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As one of the longest-running competitive first-person shooters in gaming’s history,Rainbow Six Siegehas now grown big enough that it could take you months or even years to learn all the details and tricks about its maps.
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Map design in Rainbow Six Siege is quite unique when compared to other FPS titles, as developers have to represent tactical approaches such as destructibility and utility placements in the game’s maps, which makes it a difficult task. So, we’ve decided to rank every map in the game at the time of writing, from the exceptionally well-designed ones to the ones that still need a little TLC.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
There is no doubt that Tower is the worst map we have ever seen when it comes to tactical design. Of course, it is indeed a beautiful map with a well-designed invasion scenario for attackers that does bring in a significant amount of realism to the gameplay. But as soon as you look at it from a competitive point of view, there are so many issues, from the rappel-only entry for attackers to a long line of destructible walls.
Regardless of whether you’re attacking or defending, Tower is unsafe from both sides. It is a confusing map with a large number of open areas to receive shots from, making it one of the worst maps in the game.
24Presidential Plane
Similar to Tower, Presidential Plane is also a map with a realistic visual design, but there are two major issues with this map that never let you enjoy fair competitive play.
First, the windows on the plane are vulnerable to Kali’s sniper rifle, which makes her an overpowered choice on this map, easily killing from afar thanks to her weapon’s 12x scope. Plus, given the fact that both bomb sites on the top floor are next to the plane windows, it is increasingly difficult to avoid appearing near a window, unless you stay in a crouch or prone state when moving through corridors.
The second problem is about the multiple runout points for defenders, allowing them to easily spawn-kill attackers as soon as they start the game. An incredibly annoying map element as there is almost no cover for attackers to hide behind when they spawn.
Yacht is a much more balanced map compared to the likes of Presidential Plane and Tower, but the map still has its own problems. The biggest issue with Yacht is the bomb site at the top level, exposed to two doors, two windows, and a hatch from the lower level. This is something that you never see in any other bomb site in Rainbow Six Siege.
A single room surrounded by multiple entries that are placed too close to each other, just makes it almost impossible to hold the site. Aside from that, Yacht features multiple runout points with a direct view toward attacker spawn locations, which gives away some free kills to defenders every round.
22Bartlett University
Bartlett University is one of Rainbow Six Siege’s most memorable maps, and despite all its issues, players are still disappointed that Ubisoft hasn’t put this map inside the active Quick Match pool.
While Bartlett University has quite an eye-catching aesthetic, it features a lot of open areas and clear sight with big lobbies, which makes it difficult for defenders to hold their position, especially knowing that most defenders don’t have access to bigger scopes. Currently, you may only play this map in co-op mode or in Lone Wolf mode.
Stadium is a combination of Coastline and Border with some unique design elements, and while it sounds quite interesting as both Coastline and Border are beloved maps, the actual result is nothing but a mess.
Copying the layout of two great maps without paying attention to their details is what makes Stadium a disappointment. Although you have the bomb sites from the aforementioned maps, you don’t see the same corridors or the same objects in the area, which is the reason why Stadium feels quite unbalanced and confusing, even with all its creativity on glass-walls and rappel-spawn for attackers.
Yes, Favela is better than Stadium because it has its own identity. Unlike Stadium, Favela knows what it’s meant to be. But, with that being said, playing Favela on the defensive side is a nightmare due to all of the destructible walls and floors, but that’s part of this map’s DNA. Favela is meant to deliver a chaotic experience.
Even after the rework, Favela didn’t lose its identity. The map is now more balanced, but it is still an attacker-favored map as there are so many entry points to the building, and covering them all isn’t an easy job for defenders.
You might be surprised to see Kanal here, but the map indeed suffers from a huge design issue for a long time, and still, there is no fix for it.
Kanal is a map formed by two different buildings that are connected to each other via two bridges, and that’s where most of the issues appear. The transition between the buildings heavily relies on the bridges, especially for the defensive side, and once the attacker team takes control of the bridges, it becomes almost impossible for roamers to do their job properly.
Other than that, the map deals with some serious spawn-kill runouts that are still yet to be fixed.
In our hearts, House is the best map of Rainbow Six Siege, even after the rework. But from a tactical standpoint, there is still plenty of work to be done.
House is a compact map, but it still features a lot of rooms and corridors that can serve as sneaky camping points for defenders. Other than that, the garage bomb site is still a big deal for attackers with a big double window on top of it and a balcony on the right. The rework didn’t really fix most of the issues with the House, but it still serves as an important and favorite map for players.
17Hereford Base
After its massive rework, Hereford Base has been a pretty solid map for casual playlists. Although there are some issues here and there, including long corridors and a confusing layout in the mid-floors, Hereford Base is still a great starter map for newcomers.
While the bomb sites in the basement and top floor are well-designed, the remaining sites in the mid floors do need some tweaking, which is mostly due to the maze-like nature of those floors. A second smaller rework could make Hereford Base balanced enough for ranked matches.
16Theme Park
As much as the overall map layout seems solid in Theme Park, it suffers from the same problem that was haunting the original version of Outback for years. Except for the Storage site, all other bomb sites on Theme Park lack direct access from the outside.
As a result, attackers always need to take over at least one room on the map to start breaching. This is one big reason why Theme Park is a defense-favored map. And things get even worse when you know there are a few deadly runouts for defenders.
