PROs:
- Very good guns
- Universal utility
CONS:
- Limited coverage from the shield
- Shield can backfire
OSA
Offensive operator
Osa has been an exciting addition to the Rainbow Six Siege roster in Year 6.
She is the first proper shield operator (sorry, Blackbeard) who brings a primary automatic weapon along with the shield. And boy, oh boy, do we like her primary weapon options!
Osa is a useful operator, especially when your team can coordinate its attack.
Organization
NIGHTHAVEN
Availability
DLC Y6S3
Armor Rating
Medium
Speed Rating
Medium
Biography
Born to the Janković family, owners of European toy stores, Anja traveled with her parents constantly, so she never felt stable until she moved in with her aunt in Croatia at the age of 6. She began her schooling there and learned the family trade of toymaking, all the while developing a near obsession for 60s science-fiction films.
She followed her passion for creation and technology and studied electromechanics at a vocational school, and then military engineering at the University of Zagreb where she excelled at robotics engineering.
OPERATOR VIDEO
She found herself isolated due to her unorthodox approach and others’ attitudes towards her transition, so she focused on her work. Her unique perspective and raw creative ability set her apart from her peers and got her the attention of Kali, who was in the country looking for recruits. An offer followed, and Janković joined Nighthaven.
The company’s success can be largely credited to Osa’s inventions and her field work. Her efficiency and the versatility of her arsenal have given them an edge in every recorded operation, and by proving herself to be a dedicated and reliable asset she earned the choice position of Nighthaven’s head of R&D.
Operator guide
Detailed information on how to play Osa R6 Siege operator
Utility
What is the utility?
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE TALON-8 SHIELD?
Talon shield is the attackers’ enhanced version of deployable shields, which are a universal gadget available to defenders in Rainbow Six Siege.
As a result, Osa’s shield serves primarily as a strategical tool for:
- creating new safe angles for attackers
- gathering intel about defenders’ location and their setup
- helping advance attackers’ strategical control
CHARACTERISTICS OF Talon-8:
- 2 shields available per round
- Talon-8 shields are taller than deployable shields
- Osa’s gadget has transparent glass, thus allowing seeing through the shield to gather intel
- Shield offers complete protection from frontal gunfire while carrying it, but only when Osa is in a crouching position
- Standing upwards exposes Osa’s legs to shots even from the front
- Osa is unable to sprint or go prone with a shield equipped – prompting such action unequips shield
- Talon-8 can be deployed by Osa and then used more as a traditional deployable shield
- When deployed, the shield offers broader protection than when carried by the operator
- The shield can be picked up by Osa, and her only
- When equipped, Talon-8 can be used to destroy barricades with its deployment animation (more on it later!)
- Shields are indestructible by gunshots
- Talon-8 can be meleed to obscure its visibility completely – similarly to Mira’s Black Mirrors and Maestro’s Evil Eyes
- When shot, the shield’s material will be cracked, making it a bit harder to see clearly through it – example below
How to use utility?
LOGIC BEHIND TALON USAGE
Talon-8 forces us to ask ourselves more questions than many other unique gadgets in Rainbow Six Siege. We need to think about gadget usage not only when deploying the shield. This question is also (and potentially especially) important when carrying the shield while advancing our position.
So let’s separate those actions and related thoughts into two separate sections:
CARRYING THE SHIELD
When carrying your Talon-8 shield, you want to consider factors, such as:
- What are the angles I can get shot from?One of the most challenging aspects of playing shields in R6 is understanding the angles. Shields offer limited protection, so your character is exposed to gunshots if you position yourself incorrectly. Maps available in the game are multilayered with tons of potential for default angles and self-made ones by players.Your success while playing shield operators will be heavily determined by your ability to understand your environments.
- Do I have support from my team?Shield operators rely on their teammates to provide much-needed firepower during their push. Pushing alone puts you at a disadvantage, so try to have teammates supporting you whenever possible. However, Osa is unique in this aspect. She can deploy her shield to provide herself cover and then use an automatic primary gun to kill enemies.
- What’s the situation behind me?You want to know how your teammates are positioned behind you and coordinate with them. Your allies will rely on you to provide cover, so make sure you do not move to the sides or turn unexpectedly – this could lead to your teammates getting shotThe difficulty of understanding everyone’s position is that you cannot simply turn to check. Well, not at least when it matters the most. So you will rely on voice communication and teamwork, which develops with time.
- How can I expose my character’s model as little as possible?Understanding how your character is positioned towards enemies can be difficult since we play FPS and not TPS. In case you die when you thought you were hidden behind the Talon shield, make sure to check the replay – it will help you figure out how your character moved and exposed itself to enemies.
DEPLOYING THE SHIELD
Now that we’ve covered questions to ask yourself while carrying the shield, let’s focus on what you should be thinking about when deploying Talon-8:
- Do we benefit from this position?Not every shield deployment location will benefit your team. Sometimes defenders will gain from your shield’s location. A good example is placing your Talon-8 shield in doorways leading to the objective. It could be a good location for a shield to provide initial intel about the situation on the objective. But it can also make your life harder when entering the objective. Eventually, you will have to vault over it, forcing you to commit to the push and locking you in vaulting animation.
- How much control this shield deployment position gives us?You want to understand the angles your shield provides to your team.
- Are my teammates going to use this position or will it be redundant?In a moment, certain positions may seem beneficial. But often, they become quickly useless due to your team advancing rapidly. Ineffective deployment is not a big issue since you can pick it up again. But it may waste time and delay your push, primarily if your teammates rely on your pushing capacity to get control over the map.
COOPERATE WITH TEAMMATES
As mentioned in the previous section, cooperating with your allies is extremely important when playing an operator with access to a shield. You want to maximize your control and advantage by having at least one teammate near you.
Doing so creates multiple advantages, such as:
- teammates can capitalize on distractions created by your shield
- trade potential – trading means getting immediate kill back in case a member of your team is killed
- an ally can quickly peek from behind your shield while you are carrying it
WATCH OUT HOW YOU PEEK FROM BEHIND THE SHIELD
Remember that the vision is two-ways with Talon-8 shields. Thus, make sure to change the angles at which you peek from behind your shields. You do not want to re-peek at the same angle and time intervals repeatedly. Predictability is an enemy of winning gunfights.
Try to change where your head appears so that enemy has to adjust their aim and keep guessing. Do so also as fast as possible.
If you peek so quickly that you get only one shot at an enemy, they are likely to not get a single one on you!
YOU CAN DEPLOY SHIELDS IN DOORWAYS AND WINDOWS
Doing so will attach the Talon-8 shield to either structure in a specific way. For doorways, it’s pretty standard deployment, similar to that of deployable shields – see below.
For windows, however, we get a unique situation, which looks like that:
As you can see, Osa’s shield creates a smaller angle into the window, which can be used while rappelling. Such a positioning of the shield provides the threat of constant surveillance from the window. And it does so without a downside of exposing to defenders’ guns!
Attackers can still rappel inside the building through that window. But doing so will destroy the shield attached to it.
TAP DEPLOYMENT BUTTON ON BARRICADES
Doing so will destroy immediately any standard barricades on doorways or windows. You don’t have to hold the button; simply tapping it will do the trick!
Interactions
SYNERGIES
- BlackbeardLike other shield attackers, Osa provides cover for Blackbeard’s most exposed parts of the body – torso, and legs. Blackbeard & crouching shield operator can be quite a combo!
Counters:
Osa is not a counter to any particular operator or gadget. Instead, she is a counter to angles and strong positions that defenders may be holding.
Countered by:
- ExplosivesImpact grenades and Nitro cells will immediately destroy Talon shields
- MeleeHitting the shield with a melee attack will shatter the glass, making it impossible to look through the gadget without peeking out of it
- Castle Armor panelsUnlike default barricades, Armor panels cannot be destroyed with Talon’s deployment animation
How to play Osa
Playstyle
UNIVERSAL
Categorizing Osa in either the fragging or support category in the playstyle department is not an easy task.
From one side, Osa offers good fragging potential due to:
- medium speed/medium armor stats
- very good primary weapons
- unique utility helping with fragging potential
But she is also more than capable of providing support with her shields being useful for the entire team and having access to smoke grenades.
As a result, we decided to put Osa in the Universal playstyle category.
We recommend that you fit your playstyle depending on your circumstances and preferences.
Two main scenarios from a circumstances point of view are:
- solo queue
- queuing with a squad
SOLO QUEUE – ENTRY FRAGGING
When solo queuing, you may use Osa more as an entry fragger.
Unless you are in a high rank, you probably cannot consistently rely on your teammates to cooperate and think alike. In essence, the solo queue is a lottery with team coordination, and cooperation is usually somewhat limited.
Such a role assignment means Osa can be used as a spearhead of your team. You can push with her shield to scout for any pesky roamers – just watch out for angles that are not covered by your shield!
Furthermore, entry fraggers play a vital role in advancing the attackers’ progress in the round by securing strategically essential locations. An example of such a situation could be controlling the room above the objective site.
Last but not least, fraggers are more often than not the first attacker to push anchors hunkered down on the objective. And in such a situation, your shield may come more than handy!
PLAYING IN SQUAD – SUPPORT
While queuing with a squad, or at least a couple of friends, the situation may be very different.
If you rely on teamwork and intel gathering (and you totally should), you may use your shield to support entry fraggers. Such function can be filled in by Osa by being in front of them to provide cover and necessary intel.
Difficulty
MEDIUM
Choosing between medium and hard was a difficult decision for us. Shields are not easy to play in Rainbow Six Siege.
The tricky part of using your Talon-8 will be:
- understanding the angles
- mechanical know-how to place your character model correctly
- finding valid placement locations for your shield
- coordinating with your team to gain an advantage
So why did we not put Osa as a hard operator to play?
Her utility is not critical to the team’s success. Some strategies may revolve around Talon’s placement. But more often than not, it will be an excellent addition to your push, rather than its essential part.
Loadout guide - Osa
Available options
Primary weapons
Secondary weapons
Universal gadgets
Smoke Grenade
Grenade releasing a cloud of smoke, which is almost impossible to see through. It gives the advantage to players by preventing line of sight.
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!
| Primary weapon | Barrel | Grip | Scope |
| PDW9 | Compensator | Vertical Grip | 1.5x |
| Secondary weapon | Barrel | Grip | Scope |
| PMM | Muzzle Brake | N/A | N/A |
| Gadget |
| Smoke Grenade |
Why such loadout?
PRIMARY WEAPONS
Choosing between Osa’s primary guns is a tough call! Both options are really nice guns, so it will come down to personal preferences.
556XI hits harder but slower and has a smaller magazine size.
PDW9 has 50 bullets and lower recoil.
On top of that, both guns offer different types of magnifying scopes:
- 556XI has access to 2.0x and 2.5x
- PDW9 provides you with 1.5x scope
Ever since its introduction to Rainbow Six Siege, we have really enjoyed using 1.5x scopes whenever available. They offer a sweet spot between the ability to aim precisely in long-range gunfights and the possibility to navigate in tight spaces indoors.
SECONDARY WEAPONS
PMM is an excellent pistol with 61 damage per bullet but a fairly small magazine size (8). We do not have access to other secondary weapons. We suggest picking a muzzle brake for lowered recoil that it offers. Stealth is a playstyle you will go for, especially with a shield-bearing operator like Osa.
UNIVERSAL GADGETS
We like to pick smoke grenades whenever available unless our team has an excess of them.
Smoke grenades come handy when:
- you tend to play the objective
- you are more of a support player
- you’re the designated defuser planter
This type of grenade is a great tool for obscuring defenders’ lines of sight. Smokes provide coverage, especially when planting the defuser.
Community Videos -
Osa
Gameplay showcases
Other operators
Learn more about other operators in R6 Siege!
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