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Raise your Rainbow Six: Siege game with help from the ESL Premiership stars
What skills do you need to play Rainbow Six: Siege at a high level? 1nFamy’s Niall Murphy and Jake Grove explain.
Rainbow Six: Siege, Ubisoft’s hit tactical shooter, made its ESL Premiership debut back in January. Every Monday, the top eight teams in the UK and Ireland battle it out on Xbox One in a bid to top the league and qualify for the live finals at ESL Studio One on March 10-11. At the time of writing, Team Enyx and Vexed look like favourites, having taken commanding leads in their groups.
Anyone tuning into Twitch at 6pm on a Monday evening will have been impressed by the quality of play on show. Indeed, 1nFamy’s Niall 'Premixr' Murphy and Jake 'NoThumbs' Grove have both been surprised by the standard: “It has been really high so far – a lot higher than I originally expected,” admits captain Niall, who joined 1nFamy last August after the team’s unsuccessful Major League Season 2. Teammate Jake Grove, who has played in the Pro League, agrees. “Teams are putting in the hours again to become better, rewatching VODS and scrimming and strating every night. It has surprised me massively.”
1nFamy are in a tough group with Enyx, Xenos – a team with three former Pro League Players on their roster – and newcomers Radix, who have impressed Niall and Jake with their fresh ideas. “There’s nothing as dangerous as a youthful team with bags of ability and something to prove,” says Niall, who has been particularly impressed by Pat on the Radix roster, and cites Madman and Mac from Enyx, plus Xenos’ Murphh and Kinderzz as players to watch in this exciting debut Premiership season.
Niall’s goal is to help his team compete at the very top and to become one of the very best Rainbow Six: Siege players out there, but what does it take to reach his level? What skills do you need to raise your game and compete in big tournaments. Niall and Jake explain…
1. Be adaptable
Niall: For me, the most overlooked skill is the ability to learn and adapt to the players you’re playing against. With Siege, there are always different metas popping up every 6-8 weeks, usually in line with different content drops from Ubisoft. So if you were Pulse in one patch he might have got a nerf and now he’s not as useful in the way you want to use him.
In this league, for example, I’ve learned how the new operators have been taken up in competitive play. With Vigil, his ability is that he’s invisible on drones – something that I didn’t think would be a big factor, but when used correctly he can completely mess with the opposing team’s timing on their pushes, as they never know if a room is clear or not.
Vigil's ability has been a big factor in the Premiership
© Ubisoft
2. Have a good shot
Jake Grove: For me you need a good shot in game as well as patience and quick decision making to be able to execute certain tasks in-game, whether that’s clutching up a round or playing as a support player for your team. You need to know when to push and when not to push. All of this comes from playing against good players for an extended period of time.
Play against good players and you'll raise your game
© ESL / Jake Grove
3. Know your playstyle to make the right picks
Niall: Determining what kind of playstyle you prefer is important. If you prefer a hard anchor style of play, it wouldn’t be suited for a Jager or Ela pick. You would be looking at a Rook, Echo, Mira –something where you are usually on site and you are three armour, so you can absorb slightly more damage, which will be helpful as the rounds are winding down.
Ela is a good pick if you prefer a faster, heavier slaying style
© Ubisoft
If you prefer a faster, heavier slaying role, Ela, Ash, Sledge and Jager might be for you. Ash and Sledge’s gadgets destroy environments and need to be used when on the move, at the point where they are needed. However, with Ela and Jager you can put your utility down to start with and that’s you done – now you can focus on listening to your teammates calls and getting those important opening kills.
Jake: When it comes to ops in-game you need to find a class you enjoy and play that class with the team in order to build up that knowledge as well as understand what they are good and bad at. So, for example, Thermite/Hibana is typically a support player that will drone a more aggressive player such as Ash/Capitao. Working together as a team rewards you with kills.
4. Be patient
Jake: In-game you need to be patient and not rush for kills. Sometimes, you can hold an angle and pick up more kills than someone who keeps running in. It is a very strategic game and having the in-game knowledge will, a lot of the time, give you kills.
5. Communicate and play as a team
It's important to talk to your teammates
© ESL / Jake Grove
Niall: The cornerstone to all successful teams is communication. A good, accurate and quick call out can be the difference when everything is happening and you can accurately get across an enemy's position for your teammates.
6. Keep practising to build up chemistry
Jake: Once you get in a team with players who all have the same desire to be the best they can be and compete at the highest level, you need to work together and play together. This will then build up that important chemistry. Patience and motivation are key.
Watch the Rainbow Six: Siege ESL Premiership every Monday at 6pm on Twitch
Rainbow Six: Siege newcomers can play for free from February 15-19, recruiting their friends and playing as a team. Get more details here.
