PROs:
- Ranged breaching possibility
- Powerful gun – AK12
CONS:
- Lesser wall breaching capability than Thermite
- Not optimal for opening reinforced hatches
ACE
Offensive operator
Ace is the 4th Hard breacher in the Rainbow Six Siege attacking roster.
As a Hard breacher, he is capable of opening holes in reinforced surfaces.
He offers opening bigger holes than Hibana while keeping her ranged breaching option.
On top of that, Ace is equipped with a powerful AK-12.
How can you not like Ace?
Organization
NIGHTHAVEN
Availability
DLC Y5S2
Armor Rating
Medium
Speed Rating
Medium
Biography
Born in a quiet but historic village, Haugland benefited early on from high praise and a lack of competition. Consistently the best at whatever he set his mind to, he easily imagined himself as an admired pediatric surgeon and enrolled in medical school. However, he soon discovered that memorizing theory wasn’t to his liking and instead opted for paramedic training in order to get into the action more quickly.
The Norwegian Armed Forces brought him into a new world of achievement. He completed basic training and joined the Norwegian Home Guard, where he acquired a reputation for heroics. After completing his service obligation, he was accepted into the Forsvarets Spesialkommando and took part in a prominent hostage rescue soon afterward. As part of a joint UN operation in Somalia, his tendency toward theatrics and his impulsive nature resulted in him saving Kali’s life. The offer to join NIGHTHAVEN swiftly followed.
OPERATOR VIDEO
Operator guide
Detailed information on how to play Ace R6 Siege operator
Caption title
Utility
What is the utility?
Ace joins the ranks of the most crucial utility role on the attacking side in Rainbow Six Siege – Hard breachers.
Hard breachers give attackers the possibility of creating entrance points and angles to the objective, despite reinforcements deployed by defenders.
His unique gadget is called S.E.L.M.A and is a ranged breaching device. It is a sequential breaching device, with 2 charges. The smallest opening (1 charge detonated) Ace can create is similar to 6 pellets breach from Hibana.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SELMA:
- Ace has 3 SELMAs
- Each SELMA is a single-use device that does not recharge over time
- SELMA has 2 explosion sequences (it used to be 3 but got nerfed in the Y5S3.3 patch)
- No sequential explosions when deployed on horizontal surfaces, thus 2 SELMA are required for opening reinforced hatch!
- No range limit, but the trajectory of the throw has a drop-off – similar to Valkyrie’s camera
- The device starts fusing only when thrown on breachable surfaces
- SELMA can be picked up by Ace if it is deployed on an unbreachable surface or jammed by Mute Jammers
- Multiple SELMAs can be deployed simultaneously
How to use utility?
Rainbow Six Siege is way too complex for us to give you a simple list of surfaces you have to open when playing Hard breacher like Ace. The game has tons of variables and your actions will differ (to some extend) between matches, even on the same map. That’s not a problem with R6S, it’s the beauty of the game!
So instead, we’d rather share with you the thought process behind choosing what to breach as Ace.
There are three main considerations when choosing what to exactly open as a Hard Breach. Here are the main questions you should learn to answer:
- What’s your team’s composition?
- What is the objective?
- What is your and your enemies’ tactic?
Let’s go over all of those points separately.
YOUR TEAM'S COMPOSITION:
The operator selection of your team plays a crucial role in the optimal usage of Ace’s utility.
The main factor here is the number of Hard breachers available during the round.
One hard breacher - you
In case you are the sole Hard breacher on your team, you have a lot of responsibility for getting walls open.
Opening hatches with Ace is not optimal usage since you have to spend 66% of your utility on getting just a single hatch open!
Thus focus on walls unless necessary otherwise (i.e. Club House -> Kitchen hatch)
Two hard breachers
Now let’s consider a situation where one more Hard breacher is available. Who will do what will depend on who your teammate selected:
Thermite – Creates the biggest openings in walls, but requires a melee range for deployment. Therefore, Thermite has priority on external walls, especially those safely approached.
You can team up to make “Bandit tricking” difficult or split to open various sides of the objective
Hibana – Creates the smallest openings in walls, but is very proficient at opening hatches (max 4). Thus, you should focus on walls and let Hibana get hatches open.
Maverick – He takes a lot of time to create an opening of significant size, but cannot be countered by Breach denial utility. Ace should take priority on walls that are not electrified (or can be dealt with). Maverick can help deal with Breach denial utility (Bandit/Kaid or Mute). Alternatively, he can take the lead on opening, if enemies are actively tricking the wall and you cannot counter it otherwise.
MORE THAN TWO HARD BREACHERS
Such a scenario is usually overkill and a luxury. You basically cannot go wrong unless you start wasting your utility or get countered by Bandit Tricking.
The Objective:
Each objective in Rainbow Six Siege has its own strong and weak points. On top of that, most sites have strong positions that defenders do not want to give up easily.
Therefore, we can split objectives into various categories on Hard breaching priorities:
- Opening walls
This category usually involves objectives that have external breachable walls. Such walls give attackers the most space to operate. On top of that most top floor objectives have walls that are very important to be opened.
Example: Clubhouse -> CCTV & Cash room - Opening hatches
Such objectives have hatches directly above the objective site. In this case, opening the hatch will limit greatly the space available on the site for defenders. It’s common for ground floor or basement objectives to have a strong focus on hatches.
Example: Clubhouse -> Arsenal & Church - Split efforts
Another category involves objectives that have both hatches and walls that are a priority for defenders to be closed.
Example: Chalet -> Wine Cellar & Snowmobile
TACTICS:
Lastly, how you use your SELMAs will be dictated heavily by both your plan of the attack, as well as defenders’ priorities and utility.
We suggest to discuss your plan early on so that you can select:
- Safe spawn point
- Preparation phase drone usage and placement
- How you will approach the building
- Priorities for the first minute or two of the round
On top of that, check what the defenders are doing. If they are heavily focusing on a specific wall with Kaid and Bandit, then you are probably better off prioritizing opening the wall on the opposite side of the objective. Unless, of course, you have a coordinated team that can deal with “Bandit tricking” reliably.
We hope the above thought process description will help you make good decisions as Ace. It may sound complicated, but in reality, as time goes and you gain experience, you will just quickly go over some points in your head before the action phase begins.
Now let’s go over other tips on how to use effectively SELMA as Ace in Rainbow Six Siege:
PAY ATTENTION TO WHERE YOU PLACE SELMAs
In theory, you could be juggling Selma devices to bait the Hard Breach denial utility, but it’s more risky and difficult to accomplish than with Thermite’s Exothermic charges.
Therefore, we recommend that you pay attention to where you throw your SELMA and make sure that you are coordinated with your support players (Thatcher, Kali, etc)
USE MULTIPLE SELMAS SIMULTANEOUSLY
If your opponents are actively tricking the walls and it’s hard for you to prevent them from doing so or destroy their utility, then use to your advantage the possibility to use simultaneously multiple SELMAs.
You can throw two SELMAs at the same time on a couple of walls, which should make it harder for Bandit to trick them.
Though, this might not be an option if your opponents are using Kaid to electrify two walls.
Interactions
SYNERGIES
Opening reinforced surfaces is often the difference between win and loss on the attack. Thus, supporting your Hard breacher should be your team’s main objective at the start of the round.
The main Hard breacher support operators are:
- Thatcher
Temporarily disables all electronic devices within EMPs range - Kali
Destroys devices located within LV radius - Twitch
Shock drone can zap Breach denial devices, destroying them permanently
There are also more situational support options, which are:
- Soft breachers (Buck, Sledge, Ash or Zofia)
Capable of opening an angle if the ceiling or floor is partially destructible.
Creating such openings may allow a direct line of sight on Breach denial gadgets or prevent Bandit from tricking - IQ
Similar to Soft breachers, she can deal with defenders’ utility with penetrable surfaces nearby.
At the very least she can pinpoint the location of devices (not always obvious, especially with Kaid’s Electroclaws) - Frag grenades
Nades can be thrown through drone holes to destroy gadgets nearby. Useful primarily if drone hole is next to a reinforced wall - Capitao
His fire bolts may prevent active Bandit tricking if a drone hole is available next to the wall
Counters:
Ace is primarily a counter to reinforcements.
Besides reinforced walls and hatches, Ace is capable of destroying Mira’s Black Mirrors – Ace and Hibana are the best at this job from Hard Breachers thanks to their ranged breaching capability.
Countered by:
Ace’s SELMA devices can be countered mainly by:
- Bandit & Kaid
Both defenders can electrify surfaces which permanently destroys impacted devices - Mute
Signal jammers prevent SELMA from initiating sequences. However, jammers do not destroy Ace’s gadget.
Besides direct hard counters, there are also more situational counters to SELMA:
- Maestro
Evil eyes can shoot Ace’s gadget if they have a direct line of sight - Explosives
Impact grenades and C4 explosion destroys deployed SELMA
Lastly, you can just simply shoot SELMA with guns. A single bullet destroys SELMA, but it may be difficult to hit its small hitbox.
How to play -
Ace R6 Siege
Playstyle
Instead, you should play more cautiously until your utility has been used to open crucial walls or hatches.
PRIORITIZE STAYING ALIVE UNTIL SITE IS OPENED!
We cannot stress this enough. Your top priority should be to open the walls (or hatches if needed) before going for an aggressive playstyle. Having Ace dying quickly can be painful for your team, especially if you were the only hard breacher available.
As a support operator, from the start of the action phase in Rainbow Six Siege, you should prioritize avoiding being spawnpeeked while approaching the objective building!
We highly recommend jumping on a drone for the first 5 to 10 seconds of the round. You can use that time to re-check the situation at your entry point to the building or drone for your entry fraggers.
In fact, droning for your entry fraggers should be one of your main actions until the reinforced surfaces can be opened. This is especially applicable in situations where your entry fraggers need to take control of the map before you can open walls/hatches.
Droning is not a flashy aspect of Rainbow Six Siege and won’t show on your scoreboard. It is, however, one of the most crucial aspects to winning consistently matches in R6S.
As a result, Ace is a great operator choice for the team’s in-game leaders.
EMBRACE THE DEFUSER DUTY
In many cases, the Hard breacher of the team is often the one carrying the defuser. It makes a lot of sense since you are expected to stay alive and be near the objective to breach it.
Difficulty
The easy side of Ace:
- Less vulnerable than Thermite when placing SELMA (ranged)
- Mechanically simple besides judging the trajectory of SELMA throw from a farther distance
The hard side of playing Ace:
- Importance to the attacking strategy, especially if you’re the sole Hard breacher
- At least basic map knowledge necessary for understanding where to use your gadget
- Game sense and understanding interactions needed for cooperating with support operators and avoiding Bandit tricking
Thus, we decided to rate Ace as a medium operator from a difficulty point of view.
Loadout guide -
Ace R6 Siege
Available options
Primary weapons
Secondary weapons
Universal gadgets
Breaching charge
The charge allows opening a hole in unreinforced walls, hatches, and barricades.
Claymore
Anti-personnel explosive.
Explodes when contact with sensor is made, injuring or dealing lethal damage.
Loadout suggestion
Loadout choices are an individual aspect, and rarely there is a “go-to” loadout in R6 Siege.
Sight choices are purely personal and depend on the player’s playstyle, map, even objective & specific role.
Please treat the below suggestion as what it is – our preferences.
We encourage you to experiment to find your setup.
Remember, just because something works for someone else, does not mean it has to and will work for you!
Suggested loadout:
| Primary weapon | Barrel | Grip | Scope |
| AK-12 | Compensator | Vertical Grip | 2.0x |
| Secondary weapon | Barrel | Grip | Scope |
| P9 | Muzzle brake | N/A | N/A |
| Gadget |
| Claymore |
Why such loadout?
PRIMARY WEAPONS
There’s not much debate in terms of primary weapons choices for Ace. Shotguns are not recommended (far from it) selection for attackers as a primary weapon.
On the other hand, AK-12 is one of the best guns in the game!
It has great Time To Kill, with manageable recoil and a variety of scope attachments.
Our preferred barrel attachment is a compensator since it works very well with the gun’s recoil pattern.
We like running vertical grip on this gun when using 2.0x scope since recoil becomes much easier to control. The angled grip is usually a better choice for entry fraggers who are more likely to have frequent close-range engagements. As a hard breacher, you will more often hold long angles, so angled grip won’t be that handy.
This connects with our 2.0x scope choice – magnification helps with holding long angles, especially as a ranged Hard breacher!
SECONDARY WEAPONS
Ace offers no choice for secondary weapons, we have access only to the P9 pistol.
It’s a good secondary gun which you should equip with a muzzle brake. A pistol will be your last resort option once you run out of AK12 bullets. In such circumstances, you will not benefit from the stealth of suppressor. On the other hand, a decreased recoil thanks to a muzzle brake is always handy!
UNIVERSAL GADGETS
Smoke grenades used to be an obvious winner in the universal gadgets department for Ace. This has changed, however, with the Y6S1.3 patch, where smokes were replaced with a claymore.
We suggest equipping claymores as a hard breacher for added security as a support operator.
Claymore is great for preventing a flank or a runout.
Breaching charges could be useful too, but currently, soft breaching capability is abundant on the attack.
Community Videos -
Ace R6 Siege
Instructional videos
Gameplay showcases
Other operators
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