How to Pick Your Main in Rainbow Six Siege
Arguably, Rainbow Six Siege’s most significant selling point as an FPS title is its inclusion of operators. These are different playable characters that each come with their own stats, weapons, and abilities that allow them to interact with the map and their teammates in unique ways.
If you’re transitioning from CSGO, then this is going to be a totally alien concept to you and might take some getting used to. If you’re coming from COD, then you should be used to specialists, but your operator choice in R6S makes a much more significant difference.
There are a handful of beginner operators that you can pick up immediately to hop into the game, allowing you to get a feel for your style down the road, but there are some criteria to bear in mind when making that decision on who you want to focus on.
Beginner Friendly Operators
When it comes to novice operators, there are two that stick out. Rook for defense, and Ash for offense.
The reason that Rook is often advised for beginners is because he allows you to instantly provide value to your team with his gadget. Value is the name given to the utility that your operator brings to the map, how valuable they are, how much they contribute, etc.
Rook comes with a ballistic vest pack, which grants your teammates a 20% damage reduction. There is no set up with the gadget; you just slap it on the ground when you spawn, and you’re good to go.
On top of that, Rook comes with an ACOG sight. Learning how to use an ACOG is going to be important for your overall skill, as proper use of it makes holding angles much easier. Rook is a three armor one-speed operator, meaning that you’re going to be holding one spot rather than roaming. This is going to allow you to grasp the fundamentals of site defense quicker.
Ash, on the other hand, is a one armor three-speed operator. She runs around like an absolute bullet and has a tiny hitbox. She has a strong primary weapon in the R4-C, which doesn’t come with an ACOG, but doesn’t really need it on account of how fast Ash plays.
Her gadget is a grenade launcher that offers soft destruction, allowing you to blow open non-reinforced walls and hatches—making her great for quickly hitting angles and flanks that your opponents might not be expecting.
She is much easier to pick up for the COD or APEX fan and plays like those games more than slower operators. Plus, her grenade launcher is going to afford you the chance to learn the maps, the rotations, and entry points quicker than if you didn’t have that destruction.
Picking Your Operator
After you’ve spent some time with these two and learned the game, you need to pick your mains going forward. Hopefully, you’ve played around with some other operators that you’ve unlocked, too, so have a general idea of where you’re going.
You need one for defense and offense. So find your playstyle and work from there. If you enjoy holding bombsites, not moving around, look for the three armor ops that offer site denial gadgets, like Echo. If you like the fast-paced play of Ash, go with a roamer like Ella.
Same logic for offense, if you like it slow and methodical, heavier characters with better gadgets, and if you want it fast and hectic, three speeds with a focus on gunplay.