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R6 Siege Guide:
Roaming

A detailed guide on how to roam in Rainbow Six Siege!

Introduction

Roaming means leaving the objective site as a defender to interrupt or flank the attacking team.
 
What is roamers’ main task?
If your answer is “kills” then, my man, you got roaming wrong!
 
Roamers’ main objective is to waste attackers’ time. What you want to achieve is to make attackers focus on you rather than on pushing the site.
Correctly played roamers can waste a significant portion of the action phase, which is a crucial aspect when the round comes down to the wire.

Why defense needs
roamers - R6 Siege

Both anchors and roamers play a significant role in delaying offensive progress during the round in R6 Siege.
 
Having everyone on site is generally a terrible idea. Once attackers realize a lack of resistance outside of the objective, they can quickly surround defenders and focus solely on completing the objective.
 
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Such a situation puts significant pressure on defenders, limits their options, and, most importantly, gives a lot of time for attackers to siege the site.
 
Though, going to an extreme on the opposite side is not good either. You do not want to have everybody roaming and nobody present on the site.
 
Usually, 1-2 roamers are sufficient force outside of the site to delay attackers adequately. 

Roaming operators
R6 Siege

In Rainbow Six Siege, every operator can technically be used as a roamer. However, some operators are more predisposed to do so than others.
As a general rule of thumb: 
  • 1-speed operators – best suited to anchor;
  • 2-speed operators – universal operators, jacks of all trades;
  • 3-speed operators – best used as roamers;
R6 Siege operators with 3-speed ratings make the least noise, with the highest movement speed.
As a result, attackers will have a hard time pin-pointing the roamer’s position. Additionally, lesser sound creation on the move allows roamers to perform flanks more efficiently to sneak on unexpecting attackers.
Dedicated roamers
Above R6 operators have a utility which aids them as roamers.
When picking Caveira, you have to roam as having her on the site is a terrible idea due to her loadout options and utility (silent steps).
Vigil can be used on the site and have his utility help team. Nonetheless, he is just so much better off-site picking attackers off and disturbing their pushes as a roamer.
Oryx adds verticality to roaming potential.
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Listed operators are also extremely good at roaming and in some cases can be even better than dedicated roamers thanks to their weaponry.
What separates the above group from dedicated roamers is that their utility is not only designed to roam, despite their three-speed ratings.
Jäger, for instance, is one of the best supports for anchors. He can place his ADS before leaving the objective, which will, as result, protect his anchor teammates from throwables.
The asterisk next to Pulse and Bandit means they are also outstanding roaming R6 operators but have situational uses as anchors on the site.
You might want to stay with Pulse on-site if the objective you hold is placed on the lowest level, with the destructible floor, just like Armory on Clubhouse.
Bandit, on the other hand, is often used on-site to Bandit trick crucial objective wall.
Above non-roaming R6 operators are three-armor operators (beside Smoke) who are best suited to be played as anchors.
They can perform flanks and roam. However, due to their ratings and utility, they are way better choices for staying on site.
I do not recommend choosing those operators with roaming R6 maps primarily in mind. 

How to roam
R6 Siege

What we want to achieve as a roamer is to force attackers to decide whether they want to push the site without dealing with us, or to deal with us first and only then focus on the objective.
Both decisions may result in sacrifice from the opponent’s end:
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  1. Ignoring roamer
    What attackers save in this scenario is the time and utility needed for hunting roamers.
    On the other hand, such a decision may hit them back when it hurts the most – during a push on the objective if roamer times it well.
  1. Hunting roamer
    With such decisions, attackers decide to dedicate manpower, time, and potential utility for hunting roamers to prevent the scenario mentioned above.
    Thought, the risk here for attackers is losing precious time and possibly operators while on roam hunt.
    With the above in mind, I would separate roamer types into two types, as well:
    • disruptive
    • stealthy
Disruptive roam
Disruptive roamers are the ones who try to grab attackers’ attention from the beginning of the round to achieve the 2nd decision from attackers.
 
Such can be characterized by:
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SPAWN PEEKING

It is an attempt to kill attackers before they reach an objective building, right after the action phase beginning.
Spawn peeking is a high-risk, high reward type of play. Defender puts himself at a considerable risk of dying while doing so. Such a technique can also serve an additional (and the most important, in my opinion) role: wasting attackers’ time and shifting their attention to spawnpeeker/roamer rather than objective.

Please note that spawn peeking is not exclusive to roamers, and in fact is usually performed by anchors. This is due to many anchoring R6 Siege operators having access to ACOG, which helps with spawn peeks.

FAKING SPAWN PEEKS

Defenders can open a hole in windows and doors looking outside to spawn sides. As a result, attackers may feel antsy while approaching the building, wasting time and attention.

 
ENTRY POINT DENIAL
Aggressively denying entry for attackers to slow them down or get a pick or two.
 
CONSTANT “POKING.”

This aspect is probably the most crucial to wasting the opponent’s time.
You want to bother your enemy from different angles and directions consistently. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine what makes you uncomfortable the most. I personally hate playing against those roamers who are not getting too greedy but are annoying as hell and in constant motion.

Do not let them forget about you and feel cozy enough to push the site.

PRE-OPENING HATCHES & ROTATION HOLES

Do so for two excellent reasons:
First, when the time comes that you need an emergency or sneaky rotation to get a jump on attackers, you won’t need to waste time and make a loud noise.
Secondly, even if you do not use such rotations, you may force attackers to feel unsettled about occupying specific locations. Perhaps also to dedicate flank watch or spend flank preventing utility (claymores or Airjabs).

For disruptive roam, I recommend picking a fast defender with a good gun. Example: Jäger or Bandit.
The critical point here is to be on the move and be able to win gunfights. This type of roaming R6 Siege maps requires, in my opinion, more skill than stealthy, but relies more on your expertise and has a higher skill ceiling. Most importantly, it fulfills the main objective exceptionally well – wastes time.

Stealthy roam

Stealthy roamers, on the contrary, want to make attackers feel comfortable at the beginning of the round by concealing their presence, thus allowing them to stab the opposing team in the back.
 
To achieve stealth, roamers may:
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  • hide in uncommon and unpredictable spots
    Attackers will often drone the map to verify the presence of roamers. Use a place for hiding, which requires very deliberate drone work to find you.
  • wait for attackers to enter the building and pass by
    By doing so, stealthy roamer allows attackers to feel comfortable and lower their guard from the direction they came from.
The best R6 Siege operator for stealthy roam is Caveira, with her silent step making it difficult for attackers to hear the flank.
A secondary option for players who prefer stealth could be Vigil
He can serve both purposes, with good guns and utility complementing both stealth and disruption. 
However, using Vigil’s ability does give heads up to attackers about his presence in the surroundings, making stealthy flank more challenging to pull off than for Caveira.
 
Please note that stealthy roaming gets harder the higher you go in ranks.
More experienced players and pre-made teams will drone map much much better than lower ranks, making it significantly harder to pull off stealthy roam.
I generally do not recommend stealthy roam unless you want to pull off some flashy flanks.
 
If given a choice: I prefer a consistent roamer who makes attackers feel uncomfortable every round, helping my team with the task of holding the objective by minimizing time, utility, and manpower available to the attackers. Over a roamer who has impressive flank 10% of the time, while being basically useless 90% of the time.

Roaming R6 Siege:
skills & habits

So what are the skills and habits that players need to roam effectively?
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MAP KNOWLEDGE

As a roamer in Rainbow Six Siege, you will move around the map a lot. Therefore, you got to know available routes, frequently utilized entry points, and other aspects of general map knowledge.
Map knowledge comes with time, especially with an ever-growing map pool with new seasons.
In case your map knowledge is lackluster, go to a custom game to freely check the map.

USE GAME SOUND
Utilize in-game sound to predict enemies’ position and judge whether you should flank or not.
 
 
COMMUNICATION
This tip involves both giving and utilizing callouts.
First of all, don’t be that player who holds info for himself, regardless of role.
You need to give callouts, as well as listen to intel coming from your teammates.
Ask anchors to check cameras at the beginning of the round and tell you where enemies are coming from. Important yet often underutilized information is about the default camera that has been shot down.
 
PATIENCE

Putting your team at a 4vs5 immediate disadvantage at the beginning of the round does not help, at all.
Just like map knowledge, knowing when to react and rotate comes with experience. Nonetheless, focusing on wasting attackers’ time rather than getting kills will be a great start.

 
UNPREDICTABILITY
Being hard to predict is one of the essential skills in Rainbow Six Siege.
From a mindset perspective, try to think about what would you do as an attacker or what would you expect from a roamer and…do the opposite!
Being unpredictable can mean for roamer:
  • setting hard to spot murder holes
  • hiding in unusual spots
  • running out on attackers from unexpected angles
  • creating new rotations
 
OBSERVE KILL FEED & LISTEN TO GUNFIGHTS

Like in most aspects of life, balancing between being impatient and waiting too long is a tough task.
If gunfights persist and many people are dying, it’s time to return to the site and flank attackers.

 
FLEXIBILITY
In many cases, the situation during the round will not develop the way you expect. Adapting to circumstances is crucial for a good roamer. What I mean by that is readjusting the timing of flanks, as well as routes on the fly.
 
DON’T WAIT TOO LONG

If you find yourself often being on the opposite side of the map, waiting for an enemy to make a mistake and pass part of the map that you chose to roam at, with 30 seconds left or defenders dying on the site, then you are too slow to adapt to the situation and waited too long for a flank.
Roamer not returning to the site when anchors are dying is as useful as a chocolate fireguard.

Trying to pull the best flank ever every single round will net you:

  • 80% of failure (if not more)
  • 10% of decent flanks, but too late for winning the round
  • maybe a few % of spectacular flanks with insane clutches

Teams do not need a roamer who fails to have an impact on the round most of the time.

 
RELOAD AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME
It’s instinctive to reload once you got a kill or your ammo dropped to half of the mag. Reloading too early after a gunfight or getting a kill can be detrimental. Wait a moment, see if you are being pushed, and retreat to a safe location before reloading. In case you run out of ammo, switch to your secondary weapon until you’re in a safe spot.

Movement

Now, let’s finish the topic of roaming R6 skills by highlighting the movement in the game.
 
Movement as a roamer in Rainbow Six Siege is an essential skill that can be a difference between a successful flank or a bust.
I notice that players tend to make judgment mistakes when it comes to movement type. Such errors can be running with an enemy nearby or crouch slow walking when the action takes place on the opposite side of the map. 
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No movement technique will suit all scenarios, it’s rather about mindset and making correct judgment calls. 

Here’s our list of tips for proper movement as a roamer:
  • Different surfaces differ in sound level
    Fast walking on a carpet will make significantly less sound than the same action on a metal floor.
  • Utilize sound distractions
    You can use gunfights or explosions, such as grenades or charges to mask your sound made by your movement. This gives you the possibility to run faster without revealing your position to nearby attackers.
  • Limit sprinting
    You are vulnerable when sprinting as it takes time to aim down sight. You put yourself at a disadvantage if the enemy is already in ADS.
    Additionally, sprinting can reveal your position.

    In summary: sprinting while flanking is only useful if you know the enemy is either not nearby or is distracted by action and sound.

  • crouch and slow walking are best for surprising the enemy
    Slow walking can be achieved by either tilting minimally movement stick (consoles) or pressing/holding the walk button (PC).
    Crouch+walk speed is the most silent way of moving in Rainbow Six Siege. Best used when you attempt flank on unsuspecting enemies. In such a scenario, speed is a significantly less important factor than the element of surprise.

Roaming R6 Siege:
gadgets

BEST UNIVERSAL GADGETS
  • Impact grenades
    It allows the opening of new angles or rotation holes (almost always useful when playing bomb).
    From the two explosives available to defenders as a universal gadget, the Impact grenade is superior for a quick hole opening.
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  • Nitro Cell
    Just like Impact grenades, C4 can be used to create rotational holes and new angles.
    Nitro cell is the best counter to shield operators and defuser plants as it deals higher damage from explosion comparing to impact grenades.
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Good UNIVERSAL GADGET

  • Barbed wire
    A well-placed wire gives defenders an advantage due to slowing down enemies by either impairing their movement speed or forcing them to spend utility/time to destroy wires, which also results in sound cues for defenders.
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Situational gadgets

  • Deployable Shield
    By default, a shield is the least useful defenders’ gadget, which should be picked only when the defense has a specific plan for its usage.
    Generally not a useful tool for roamers.
    Can aid anchor greatly by creating pixel angle between the shield and environmental surface.

    Useful mainly for operators like Echo and Maestro.

shield
  • Bulletproof camera
    The bulletproof camera can be handy, but its effectiveness depends on many variables, such as teammates’ communication level or general defensive plan.

    You should know where you plan to place a camera to give your team an advantage beforehand. If you don’t, then you are probably better off picking either Barbed wires or explosives.

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Community Videos -
Roaming R6 Siege

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