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This attacking operator can surprise you from any angle without giving you a second for you to react: here's how to play him and how to counter this soft-breacher.
Buck is probably one of the most versatile attackers in Rainbow Six Siege. He’s useful in many sites and situations and has an extremely powerful gadget that enables you to make sight lines in floors and walls.
Mastering Buck will require incredible map knowledge, as not only do you have to know every area of the map, but you'll need to know what's behind every breakable floor, wall and ceiling. When the Canadian terror is in play, both attackers and defenders should watch out for some vertical action.
So, should you want to punish your enemies from every angle possible, or know how to be prepared to face Buck as an opponent, here are a series of tips and tricks to master him at Siege.
1. What's the deal with Buck?
Sébastien "Buck" Côté, is a Canadian attacking operator who will, if allowed, make every map a vertical nightmare. As a two-speed/two-armour attacking operator, Buck is always a solid pick if played wisely.
Learn the most common hiding spots in every location and how rooms connect to one another, not only from side to side but also vertically. Memorise this and your odds of picking up easy kills will significantly increase. The half-wall in Border armoury is a near impregnable spot for attackers, but Buck can easily make it inhospitable for defenders by blowing through the floor of Ventilation Room.
The sheer flexibility that Buck has for peeking thanks to his unique gadgets is astounding and is matched by how much of a threat he can pose to unwary defenders.
Buck's main role is as a soft breacher, as his unique gadget is the Skeleton Key: this device enables him to toggle between the assault rifle and an under-barrel shotgun mounted right under his weapon. This swap between primary and shotgun is extremely fast and very handy, and the shotgun has an incredibly powerful destructive potential, making breaching through unreinforced walls and hatches an easy task for Buck.
Buck and Sledge are similar when it comes to fulfilling this role – the main difference would be their primary gun and the speed performing the “breaching” task. However, Buck can swap weapons faster and can destroy things at range, while Sledge has to switch to a heavy melee weapon, but is quieter. Keep in mind he won’t be able to open up Castle’s reinforcements but can use grenades to blow down the barricade.
2. Buck loadout and best weapons
Primary
Buck has two different primary weapons to choose from: the C8-SFW assault rifle and the single-shot CAMRS DMR. Both of these weapons are viable, but you'll usually see Buck being used with the C8, equipped with an ACOG or Holographic sight.
Beware of the extremely high recoil with the C8 though: Buck’s primary rifle will require some practise to control. It doesn’t suit long sprays, so try to make shorter bursts to tame this beast of a gun more easily. Muzzle brake as an attachment also helps with this, as it reduces the vertical recoil for the first few shots. Using the Compensator is also a good choice, as it helps to control the recoil spread over time for rapid firing. Make sure to test these loadouts first in Terrorist Hunt mode if you don’t want to get frustrated on online multiplayer, although the first experiences with the C8 will probably be frustrating anyway as you get used to the gun's weighty recoil.
Secondary
Only a single gun here – the MK1. It's a decent pistol and will get the job done when needed. You should attach a silencer to this to allow Buck to take out cameras quietly.
Gadgets
Buck has access to either Stun Grenades or Frag Grenades, but you should go with Frags whenever possible: they will allow you to flush defenders away from the positions they’re holding and even grab you a kill if properly tossed.
You can also use frags to destroy enemy equipment from a safe distance and you can toss them through holes you've blown in the floors and walls (and even ceilings if you're brave and really good) in addition to drone holes to try and surprise defenders.
3. Buck's gadget and ability
Buck has a magazine-fed underslung shotgun available to him at all times. This isn't as complicated as most gadgets, but there's a few things to bear in mind.
Buck’s shotgun has a higher destructive potential than any of the other shotguns in the game and allows him to swiftly breach soft surfaces. If properly mastered, you can actually vault through a hole you’ve just made by using a single bullet.
The shotgun is balanced to do less damage to enemies, however up close it is one of Buck's best weapons, with the fast firing rate on the shotgun making it terrifying up close.
4. Buck hints and tips
Mastering Buck will require good map knowledge so keep in mind you will need to spend some hours playing solo custom games or Terrorist Hunt mode.
Due to the nature of Buck’s unique gadget, map knowledge is key if you want him to prove himself as a useful asset to your team. He’s a powerful lone wolf and also a good choice for rushing into objectives.
Playing as Buck will often involve becoming a bit of an amateur builder because your effectiveness will depend on the surface you’re trying to breach: for example, wooden walls will most of the time require two shots to allow the operator to vault through and you'll learn a lot about metal beams. With these, it's important to remember that when they are inside the floor/ceiling, they always run in a north-to-south direction, so if you are peeking through the floor towards east-to-west it will be harder to land those shots, as your bullets are going to get blocked by floor joists.
So when playing Buck, it’s all about map domination either from above or below: interfere with enemy positions as much as you can. Make enemies move away as soon as they hear you breach nearby, and then surprise them from different angles or flush them out with frags.
Another thing to bear in mind: keep moving. You should never peek or try to get a kill as soon as you open up your first hole on the ceiling or floor. Instead, keep soft-breaching and keep enemies busy trying to figure out where you are or where your next breach will be. Avoid putting yourself at risk unnecessarily, and remember Buck’s breaching can be a double-edged sword: you wouldn’t want to get killed because of your own map destruction. Put thought into which areas to breach and avoid opening up the floors too much as you’ll need areas in which to hold position without being spotted through the breaches you made yourself.
5. Countering Buck
Whenever Buck is in the game, watch out for vertical map control. If your team happens to be on a site that has many breakable surfaces, keep in mind this attacker will try to hit you from either above or below.
Do stay alert to every sound, as Buck's shotgun is noisy as hell. This piece of advice applies to every game of Siege, but the boom of the shotgun is often your only warning that you're about to be taken out through a hole that didn't exist just a few minutes ago.
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