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Wamai R6 B&W art by r6siegecenter

PROs:

  • Strong support gadget
  • AR – AUG – on defense
  • Flexible ratings
  • 1.5x magnification scope

CONS:

  • No explosives as a universal gadget
  • Utility generated over-time

Wamai

Defensive operator

Wamai enhances support utility on the defense.
His Mag-nets interact with offensive gadgets, hence filling in a role similar to Jager.
However, he is not a replacement for Jager’s ADS as both operators’ gadgets work differently.
 
Despite his flexible ratings, Wamai is suited well to be an anchor due to the nature of his gadget.

Organization

NIGHTHAVEN

Availability

DLC Y4S4

Armor Rating

Medium

Speed Rating

Medium

Biography

Born to a fishing family on the coast of Kenya, Furaha spent his childhood hunting sharks and collecting lost treasures from the ocean floor of the Lamu Archipelago. It soon became apparent that he was able to stay underwater far longer than his peers, and medical exploration revealed an abnormal physiology that contributed to Furaha’s long-held belief that he was “not from here.” When the opportunity arose to join the Kenyan Navy, and later the Kenya Special Boat Unit, he put his skills to good use. 

OPERATOR VIDEO

He quickly drew the attention of generals within the navy as well as the worldwide scientific community for his prolific and frequent record-breaking freedives. He later transitioned to NIGHTHAVEN, drawn by the promise of more down-time and a private boat to take him to where his next dive site might be.

Operator guide

Detailed information on how to play Wamai R6 Siege operator

Utility

What is the utility?

Wamai comes equipped with Mag-Nets.
They are electromagnets that once deployed, intercept attacking utility, and pull it to where Mag-net is used. Then after a short fuze time, both Mag-net and attacking utility are detonated.
The detonation of Mag-net has a twofold effect:
  1. Impacted offensive utility effect is activated
    Examples: 
    A smoke grenade will release the smoke cover.
    Stun grenade will cause a flash effect.
    The effect, though, happens at the location of Mag-net.
  2. Mag-net detonation causes a minor explosion
    The explosion happens regardless of utility pulled by the Mag-net – it is the same for Stun grenade as for Frag grenade.
    The explosion has a small radius and causes 4 damage. Therefore, it is capable of destroying friendly and offensive utility located nearby
 
From the utility role perspective, Wamai fills in the role of support defender. He can aid himself or fellow anchors by intercepting hostile utility.
Mag-nets’ advantages over Jager’s ADS are:
  • flexibility in placement
  • ability to backfire attackers
Each Mag-net counters 1 projectile. It also requires a line of sight to be effective.
Mag-nets do not intercept friendly projectiles, such as impact grenades or Nitro cells.
The effective range of Mag-net is a meter or so bigger than Jager’s ADS.
 
Wamai R6 Siege operator starts a round with 1 Mag-Net and generates a new one every 40 seconds. Thus, Wamai utility usage is more active and similar to Lesion.
Throughout the round, Wamai gets a maximum of 5 Mag-nets.

How to use utility?

IS MAG-NET NEW ADS?

Both ADS and Mag-nets share some similarities; hence, comparisons are totally justified.
They fill in a similar role as both operator’s utility impacts offensive gadgets.
However, the way they impact offensive utility is very different:
  • Jager’s ADS neutralizes offensive utility. It stops the projectiles from detonating and having any effect.
  • Wamai’s Mag-nets, on the other hand, do not prevent the activation of attackers’ utility. It merely allows defenders to dictate where the detonation will take place!
Such a difference in interactions with attacking utility forces us to change the way we think about using our gadgets.
The natural instinct may be for players to use Mag-nets similarly to Jager’s ADS. This is not going to work.

ADS & MAG-NETS INTERACTIONS

  • Shall you put both gadgets together as a combo?
    No, it is not useful to combine Jager’s ADS and Wamai’s Mag-net.
    Mag-net has an impressive radius for pulling projectiles (a bit bigger than ADS). However, ADS ignore grabbed projectiles. Thus rending it rather useless as a combo and, if placed too close to each other, even negative as ADS might get destroyed.

  • Do both gadgets activate simultaneously?
    No, only one device is activated, you don’t waste both.
    When ADS and Mag-nets radius overlaps, in a way that projectile could activate for either of them, ADS will have priority.

MAG-NET CAN BACKFIRE!

At the moment of Mag-net detonation, it gets destroyed, causing a minor explosion.
Thus, bear in mind that any friendly devices placed near the Mag-net will be destroyed, as well.
Friendly utility destroyed by Mag-net explosion includes:
  • Deployable shields
  • Barricades
  • Maestro’s Evil eye
  • Traps
  • Even Castle’s Armored panels

HOW TO PLACE MAG-NET

Wamai can throw his Mag-nets for deployment.
This gives us flexibility, which is going to be essential for proper placement.
 
We got to set our mindset correctly when playing the Wamai R6 Siege operator.
Try to think how to place your Mag-net so that offensive utility:
  • impacts defenders the least
  • or backfires attackers the most!
Here’s a list of DOs and DON’Ts:
Bad placements
DON’T place Wamai’s Mag-nets at:
  • Common anchoring spots
  • Chokepoints and where defenders place utility
  • Passive, friendly utility (default cameras, deployable shields, etc.) or traps (Lesion’s Gu mines, Ela’s Grzmot mines, etc.)
Bad placement examples:
  • Bottom of an entry point to the objective
  • Behind Mira’s Black Mirror
Why are those spots bad?
First, entry points are the usual spot for stacking-friendly utility. Hence, the explosion of Mag-net may destroy your team’s gadget.
Secondly, Black Mirrors are very strong anchoring spots, often vital to your team’s success.
Good placements
Instead, DO place your Mag-nets:
  • On surfaces farther from friendly operators/gadgets
  • Not easily visible
  • Not accessible to the attackers
Examples of beneficial locations:
  • Ceilings above the entry point
  • On the “Attackers side” of the entry point, but concealed
Why are those spots good?
First, your utility is not likely to be destroyed by such placement.
Secondly, detonation at the entrance or where attackers are can cause a detrimental effect, or at the very least panic, to the attackers.
Imagine Capitao shooting his Asphyxiating Bolts, which get pulled right next to the entrance attackers want to push. They just wasted time, resources, and essentially achieved self-area denial.
Here are some tips for placing your Mag-nets:
You can destroy one layer of surface and place Mag-net within it. Such placement makes Mag-nets hard to spot.
Besides blue light emitted by Mag-nets, they do not stand out from environments much.
You can throw them out of the building to mess with attackers' utility.

Interactions

SYNERGIES

COMBO WITH GOYO

Combining Wamai’s Mag-net with Goyo’s Volcan shield can be a great strategy.
Whenever a Magnet destroys attacking utility, it will detonate Volcan shield!
Such a combo can be beneficial as attackers tend to throw in their grenades or use Capitao’s crossbow right before their push. You may stall them by activating a Volcan shield, which helps to utilize Goyo even better as an area denial defender!
 
The downside of such usage:
Attackers who have no means to deal with the Volcan shield can use otherwise ineffective counters to deal with it – for example, Stun or Smoke grenade.

Counters:

Gadgets impacted by Mag-net:
  • Nomad’s Airjab
    Pulled and detonated after a short delay, Airjab’s usual effect activates and affects characters within its effective range – both attackers and defenders
  • Capitao’s Bolts
    Could be used to backfire attackers with detonating Asphyxiating bolt at their location
  • Zofia’s grenades
  • Kali’s Lance
  • Default Stun, Smoke, and Frag grenades
  • Ying’s Candela
  • Fuze’s Cluster charge – 1 magnet grabs only 1 puck
  • Gridlock’s Trax
  • Thatcher’s EMP

Important note:

If you do not want the effect of captured offensive utility, then you can neutralize it by shooting the pulled device before detonation.
A couple of things to mention, though:
First, you can only neutralize utility that can be destroyed by shooting it normally. Examples: you can shoot Nomad’s Airjab, but not Frag grenades, nor Capitao’s bolts.
Secondly, if you shoot the Magnet itself, then the attacking utility will go off anyway.

Countered by:

Wamai R6 Siege operator Mag-net is countered by:
  • Shooting Mag-net with a gun
  • Twitch Shock drones
  • IQ detects Mag-nets
 
Additionally, Thatcher’s EMP temporarily disables Mag-nets. 
Such interaction happens when Mag-net has no line of sight on EMP but is within EMP’s effective range.
If Mag-net catches EMP, then EMP will go off, destroying the Mag-net.

How to play -
Wamai R6 Siege

Playstyle

Rainbow Six Siege Wamai cartoon style
ANCHOR
 
Wamai’s characteristics are similar to most universal defensive operators – 2 speed, non-area denial utility.
2 speed & 2 armor statistics allow Wamai to fill in the role of a roamer, who leaves the objective site to disturb and flank attackers.
He also has a good gun – AUG – which gives him respectable killing potential.
However, Wamai’s utility makes him a good anchoring defender.
Why? There are two main reasons: Utility is generated over time & Mag-nets benefit anchors the most.
 

ACTIVE UTILITY GENERATION

Similar to Lesion, Wamai generates utility over time. Every 40 seconds, he gets a new Mag-net. Roamers are usually the ones who will challenge attackers first.
Therefore, if Wamai dies quickly in the round, he is not benefiting his team. At least not as well as he could have otherwise.
 

BENEFIT TO THE TEAM

The second part of why you should stay on the objective with Wamai being able to place your Mag-nets at useful for the team locations.
Such locations are usually on the objective site, especially closer to the round end.
Simply put: If Wamai is not present on the site, then he is incapable of deploying his Mag-nets on the objective. Thus he is not supporting the team to the best of his ability.
 
To learn more about anchoring the site, please visit below in-depth guide:

Difficulty

MEDIUM
  • Useful, but non-essential utility
  • Good gun
  • Requires game sense and basic map knowledge to place Mag-net well
  • Mag-net can backfire if placed incorrectly

Loadout guide -
Wamai R6 Siege

Available options

Primary weapons

Secondary weapons

Universal gadgets

Deployable Shield

Hip-high shield deployable by defenders on flat surfaces. Can be used to protect from gunfire & explosives, as well as an obstacle for attackers to cross locations.

Rainbow Six Siege gadget - Proximity Alarm

Proximity Alarm

A deployable alarm that emits a sound when attackers are within its line of sight and range.

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 weaponBarrelGripScope
MP5KCompensatorN/A1.5x scope
Secondary weaponBarrelGripScope
KeratosMuzzle BrakeN/AN/A
Gadget
Deployable Shield

Why such loadout?

PRIMARY WEAPONS

MP5K
Reliable gun and buffed in Y5S3.
Now, both Wamai and Mute can equip this weapon with 1.5x scope.
MP5K has easy to control vertical recoil. Thus we recommend using Compensator, which helps to control the gun better after the initial first 3 bullets.
Just like AUG, MP5K has no grip attachment choices, and only 1x sights are available for the gun.
 
AUG A2 alternative
Objectively better gun than the MP5K.
The main downside of AUG A2 is that the gun occupies a significant chunk of the screen when not aiming down sight, lacks magnification, and… it’s ugly as hell.
Flash hider is the best barrel attachment. AUG has virtually no horizontal recoil, thus reducing the vertical climb is a way to go!
Since AUG has no option for magnifying scope, the sight choices are a personal choice – go with the one you feel the most comfortable, our favorite is Reflex.
Grip attachments are not available for AUG – Vertical grip is attached by default.
 
 

SECONDARY WEAPONS

Keratos is a better revolver than LFP586.
We suggest putting Muzzle brake as barrel attachment since you are likely to anchor with Wamai most of the time – stealth of suppressor is unlikely to help.
 
P12 is a good pistol, so if you feel more comfortable having more ammo on your secondary, then go for it!
 

UNIVERSAL GADGETS

You can’t go wrong with either universal gadget as a Wamai Rainbow Six Siege operator.
Both gadgets can serve your team well!
Since Year 4 changes to deployable shields, we lean more towards picking them up, especially when anchoring the site.
 
We recommend checking which universal gadgets your teammates picked during the operator & objective selection phase.
There’s not much of a sense to bring 3-4 Deployable shields, especially if you have Goyo on your roster.
In such a case, you should go with a proximity alarm.

Community Videos -
Wamai R6 Siege

Instructional videos

Gameplay showcases

Other operators

Learn more about other operators in R6 Siege!

Or go to list of all available Guides

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