Rainbow Six Siege Starter Tips

Following an exciting Year 2, more people are playing Rainbow Six Siege than ever before! If you’ve decided to pull the trigger on picking it up for Xbox One, here are a few tips and tricks to help you succeed in your first few missions as a Rainbow Operator.

Jumping into a game with a high skill ceiling and an experienced playerbase can be intimidating, but if you take the following six Siege Rules to heart, you will thrive in the heart-pounding action and suspense that only a tactical FPS like Siege can bring. Rainbow Six Siege is a unique spin on the first-person shooter (FPS) genre, and you will need to approach it differently than you would any other game. To put you in the right mindset, we advise you to think of it more as chess with guns.

Prepare for Close-Quarters Combat

Combat in Rainbow Six Siege is in your face. With an average kill distance of roughly nine meters — you’re going to see the whites of your enemy’s eyes before you pull the trigger. There could be an enemy around any corner, and there usually is. Our maps have a mix of small rooms, long hallways, and always-changing sightlines. Keep in mind that some Operators, like Mira, can open up chunks of reinforced walls to create a protected line of sight, and use it to keep an entire room clear. Knowing where and who your enemy is will help you figure out how to close with and eliminate them.

Know Your Strengths

Will you focus on gathering intel? Are you more interested in denying your enemies the use of their gadgets? Perhaps carrying a mountain of a shield is more up your alley. Every role matters in Rainbow Six Siege. Communicate with your team to ensure that your Operators can work together effectively, and use your loadout accordingly. Rainbow Six Siege is a team game in every sense of the word, and our Operators’ unique skill sets play to that. If your teammate picked Ying, maybe you should look at selecting Glaz and working together. Thermite and Thatcher are a great pair as well. On Defense, you can run with a killer intel-denying combo like Bandit and Mute, or an extra-durable Doc-and-Rook pair. Don’t forget about countering the enemy’s gadgets! Twitch is Mira’s arch nemesis, and a couple of Jager’s Magpies can really ruin Fuze’s day.

Use Destruction as a Tool

We built the maps, but it is up to you to destroy them. For example, destroying a section of wall that separates the two bomb sites you’re defending allows you to rotate quickly when your enemy decides to rush point B. Try breaking a hatch or two to step up your vertical game and create a quick escape route if you’re getting pushed by a couple of Attackers. Utilize breachers to make holes in the other team’s defenses. Nothing in Rainbow Six is permanent, except for death.

Utilize Your Team

Communication with your teammates is another essential resource in Rainbow Six Siege. Working with them to overcome the enemy’s strategies can turn the tide of battle. The Defenders may have set up a series of Magpie anti-grenade defenses and electronics jammers. You can coordinate with your team to throw in flash/smoke grenades to get rid of the Magpie charges, and if you have Thatcher on your team, he can follow up with his EMP grenade to get rid of these electronic devices.

Don’t Expect a Respawn

You only get one life; use it wisely. When you die, though, that doesn’t mean it’s time to get up and grab a drink. You can still help your team out! When you’re dead, you have access to your team’s cameras and/or drones, as well as the ability to spectate among your teammates. Even in death, being able to call out an enemy’s position to help your teammate land a headshot through a wall is integral to the success of the mission.

Always Communicate

Speaking of calling out enemy positions, make sure you play Rainbow Six Siege with a headset. Hearing your enemy’s footsteps through the hole you made in the wall could win the day, but so will communicating with your teammates! Utilizing teamwork to force the enemy right where you want them is integral to taking home more wins than losses, and for that, you need to use your microphone. Figuring out exactly where your teammate needs a Hibana X-KAIROS charge placed so they can lock down an entire side of the map while playing as Blackbeard is an advantage you can’t ignore.

To learn more about Siege Rules, click here. If you are looking to catch a few tips from the best players to touch the game, tune into the Six Invitational on February 16 to February 18. We will be streaming this world championship on our Twitch channel, here, and our Mixer channel, here.