Game Tutorials, Rainbow 6 Siege Tutorials

5 Beginner Tips for Rainbow Six Siege

Rainbow Six Siege female character

Rainbow Six Siege is one of the most popular shooters for PS4, PC and Xbox One, but it can be quite frustrating for beginners. We’ve put together 5 tips to help you get started.

What are these things? In our list, we have tried to answer general questions as well as address things specific to Rainbow Six. The tips are primarily aimed at new players who are just starting out or have recently started.

We especially try to address the questions that newcomers to Rainbow Six often ask and provide the most satisfactory answers.

However, even advanced players might be able to pick up a thing or two here. If you’ve been playing for a few hours, but feel like you’re not getting anywhere, check out our list.

I thought about what I had problems with when I started and asked friends from my team where they had difficulties. The result is a pretty broad portfolio of smaller things that can often be solved with a single tip.

We also recommend tracking your R6S stats to keep track of how you’re improving.

1. Learning maps is the “be-all and end-all”

Why should you learn maps? Rainbow Six Siege now has over 20 different maps. Not all maps are in the playable rotation for every season, but that’s still a lot.

What’s special about Rainbow Six’s maps is that you have a strong vertical component. Each map has multiple levels up and down. Also, many walls and even quite a few floors/ceilings are destructible.

This creates a new dynamic in every round: Where is the enemy? How can I reach him? Where do I have to be careful? In order to be able to answer these questions and not be surprised, you should know exactly where on which map which possibilities are offered. With enough experience, you will then be able to take such fast rounds by using risky rush tactics:

In addition, map knowledge is enormously important for communication. If you can quickly tell your team members where something is happening with a precise call, victory is a good deal closer.

How do I get to know maps? To really know every map, it’s probably best to play often and keep a close eye on your teammates. If you think about why a wall is fixed or destroyed, it will help you to understand the map.

However, you can already prepare yourself so that you don’t have to jump completely into the deep end. For this purpose, Ubisoft itself now offers “instructional videos” for the maps and operators. You can find a list of these videos at the GameStar website.

If you are already familiar with the maps, but still want to learn more, you can try e-sports. There you can watch professionals playing on the maps. The GSA League is currently running in German, where you can follow four exciting matches every Thursday.

Setting the right settings

Why are options important? In shooters in general, you should make sure that the feel for weapons and aiming is natural. In Rainbow Six in particular, you want the first shots to hit home, because they can end the fight in a fraction of a second.

That’s why it’s important that your settings are adjusted accordingly. You need both the right sound settings to be able to locate enemies quickly and the right key assignments to react quickly.

However, these settings won’t do you any good if your aim is hindered by moving too fast or too slow with the mouse or analog stick, so you should keep an eye on the sensitivity here as well.

How do I set the options correctly? A general statement cannot be made here. It always depends on your system, your devices and even your environment. In general, however, you should pay attention to the following things:

  • Place the fast melee on a key that is easy to reach (e.g. on the mouse for the PC) important actions (fire, duck, run, reload …) should be quickly reachable – less important ones (cameras, slower gadgets) can be assigned “further away” from your fingers
  • Steps and sound-effects like movements and gadget-inserts should always be well audible unimportant sounds should be muted
  • The sensitivity of your aiming (mouse or analog sticks) should correspond to your feel for the game – the settings of the pros should at most serve as a guideline, not as a fixed specification

You will probably find settings that suit you better or worse. Try a little, it may take a while to find the perfect options.

Adjusting the weapons properly

Here’s why this is important: the weapons in Rainbow Six Siege don’t have attachments by default, and when you play an operator for the first time, you’ll start with a “naked” weapon. However, the attachments are what make the weapons really strong and useful.

You don’t have to unlock attachments first. You have immediate access to each attachment and only need to use it during weapon customization. You can do this either in the Operator screen in the main menu or even in a round itself when you customize your equipment.

The attachments strengthen the weapons with better aiming, better control in recoil and other benefits. This ensures that the weapon is better suited to your play style and the current situation in which you want to use it.

How do I properly customize weapons? Most weapons share a number of attachments. Some, like the ACOG sight, are not available for all weapons. Basically, you should customize each weapon to your own play style, but some basically strong attachments are:

  • Barrel: Muzzle flash hider (Flash Hider).
  • Sights: ACOG for longer distances (Holographic if ACOG is not available), Reflex for shorter ones.
  • Grip: Vertical grip.

What about silencers? Players are always asking about silencers and they take a special position. Silencers hide the direction your shots come from as well as the tracks of the bullets.

You are harder to detect, but you also do less damage, so it takes you longer to get a kill. The attachment is worth it if it suits your playstyle and for pistols, for example, to silently take out gadgets. However, you should be aware that you will miss out on potential kills for this.

Choose an operator that suits you

These are the best operators: Ubisoft regularly publishes Designer Notes in the Rainbow Six blog, which show the victory and selection rates of all operators.

The further to the right the operator is, the more popular it is. The further up it is, the stronger it is. So you can potentially find the strongest operators at the top right of the graphs. However, how strong an operator actually is depends largely on the combination in which it is played.

The operators in Rainbow Six all have unique abilities. In many situations, for example, it makes sense to have one of the so-called “hard breakers” in the team: Hibana, Thermite, Maverick or the Ace inflicted with Y5S2. Only these can destroy reinforced walls.

Which one should I buy? The first operators you buy should be ones that fit you. Their roles are usually pretty clear and their equipment is usually matched to them. A small selection with recommendations:

  • Enlightening attackers: IQ and Thatcher
  • Hard Breacher: Hibana and Thermite
  • Attackers who control the opponent: Nomad and Zofia
  • Enlightening defenders: Valkyrie and Mozzie
  • Supporting Roamers: Hunter and Bandit
  • Traps and area control: Mira and Lesion

If you want to get more inspiration about the operators, the e-sports as well as the tutorial videos from Ubisoft are always a good place to start. There you can see the different characters in action and get a better idea of who they are suitable for.

Operators are always being adjusted, such as Ying recently, who was directly generated again after a buff. Be on the lookout for such adjustments when choosing your next operator.

You must be able to improvise

Improvisation is something that is important for all shooters, but in Rainbow Six it plays a special role. You’ll have to be ready at any moment to deviate from your original plan to pursue a better one.

This is more important in Rainbow because situations can change or tip over quickly. Destructible walls and ceilings can open up other paths and destroy cover. Certain gadgets can render planned paths useless. Even if you lose for a few rounds, you’ll be able to make blatant comebacks if you play correctly.

That’s why you should always communicate with your team about how you want to proceed and react to your opponents if you want to win. It will take time and practice, but you should at least be willing to change your approach during a round, try new things, and learn from mistakes.

Tip: Practice in situations

Rainbow Six Siege offers you the possibility to practice certain situations in the game against NPC opponents with the scenarios/situations. This is useful for beginners as well as for advanced players who have problems with certain situations.

Especially as a beginner, you can get more familiar with the game and learn the first steps. Even for warming up or refreshing your knowledge, the situations are very suitable.

Besides, there are several tutorials as well as a practice mode against NPC opponents, in which you can test your skills.

Rainbow Six Siege puts a lot of emphasis on realism and, as a tactical shooter, is both faster in kills and slower in gameplay. This realism is something that even the shooter pro shroud can’t always cope with, and something you’ll have to get involved with if you want to play.