The Magnificent Destruction of Rainbow Six Siege

There’s no denying that one of the marquee features of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is its dynamic destruction engine. Walls, barricades, ceilings, and floors can all be destroyed, punched through, or otherwise mangled (not every surface is destructible, but enough are that the system doesn’t feel unduly artificial). It’s a wonderful feature, and changes traditional first-person shooter tactics dramatically. Here are six ways to experience all the beautiful destruction Siege has to offer.

The Contractor Special

The most obvious and widely used entry tactic in Siege is always going to be the breach charge. By placing these delightfully destructive mats against breakable surfaces, you can engage in all kinds of ad-hoc renovations. But what may not be as obvious is that these new entry points aren’t statically placed; you can tweak positioning to a surprising degree. Crouch while placing your charge at the edge of a wall, and you might get a crucial few extra seconds of surprise. Or set the charge as high as possible, and plan on moving in prone.

The “Here’s Johnny”

The destructible barricades that defenders can place over doors or windows serve more as an early-warning system than as a real deterrent, but that doesn’t mean they’re useless. Both defenders and attackers can melee a smallish hole for a quick vantage point. The wood offers no protection if you’re spotted, however, so… don’t get spotted.

The Peephole

Want to see just how valuable Siege’s dynamic destruction system is? Shoot or melee a small hole in an otherwise solid wall. If you stand close, you can get a surprisingly good view of what’s going on on the other side – and if you stay still, it’s hard for enemies to notice you. Just make sure to move your ass if you get an alert that you’ve been spotted. If you can knock a hole in a surface, the enemies can knock a hole in you through it.

The Porthole

A few more shots in a destructible surface will open up a much bigger hole. The downside is that these holes tend to be very obvious to the enemy – but the upside is that you can stick your whole weapon through it to give yourself an unexpected firing angle. This works particularly well on defense, when you can set up custom shooting blinds in the preparation phase without alerting the enemy.

The Mousetrap

For a more refined – and even more unpredictable – version of this, you can go prone and open up a hole at ground level (yes, destructible surfaces are pretty much destructible everywhere). This provides double the surprise for unsuspecting attackers, who are likely to be keeping their weapons aimed chest-high.

The Death From Above

It is, frankly, hilarious how hard it is for even seasoned first-person shooter players to remember that in Siege, they can be attacked from any angle. There’s no better illustrator of this than blasting through a floor or ceiling. Understand that you can only actually move through floors at certain areas – hatches – which will often be guarded by wary enemies. But wooden floors can be destroyed anywhere, and while the remaining joists will bar any passage, it’s perfectly possible to shoot through them. There are few things more satisfying than dropping a rain of bullets on an enemy who think’s he’s completely safe.

Eager to get your destruction on? Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is available now for Xbox One.