Here are all the Rainbow Six Operators ranked in a Tier List.
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Rainbow Six Siege is one of the popular shooters on the market, with its tactical destructibility, and growing list of Operators. Over the years, there have been many reworked Operators, along with new releases. Ubisoft has committed itself to release over 100 Operators as a goal, showing their long term commitment to the title. With so many Operators in the game already, and balance changes, how do they stack up? Here is our Rainbow Six Siege Tier List, showing you the best Operators to play for various roles in the game.
Our Rainbow Six Siege Tier List methodology will break apart the best to the worst. The Tier List considers all elos in the game, whether that be pros and Diamond level players to Copper players. Also, each Operator will explain their ranking and why each Operator has earned their rank.
S Tier is for the best Operators you can get for various roles in the game to the niche they fill. This is regardless of the pro scene, any other game mode, or elo.
A Tier is a place where some very good Operators sit, being very useful at their jobs.
B Tier Operators are the picks that are balanced, easy to play and do their jobs fine.
C Tier Operators are the slightly under tuned, or niche picks that don’t get seen often. These are the picks that can also run away with games in lower-ranked brackets.
D Tier options are the worst of the worst, which do a niche and are still not great. Best avoid picking at all costs unless you fancy some memey gameplay in casual or unranked.
We will update this section of the Rainbow Six Tier List as and when a new Operator releases as part of the seasonal content updates.
First on the list is Ace. Ace’s introduction destroyed the balance around Hard Breachers. However, he has since been toned down with the Selma nerfs since. Even with those changes, Ace remains S Tier on our Rainbow Six Tier List. The reason why is because Ace has two Selma’s that take time to blow up but create enough space to vault surfaces. He allows lots of creative play, positioning, and a chance to peak new holes before a hole wide enough appears.
With that said, there is room for Hibana, who is the best Operator for taking out Hatches. Hatches are an important part of many maps designs. Destroying hatches allows room to create new angles to fight, push and rotate around maps. Attackers need to adapt on occasion or create multiple pressure points to plant and get picks successfully. If required, she can also help take out hard surfaces too.
Ash is by far the best fragger available for the Attackers. She is the go-to pick for many people, with her slim hitbox, fast speed, and incredibly reliable guns. The R4C is her best rifle, limited to smaller magnifications, with her other Primary weapon having access to magnifications for those longer range maps and sites. Furthermore, her breaching rounds are an excellent addition to map rotating and clearing out awkward defender gadgets she needs to get through. There has never been a point in the game’s history where Ash has not ranked high on the Rainbow Six Tier List.
Likewise, Jager is the greatest Defense fragger, yet a valuable team player for Defender. Jager is the only Defender with an Assault Rifle, packing a punch at close and long ranges. His gadget is important for denying utility, preventing grenades, flashbangs, and other utility. It is very important for any team comp as Attackers can use them to flush Jager out and his allies away from key angles and positions.
Mozzie is a new addition to the list, proving drone denial, two very good SMGs to chose from, and C4 to match. Many professional players have made Mozzie their pro pick for fragging, and it reflects in higher elos with C4 tricks and duelling Attackers close range.
Zofia is another popular Attacking Fragger, blending in with a mix of team utility. She plays very similar to ash, albeit a bit slower. However, she has more reliable utility with her grenade and flashbang launcher.
Interesting look at some Attacker stats from #R6EUL Stage 1…
I always prefer to work with 'Pick % When Available' for operators as I want to know how often players clicked on them when they had the option to
Also thought KPR and Win % by Op was quite fascinating too pic.twitter.com/Xy7BJYigmv
— AceOfPyrite (@AceOfPyrite) April 28, 2021
Ubisoft designed several Operators to fit into team comps, while not directly excelling and carrying directly. An excellent example of this is Thatcher, who uses an EMP Grenade to disable gadgets in an area. Thatcher sets up his Hard Breachers to take down Reinforced Walls or eliminate hostile electronics for a short window. It is almost crucial to attack sites and often banned as a result of his value he brings.
Sledge is another good example of this because of his ability to take down soft structures at least 15 times a round. His Sledgehammer is capable of removing floorboards, creating new angles to peak roaming or anchored defenders. However, this does require fair decent map knowledge to create. Regardless, for a new player, Sledge is very good for working out how to navigate and is very fun in general. Oh, he also has frag grenades as a utility option, which is rare these days. Frags are great on Sledge, throwing them into or from unique angles he created by bashing down a wall or floor.
Aruni is one of the more recent Defenders, having launched in late 2020. Since her launch, she has become a valuable pick, putting her lazer gates on doors, reinforced positions and windows. They hurt any Attacker pushing through them and require a throwable to turn them off. After a short period of time, she can reactivate them. If the tactical side wasn’t enough, she has P10 like Mozzie, making her a solid tactical and fragging Defender.
Kaid has become an incredibly good Defender, allowing players to electrify hatches and multiple hard walls with great positioning. It makes it easier to electrify sites like Cash Room on Clubhouse and Garage on Consulate. In addition, the TCSG is a fantastic weapon, with his SMG a nice alternative.
The original game-changing Operator is Mira, who to this day still makes Siege an entirely new game. Her Mira Windows offers so much information, protection and hard to counter in the first place. Using these windows well evolve map strategies entirely for higher elo players. It is easy to see why she is permabanned.
Smoke is a staple wall destroyer, with a powerful secondary if you can handle the seconds SMG spray pattern. Furthermore, his gas canisters are extremely powerful and game-deciding on Bomb.
Valkyrie is another popular pick among Siege Defenders. Her Black Eye Cameras are deployable cameras she can throw onto spots to get new camera information. She can even throw them out of the building to see where attackers are approaching the site. There’s a whole world of information coming from her picks, which she can then use to spawn kill, c4, or peak unsuspecting Attackers.
IQ is one of the strategic Attacking Operators you can bring with a solid LMG and the tools to detect enemy electronics. While IQ is not good every game, if you know an enemy team takes Valkyrie, Echo, or Lesion, the pick is worth it. Very situational, but very useful regardless of elo, hence her A Tier ranking in the Rainbow Six Tier List.
Kali is a popular attacker with a weapon inspired from CSGO’s AWP. With that said, her role as a shooter is a little awkward. Despite her clear strengths as a Sniper, she brings fairly solid utility. Her Lance ability attaches itself to surfaces, emitting a pule destroying electronics and hard surfaces like Castle’s gadget, even through walls. This makes her great at countering Mute, Kaid and Bandit. A situational use if Thatcher isn’t available.
Ubisoft introduced Maverick as a very niche Operator for Breaching. His design is all about silently blow torching his way through reinforced walls and hatches. The key strengths of his kit is that he doesn’t have a direct counter. Although, it takes some time to take out the reinforced walls, needing cover to achieve victory. Also, he is the hardest breacher to learn.
On the other hand, Thermite is the easiest of the bunch. Thermite is the original Hard Breacher when Siege released in 2015. Despite his age, he is a solid Operator, earning a nice spot in the Rainbow Six Siege Tier List. He is a versatile Hard Breacher who uses his charges to take out Hatches and Walls alike. However, his weaknesses are the same as other breachers while needing to get up close and personal to use his Thermite Charge. Consequently, this exposes him more than the S Tier Breachers, especially Bandit tricking.
Capitao has one of the best LMGs for the Attackers, combines with incredible situational utility. His pinpoint accuracy smokes are vital for planting, and his wall of fire is key for flushing out and controlling Defenders.
Dokkaebi is one of the flexible attackers that can fit in any comp. Her design is simple, ring the Defenders phones and work out where they are. Once an enemy dies, she can gain access to Defender cams, which is a nice addition to her kit.
Iana is becoming more and more popular in the game, especially when working with Zofia. She brings a hologram version of herself which acts as a better drone. She provides ways to figure out enemy positions, draw fire, and ping enemy devices easier and with less risk.
Nomad is one of the two anti roamers and a great post-plant Operator. She deploys air jabs, which detonate when Defenders get close, launching them a short distance away. This is great for preventing roaming defenders from getting the surprise on her team. Also, Nomad air jabs are great for covering angles Defenders need to push for post plant scenarios.
Zero is Sam Fisher, with stealth kits made for making his life easier. He has a camera device that embeds itself into surfaces. If it can penetrate a surface, the camera can look on either side of it. The camera also has a zap feature, which can break almost of electronic defender gadgets. He also has Frags, so he is very fun and well rounded.
Echo is one of the more annoying defenders to deal with, especially if there are no counters. Echo has drones he attaches to ceilings, and when he uses their fire ability, enemy attackers get concussed. It makes him hard to deal with, and if the defenders have good comms, a roamer may come and catch the exposed attacker. His key strength is the post-plant denial, stopping the progress of planting the diffuser, which has won many rounds of Pro games alone.
Maestro was a lot stronger once upon a time, but the loss of the ACOG on his LMG makes him slightly weaker. Besides, Maestro’s Evil Eyes are nice intel tools and create new pressure points for Attackers, especially Breachers and Drones.
Mute is one of the simpler defenders to use, but that doesn’t sacrifice his power. Many Defenders in pro play and casual use him to deny enemy drones onto positions and countering Hard Breachers. Even so, the weaknesses of many Attackers is Mute, so it is easy to see why he’s valued so well.
Melusi is an awkward Defender to fight, largely down to her community titled wub wub ability. She places a Banshee Sonic Defense, which slows enemy Operators in line of sight of it. Attackers require explosives or melee to destroy them, using limited utility or exposing them during the melee animation. Consequently, it leads to roamers peeking Attackers while they are at a disadvantage. Furthermore, everyone can hear the wubbing noise it emits, giving audio queues of Attackers whereabouts.
Vigil is an interesting roamer who has an ability that denies Drone’s visions of him from a distance. The range of his ERC-7 ability is fairly big, making it hard to pinpoint the otherwise invisible Defender. Finally, his K1A is a quality SMG, and he has impacts that aid his playstyle.
Wamai is Jager light. The core of his kit performs similar to Jagers ADS, but has long-range throwable discs that magnetise a thrown gadget instead. It is good for misplacing EMP grenades, Flashbangs, and Frags, but doesn’t hold out against Fuze, Hibana pellets and other abilities like that. It has its strengths in niche situations, but Jager is much more reliable otherwise.
Buck was once S tier, but losing his frag grenades has hurt him big time. The benefit over Sledge is he can take out floorboard and walls at range. So if you need to take out floorboards a floor above, then Buck is better than Sledge in that one department.
Flores is Year 6 Season 1’s Operator, who has remote control explosive drones as abilities. He sadly isn’t that great, has his drone is easily countered. But, if it does get in positions, say goodbye to plaster, deployable, and even Defenders if they don’t get out in time. If we get back to a Defender deployable meta, then Flores’ stock will rise.
Glaz is the original Sniper for Attackers. Since his mini thermal rework, he has become balanced, needing to stand still to get thermal vision. However, it means it is easier to read a Glaz’s intentions, and you have a second or two leeway to avoid his sights.
Jackal is a fine Operator, often band in low elo because he counters people running around the map aimlessly. Saying that, if you move cautiously and have assistance, Jackal isn’t so scary. We place him in the B Tier of the Rainbow Six Tier List to balance out the fact he is powerful in low elo but falls off in higher skill brackets.
Nokk is a mix of Vigil and Caviera on the Attacking side. However, she isn’t very team-friendly. Ideal for solo queue ranked grinders in lower elos, but you can play Ash and be much more useful instead.
Twitch was once upon a time great. But with nerfs to her electric drones, they aren’t as good. Zero operates the same role she does but better. The only reason to go Twitch is for the F2 bullet hose or specific attack strategies where Zero can reliably get his camera in position.
Ying is an alright pick. Her Candelas act as a cluster bomb but for flashbangs, which is great for breaching sites. However, her guns don’t feel too great. Meanwhile, her ability requires a bit of intel gathering and map knowledge to get used effectively.
Bandit is your introduction to the game for electrical abilities and fragging. Bandit’s MP7 is a solid SMG, which is easy to use and does DPS. Meanwhile, his electricity is important for site strategies. There is even a mechanic called Bandit tricking for the more advanced player, designed to bait Hard Breachers into wasting their precious resource. Bandit has his strengths, but Kiad is much more practical nowadays. Go Kaid for mass electrifying or protecting hatches, and pick Bandit for tricking in most scenarios.
Doc is an entry-level Defender, simply designed with plenty of health and a stim pistol. He revives people he hits with his stim pistol and boosts HP by 50, even overhealing. His magnified MP5 is nice and easy to use too.
Pulse is your gateway into Valkyrie due to his Heartbeat Sensor. Pule positions himself, scanning Attacking Operator’s pulses. When he detects them, he can relay that information, informing of enemy positions. However, not as effective across the whole map, unlike Valkyrie. Try Pulse, and if you like him, buy Valkyrie.
Rook is in a similar spit as Doc, who instead provides plates to his allies to increase their armor. He has the same guns as Doc too.
The two other Defenders in this tier are now fairly balanced. Both once dominated the meta of SIege, causing a heap of problems. Lesion is the most notorious one, with his Gu mines providing easy to read intel, was fire and forget, tagged on with strong dot and immediate damage. On the other hand, Goyo was meta defining for Defenders, causing the attackers to play MOBA-esque, carefully destroying his several Deployable and Goyo Shields. Neither provide nowhere near as many issues in the meta and are perfectly fine to play.
Furthermore, Thunderbird is the Operator that launched in Year 6 Season 2 in Operation North Star. As the new defence Operator, she is interesting, with her Kona Station providing temporary heal boosts or reviving downed allies in its range. While it is certainly a great tool for anchors, its obvious counter is that it makes players static in that area. Overall, it’s a niche defender pick, that can do some amazing plays on occasion. Therefore, a solid B pick. Although, if team’s take a turtle strategy with jaeger, it can be even better in that regards.
Blitz is a below-average attacker, as are most shielders these days. Blitz is about getting into the face and flashing those in front of him, creating opportunities. Although, when sprinting, his legs are exposed, making it easier to down him or C4 him to death.
Finka is an interesting Operator but is rather lacklustre. She works similarly to doc in boosting her allies HP but doesn’t offer the same star power that Attackers need in a team comp. For these reasons, she sits comfortably in the C Tier of the Rainbow Six Tier List.
Fuze is a beginners paradise with his fun ability. He also has a quality Ak, the same that Ace uses. However, the ability isn’t too great, and roamers find it easy to catch a Fuse off guard. Good for low elo or fun casual modes, not so great everywhere else.
Gridlock is another pick that seems good only for countering roamers and in the post-plant. However, she isn’t as effective as Nomad, with worse guns and an ability that makes way more noise than needed. If anything, roamers counter her as she gives away her whereabouts with the sound of spiked barbed wire deploying over several seconds.
Lion was once one of the meta defining pick of 2018. Although, back-to-back nerfs have sent him to less than ideal. His drones scanning don’t last that long and need a comp and clever usage to get the most out of it. Good for coordinated teams trying a non-meta strategy out but that’s about it.
Montagne is a better shielder than Blitz but lacks the offence. Montagne is good for two scenarios. One is to block a pathway to trap baddies or deny a pathway. The other is to sit on the diffuser and stall for time. Overall, he is a bit of a cheese in coordinated teams.
Alibi is a pick that seems so smart and tactical but isn’t that great with her fake alibis. On occasion, you can get a bit of intel as someone shoots a fake alibi. Other than that, it is relatively weak and ineffective.
Castle was never that great anyway, and even less now that Aruni is in play. His Barricade is alright at stopping pushes, but it usually wastes one piece of utility from any meta Attacker. Not to mention the UMP is not that great at all.
Ela was an amazing Operator that once popped off, but nerfs to her Scorpion has made the Fragger feel poor. Her Grozmats are fine to use, making it easy to frag Attackers who get on-site or at vulnerable rotations on any map, which help her frag. But even in gunfights, Ela is at a disadvantage.
Frost is a beginner and casual, friendly pick, good at taking down rushing opponents who fail to check the floor. Even the pros can get occasionally surprised first mats are under windows. However, the best counter to Forst is to think, drone, and shoot them. Nothing too groundbreaking to counter her, hence the low position. Otherwise, a super fun Defender.
Kapkan is another popular beginner or lower elo pick. He places trip mines on doorway sand windows, doing big damage to any Attacker that passes through them. Although, they are easy to spot and don’t require much effort to take down. Wait, did I just write Frost’s explanation again?
Tachanka is a hilarious Smoke equivalent, especially after his rework. His gun feels great, and his ability is interesting too. Although, he seems like a weaker Smoke overall, with a few slow-moving issues gatekeeping him to a B pick at best.
Caveira is a weird pick, often banned by many. Her interrogate ability is also a game-winning play if it gets off, and it normally does in low elo. However, the best counter to Cav is to not roam by yourself and hunt her down with drones. Then she doesn’t do too well.
Clash is the Defenders shielder Operator, which is often banned because she is annoying to play against. However, most people can use their skill to flank her or use utility to make her drop. For these reasons, both Clash and Cav are C Tier for many people ranked gold and above, but feel like A tier picks in lower elos or casual queues.
Amaru is the ultimate meme high energy pick. Although, she is a bit of an inter, ziplining straight into windows and roofs. It feels like she has a 50/50 chance of whether she survives getting into a building or not. Although, she makes a great rush strategy for Kafe’s roof for Bar Cocktail rounds. Although a fun Operator to play in casual modes.
Blackbeard is another Attacking Entry Fragger that isn’t great. His shields are annoying, sure, but he is rather selfish in his playstyle. Once his shields are down, he brings nothing for himself, not even his team.
Oryx is another pick that is a bit of a meme. His ability is about making human-sized holes in walls at the cost of HP. Furthermore, he counters Shielders. Considering Shielders are not often picked, his role in the game isn’t there in the average game.
Likewise, Warden is in the same spot as Oryx. His eyeglasses allow him to see through flashbang and smoke grenades if he stands still. Ubisoft designed him as a counter to Glaz and Ying. As for regular smokes and flashbangs, Jager and Wamai deal with them better with less skill.
This concludes our Rainbow Six Tier List for every Operator in the game. We plan on updating this Rainbow Six Tier List whenever a balance patch, new season, and new Operator releases. We will do our best to reflect the rankings of every Operator based on their pro usage, and trends in ranked and casual queues too.
