Introduction to Rainbow Six: Siege

Since its release in December 2015, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege has had a rough climb. Initially, the game failed to gain new players at a fast rate, possibly due to the many mechanical problems and bugs it had early on. However, the core gameplay of Siege attracted players who became diehard fans of the game. This core fanbase that stuck with the game throughout the years saw the game vastly improve with free DLCs every season, and its player base exploded. Now, at the beginning of 2019, and at the start of the game's fourth year, Rainbow Six: Siege has become a staple of both esports and gaming in general.

The game combines combat elements of traditional First-Person Shooters with classes (an element found in many MOBAs), one-life per round, and unlimited soft wall destruction to create one of the most unique, tactical, and complex games ever. Strategies for maps continue to evolve with the continual release of new operators, an element not found in other games such as CS:GO. This makes the game fun, while also being hard to master—much like a game of chess, with the pieces being the operators. Operators and their unique gadgets can be used to counter other operators on the enemy team and the enemy team's defenses in many different ways.

In the article below, I will be showing how this upcoming season's operators can and will be used in the current meta of Rainbow Six: Siege. This includes what other operators they can replace in your lineup, and what other operators they can counter effectively.

Operation: Burnt Horizon

The first season of Year Four welcomes two Australian SASR operators: Gridlock and Mozzie. Outback, a new map located in the vast Australian desert of the same name, will also be included in the season.

Gridlock

Gridlock is a 1-speed, 3-armor attacker specializing in watching flanks. She throws cannisters that detonate when they hit the floor and spit out hexagonal spike traps that continue to spawn until they cover an entire section of a hallway or room. These traps each take one bullet to be destroyed and deal 10 damage and slow down the movement of defenders that step and move over them.

As for her kit, you can either take the F90, which is an AUG-like assault rifle, or the M249 LMG. Both weapons have pretty manageable recoil and decent damage. The M249 has a 100-round clip and a special ACOG scope that you can equip that is much clearer to see through than the normal ACOG that comes on every non-SPETSNAZ rifle in the game. The F90 carries 30 bullets per magazine and has a faster rate-of-fire than the M249. As a secondary, Gridlock has the Super Shorty shotgun or the SDP 9mm pistol. In almost all cases, I would recommend the Super Shorty, as it is very useful in opening up hatches, peek holes, and the floor. This allows your team to carry utilities other than Breach Charges.

Gridlock in the Meta

Gridlock will mostly be used like Lion and Nomad have been used: as a flank watcher. After the attackers have pushed inside and are in the process of pushing into an objective and getting the defuser planted, Gridlock can put her Trax Stingers down behind her team to protect them from roaming defenders. If a defender wants to flank through the area that the Trax Stingers are in, he or she must destroy them by either shooting them or throwing an impact grenade to blow them up. The noise of this will notify the attackers that there is a flanker, and they will be able to react accordingly.

The Trax Stingers will also be extremely effective during post-plant scenarios, where defenders are trying to retake the objective and disable the active defuser. If Gridlock throws 2 or more Trax Stinger cannisters onto the floor of the objective in different places, the entire floor will be covered with spikes. This will make retakes very hard for defenders to pull off.

In Pro League, Rainbow Six: Siege's esports scene, Gridlock will be more effective than Nomad, but less effective than Lion would be. However, Lion is prohibited from being played in Pro League matches, which should see Gridlock being regularly picked by the attacking squad. Even the best players in the world will have no way of indiscreetly countering Gridlock's Trax Stingers.

Mozzie

Mozzie is a 2-speed, 2-armor defender who collects and utilizes intel. He throws "Pests": tiny robots that leap onto attacker drones and hack them, blocking the attackers from accessing the drone and allowing Mozzie to control the drone from his phone. After a drone has been hacked by a Pest, all defenders can see through the drone.

Mozzie comes strapped with the P10 Roni and Commando 9 SMGs as primary options, and the Super Shorty shotgun and SDP 9mm pistol as secondaries. The Commando 9 shreds through attackers at close range and comes with a new holographic sight and an extremely satisfying reload animation. The P10 Roni comes with a new red dot sight and has decent firepower. The choice of weapon is completely up to you, but both weapons are solid picks. Again, I would recommend the Super Shorty instead of the SDP 9mm due to the ability of the shotgun to make rotation holes through objectives and smaller murder holes.

Mozzie in the Meta

It is hard to predict how much Mozzie will be used in Ranked. Valkyrie, Echo, and Maestro all do practically the same job, which is intel via camera. However, what sets Mozzie apart from these operators is his ability to steal drones away from attackers, much like Dokkaebi, who can steal defender cameras. He is also more mobile than Maestro and Echo, which can allow him to be a roamer if the defending team needs him to be. Mozzie's ability will also allow him to steal Twitch Drones, which will allow him to use the drone to shock not only attackers, but also their utility. Mozzie could use a hacked Twitch Drone to destroy an Exothermic Charge when Thermite is trying to bust through a reinforced wall or other attackers' drones that aren't already hacked by Pests.

Mozzie's best chance of survival in Pro League is his raw utility and flexibility. His secondary shotgun allows him to create rotate holes and murder holes that are part of defensive strategies, and he has the option to take Barbed Wire if his team needs him to, which can be important in delaying attackers. Nitro Cells are also effective in singlehandedly countering shield operators like Montagne and Blitz, who can be used to create uncomfortable situations and distractions for defenders. His gadget might not be as effective as Valkyrie's Black Eyes in giving the defending team intel on where the attackers are outside the map, but on the inside they could shine. While Black Eyes are stationary on the inside of the map, hacked drones can scour the entire building for the position of attackers.

Overview

All in all, I believe both new operators from Operation: Burnt Horizon will recieve a lot of play time. Their gadgets are unique and each fill niches in the game's meta. They won't likely be played every single round like Thermite, Hibana, Jager, or Lesion, but can dominate in the situations in which they are used to counter specific behaviors of the enemy team.

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