Gaming
The RB6 eSports scene is exploding right now, so here’s everything you need to know in order to start watching.
Rainbow Six Siege has slowly, steadily become one of the biggest, most gripping eSports in the world. After a rocky launch in 2015, over the last year or so the competitive scene has really picked up and more people have started to play the game. Now Siege boasts more than 20 million players worldwide and the upcoming Rainbow Six Pro League finals at Gamescom have more than US$230,000 on the line in prize money.
The very best RB6 teams in the world will be competing at the Gamescom finals, and it looks set to become one of the biggest season finals yet, with thousands of fans expected to watch the action in person and even more online. Fancy being one of them, but not sure where to start? To help get you up to speed, we’ve created this helpful guide that runs you through the basics of how to watch – and understand – Rainbow Six Siege eSports.
Gameplay
Rainbow Six Siege is a tactical first-person shooter, which features an attacking team and a defending team. The attacking team’s objective is to break into a building and plant a bomb at one of two locations, while the defending team has to stop them. Each team can win by eliminating all players on the opposing side. The attacking team can also win by detonating the explosives they plant, while the defending team can also win by running out the clock or defusing the planted explosives. So far, so Counter-Strike.
What isn’t similar to CS:GO is the preparation stage at the beginning of each round. The defending team has the opportunity to place defences to try and prevent the attacking team coming in; this can include reinforcing walls, planting trip wires or setting up cameras to get eyes on the attackers. While the defenders are doing this, the attackers will use RC camera drones to scout out the building and try to locate the areas where they need to plant the bomb and what the defenders have set up.
Generally speaking, the gameplay is quite slow and tactical for the most part. Defenders will mostly stay in their positions, waiting for the attackers to come in. The attackers will often have some kind of execution in mind, much like on the T side in CS:GO, and will try to pick off the defenders or simply win a gunfight. It’s a cerebral first-person shooter, if you will.
Operators
Each of the characters in Rainbow Six Siege is known as an operator, and new ones are added several times a year. The operator that a player picks will impact a lot of areas of the game. Each operator has one special ability or piece of equipment they can use. Some have unique explosive devices, others may have a massive shield, the ability to blow through any wall or the option to give all of their team an armour buff.
Operators will also have a choice between a couple of weapons and other equipment. While there is choice here, not every operator has access to every weapon, another factor that needs to be considered. Sometimes an operator with a weak special ability will be picked if they have a very strong primary weapon.
This makes team composition quite important, and there is a meta around which operators are the best to use. You’ll see a lot of operators pop up in every round, while others may not be played at all depending on how strong they’re considered at a certain time.
Format
In each match, multiple maps will be played. Typically, the whole match is a best of three, meaning one team has to win on two maps to win the match.
Each map has multiple rounds, with teams alternating from attack and defence each round. The winning team is the first one to win five rounds, however, if the scores are tied at 4-4 then the match becomes the first to six. Think of it a little like a deuce in tennis.
Most Rainbow Six LAN events are a single elimination bracket, meaning one loss and you’re out. The Gamescom finals will feature eight teams in a single elimination bracket where every match is a best of three.
Things to look out for:
Destruction
One of the signature mechanics of Rainbow Six Siege is the extreme destructibility of the environment. Entire walls can be blown away, opening up previously closed areas, and holes can even be made in the floor and ceilings. This means that new lines of sight can be opened up by shooting a wall and, as a result, you sometimes see plays where an operator has been killed and has no idea who by or where from.
Often defending teams will create big holes in a wall during the preparation phase to suit their tactics and allow them to see more of what's going on. Other times they'll reinforce walls, which means most weapons can't shoot through that portion of a wall. Open doorways and windows can also be boarded up and reinforced to prevent all but the most determined attackers, who have an operator capable of breaking through, getting in.
Mind games
Sometimes in a very close match a team might try and bring a surprise strategy to catch their opponents off guard. If a team selects an off-meta operator and the other team don’t notice,, they could rack up a lot of kills, purely because the other team aren’t ready for it. It happens rarely, but is hype to see.
Quick kills
Unlike many shooters out there, the bullets in Rainbow Six Siege are pretty lethal. It only take a couple of well-placed shots to end most foes, so if a player is seen you can usually expect them to hit the floor in a few seconds. This isn’t always the case, as they may hide behind cover or escape, but if two people come face to face in a narrow corridor you can expect at least one to go down almost instantly.
There are, of course, a lot of other aspects to Rainbow Six Siege, but, as with most eSports, it would be impossible to cover them all. Fortunately, most areas of the game are very easy to understand, and after a few games you should have the basics locked down. It'll take a while to learn all of the maps and the tactics, but the best way to do that is to jump in and play yourself. You're unlikely to be disappointed.
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