Rainbow Six Siege Shield Operators Guide

Rainbow Six Siege Shield Operators Guide by Wumpus_Slayer

Hello! I am terrible with introductions, so lets give this a try! I’m Wumpus_Slayer, and I’ve been playing Blitz since closed beta (hoorah! that isn’t NEARLY information to “qualify” me but whatever I’m just gunna keep typing. Also throwback to when Glaz’s logo was a classy mr skeltal) … Anyhoo, I figured I’d go ahead and drop some knowledge of things I’ve learned while I’ve been playing and maybe help anyone who wants to switch over to shield ops or something like that. NOTE: This guide will not only be for those wanting to learn the way of the shield, it will also be for those who want to know how shield players think so they can combat them … so there is that too i guess … anyways I think that is a good enough intro so AWAAAAAAAAAAAY we go!

General Shield Tips:

1) This is probably common sense for anyone who has played shields for a good bit … Just because you have a shield does not mean you are immune to bullets! I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen someone take a shield operator and say something like “follow me I’ll give cover” then sprint into an open room, crouch, and get mowed over. ALL THE SHIELD DOES IS PROTECT BULLETS COMING FROM YOUR 11 TO 1 O’CLOCK! this means that you are only blocking bullets from in front of you, so please … please please please … don’t let the shield get to your head.

2) Another common sense one, Use a Buddy! Remember that time you and your brother were walking down the street and a creepy white van pulled up and was all like “Hey can you help me find my dog” and you went “yeah! sure thing mister” but then your brother was all like “no Wumpus_Slayer, that’s a pedophile!” and you both screamed and ran home. Yeah, me too. Anyways its sort of like that as a shield. Having a buddy can help feed you information for split second decisions, and help you when you make the wrong one. Whenever you are a shield (ESPECIALLY Blitz or Monty) make sure to have a buddy, because even though shields can typically 1v1 pretty well … they can not 1v2 or more easily, so having a buddy with a rifle really helps when you’re in a pinch.

3) For the love of Chanka melee that bitch! Many times I see a shield get close enough to melee the enemy and instead of hitting him with his 70 pound shield, proceeds to SPRAY HIS ENTIRE CLIP. I merit this to the fact that newer shields will see an enemy that close carrying a rifle or shotgun and think “OH NO! He has a gun for fast non-shield people, and all I have is my little pistol! That means I need to get as many bullets out as possible before he does. Trust me, meleeing is much more effective than spraying all your bullets. This leads me to my next point …

4) If you can reload safely, RELOAD! You are not firing with a primary, you have a sidearm, this means that you don’t have a lot of bullets and they don’t do a lot of damage (excluding the revolver), so every bullet counts! Now you can’t just reload out in the open, because that basically makes you more vulnerable than Tachanka(before he had his Glorious Shield) by moving your shield out of the way of your body. however, if you are in a pinch and absolutely HAVE to perform an unsafe reload, the best bet you have is turning to your right while reloading so the shield is facing the front. *Note: Reloading safely is reloading behind cover

5) Being a Shield is all about split second decisions! This means you have to practice practice practice until you know that it isn’t a good idea to drop through that trapdoor into a room full of enemies, or that turning that corner loses you the disadvantage.

6) To shoot or not to shoot … that is the question. Ok, so this is one of the hardest things to learn as an operator, and that is when to put your shield down to ads (Aim-Down-Sight), and fire. It’s different for each operator, but the general rule of thumb is “If they are shooting at you … it isn’t a good time. this is because, as many of you already know, in order to ads, YOUR ENTIRE HEAD IS EXPOSED. This means that any shots landed on you will either be on the shield, or your head … which you obviously don’t want … So you need to learn how to do this (which again, i will cover in each operator’s personal section)

7) Your shield doesn’t Immediately follow where you look. Since mid season Reinforcements, your face and your shield had a bit of a breakup and are no longer one … therefore your arms have to do the work! this means that for the first … lets say 10 degrees of the turn, your shield remains stationary, this means you have to learn how to overturn so your shield is exactly where you want it to be. This is best done by getting a buddy and just having him say when the shield starts to turn as you look, and then practice practice practice.

8) C4 isn’t scary anymore! Well kind of … if your shield is between you and an explosion now, it negates the majority of the damage. EXAMPLE TIME! I am Blitz and I’m running around with my buddy IQ and OH NO! A WILD KAPKAN APPEARS! He sees a shield and since he hasn’t played since season 3 he thinks all he has to do is throw his C4 near me and TADA! I will die. Naturally because of how lucky I am, it lands exactly at my feet, so I back up putting myself between the bomb and my buddy IQ. OH NOES THE BOMB GOES OFF! luckily because my shield was between me and the bomb, I only lose 35ish health. what a lucky day!. SECOND SCENARIO! Same situation, Kapkan throws a C4, but this time, I see the C4, lose my cool and sprint away, the bomb at my back. BOOM! now me and my buddy IQ are dead. get? got it? good. TL;DR C4 isn’t scary if its on the other side of your shield

9) Impacts, however, hurt very very much. Not much you can about these besides pray to chanka that you don’t run into them, because now these are more dangerous than C4 … because there are 2 for about 30 each … it’ll give you one hell of a headache. (Smoke traps are spooky too, but less scary since you just have to walk out of the way)

10/11) Protect those pretty little toes of yours! Ok, so im putting 10 and 11 together because although they are similar, both involve movement. FIRST! Crouching and moving reveals 2 things! your toes and parts of your shoulders! This means that if you are crouched and moving, its a good idea to be farther away otherwise the enemy WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS … SECOND, moving between cover. As a shield, waist high cover is your best friend. This is because it allows you to stand and have FULL BODY COVERAGE! As a shield, being able to stand is good, because you get all your normal speed, and you don’t have to worry about leg shots! Also noteworthy: its usually better to be standing behind waist high cover than crouched with none.

12) Communication! A lot of shields like to complain “WAAAAAAH I GOT SHOT IN THE BACK! WHY DIDN’T MY BUDDY JUST KNOW I WOULD MOVE LEFT IN A SPLIT SECOND WITH NO VERBAL CONFIRMATION FROM MYSELF” I’m tired of this stupid complaint. Your buddy can’t possibly know how you are going to move UNLESS YOU TELL THEM. Now, that said, if you say “hey buddy, I’m moving left, then get shot, yeah, its his fault … you are now allowed to be pissed at him for like 10 seconds.

12.5) Follow up to 12, DON’T MOVE IN FRONT OF A FIRING GUN! This also heavily correlates to getting shot in the back. If you are moving, and walk directly in front of your buddy who is spraying an LMG for cover, IT IS YOUR FAULT YOU GOT SHOT IN THE BACK, not his.

13) Spraying isn’t always bad! Okeedokee so, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I resent every moment I have to spray (shooting from the hip). You would be right. that’s because as a shield, if you have to spray, get worried, because the “Spray Zone” is the distance where it would be unwise to ads, but he is just out of reach of melee. This is a very dangerous zone as a shield, because at this range, it is possible for your enemy to run up and melee you before you drop him. As a shield, getting meleed on your shield functions as a stun that opens your body up to a second melee or getting shot. You obviously don’t want this to happen, so when he gets close YOU UNLOAD THAT FUCKING CLIP. At this range, a good portion will hit him and possibly scare him away or kill him.

14) What gear to pick. OK, with the exception of Blitz, Shields get the option between High-Damage and High-Capacity Pistols. Personally, I prefer Damage to capacity, because I prefer to “control the battle” for lack of a better word (This means I take tactical grenades, and patiently wait for when I can ads). However, if you are starting off as a new shield, TAKE CAPACITY OVER DAMAGE. I say this because, unless you are like some kind of prodigy at playing shield, you will be missing A LOT of shots. this is because ads as a shield takes longer, and you need to figure out how to hit “the sweet spot”. The Sweet Spot is the exact moment your shield is lowered and your ads is aimed. At this moment you need to fire, then un-ads. This is how you shoot as a Shield when you aren’t spraying (Because it gives the enemy the least opportunity to shoot you in the head). The reason that you will be missing a lot, is because until you learn where “the sweet spot” is, you will be missing a lot of the shots you take. Now then, once you can hit the sweet spot, and have figured out when to ads, you officially need to choose between Damage and Capacity. This is a pretty obvious decision … heres a flow chart: “I always find myself running out of ammo” if yes, keep capacity, if no, answer this: “I constantly find myself in situations where I need to spray instead of ads” if yes, take capacity, if no answer this: “I am an accurate Shooter” if yes, take Damage, if no take capacity.

14 Continued) OK! Now that you know what gun you’re using, lets get you kitted out! First, Slap a laser pointer on that sumbitch! it’ll help you land shots accurately by telling you where your ads aim will line up! Second, NEVER EVER EVER TAKE A SILENCER, with a big shield like that, you aren’t sneaking up on anybody. Its better to have a muzzle brake, or nothing. Lastly, whether you take grenades or breaches is purely up to your play-style. If you want to be very fast and agressive, take breaches. if you want to be more controlled and open up more opportunities to ads for head-shots, take smokes or stuns. This is because they will leave an enemy blind while you ads.

Montagne Tips:

1) Have Faith in Le Roc! OK, this can be spooky at first, but Montagne’s ability is a godsend for teammates. As Monty, your Job is to catch ALL the bullets. This means deploying the full shield to provide cover for a buddy, countering a chanka turret, hell now you can even cover explosive damage.

2) While in full shield mode, you cannot be melee stunned! This means if you see a guy sprinting towards you, have no fear of stuns, just keep your buddy covered so he can kill the rusher.

3) How to open up opportunities for ads when solo. Besides grenades, you can use Monty’s ability to open the opportunity as well. You can do this in 2 ways. FIRST! You can literally just eat ALL the bullets and wait for a dead spot. this usually insinuates a reload, this means you have just enough time to ads and get a shot or two off, rinse, repeat. WARNING: sometimes tricky people who are farther away will hold back 5-10 bullets and then stop, faking a reload, then shoot again when you ads, so be careful. SECOND WAY! Many times the enemy will fire a few shot, give up/get distracted, and turn away, THIS IS WHEN YOU PUNISH HIS ASS! HOW DARE HE IGNORE YOU, YOU FUCK UP HIS WHOLE DAY RIGHT THERE BY ADS KILLING HIM!

4) WARNING! Yokai (Echo’s Drone) Can and will KNOCK YOU THE HELL OUT OF FULL SHIELD, and it will leave you stunned, this can be fatal, so if you see an echo, tell your teamates to help you kill it!

5) Besides what is above, it is usually just a good idea to play Monty as a more slow moving shield, and leave the killing to buddies for the most part.

Fuze Tips:

1) Don’t play Fuze on hostage … pretty self explanatory.

2) Shield Fuze is a good trapper. what I mean by this is that he excels at putting a Fuze charge on the wall, moving to the door (to block in everyone in said room from getting out) and activating his charge and from there its just WELCOME TO THE DEATH CAGE MOTHER FUCKERS, rinse, repeat.

3) How to open up opportunities for ads when solo. This is a little tricky and doesn’t always work. First, Stuns are always a plus with Fuze, because they allow for an easy opening. Second way, you can do step 2, and typically when defenders hear that all too familiar THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP, they scramble. This is your opportunity to get a few shots in, because literally nobody in that room will be focused on you. The only reason not to as here is because OH NO ONE OF THE GRENADES IS BOUNCING TOWARDS ME!!!!!

4) That’s about it for Fuze, from a play-style standpoint, he is less defensive than Monty, but more defensive than Blitz, so he makes for a nice mid-ground of aggression and self-preservation

Blitz Tips:

1) In my mind, Blitz is probably one of the hardest shields to get used to. This is because unlike the others, HIS SHIELD IS FLAT. This means that you are only blocking bullets coming from directly in front of you, if an enemy can get to your 11 or 1 O’clock … gg. So, how do we combat this …

2) YOU GOTTA MOVE BITCH! Blitz is THE MOST MOBILE of the shields. if you are playing defensively as Blitz, YOU WILL DIE. You should ALWAYS be moving with blitz with one exception, You are ads. Now then, that being sad, there is a special way to be moving with Blitz. He is the only shields where you will be standing more than crouching, this is because your shield should be at the same level as your enemy AT ALL TIMES. This is because if your enemeny is standing and you are crouched, your enemy CAN AND WILL shoot you in the top of the head. HOWEVER, if your opponent is crouched, FUCKING CROUCH, otherwise you give up free leg shots. There are exceptions to this rule however. For example, if your enemy is crouched behind low cover, FUCKING STAND. from low cover he will be forced to shoot at you above the waist, and guess whats covering that area on your body … There are more examples, but the general rule of thumb is to have as many bullets hit the shield as possible (duh). your list of priority for what you don’t want to get hit is: Head > Legs > Shoulders.

3) Don’t be scared of damage. As Blitz YOU WILL TAKE A LOT OF DAMAGE, lucky for you, blitz is a 3 armor op, so he can afford to take a hit here and there. That being said, don’t ignore the damage you take, you still need to try to get hit as little as possible, all I’m saying is don’t shy away from a fight just because you got hit in the legs a few times.

4) BLITZ CAN FLASH WHILE ADS! I’ts dirty as shit and can be used to extend close combat ads time.

5) Blitz’s flash has roughly the range of a flash bang (maybe just a little more) in one direction. I say this because the last thing you want to do is flash at someone across the room from you, think its safe, ads, and get iced.

6) it would seem from experiences I’ve had, that even if the enemy isn’t stunned, the flash briefly conceals where your head is. This doesn’t work on anyone above silver (by then most players know where the head is), However if you need just a second more for ads time, it works on occasion.

7) PEOPLE GET SCARED OF YOU UP CLOSE. use this to your advantage by rushing towards them HARD. Even though i said not to in the general tips, blitz is the exception to many “shield rules”. He is best up close because that’s where his ability is strongest.

8) Blind People can still shoot. Like … A lot … also some will periodically melee as well to try and stun you.

9) The Stun-Smash Combo. Pretty simple, get to the spray zone, flash, close the gap, melee. its dangerous due to some people meleeing when blind, but it works about 70% of the time.

10) The Stun-Spray Combo. Basically the same as the Stun-Smash Combo, but spray after the flash instead of closing the gap (usually a periodic melee will be the first thing they do, if you see this, use this technique instead of smashing their face, its safer).

11) How to open up opportunities for ads when solo. Besides Grenades, its pretty simple, Flash, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY OF THE SPRAY, ads, rinse, repeat.

12) WARNING: Mute Charges will disable your flash! So don’t go barreling into a room you hear static in, typically, it wont end well for a laundry list of reasons.

And that’s about it for my tips and tricks! Feel free to comment any you have too, I’d love to hear them!

NOTE: It would appear that one of the general tips caused some confusion, damage reduction for explosives from the shield is ONLY FOR YOU! Sorry if that was worded funny.