When starting with the game, you may focus solely on your aim. That’s quite a natural tendency for players in FPS games.
The reality is that Rainbow Six Siege is a very complex team-based shooter. There is so much more to becoming good at R6 Siege than just pure aim.
You need various skills, such as map knowledge, game sense, tactics, intel gathering/utilizing, communication.
The acquisition of those skills will take time. If you think that you can become good player in few days of playing Rainbow Six Siege, then you will be likely disappointed. The game has been out for a few years now, players are really skilled and the learning curve is really steep.
Don’t get discouraged, though. The game is great fun, and if you stick around, you will eventually feel progress. And that progress, thanks to the difficulty and complexity of the game, will feel extremely rewarding!
Below are our top beginner tips that are general in application.
They apply to both attacking and defending sides of the match.
mechanical tips
prefire
stop sprinting
Sprinting has few downsides. First, you can’t use ADS while sprinting. Thus, if an enemy is ADS, you lose more often than not.
Second, you make a lot of noise, and Rainbow Six Siege is a sound heavy FPS game.
So sprint only when you are certain no enemy is nearby, and it’s absolutely needed. Maps are not as big as it feels in R6 Siege.
check corners
Instead, check corners of the room, preferably while being in ADS. Expect an enemy and clear locations fully. Doing so will save you a lot of unnecessary deaths and create an excellent R6 Siege habit.
aim down sight
You will win significantly more gunfights by creating a habit of being in ADS. This is especially the case with 1x sights. ACOG can distort and limit your vision.
aim at head level
New or lower-ranked players tend to aim at chest level or, even worse, the floor.
Rainbow Six Siege has 1 headshot = kill mechanic, regardless of weapon and operator choices (well, maybe besides Blackbeard). Therefore, aiming at the head level is the best way to ensure winning gunfights.
It is one of (if not the most) important aspects of consistently winning gunfights due to your aim accuracy never being 100% consistent.
Placing your crosshair on the head level eliminates the need to adjust your aim vertically when engaging the enemy. As a result, you gain an advantage of reduced reaction time and increase odds of hitting the enemy’s head, thus drastically reducing time to kill.
use destructibility
One of the most unique aspects of Rainbow Six Siege gameplay is the advanced destructibility of the environments in the game.
Walls and floors/ceiling can be destroyed, and you can shoot through objects present on the map.
Walls are split into the following types:
– “Soft” – penetrable with bullets, and can be entirely destroyed using various gadgets, such as Breaching charges, Sledge’s Hammer, Ash’s Breaching rounds, etc.
– Indestructible – not penetrable with bullets, nor destroyed with gadgets
– Reinforced – each defender has 2 reinforcements that turn “Soft” walls into reinforced. Such reinforced wall cannot be shot through, nor destroyed with “Soft breaching” gadgets like Breaching charge, Sledge’s Hammer, Zofia’s Impact grenades, etc. The only operators who are capable of creating an opening in reinforced surfaces are Hard Breachers (Thermite, Hibana & Maverick)
Floors/ceilings can be separated to:
– Indestructible – cannot be penetrated with either bullets or gadgets
– Partially destructible – Such floors have metal beams in them, which cannot be destroyed. Players can shoot through the floor, and breaching gadgets create openings in them. Soft Breachers are exceptionally proficient at creating openings in such surfaces. Those surfaces are primarily used for creating vertical control.
– Unreinforced hatches – by default, hatches are “soft” – can be destroyed with a shotgun, explosives, or unique gadgets. Once the hatch is destroyed, players can use it to jump down or to hold an angle.
– Reinforced hatches – just like in the case of a reinforced wall, such hatch cannot be destroyed with “Soft breaching” techniques. The only operators who can open them are Hard Breachers.
use verticality
Gaining vertical control means using ceilings, floors, or hatches to engage your enemy from a vertical angle.
You want to take advantage of available destruction and multi-level maps design in Rainbow Six Siege. To do so, you can play from above (by destroying the floor) or from below (by creating angles in the ceiling).
Learning where and how to utilize verticality will surely take time as more advanced map knowledge is required to do it well.
The best-attacking operators for vertical play are Buck, Sledge, Jackal, Ash & Zofia.
And remember: 1x sights on guns are better for playing vertically!
don't reload so often
It is our natural instinct to reload when we don’t have a full magazine. Resist the temptation!
If you just got out of engagement or killed an enemy, wait few seconds. Expect opponents to push you. If they don’t, then that’s the time to reload!
If you’ve got a few rounds left in your gun, then you have more than enough bullets to win another engagement.
“What if I ran out of bullets on the primary?” You may ask.
In this case, you should switch to your secondary weapon until you are safe to reload.
Secondaries tend to be less powerful weapons than primaries, but it’s far better to use a secondary than having no gun.
laser pointer is visible
Other players are unable to see the whole laser trace, what they see is just the spot at which you aim. If you decide to put a laser sight on your weapon, then bear in mind the placement of your crosshair.
Players tend to forget about it and point it at the spot, which is easily visible to opponents. This gives your location away as it’s easy to predict your angle based on the pointer.
peek fast
Peeking is a technique of movement in Rainbow Six Siege thanks to which you attempt getting a view of a corner or an angle with the least possible exposure of your body or avoiding overly committing to the engagement.
Most new players tend to make a crucial mistake in the method used for peeking. They try to peek slowly often. Don’t do that!
Your perspective is in the middle of your body (from a side-to-side perspective). Thus enemy can potentially see your body before you can see them.
This is especially the case if you slow peek from a close distance to the obstacle obscuring your view.
don't re-peek a prefire
Players frequently commit the mistake of re-peeking the same angle, which is being pre-fired by an enemy.
Instead of immediately re-peeking the same spot, either adjust your peek position (head-height, different peek spot, etc.) or peek once they stop shooting – they have limited ammo after all.
expect a re-peek
As an extension of the previous tip – expect your enemy to make the above mistake and take advantage of it. Be the one who pre-fires the last position enemy peeked at.
You will be surprised how many easy kills you are going to get by doing so!
don't breach barricades
It may sound counter-intuitive, especially since Ubisoft showcased such usage of Breaching charges on their trailers, but don’t waste your breaching devices on standard wooden barricades.
Such utility is better used on “soft” walls and floors, or Castle’s Armored Panels.
Instead, melee barricade (3 times destroys it, 2 makes it vault-able) or shoot it down with your gun.
MINDSET TIPS
Rainbow Six Siege is just as much about mechanical skills as it is about your mind.
Below tips of our beginner guide to Rainbow Six Siege focuses on setting your mind right for the challenges:
be patient
This is not a run’n’gun type of a shooter. Well, besides some Ash mains, but that’s a different story!
You want to learn patience in two main aspects related to Rainbow Six Siege:
First, improvement will take time. This game has a steep learning curve. You won’t get good in just a few hours.
Second, this is not an arcade shooter with unlimited respawns. You’ve got one life per round.
Patience in actions is what often separates a great player from a decent one.
You may not be great at this point. What you want, however, is to develop the habits of a great player as early as possible!
learn from mistakes
You won’t get much better if you repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
If you continue to have the same bad habits after tens of hours sunk into the game, then you will hold back your progress.
How to learn from your mistakes?
Well, first, you got to look for them and identify bad habits.
Don’t focus on what your teammates did wrong or how they failed to help you.
Instead, when you die or lose a round, think:
– What have I done wrong?
– How to avoid that next time?
– Did they win or I lost?
watch killcam
Killcams are one of the best tools to learn in Rainbow Six Siege. Most things people do are copied from somebody else in this game.
There are default planting spots, standard Mira’s setups, popular spawn peeks, etc. Players learn from each other and you have to, as well!
So whenever you die, don’t skip the killcam. Instead, watch it and learn from your enemy.
You can use such learning in two main ways:
First, expect the play next time from your enemies and prevent it.
Second, you can use it to your advantage. New nasty angle? Go to Custom match and try it out yourself.
play the objective!
Rainbow Six Siege is not Call of Duty. We get it; it’s First Person Shooter, so you want to shoot people and you can win by eliminating the opposing team.
It’s more flashy to get kills than plant the defuser. But remember that match in Rainbow Six Siege is not just a Team Deathmatch, It’s Objective-based – Team Deathmatch!
If you want to raise in ranks of this game, then start playing the objective as soon as possible!
This tip is applicable for both attackers and defenders.
As a defender: burn the time and prevent the plant.
On the attack: plant the defuser and defend it.
don't get greedy
Prioritize winning rounds over getting kills.
Once you shift your mindset to winning as a team, you will start seeing significant improvements.
It will increase your W/L, rank, and – perhaps as a byproduct of becoming a better player – even your K/D!
Example:
It is a 3v1. You are on the defense, and the advantage is on your side. Don’t start jumping out and trying to chase that last kill.
The enemy has to either push you or plant. Set your angles well, and wait for an enemy to plant or push.
stop worrying about k/d
As an extension of the previous tip: do not measure yourself as a Rainbow Six Siege player from the perspective of K/D.
In R6 Siege, players have different roles. If you tend to fill the support role and do it well, then your K/D is not that important.
Also, at the beginning of your journey with the game, your K/D ratio won’t be incredible. You’re just learning the game!
recognize positions
Some positions you will be in are strong, while others are weak. You have to learn to recognize such positions for both yourself and your enemy. It is important aspect to understand the situation you are in and to make the right decisions.
Strong positions tend to be the ones where you have an advantage over your enemy. Such a strong position can be behind Mira’s Black Mirror overseeing the objective site.
A weak position, on the other hand, can be a spot where you are at a disadvantage, i.e., part of the room with little to no cover or exposed to multiple angles.
identify your playstyle
As a new Rainbow Six Siege player, you want to identify your play style and learn it.
There are mainly two primary roles Rainbow Six Siege players can fill in from a playstyle perspective: Fragger and Support.
You should try to define which playstyle fits you better and start learning how to fulfill your role to the best of your ability.
Eventually, you may want to understand how every playstyle and utility roles play out and experiment a bit. However, in the beginning, you should focus on learning one and mastering it.
The game is complicated enough and you should try to simplify it as much as possible, at least from the get-go.
apply early pressure
The goal here is not necessarily to get kills, which is, of course, nice. The aim is to make opponents feel uncomfortable.
You want to do it as soon as possible.
Why? You will make opponents feel uncomfortable and perhaps force engagements on your terms, not theirs.
On the attack: Open barricades/walls to the objective or locations where roamers are, gain map control quickly, and decisively.
On defense: Brake barricades or attempt a “mild” spawnpeek – a quick peek without re-peeking. The objective is to scare the attackers and focus on you, rather than on the objective.
COMMUNICATION TIPS
communicate with your team
Rainbow Six Siege is a team-based game where the intel is the key to success.
To get better and win consistently, you need to give callouts and utilize effectively information provided by your team.
We have an entire guide dedicated to communication, so make sure to check it out!
can't avoid toxicity
Don’t be scared of talking to people.
You will meet assholes on your way, but you will also get nice teammates.
As a beginner, you can expect some people to call you out on mistakes. There are two main types of such criticism – constructive and toxic.
For toxic: Don’t take it personally – such communication style is an indication of their low culture and maturity levels, not yours. Just mute them and carry on.
Now, constructive input: Don’t dismiss such feedback. Take the lesson and try to improve on it.
don't ping
If I got a penny every time someone pings/spots an enemy on surveillance gadgets, which then get noticed and destroyed, then I would have…well, quite a few pennies!
Whenever you “scan” on intel gathering tools such as cameras or drones, the enemy who gets scanned gets a notification about being spotted.
This has a twofold effect:
First, they know they are being watched, so they start searching for a camera/drone.
Secondly, they expect to be pushed and will be more alert than otherwise.
Therefore, instead of pinging/spotting, call out the enemy’s position.
use yellow ping
By pressing the “down” D-pad button on consoles or “Z” on PC, you leave a yellow marker where your crosshair is placed. Use this to supplement your callouts.
Such a marker is handy to provide more precise information. It will especially help you with being accurate while learning maps and callouts.
Also, instead of saying “open hatch/wall,” you can mark the surface that you want to be opened. Less room for misunderstandings, better efficiency.
Just make sure you’ve got it enabled in-game options!
be useful even when dead
Being dead in Rainbow Six Siege is not AFK time. You can still be very valuable to your team by providing intel.
So hop on your drones (on attack) or cameras (defense) and be useful.
Just don’t be the type who does backseat gaming – telling teammates who are still alive what to do and how to do that.
use compass
At the beginning of your journey with R6 Siege, you may not know proper callouts for rooms. It’s understandable; we all tend to struggle with that aspect whenever a new map comes out.
Use the compass to your advantage as it provides you with two critical pieces of information:
– Room name – If you do not know the name of the room by heart, then use the official name of it. Not every location is called by the game’s community as per official names, but most still are!
– Cardinal directions – instead of calling out which side of the room (right, left), you can use cardinal directions (north-east corner) to give reliable information to your teammates.
