15. Nomad
Nomad is one of the best operators to unlock first because most new players don't have much experience dealing with roamers, run outs, or flankers, and Nomad's special gadget, the Airjab Launcher, is a great utility for preventing enemies from killing the new player from behind. That's because Nomad's Airjab Launcher attaches repulsion grenades on surfaces and once an enemy gets near it, the Airjab repulsion grenade will be triggered and it will knock down any operator in its radius, regardless of their armor rating.
The Airjab being triggered also produces a pretty loud sound that will most likely be heard by most if not all of Nomad's teammates, and they can use that sound cue to kill that enemy or hunt them down since they already have a pretty good idea where they are. This is great for newer players because usually, their biggest concern are enemies who are going to get them from behind. So with Nomad, the player will be able to focus on pushing the objective spot while also contributing a lot to their teammates.
What Makes Nomad Great:
- Her Airjab repulsion grenades knocks down enemies that comes near them, making them great anti-roamer utilities
- With Nomad, players without much experience in the game can focus on what's in front of them since they won't have to constantly worry about roamers
- Nomad's unique weapon, the AK-74M, is very easy to use because of its manageable recoil, huge magazine capacity, and high stopping power
- Nomad also has excellent secondary weapon choices in the PRB92 and .44 Mag Semi-Auto handguns since they have heavy firepower per shot
- She can bring three stun grenades into battle which will allow her to blind or deafen enemies before pushing inside a room
Best Loadout for Nomad:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-nomad-loadouts
14. Finka
The longer a newbie can last in a round, the more they can learn about the game, and with Finka, not only they'll be able to last longer, but they'll also have a heavy impact on the team's chances of success, even if when they're not coordinating that much with their teammates. First off, the player will be able to last longer in the round because Finka's special gadget, the Adrenal Surge, adds more health to all members of the attacking team, effectively healing them. That's why it's good to use whenever Finka herself gets damaged.
Secondly, the players, even though they're not that experienced, will have a lot of contribution to their team because the effects of Finka's Adrenal Surge are global. That means even if the player is just practicing and trying to gain some experience in solo queue and is therefore not coordinating that much with their teammates, whenever they activate their Adrenal Surge, the whole attacking team will receive a lot of buffs like added health, faster reload, fast movement on barbed wires, more tolerance to tinnitus and blind effects, as well revival from a down-but-not-out state and removal of concussion effects when the Adrenal Surge is activated.
What Makes Finka Great:
- Even if the player who's using her is not that experienced, she'll have a great impact to the team's chances of success because of the buffs from her Adrenal Surge
- The effect of her Adrenal Surge is global, so even if the player isn't that coordinated with their teammates, they'll be able to contribute a lot to the team
- The player will be able to last longer in the round because they can heal themselves and their teammates, using the Adrenal Surge
- Finka has a powerful weapon in the Spear .308 assault rifle and its recoil is easy to hold down so it's a good gun for new players
- Finka has great utilities at her disposal especially the gonne-6 hand cannon which allows her to neutralize a pesky bulletproof defender gadget
Best Loadout for Finka:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-finka-loadouts
13. Kaid
Kaid is not the easiest operator to use, so a lot of players might not recommend him to be unlocked first by newbies, however, I say that it's important for new players to learn how to play him as soon as they can, especially if they want to be good and be a competitive player someday. That's because Kaid's role as a hard breach denial operator is essential in most objective spots in the game, especially in ranked. Now, there are other hard breach denial operators like Mute or Bandit, but I recommend you to unlock Kaid first because he's the best at breach denial, and he's easier to use as well.
That's because he has the AUG A3 submachine which is a really good primary weapon that inflicts a good amount of damage per shot and has a very controllable recoil. With Kaid, newer players will have a lot of chances to learn the basics and advanced tricks on how to prevent attackers from hard breaching. He's also the only operator that can realistically prevent reinforced hatches from being breached, and that makes him a very valuable part of the team, especially when the objective spot is in the basement.
What Makes Kaid Great:
- He's the best at preventing attackers from hard breaching since his Electroclaws have a wide reach, making it harder for attackers to disable it
- His Aug A3 is an excellent weapon for newer players because of its good amount of damage per shot and very manageable recoil
- When the player has more experience in the game, they can try out his TCSG12 shotgun which is basically a marksman rifle and can hit headshots from long-distance
- Until now, he's still the only defender capable of realistically preventing attackers from breaching reinforced hatches
- He has access to the nitro cell and when the situation calls for it, he can also run with the barbed wires which can be electrocuted by his Electroclaw
Best Loadout for Kaid:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-kaid-loadouts
12. Thunderbird
As mentioned before in Finka's entry, the longer the player can last in the round, the more opportunities for them to learn. And when the player is on the defending side, Thunderbird is one of the operators that can make them last long in the round. That's because Thunderbird's special gadget, the Kona Station, which has three of, can keep healing operators as long as they're not on cooldown. On top of that, when an operator who's in a down-but-not-out state is able to get inside the radius of one of the Kona Stations, they'll be able to revive themselves.
So even though Thunderbird is not a heavy armored operator, her Kona Stations can provide her with second chances, and what's great is that it benefits the whole defending team as well. As for engaging enemies, again, like Finka, she has the Spear .308 which is a great weapon because of its high stopping power and very manageable recoil. For her utilities, she can choose between the impact grenades and the nitro cell, both are excellent secondary gadgets, but I recommend the impact grenades because they'll allow the player to create rotation holes, and it's important to learn their value early on.
What Makes Thunderbird Great:
- She can provide a lot of healing through her Kona Stations and their healing is only limited by their cooldown
- They can provide second chances for the whole defending team because they can revive operators who are in a down-but-not-out state within their radius
- She has access to the impact grenades which she can use to create rotation holes, and that's very important for newer players to learn the value of
- For her primary weapon, she can run with the Spear .308 which has heavy stopping power, good rate of fire, and very manageable recoil
- She has a very solid 2-heath 2-speed rating which makes her versatile and because of that, Thunderbird can perform the role of anchor and a roamer
Best Loadout for Thunderbird:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-thunderbird-loadouts
11. Vigil
Vigil is one of the best operators to unlock first when you're starting out on your journey in Siege. That's because he's one of the most straightforward roamers that you can pick. And yes, roaming when you're not that experienced in Siege can be quite intimidating, but when you're quite new to the game, map knowledge is one of the most important things you should learn, and the best way to acquire map knowledge is through roaming. And with Vigil's ERC-7 special gadget, even a newbie would be able to perform roaming quite well.
That's because the ERC-7, when active, will make Vigil invisible to attacker drones. Yes, there's going to be a static feed that will show them that Vigil is around, and that static feed on their cameras will get stronger the closer Vigil is; however, not having a clear visual on him will make them very unsettled. As for Vigil's weaponry, his K1A is very easy to handle due to its low recoil, and it's great at fragging enemies due to its good amount of damage per shot and decent rate of fire. Vigil also possesses two impact grenades which the player can use to quickly create rotation holes when he wants to escape or flank enemies.
What Makes Vigil Great:
- He's able to turn invisible to attacker drones and cameras, making him a great roamer because it's hard to gather intel on him
- He has a great utility in the impact grenades which he can use to create rotation holes for flanking or escaping enemies
- He has 3-speed rating, making him perfect for roaming because he can move quickly, and in roaming, it's important to be able to go from one spot to another with good speed
- His K1A submachine gun is a great weapon due to its good amount of damage per shot, very manageable recoil, and decent magazine capacity
- Because of his ERC-7 making him invisible to enemies but creating a static feed on their camera, he can waste a lot of attackers' time by distracting them and making them uneasy
Best Loadout for Vigil:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-vigil-loadouts
10. Lion
Lion is a great operator to unlock first because through him, the player will be able to know a lot about the game. That's because Lion is very versatile, so the player will be able to do a lot of things during the match. He has an almost perfect weapon in the V308 assault rifle because of its high damage, low recoil, wide variety of attachments, and huge magazine capacity, but if the player wants to experiment a bit, Lion can also equip the 417 marksman rifle which is the most unique marksman rifle in the game due to it being able to excel at close range.
Lion can also equip a shotgun as his primary weapon, so if the player excels at using the shotgun, he can run with the SG-CQB. As for his secondary weapon, the player can go for the LFP586 handgun which is a magnum, so it has heavy stopping power, but I would recommend the gonne-6 hand cannon because it will allow Lion to disable a bulletproof defender gadget, and it's important for new players to learn the value of that early on. Another great thing about unlocking Lion first is that he has access to two claymores, and that's great for protecting players and their teammates from flankers, roamers, and run outs.
What Makes Lion Great:
- His EE-ONE-D scan has a global effect, so whenever he activates it, it'll affect all enemies regardless of where Lion is in the map
- Lion's EE-ONE-D scans can either make an enemy stop or gather intel on them, because defenders who won't stop moving during the scan will get pinged
- Lion has one of the best weapons in the game in the V308 because of its high damage, wide variety of attachments, manageable recoil, and sizable magazine capacity
- He has three choices for his primary weapons, three choices for his secondary, and also three choices for his secondary gadget
- His EE-ONE-D scans have a loud sound, and it has the tendency to mask the sound cues that attackers make when they're pushing or rushing
Best Loadout for Lion:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-lion-loadouts
9. Thatcher
Even though he's the most banned attacking operator in ranked, he's still one of the best operators to unlock first, especially since he's a Year 1 operator; therefore, it's easier to unlock him than most operators. Even if he can't be used much in ranked games, the player will have a lot of opportunities to use him in quick matches. The main reason why I'm recommending Thatcher as one of the operators that you should unlock first is that his role is very important to the game and there is much to learn from using him and playing his role.
Of course, his main role is to be the hard breach enabler through his special gadget, the EMP Grenades. His EMP Grenades have a wide radius, and they disable defender electronic devices within it. That makes them the best utility for hard breach enabling, and that's a very important role to perform in attack. That's because when the attackers are able to perform a hard breach, they're one step closer to winning the round because they won't be forced to use other paths of attack that would leave them more vulnerable.
What Makes Thatcher Great:
- He has three EMP grenades and each one of them can disable defender electronic devices within their radius
- His three EMP grenades are still the best utilities for enabling hard breaching because it's hard for defenders to time them, especially when they're thrown from a distance
- Thatcher has access to two claymores which he can use to counter defenders who will run out of windows while the attacking team is breaching from the outside
- Has 2-armor 2-heath rating which allows him to move well while maintaining a good amount of toughness to tank damage
Best Loadout for Thatcher:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-thatcher-loadouts
8. Ash
Ash is my go-to operator when it comes to recommending my friends who are new to the game who to unlock first in attack. That's because her overall gameplay and role is quite straightforward, and if the player prefers, she can also work alone as a flanker. She's a heavy hitter and a favorite of aggressive players, but she also excels with a more tactical approach due to her versatility. Her 3-speed rating makes her very fun to use because she can move quickly, and she can use that speed to outmaneuver her opponents.
As for her firepower, she has excellent choices for her weapons and utilities. Her G36C is a great primary weapon and has a scope which will grant the user a higher zoom level. Her handguns have high damage, especially the M45 Meusoc, and for her secondary gadgets, she can choose between the breach charges and claymores. Her special gadget, the Breaching Rounds, can be used to create large entry holes on reinforced walls, but in many cases, especially if you're running with the breach charges, it's better to reserve Ash's Breaching Rounds for destroying bulletproof defender gadgets
What Makes Ash Great:
- Her special gadget, the Breaching Round, is great for destroying bulletproof defender gadgets as well as opening entry holes on unreinforced walls
- Her G36C is a great weapon with high damage, very manageable recoil, wide variety of attachments, as well as a scope 1.5x
- She has 3-speed rating which allows her to move quickly, and she can use that speed to outmaneuver her enemies
- She can bring two claymores per round which are great for countering run outs, flankers, and roamers
- When the objective spot is in the basement, she can run with the breach charges in order to destroy large portions of the wooden floor above it
Best Loadout for Ash:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-ash-loadouts
7. IQ
Some veteran players who will read this entry may raise an eyebrow about IQ being included here. That's because she's not really that easy of an operator to use, unless of course the player doesn't intend to use her special gadget, the Electronics Detector, a lot. She's not that easy to use because when she's using the Electronics Detector, she'll only be able to use her handgun, and the blue screen from her Electronics Detector could negatively affect the way she sees enemies. Despite that, I maintain that she's one of the best operators to unlock first.
That's because a player who's just starting in Siege will be able to learn a lot from playing IQ. In fact, she's one of my starting operators back when the starter pack was still a thing. As its name implies, her Electronics Detector allows her to detect enemy electronic gadgets in real-time, and for a new player, having access to that intel is great, especially when the objective spot wasn't detected during the prep phase since the player will be able to know where it is through the Electronics Detector. It'll also allow the player to learn more about the usual position of cameras and be more familiar with enemy electronic gadgets.
What Makes IQ Great:
- Her Electronics Detector will allow the new player to learn more about enemy electronic gadgets, especially their usual locations
- Her special gadget is the best counter for Kapkan's EDD traps, Valkyrie Evil Eyes, Echo's Yokai Drones, and so much more
- IQ will also be able to detect the real-time location of enemies who are currently using their observation tool
- Her 3-speed rating allows her to move quickly, and she can use this speed to get around enemies or escape from them easier
Best Loadout for IQ:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-iq-loadouts
6. Thermite
Thermite is a great attacker to unlock first because he's a Year 1 operator so it's cheap to unlock him and the new player will be able to learn a lot from his role and his gameplay. Thermite's main role is hard breaching, and he does it with his special gadget, the Exothermic Charge. Now, with Thermite, the player will have a big responsibility, and that can be quite intimidating at first for newer players. However, it would be best for them to learn as early as possible the important walls that need to be breached when you're an attacker on every map.
So with Thermite unlocked, the player will be able to practice hard breaching early on and will be able to gather a lot of experience from it. Thermite is a really valuable part of the attacking team because his Exothermic Charges completely destroy a wall and not just a large portion of it. That means that once a wall has been breached with an Exothermic Charge, the attackers will not have to vault or crouch when entering through the breach. That's really important because that moment of vaulting or crouching can leave you vulnerable for a very short time.
What Makes Thermite Great:
- New players will be able to learn a lot about the basics of Siege with Thermite's hard breaching role and gameplay
- His Exothermic Charges completely destroys walls, so to enter through the breach, the attackers won't have to crouch or vault
- The Exothermic Charge works quite fast, making it much harder defenders to stop it with hard breach preventing devices
- His 556XI assault rifle features high stopping power, very manageable recoil, and wide variety of attachments
- For his secondary gadget, he can choose between the stun grenades and smoke grenades, and both of them are great for pushing after performing a hard breach
Best Loadout for Thermite:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-thermite-loadouts
5. Melusi
Melusi might cost a lot of renown to unlock but as soon as you get enough, she's one of the defenders that I recommend being unlocked first. That's because her special gadget, the Banshee Sonic Defense, is pretty simple to use and it will have a big impact on your team's chances of success. Playing Melusi will also teach you the most common paths of attack that enemies take, so all in all, she's a very powerful operator for newer players. All that is because each of her Banshees greatly slow enemies who come into their radius.
With Melusi around, it'll be hard for the defending team to be caught off-guard. That's because she has three Banshee Sonic Defense, and that's usually enough to cover most entryways to the objective spot. From a distance, they're bulletproof and can only be destroyed by explosives or a gonne-6. When it's actively slowing an enemy, it will open up and its top part will not be bulletproof anymore, but that also means that the enemy would have already given their position away, because as soon as the Banshee activates, it emits a loud and distinct sound that'll usually alert the defenders.
What Makes Melusi Great:
- Her Banshee Sonic Defense is pretty straightforward and simple to use yet it has a huge contribution to the defending team
- Melusi's Banshees are the best utilities in the game when it comes to slowing enemies down and they're also great early warning devices
- She can bring two impact grenades in the round and that'll allow her to create rotation holes which are very important in bomb mode
- Her MP5 is a great submachine gun with decent damage, very manageable recoil, and has a wide variety of attachments available to it
- Her RG15 handgun is one of the best if not the best handgun in the game due to its Romeo1 Reflex sight which allows it to excel even at long range
Best Loadout for Melusi:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-melusi-loadouts
4. Wamai
Wamai ranks so high in this list because he really should be one of the earliest defenders that you should unlock. That's because neutralizing enemy projectiles, especially grenades, is very important in Siege. That's what his special gadget, the Mag-NET, does. And I know what you're thinking, then why not put Jager on this list? Well, this is assuming that the player has all the renown or funds that they need for unlocking operators, and in that scenario, Wamai is really better to unlock first, and that's not only because of his anti-projectile capabilities.
The other reason why Wamai is one of the best operators to unlock first is because he has two impact grenades, and they can be used to rework the map to the defending team's advantage i.e. creating rotation holes. It's best for newer players to learn the value of rotation holes early on and the right spots to make them. Another great thing about Wamai is that his guns are powerful and are also easy to control, and his MP5K now can be equipped with a scope 1.5x, as opposed to Jager's 416-C Carbine which doesn't have a sight that provides higher zoom levels and can be quite rough to control
What Makes Wamai Great:
- His special gadget, the Mag-NET, is great at neutralizing enemy projectiles, especially grenades, and in some cases, it can even kill enemies using their own grenades
- When a Mag-NET pulls an enemy projectile towards them, they create a loud noise which makes the Mag-NET a good early warning device as well
- The most recent patch made it so that Wamai's MP5K can now be equipped with a scope 1.5x which is great for targeting enemies
- Wamai can bring two impact grenades per round, and he can use it to create rotation holes which are very important for defending the objective spot
- His Keratos .357 handgun inflicts heavy damage per shot and can also be used as a utility for creating lines of sight
Best Loadout for Wamai:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-wamai-loadouts
3. Valkyrie
Valkyrie may not be as easy to use compared to most operators in this list, however, I recommend her as one of the earliest operators to be unlocked first because there's so much the player can learn through her role and gameplay. Valkyrie has three Black Eye cameras and each of them can provide a wide view of an area depending on the angle they're in. They can be attached to most surfaces, and if the surface isn't compatible with it, it will fall, so Valkyrie can just collect it and reattach it somewhere else. They're also very small and would look inconspicuous when not being used.
All these qualities make Valkyrie such a great intel gatherer, and watching the cameras and advising your teammates is one of the skills that players should learn to do early on. It'll also be great for newer players to know the best spots when it comes to placing Valkyrie's Black Eye cameras in order for them to give the defenders a good view of an area while also being hard to see from the enemies' perspective. As for her weaponry, Valkyrie's MPX is one of the easiest guns to use in Siege due to its low recoil, and that's great for newer players.
What Makes Valkyrie Great:
- With her three Black Eye cameras, she can provide the defending team a wide view of three different areas in the map
- Her Black Eye cameras are quite small and would look inconspicuous when not activate, so they're hard for attackers to find
- Valkyrie's MPX submachine gun has a very manageable recoil, probably the easiest gun to control in Siege, and that's good for new players
- Valkyrie can run with the nitro cell as her secondary gadget and it has a great combo with her Black Eye cameras which is the c4-under-the-floor trick
- If no one else in the team can rework the map, Valkyrie can also run with the impact grenades which she can use to create rotation holes
Best Loadout for Valkyrie:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-valkyrie-loadouts
2. Rook
Rook's special gadget, the Armor Pack, is as straightforward as it gets. You just drop it and it will automatically equip you with an Armor Plate which provides added health points. Your teammates who will get an Armor Plate from the pack will receive the same, and that's such a great contribution to the team with just one press of a button. That's basically why Rook is one of the best defenders to unlock first. He's a very simple operator to use and yet his contribution to the team is huge, especially now that his Armor Plates have been buffed.
Now, his Armor Plates don't only provide more health points. They will also provide the ability to revive yourself from a down-but-not-out state. That's such a game changer because if all members of the defending team got their Armor Plates from Rook's pack, then all of them will be tougher to take down and they'd even have the ability to get up from a down-but-not-out state. Another great thing about Rook is that his MP5 can be equipped with a 2.0x scope, making Rook one of the few defenders that has access to high levels of zoom.
What Makes Rook Great:
- Rook's Armor Pack provides armor plates to the whole defending team that increases their health rating, making them tougher to take down
- All operators that equipped Rook's armor plates will have the ability to revive themselves from a down-but-not-out state
- Rook's MP5 submachine gun can be equipped with a scope 2.0x making him one of the few defenders that has access to such a high zoom level
- Rook has 3-armor rating which already makes him very tough, and with the added health points from his armor plates, he becomes much more effective at tanking damage
- Rook also has access to the impact grenades which are always good to have for creating rotation holes or countering Osa
Best Loadout for Rook:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-rook-loadouts
1. Kapkan
I always say to new players that the best operators to unlock first are those who can contribute to the team even when they're dead, and Kapkan is probably the best when it comes to that. That's because his special gadget, the EDDs, are explosive traps that Kapkan can deploy on entryways such as windows and doors. So even if he gets taken out, there's a good chance that he would still be able to score some kills, especially now that his EDDs have been buffed and he can now deploy more than one of them in one entryway.
It's important for new players to play operators like Kapkan who maintains a huge presence in the match even when they're dead because it boosts their morale when it comes to going through Siege's steep learning curve, and that's why Kapkan is such a fun operator to use for newer players. His EDDs, however, aren't only good for inflicting death and damage to enemies. They're also great at slowing aggressive enemies down and making them hesitate, because with Kapkan's presence, they'd have to check every entryway they're going through if they don't want to die or receive substantial damage, but by checking entryways for Kapkan's EDDs, they can leave themselves vulnerable to defender gunshots.
What Makes Kapkan Great:
- Because of his EDD traps, even when he gets taken out early in the round, he can still contribute a lot to the team
- His EDDs are great for countering rushes and slowing down aggressive enemies because they'd have to check entryways, and while doing so, they could leave themselves vulnerable
- Kapkan also has access to two impact grenades which he can use to create rotation holes or escape holes when he's roaming
- Kapkan's 9x19VSN submachine gun inflicts a good amount of damage per shot and has a very manageable recoil
- Kapkan can also run with the nitro cell as his secondary gadget, and it's great for countering shield operators and defuser plant attempts behind a smoke grenade
Best Loadout for Kapkan:
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/rainbow-6-siege-best-kapkan-loadouts
Attention operator, please be advised. There is a new directive from Six. Read up on these related articles, and prepare for deployment:
