is used to counter the electric reinforcement of Bandit and Kaid so that a hard breacher can penetrate the defense. Operators like Twitch can accomplish this task in riskier ways, but Thatcher’s EMPs make the job trivial. Against a savvy team, your hard breachers will be useless without Thatcher's support. 

Twitch

Twitch has what I consider to be one of the most thrilling roles in the game, because driving her shock drones is like its own metagame within Siege. It's hard to sneak the boxier, less maneuverable drone under the nose of a defense, and once it's there she needs to act fast: dismantling as many of the defenders gadgets as possible before the jig is up. The shock drone is a uniquely powerful way to gather intel while also hindering the enemy, and at the moment it’s the only gadget that can open Mira’s windows. But even when off the drone, Twitch sports a solid two-armor kit and the F2, one of the best weapons in the game.

Zofia

Zofia is a powerful support and fragger combo. Her double-barreled grenade launcher has both impact grenades and concussion rounds that daze opponents when launched nearby. Zofia brings more utility to the team at the cost of weapon power and speed, but it’s an easy tradeoff to work with. On almost any composition, she’s an easy pick.

Viable, but not essential

Gridlock

It’s almost been a year since Gridlock’s introduction, and she has since proven an effective support pick. Her Trax Stinger traps can completely canvass flanking routes to protect against roamers, but her utility is stacked with smoke grenades and a secondary shotgun. She boasts high survivability at the cost of speed. In the hands of a cautious player, she’s a safety blanket that stays alive long enough to set her traps and assist with the defuser plant.

Blackbeard

Blackbeard has always been a divisive operator in the community. Players can’t seem to agree on whether he’s overpowered nonsense or mostly useless, and it’s because his gadget is so situational. His two mounted rifle shields essentially give him two extra lives at the cost of speed and ADS time, and in the right hands he is absolutely terrifying. If he’s holding a long angle or attacking a window from outside, he always has the advantage. A nerf this year slightly lowered the health pool of his rifle shields while also giving some of his speed back, but he remains a great pick when playing towards his advantages.

Jackal

Jackal’s recent rework nerfed the effectiveness of his footprint-tracking Eyenox visor, but he remains good at  hunting roamers, evidenced by his high ban rate in Ranked. Nobody’s location is safe from him, unless you’re the light-stepped Caveria. On the rare chance that you are allowed to play him, he also carries one of the game’s greatest assault rifles, the C7E, smoke grenades, and a secondary shotgun.

Ying

Ying is all about overwhelming defenders with more flash grenades than they know how to deal with. Her three candelas each expunge five flash grenades that can be rolled under a doorway, thrown into a room, or penetrate the other side of a soft surface. It’s a disorienting primer when pushing a site, with proper coordination. She’s balanced by the low fire rate of her primary LMG, the T-95 LSW.

Glaz

In Shifting Tides, Glaz is back to being the reliable sharpshooter he once was. The fire rate of his OTs-03 rifle has risen back up to its punchy consistency. The nerf to his smoke vision scope was partly reverted to make him an effective site pusher with an emphasis on caution. Enemies are highlighted in yellow at all times, but he needs to stand still to see through smoke.

Montagne

Montagne, lovingly known as Monty, is the attacker’s resident shield wall. His extending shield creates a barrier that few things can interrupt, so Monty is best used as a scout for spotting enemy locations while safely standing behind the shield. He doesn’t have many options when backed into a corner, but his powerful pistol can still contribute to a fight. The way shields interact with melee at close range is still inconsistent, so expect wonky behavior and occasional unfair deaths.

Nomad

Another counter to roamers, Nomad’s Airjabs are fired from a rifle-mounted launcher and, when triggered by an enemy, push them onto the ground. When it comes to planting the defuser, there’s no better support pick. Her Airjabs don’t deal damage, but they do knock over victims long enough to pick them off without a fight. Nomad’s true power is that she does not have a real counter on the defender side. If the defenders allow her to cover a site in Airjabs, the round is essentially over.

Lion

Lion was in a bad place for a long time, but a patch has finally reworked him into a reasonably powerful support operator. His full map scan has been tweaked to only ping enemies when movement is detected, similar to triggering Alibi's decoys. Defenders are still inclined to stand still during the scan, but it now it's over in a couple of seconds. He's far more balanced now and serves a real use, but he's still boring to play as.

Though brief, his new map scan is a powerful tool for dealing with roamers. Timed with breaches or a coordinated push, you're likely to catch a few enemies who are in a tight spot and are forced to move.

IQ

When it comes to enemy gadgets, nobody can provide more intel than IQ. With a communicative team, she can use her electronics scanner to warn friendlies of traps, expose certain roamers, and shoot Bandit batteries/Electroclaws through floors and ceilings. She lacks any other supportive utility, but powerful weapons and high speed gives her plenty of room to frag.

Finka

Finka’s adrenal surge ability is great for giving the team a boost to health and recoil before a fight. Even when randomly activated at the whim of Finka, her boost makes the team instantly tankier, which directly leads to more fights won. Her 6P41 LMG gets a huge power boost when combined with her recoil-reducing burst, but the Spear assault rifle remains one of the weakest in Siege.

Dokkaebi

Similar to Ying, Dokkaebi has a strong support ability overshadowed by her lack of competitive weapons. Her Logic Bomb is a powerful tool that makes every defender (minus Echo) emit a loud vibration sound from their phone. To anchors, it’s mostly a harmless annoyance, but the real value is how it reveals sneaky roamers. She can also hack the phone of a fallen defender to gain access to defender cameras for the rest of the round.

Her information warfare potential is unmatched, but her tradeoff is an awkward set of weapons. She can take either the Mk 14 DMR or BOSG slug shotgun. The Mk 14 is a middling DMR and the BOSG is more of a weird novelty. In Ember Rise, she received frag grenades and decreased visual recoil for her SMG-12, giving her new opportunities as a fragger.

Capitão

Capitão’s crossbow is a treasure trove of utility, bringing smoke bolts and fire bolts that aren’t countered by Jager’s ADS and are pinpoint accurate. A recent rework to his fire bolts drastically increase their area of effect and makes him much better at his job. The bolts deal less damage, but they've never been better for rooting out entrenched defenders.

With practice and coordination, he’s great for assisting a defuser plant. Where he falters is with his mediocre weapon choices. The M249 is a good LMG but the PARA assault rifle’s extremely low rate of fire gives it a choppy feel that isn't conducive to flick shots. Paired with a breacher that can open new angles for his crossbow to reach, he can disrupt a good defense.

Hard to make work

Nøkk

In her first six months, Nøkk has had a rough time finding a place in the meta. Her combination of Caveria’s footstep silencing and Vigil’s camera invisibility is undeniably useful, but she feels out of place as a 2-speed attacker without an assault rifle. Given her dismal win and pick rates, she’s a clear candidate for buffs in 2020. 

Amaru

Amaru is a refreshing attacker focused on mobility. Her grapple hook technically allows her to traverse the map faster than anyone else, but it comes at too great a risk. The process of grappling through a window or hatch is loud and Amaru is helpless for a few moments after using it. If anyone is around to see her crash through a window, she’s toast. There is the occasional opportunity to use the hook cleverly, but it’s usually not worth the risk. Coupled with a slightly awkward loadout for most players, she’s hard to recommend.

Blitz

Blitz has seen a lot of changes in his lifetime, from his ability to sprint with his shield up to his ever-shifting eyeballs. Nowadays, his playstyle feels appropriately aggressive. If all were well with the technical side of things, he’d be easy to recommend. But there are too many issues with shield collision and melee that come up often playing Blitz. Whether he’s getting meleed through his shield or the flash effect isn’t working consistently, there’s too much working against his success at any given time. Make no mistake, you can kick ass with Blitz, but it's in spite of his broken state.

A 2019 nerf increased his cooldown between flashes from 2 seconds to a whopping 7. Chain flashing enemies into permanent blindness is no longer an option, so Blitz mains have to be sure the first flash does the trick. An Ember Rise nerf also raised his ADS time.

Fuze

The premise of Fuze's cluster charges make them seem powerful and exciting. In reality, experienced players have little issue avoiding these bouncing bombs, so instead, they’re best used as a way to destroy gadgets. But Fuze’s problem isn’t with his launcher, it’s with him. Even with his powerful assault rifle, he’s one of the only non-shield attackers with a one-speed rating. His slow running speed is definitely a factor to his low pick rate, but I’d argue the biggest hindrance is the extra noise that he makes. It’s important when attacking to make subtle movements to draw less attention to yourself, but the loud thud of Fuze’s boots can be heard a mile away. This is less of a problem for fellow one-speed Gridlock, who can cover her flanks with Trax Stingers.

DEFENDERS

Bandit or Kaid

If hard breachers are the backbone of a good offense, Bandit and Kaid are the hammer that breaks that back in two. Their job is to thwart the attackers’ attempts to destroy reinforced walls and hatches. The pair both utilize electricity to shock away Thermite and Hibana’s explosives, but they go about it very differently. Bandit’s shock wire batteries are less versatile, but they’re quick enough to pull off the “Bandit Trick” and zap away a thermite charge before it can go off. Kaid’s Rtila Electroclaws can be stuck anywhere (including under hatches) and are harder to spot, but their arming time means he can’t play as many tricks.

The strength of both ops are mostly defined by their gadgets, but Bandit’s speed and nitro cell make him a smart pick in almost any situation. Kaid is a little more situational as a heavy anchor, but his ACOG-equipped TCSG12 slug shotgun is a long-range powerhouse. On objectives with multiple hatches, Kaid and Bandit pair well together to provide maximum security.

Mute

Mute isn’t the most exciting operator to play, but his impact can be immense. His signal jammers are extremely flexible, since they can be placed anywhere with enough room and cover an impressive distance. Placed next to walls, a jammer can fill the role of Bandit with slightly less effectiveness. On doors and windows, they’re great for jamming drones trying to sneak into the objective. If the enemy team is favoring Lion or Dokkaebi, placing jammers at common anchoring points will nip their gadgets in the bud. His flexibility and respectable kit makes him someone who’s never a bad idea to take along.

Very useful

Wamai

Wamai is a different flavor of Jäger. The South African defender throws frisbee-shaped MAG-NET traps that capture projectiles mid-flight, carries them to the device, and detonates whatever it caught. It doesn’t neutralize what it captures, but instead lets Wamai turn it against the attackers. He’s a wonderful remix of Jäger that encourages clever placement. Their functionality is more situational than the ADS, since attackers are more likely to discover and destroy a MAG-NET. Wamai gains more traps throughout the round, he’s best played as a light roamer or anchor.

In firefights, Wamai has the option of the AUG A2, an assault rifle borrowed from IQ (that’s right, a straight-up assault rifle on defense). He can’t slap an ACOG sight on it, but it’s still one of the most powerful weapons on the defender side. That, and his potential utility in every round makes him high-tier right out of the gate.

Mozzie

Mozzie has made a big impression on defense in his first year. His launchable Pest robots can be set as proximity traps to capture attacker drones or fired directly at them to nab them quickly. If you’re proactive, you can capture up to three and add a fleet of new cameras to your defense. He can also capture Twitch drones to turn their zappers on his foes. It’s an incredibly powerful gadget that splits the difference between Mute and Valkyrie. Mozzie’s high-powered Commando 9 rifle, nitro cell, and pocket shotgun give him tons of utility, which makes him a natural pick on most defenses.

Pulse

Pulse is Siege’s OG information gatherer, and dozens of operators later, he remains one of the best. As long as every new op has a beating heart, Pulse will be able to see it with his scanner. He’s best utilized alongside a nitro cell, waiting for an attacker above and blowing it at their feet from below. He has no automatic way to callout the heartbeats he sees, so he can fall a little flat if the teammate isn’t on mic.

Mira

There are two eras of Siege: before Mira, and after Mira. When she released, her Black Mirror gadget opened up defenders to new strategies that powerfully lock down an objective. Merely placing her one-way bulletproof rectangle on a soft wall is a powerful deterrent because Mira is likely on the other side, watching for an opportunity to step over and strike.

Placing her mirrors in smart locations can take valuable time away from the attackers, but she also sports a powerful kit. Her Vector unloads its full mag in 1.5 seconds, but the fire rate and controllable recoil ranks it high among defender weapons. Her secondary shotgun (matching Jackal’s) lets her remodel walls without help from teammates and she even gets a nitro cell to further capitalize on her one-way information stream.

Rook

Rook is often only described as a great operator for beginners. While that’s true, he’s also just a great pick for most situations. His armor plates buff everyone’s health a bit and ensure that you’ll enter DBNO if you’re not shot in the head. For the already beefy three-armor anchors like Rook, the buff is appreciated but overall minimal. For one-armor roamers like Alibi or Caveira, the extra health can save their lives. Rook also sports the accurate MP5 (ACOG-compatible) and impact grenades that let him reliably set up a defense with rotation holes. He’s not a must-pick by any means, but can hold down the fort and help his friends survive.

Jäger

Jäger is a rare example of a defender without any obvious downsides. His gadget, the ADS, can be placed on walls and floors to zap away many different kinds of grenades and gadgets as they fly into a room. In the same way that Thatcher is a good companion for hard breachers, Jäger helps take away the advantage attackers try to achieve in altering an objective room. Nothing takes the wind out of an Ash’s sails like throwing in a few flash grenades before a rush just to have them zapped away. But just as important to his role is his 416-C Carbine, a powerful assault rifle that can challenge attackers at short to long distances. Good Jägers can lay down their ADS turrets and already be on the prowl as a roamer before the round even starts.

Valkyrie

In the game of information warfare, Valkyrie is a top dog. Her three Black Eye cameras can be placed anywhere and provide clear color picture and near-360 degree views of the map. Players are accustomed to hunting down her cams, but the best Valkyries mix up their hiding places and even toss them outside after the round starts. Giving the entire team three new vantage points is an incredibly valuable ability. As a counterbalance, her SMG is one of the weakest in the game. In the hands of a master and a team with good communication, Valkyrie remains indispensable.

Viable, but not essential

Goyo

Goyo's Volcan shields are a double-edged sword, and a very sharp one at that. His special deployable shields hide a red charge that explodes into a spread of fire when shot (or blown up by a grenade). Similar to Mira's Black Mirrors, anyone can use the shield if they're positioned correctly. But unlike a Black Mirror, a Volcan shield can roast you to death in seconds.

Positioned well, the Volcan shield is an effective way to deny a hallway or door to enemies. But if Goyo finds himself retaking an objective the attackers have taken over, there's a good chance his own gadget will get him killed. Even in the best circumstances, he's a risk. But his loadout choices of the Vector SMG and TCSG slug shotgun (plus a nitro cell) give him a ton of flexibility as a roamer or anchor.

Warden

Warden is 3-armor anchor designed to hard counter some of the attackers’ best support operators. His Glance Smart Glasses can see through the effects of flash grenades and smoke, abilities previously only held by Glaz and Ying. He’s a great answer to a team favoring flash/smoke entry, but his weak weapon selection drags his power level down.

He has a choice between Valkrie’s MPX or Smoke/Mute’s M590A1 shotgun. His slow speed makes positioning with a shotgun unreasonable in most cases, so you’re best off with the MPX, which happens to be the weakest SMG in the game. Go for headshots or lose most of your fights. For secondaries, he can bring the high recoil SMG-12 or Clash’s reliable P10-C pistol. He’s a niche pick, and that’s fine.

Maestro

Maestro has cemented himself as Siege’s ultimate anchor. His two Evil Eyes are bulletproof cameras that can also shoot laser beams that can destroy gadgets and sting enemies. The durable cameras are a great help even without the lasers, but only Maestro can operate them.

His informational benefits are crucial, but his true power is the Alda LMG, the only of its kind on defense. It boasts some of the strongest stats on defense, and easily the largest capacity without having to reload. He can take on multiple opponents without needing a breather. He excels at locking down the fort and knowing where the enemy is coming from.

Kapkan

Kapkan still feels inessential, but that doesn’t mean he can’t make a difference. His trip mines mounted on doors and windows are easier than ever to step into. The punishment for doing so is a harsh 60 health drop, which either kills you if you’re already damaged or puts you in a vulnerable spot for the rest of the round. His VSN SMG has some of the best balance between recoil and damage, plus his option of impact grenades or nitro cell adds some flexibility to how you want to play him. Any careful player can spot his traps easily, but he’s a fun pick against a team that favors rushing.

Alibi

Alibi is one of the more unique defenders of Siege. She places three “Prisma” decoys that project a full-sized fake Alibi that can fool enemies from afar. When the decoy is shot or walked through by an attacker (or their drone), their location is pinged for the next few seconds. It’s sometimes hard to tell if the decoys make a difference, but I still fall for them occasionally. It all depends on the situation: spread across an objective the decoys can be useful as alarms, and while roaming a crafty Alibi can use them to cover her tracks.

Caveira

Caveira is, by far, my least favorite operator to fight against. Her Silent Step ability dampens the sounds of her movements drastically, and her Luison pistol is deviously powerful. The worst part of getting bested by her is what happens after. If she’s able to pull off an interrogation, spotting every enemy on the map for a few seconds, it can easily win a round right then and there. Thorough droning and teamwork is the only way to reliably take her down. Experienced Cavs can interrogate enemies, stay undetected, and waste time for the attackers. If you let her get the better of you, good luck.

Doc

Playing Doc is like taking a more active role as Rook. His stim pistol can deliver three doses of 40 health from a distance, or self-apply. He can overheal for a total of 140 health, but the boost will deplete over time. He carries the same MP5 and P90 options as Rook, so he’s also a great anchor to take along. Since Doc usually stays near the objective, he’s best utilized after a fight or when roaming teammates come back to get healed. His stim pistol can also go to waste if he dies early in the round, so it’s a shame that it has become as a roaming spawn peeker that can erase damage with his self-heal.

Echo

Before Maestro, Echo was the only defender who spends the round mostly on cameras. His Yokai drones can jump up and stick to the ceiling to enter a cloaked mode. From there, it can fire sonic bursts that disorient opponents and interrupt gadget use. His utility used to rely solely on his one drone, but a buff earlier this year gave him a second one to greatly expand his horizons. He takes a lot of practice to balance his time between droning and anchoring, but a proficient Echo can hold back a few attackers while fighting them off.

Ela

In 2020, Ela sits somewhere in the middle of the pack. Her Grzmot mines are traps that concuss and hinder attacker aim, but if you’re not nearby to capitalize on their detonation, they’re just fancy alarms. Her Scorpion SMG is powerful at close range, but a high-recoil mess from a distance. There are better options for pure roamers, but her mines are a great tool against rushes and late-round attacker pushes.

Smoke

A popular pick with high level players, Smoke is an anchor that takes finesse to maximize. His remote-activated poison smoke canisters are the best way to stop a defuser plant without exposing yourself. Though, they require good aim and precise timing.

Lesion

Lesion’s Gu mines provide a blanket of security across the map that can greatly disrupt (but mostly annoy) attackers. The mines are hard to notice when cloaked and force attackers to take a moment to remove the needle. Lesion becomes more useful the longer he lives, since he earns more mines over time for a total of seven. The real highlight of his kit is the T-5 SMG, which has great control, a high fire rate, and average damage. He also has the unique ability to see the status of his traps through walls. With that valuable information, Lesion can easily ambush anyone unlucky enough to hit a trap. 

Vigil

Vigil is a stealthy roamer with somewhat opposite abilities to Caveira. Cav is strong when sneaking up on enemies but is foiled when spotted by drones. Vigil can’t silent step, but can activate a backpack jammer that makes him disappear on cameras. Drones can still detect when he’s nearby, so enemies can still surmise where he’s hiding, but it gives Vigil a solid chance at fending them off. His K1A SMG hits hard and is controllable at longer ranges, so it feels kind of like Jäger’s 416-C. Like Cav, Vigil can now use his ability on a shorter cooldown; a bonus especially handy when multiple drones are trying to pin down his location.

Frost

Frost sets bear traps that snare enemies and take them immediately into a DBNO state. They can be saved by a teammate, but more often an enemy will finish the job. Her Welcome Mats are the most obvious trap in the game and can easily be disabled, especially after a 2019 nerf that lowered their health to 60. This is by design: it’s high risk versus high reward, but because of this her utility often goes to waste. In a fight her strange WW2-era SMG is alright, but its extremely low fire rate makes accuracy more important.

Hard to make work

Clash

Clash is the only operator on defense with a shield, and it’s a really weird one at that. Her full-body shield can shoot taser bursts at enemies that slow them down temporarily. Unlike Monty, Clash’s shield can be meleed to knock it away and open her up for attack. She can’t shoot unless she puts away her shield, a process that takes longer than ever after a series of nerfs. After balancing, Clash is a useful support operator in the right circumstances, but a terrible anchor the rest of the time.

When a teammate is grouped up with you to help take out the attackers you’ve slowed, Clash can work as intended. But the rest of the time, you’re fumbling around slowing people without a good way to take them out yourself. She’s the very definition of “hard to make work,” but if you can pull it off, it’s a fun role to play.

Castle

The reality of Castle’s bulletproof barricades is that they often hinder the defenders as much as the attackers. As even Ubisoft has said, he can be good with a coordinated team but is simply a nuisance otherwise. That doesn’t mean you can’t play him right: the barricades can be an effective blockade as time winds down in a round. Ubi has talked about reworking Castle in the past, but who knows what that will be a reality.

Avoid completely

Tachanka

No matter how good the memes or how extravagant the cosmetics, Lord Tachanka just kinda sucks. His stationary turret is poison to surviving a round, the turret shield has hitbox issues, and the damage output of the thing isn’t even that impressive. Off the turret, Tachanka is just a slower Kapkan. A recent leak suggests that a Tachanka rework is coming in 2020, but I’m still holding my breath. The goal seems to be to maintain the character while changing everything he does. Good luck with that! {-}7

Even at its lowest skill levels, Rainbow Six Siege is a difficult game. Despite the divide between the Casual and Ranked modes, there’s no version of Siege that isn’t intense, challenging, and brutal. For relatively new players looking to dip their toes into Ranked, we’re breaking down all of the differences from Casual with some general guidelines for adjusting your play-style to the less forgiving mode. 

Round timer decreased from 4 minutes to 3 minutes 

Shorter round times stand out as the single most important change from Casual. One minute might not seem like that much at first, but after a few attacking rounds you’ll no doubt find yourself with 20 seconds left and nowhere near the objective yet. That missing minute means that you can’t waste any moment while attacking. Droning an entire floor is nice, but using up that time is a big commitment. Be efficient with your droning and always be making moves towards the objective. 

As a defender, the time decrease is an all-around bonus. The time limit only puts pressure on the attackers, but you do need to be ready for teams to push the objective earlier in the round. After a long time of playing mostly ranked, the three minute timer feels like an overall better pace for the game. It keeps everything moving and prevents rounds in Casual where nothing happens for a full minute while the last attacker left slowly creeps around. 

Teams choose the defence site and attack spawn 

Alongside the shorter rounds, this is the alteration that will affect your play-style the most. Ranked does away with the randomly chosen defence sites and spawns and puts it to a vote instead. Knowing where you’re about to defend lets you form your operator composition around what’s best for the situation. If you know you’re headed to the CEO Office on Bank, Castle is a solid pick. If the team votes for Lockers instead, you’re better off with Kaid to electrify the hatches.

As you play more Ranked, you’ll start to learn which sites are considered “better” than others and be able to predict where the enemy will go. If you’re attacking Coastline, you can bet they’re defending Penthouse first. Choosing where to spawn for the attack is also incredibly useful. The freedom to choose whether you begin close or far from the objective lets you better plan your approach and catch the enemy off guard. In Casual, the whole team spawns in the same place. This is bad news when a spawn peeker is around, but in Ranked the team can split up across the map and minimise this.

Matches can be much longer, thanks to overtime 

The way matches are scored in Ranked is a lot different. Instead of the simple “first to three” system from Casual, the winner in Ranked is the first to four, unless the match reaches 3-3 overtime. In overtime, teams must win two more rounds to take it home with a total of five. Ranked also locks you out of defending a site if you’ve already won there, forcing your team to mix it up and go somewhere else. This lockout resets once overtime begins, so both teams are guaranteed a chance to attack and defend anywhere they want. In a match that extends to its max length, you’ll play a maximum of nine rounds! 

Skill level is generally higher, and so is organisation 

It’s definitely not a given that everyone will be taking the game more seriously just because it’s Ranked, but you’ll generally notice more effort put towards strategy. This shows up most in team compositions. Defending with whatever operator suits your fancy is definitely an option, but expect the enemy to bring along Thatcher, Hibana, and Buck to make your job as difficult as possible. It’s not that you’re sure to lose without a perfect composition, it’s just always a good idea to bring along Bandit or Kaid and maybe a Jager as general deterrents. 

Your performance will determine your rank 

As you might expect from a mode called Ranked, your performance in each match is ultimately scored with MMR (matchmaking rank) and classified into one of six tiers: Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. Each tier has several sub-tiers (Gold 3, Gold 2, Gold 1 for example) with Diamond being the highest achievable rank. Each Ranked season lasts about three months and is reset when a new season of operators releases.

At the beginning of each season, players have to complete ten placement matches before their first rank for the season is established. No matter where you initially end up in the rankings, you can always rank up or down depending on your wins and losses. Wins award a good amount of MMR, but losses are more harshly graded against your rank and will degrade it quickly. At the end of the season, ranks are reset and players are awarded a unique weapon charm for the highest tier they reached. Even if you started in Gold but dropped to Silver, you’ll still receive a gold charm in the end. 

Wrap up 

That’s all you need to know to jump into Ranked! Above all else, it’s important to be communicative with your team and have a general plan going into each round. It can take some time to adjust to the stricter rules of Ranked, but you’re rewarded with a much more tactical and competitive environment.