We are a few months into Year 9, and I think it’s important to create the ultimate Rainbow Six Siege Best Operators tier list. This task involves thorough research, which undoubtedly helps to improve your gameplay skills. Taking inspiration from the well-known Rainbow Six Siege content creator, Poxonlox, who has extensive experience in both solo queue and team play, we aim to classify operators based on their effectiveness and utility.
S – Tier Operators
These operators are must-picks due to their strong abilities and overall utility.
- Ace: Ace is the best hard breacher in the game for ranked. He has quick breaching at range, low risk, and the best gun in the game, making him S tier.
- Azami: Despite the nerfs, Azami remains strong as her Kiba barriers are still very effective. With great guns and strong site setup capabilities, she easily fits in the S tier.
- Buck: Buck is versatile and useful in every situation with his ability to breach soft walls and ceilings. His consistent utility makes him an S-tier operator and a top pick for solo queue.
- Dokkaebi: Dokkaebi is banned frequently due to her strength in gaining information and hacking cams. She’s a top-tier attacker, landing her in the S tier.
- Fenrir: Fenrir’s bans indicate his strength, especially with his blinding mines. While he requires strategic placement, his advantages put him in the S tier.
- Finka: Finka’s LMG and utility make her a strong pick for any site, providing a significant advantage to the team. She’s an S-tier operator, always beneficial to have.
- Iana: Iana shines as a solo queue operator with her versatile gadget and playmaking potential. Offering valuable information and flexibility, she’s a strong pick for both solo and team play.
- Kapkan: Kapkan excels with traps that provide reliable damage and disrupt enemy pushes, making him a top-tier defender in most situations.
- Lesion: Lesion’s Gu mines offer valuable intel and effectively delay attackers, making him a top-tier operator for both solo queue and team play, especially in site defence and flank watch roles.
- Melusi: Melusi is an S-tier operator this season. The Melusi Banshees provide the best trap setup. Combined with her ACOG-equipped MP5 and impact grenades, she’s a versatile character with strong playmaking abilities.
- Mute: Mute remains a strong operator for denying enemy intel and disrupting attacker gadgets effectively. With the ability to counter a wide range of electronics and create safe zones for defenders, he’s a versatile pick for most defensive setups and strategies.
- Smoke: Smoke remains a top-tier defender with his versatile gadget and strong area denial capabilities. With the ability to delay attacker pushes and deny plant attempts effectively, he’s a staple pick for most bomb sites and defensive setups.
- Solis: Highly annoying to some, Solis disrupts enemy information by destroying drones. Despite not fitting all play styles, her aggressive options like runouts and jumpouts secure her top-tier status, surpassing even strong defenders like Lesion and Smoke.
- Tubarao: With an insanely fast fire rate and high damage output, Tubarao counters many operators, including hard breachers like Deimos. His utility effectively stalls attackers, creating pressure and wasting time on their pushes. Effective in late-round scenarios, he’s a top-tier pick for almost any site.
- Wamai: Wamai’s MP5 ACOG offers safety and versatility, complementing his fast, aggressive playstyle and impact grenades. While not as dominant as Ace, he’s a solid choice for any lineup, providing reliability and flexibility in most situations.
- Ying: With Warden’s weakness making room for her dominance, Ying is a solid pick for any site. Her six Candelas and two smokes offer ample utility, countering enemy gadgets effectively. Surpassing even Fenrir, she’s a must-have attacker in any lineup.
A – Tier Operators
Highly effective and versatile, but slightly less impactful than S-Tier.
- Aruni: Aruni is very strong this season with her DMR and ACOG, plus her gates are great for stopping and burning utility. Her fists are useful for playmaking and site setup, making her an A tier, possibly even an S tier.
- Ash: Ash is solid with the return of the R4C ACOG, making her a strong pick. Her utility is good for vertical breaching and destroying bulletproof gadgets, placing her in the A tier.
- Deimos: Deimos is exceptionally strong if played aggressively, utilizing his scans for kills. With the best gun and low-risk plays, he’s a top A-tier pick.
- Goyo: Goyo brings versatility with his Volcan shields and strong loadout, making him a solid pick for most bomb sites. While impactful, minor limitations prevent him from reaching the S tier in certain scenarios.
- Grim: Grim offers underrated versatility and playmaking potential, particularly on certain bomb sites. While Grim provides valuable intel, his situational effectiveness holds him back from the S tier.
- Jäger: A staple defender, Jäger counters a wide range of projectiles and offers solid fragging potential. While reliable for most bomb sites, his effectiveness can be mitigated by enemy lineup choices.
- Kaid: Kaid offers versatility as a hard-breacher denial operator with electroclaws. While potent for site defence, his effectiveness varies based on enemy utility and coordination.
- Maestro: Maestro’s Evil Eyes provide valuable intel and disrupt enemy pushes effectively, making him a top-tier defender in most situations.
- Montagne: Monty’s seen more play and aggression since the shield changes, adding significant pressure. While he can make bad teams better and provide valuable information, he’s not quite an S tier.
- Nomad: Nomad outshines Gridlock with her versatility, excelling in both solo and team play. Her ability to hold and stop flanks and the potential to launch opponents aggressively make her a strong pick.
- Ram: Ram provides vertical destruction and surprise attacks, especially effective for quick switches to her gun. Her loudness is beneficial for plant strategies, offering surprise elements. With a solid loadout and versatility, she’s top of the A tier, highly underrated but very effective.
- Thatcher: Thatcher offers invaluable utility for disabling defender gadgets and clearing the way for hard breachers.
- Thermite: Thermite remains a strong hard breacher option with his ability to open reinforced walls and create new sightlines. While his gadget is essential for breaching key objectives, he’s slightly overshadowed by other hard breachers regarding overall versatility and impact.
- Valkyrie: Valkyrie’s Black Eye cameras offer unparalleled intel-gathering capabilities and map control, making her a top-tier defender.
B – Tier Operators
Good picks with useful gadgets, effective in certain situations.
- Bandit: Bandit remains strong, especially with the MP7 and C4 combo. However, with Thatcher not being banned as often and Kaid being a better alternative, he fits into the B tier.
- Doc: Doc provides extra health but lacks exceptional utility, making him a solid B-tier choice but not a necessity in every round.
- Echo: Echo’s drones are underrated for their ability to waste time and coordinate plays. However, his reliance on safe spots and lack of the 1.5x scope puts him in the B tier.
- Frost: Frost’s traps can still be effective for slowing down attackers, but her reliance on map control and the prevalence of quick revives with the self-revive feature makes her a bit weaker compared to other trap operators.
- Hibana: Despite being a solid hard breacher, Hibana faces drawbacks such as vulnerability during gadget use. While valuable for opening hatches, she falls short of A tier due to competition from other hard breachers.
- Jackal: Jackal’s effectiveness can be overrated, relying more on annoyance than true strength. While his tracking has its uses, proper drone work and coordination are needed for maximum impact.
- Maverick: Maverick offers unique hard breaching capabilities but faces limitations due to vulnerability during gadget use. While disruptive, his situational effectiveness prevents him from climbing higher ranks.
- Mira: Strong on many sites but countered by certain operators like Sledge and Ash. Her gadget’s vulnerability and bans make her effectiveness situational.
- Osa: Osa’s effectiveness varies greatly depending on factors like available impacts, the bomb site, and the opponent’s playstyle. She can be strong when facing aggressive opponents or weak if not properly utilized.
- Sledge: Sledge offers strong soft destruction capabilities and fragging potential, making him a versatile and reliable pick for most attacking lineups.
- Twitch: Twitch offers strong utility for destroying defender gadgets and disrupting setups, making her a versatile and reliable pick for most attacking lineups.
- Zofia:
C – Tier Operators
Operators with niche roles or who are less versatile in the current meta.
- Amaru: Amaru’s G8 with ACOG makes her more lethal, but she carries some risk. With strategic play and a bit of intel, she can be more effective, placing her in the C tier.
- Brava: Bravo can be very strong against specific lineups but is often useless due to operator matchups. She is effective only sometimes, so she fits in the C tier.
- Castle: Castle is strong in a team environment for slowing down opponents but struggles in solo queue due to reliance on teammates. He fits into the C tier.
- Flores: Flores’s utility is overshadowed by other options like Twitch or IQ. While still decent, he’s not as impactful, landing him in the C tier.
- Gridlock: Gridlock’s gadget provides limited utility for flank control, making her somewhat overrated. While her Trax Stingers can create chaos, their effectiveness against skilled opponents is questionable, making her situational.
- IQ: IQ’s utility primarily focuses on countering electronic gadgets, making her situational depending on the enemy lineup. While her firepower is solid, her impact can be limited against teams less reliant on gadgets.
- Lion: Lion’s effectiveness is somewhat overrated, relying heavily on team coordination. While useful for revealing enemy positions, his situational utility places him in the lower tiers.
- Mozzie: Mozzie feels like a budget Mute, lacking the same impact. While he can hack drones and has a decent loadout, his overall utility falls short compared to Mute’s. Still, he’s not a bad pick, just not as versatile as some other operators.
- Pulse: Pulse offers strong intel-gathering capabilities with his cardiac sensor, allowing him to detect enemy positions through walls and floors. With the ability to provide valuable information to the team and disrupt attacker pushes effectively, he’s a solid pick for most defensive setups and strategies.
- Tachanka: Tachanka’s effectiveness is severely limited by his stationary gadget and lack of mobility, making him an easy target for attackers.
- Vigil: Vigil offers strong roaming capabilities and fragging potential, making him a valuable operator for disrupting attacker pushes and wasting their time. While his ability to remain undetected by drones is useful, he falls short of higher tiers due to competition from other roamers.
- Zero: Zero excels in coordinated teams on maps like Bank, where his cams are harder to spot, providing valuable intel. However, as a solo queue pick, his effectiveness diminishes due to the ease of destroying his cams.
D – Tier Operators
Currently underperforming or outclassed by others.
- Alibi: Currently weak due to the situational usefulness of her prismas, which vary depending on the bomb site. The lack of ACOG on her gun diminishes her appeal, and her secondary utility is underwhelming.
- Blitz: Improved slightly with the shield rework, but still requires close-range engagements to be effective. Better suited for smaller maps like Skyscraper and Outback.
- Capitao: Capitao has utility with his Firebolts and Smoke Bolts but is slow and clunky. He struggles against aggressive players and fits into the D tier.
- Caveira: Cav is very situational and relies on the enemy not droning effectively. While she can make round-winning plays with interrogations, her weak loadout and high risk place her in the D tier.
- Clash: Clash is situational, effective on a few sites like Oregon basement, but vulnerable from multiple angles. Her ability can be annoying but somewhat useless at times, placing her at the top of the D tier.
- Ela: Ela’s traps and weapons are not exceptional, making her less useful compared to other options. She’s a situational pick, fitting into the D tier.
- Fuze: Fuze struggles due to the risk associated with his gadget, requiring careful coordination and map control to make it effective. While his cluster charges offer potential utility, the need for optimal conditions limits his overall effectiveness.
- Glaz: Glaz remains situational and somewhat underrated, useful primarily in specific executes or against certain lineups. While his smoke grenades can create chaos, his overall situational nature limits his effectiveness.
- Kali: Kali’s reliance on sniper play and limited gadget utility makes her underwhelming compared to other attackers. While her gadget can destroy gadgets and open sightlines, her impact is diminished by situational effectiveness.
- Oryx: Oryx brings unique mobility and vertical play capabilities to the defender lineup, making him a situational but potentially impactful pick.
- Rook: Rook’s effectiveness is somewhat limited compared to other defenders, primarily offering passive utility with his armour plates. While his ability to provide additional survivability to the team is valuable, he lacks the versatility and impact of higher-tier defenders.
- Thorn: Despite a solid primary weapon, her Thorn traps are underwhelming, offering minimal utility. While they provide some information, her overall effectiveness is limited.
- Warden: Warden’s effectiveness is severely limited by his situational gadget and lack of overall impact compared to other defenders.
F – Tier Operators
Considered the weakest choices in the current meta.
- Blackbeard: Blackbeard’s shields are weak against high-fire rate weapons, and his utility doesn’t justify picking him over others. Despite potential usefulness against aggression, he carries too much risk, landing him in the F tier.
- Nøkk: Nøkk’s effectiveness is limited by her situational gadget and lack of overall impact compared to other attackers. While her ability to remain undetected by cameras and gadgets has its uses, she struggles to provide significant value to the team in most situations.
- Sens: Considered one of the weakest operators due to the unreliability of his gadget, which often backfires or behaves unexpectedly.
- Thunderbird: Without access to C4 and with her healing stations vulnerable to enemy use, she’s overshadowed by alternatives like Doc.
TL;DR
In this Rainbow Six Siege Best Operators tier list, operators are categorized based on their effectiveness and utility. The tier list, inspired by insights from YouTuber Poxonlox, a champion player, aims to provide valuable guidance for players seeking to optimize their operator selections. Operators are divided into S, A, B, C, D, and F tiers, reflecting their overall strength and impact on the game.
