Rainbow Six Extraction Team Comps: Who are the best Operators in Rainbow Six Extraction?
How to build the best squad around
As the unstoppable horde of archaeans takes over the world in Rainbow Six Extraction, all that stands in their way is your diverse squad of Operators, ready to help stem the tide.
Designed with squad play in mind, your mission is best experienced in co-op - which means you’ll have to pick not just the best Operators in Rainbow Six Extraction, but the best team comps to get the most out of their abilities as well.
Whether it’s stealth, recon, zoning enemies, healing, or assault, there’s an Operator out there with the right speciality for you.
However, these characters are lifted pretty much wholesale from their appearance in Rainbow Six Siege with very similar skill sets.
This means some are more suited to parasite destruction than others, while some abilities have great synergy out in the Hot Zone.
Here’s some advice on how to build the best team comps in Rainbow Six Extraction right from the beginning of the game, as well as the best Operators in general if you’re struggling to choose who to level up.
Who are the best Operators in Rainbow Six Extraction?
- Vigil
Boasting a powerful stealth cloak, Vigil is easily the best solo Operator in Rainbow Six Extraction.
Capable of slipping through congested areas unseen, or lining up easy takedowns on difficult archaeans, Vigil marries deadly precision with a consistently useful ability that has a fast cooldown.
While it’s worth noting that you can’t deploy his cloak while carrying an objective like a stasis foam bomb, you can still scout ahead and clear the path for a teammate who is.
Although he’s not quite as useful in straight-up firefights with Archons and Elites, Vigil is perfect for stealth missions (which is most of them) and can be specced out with claymores or grenades to be stronger defensively.
- Finka/Doc
Two major healing Operators are available right from the start of the game, and both have their uses.
Finka is the clutch hero, best suited to reviving all of her downed teammates at once when things are looking their darkest. Or if no one’s down, she gives a limited-time buff to their health and aiming capability.
If you’re in a full squad and trying to take on Rainbow Six Extraction’s tougher difficulties, then Finka’s boosts to survivability will be the most useful to you. She can also use her ability while down to help her teammates push through a testing wave even if she’s knocked over.
Doc on the other hand offers more flexible healing, since he can heal and revive himself as well as single-target heal and revive from a distance.
Healing is difficult in Extraction, so if you would prefer a more focused role in topping up your squad’s health, Doc is an option to consider.
His healing syringe has 3 charges, so he’s good to pair with IQ so you can find resource caches to restock easily.
- Rook
For missions where you have to defeat a difficult enemy, assault or defend a target, or just expect to take damage in general, Rook is a good support Operator.
Archaeans do a huge amount of damage if they catch you off guard, so mitigating some of that pressure with damage-reducing body armor when you expect to be swarmed can be worth a squad slot.
- Tachanka
Speaking of defending a target, Tachanka deploys a mounted turret that any of your squad can use.
Aside from the obvious defensive applications of the ability, it also allows one of your less-combat equipped team members meaningfully contribute to the battle. This lets you pick a recon or low armor Operator with a shorter range weapon like Pulse, IQ, Vigil, or Sledge and let them hold down an area from a distance.
- IQ/Pulse
Ammo is scarce on tougher difficulties, and IQ lets you pick out the equipment you need and seek it out without wandering blindly and wasting time.
She also comes with a good AUG AR as her primary weapon to assist offensively too.
Pulse on the other hand is slightly less useful than you first think. While he can scout Nests through walls, his scanner doesn’t work on regular archaeans, which can still lead to you getting surprised and surrounded.
Where he comes into his own though is rescue missions. As well as Nests, he can scan MIA Operators and VIP scientists through walls, which makes saving their bacon all the easier.
- Ela
Ela is a fun zoning hero who can throw down mines without having to lose a grenade spot to claymores.
She’s good defensively around a point, but can also use the stun more proactively when breaching and clearing or in a pinch when you’re swarmed.
- Sledge
Finally, Sledge uses a giant hammer to slam through walls and create new routes towards an objective.
Aside from letting you make a beeline towards your target, Sledge can be deployed more tactically to set up kill zones around an objective where you funnel enemies through an opening you’ve made for them.
How do you build the best Team Comps in Rainbow Six Extraction?
So now you have a grasp of some fun Operators to choose from, it’s time to think about how you string them together into a squad.
And while some Operators are more synergistic than others, there’s no one OP team that’s going to steamroller every objective on every deployment - the best squad always depends on your objective.
Before you enter the Hot Zone, you can press tab or the equivalent controller button to view your upcoming objectives. Take a look at whether you’re popping nests, searching for targets, or defending points and build your team from there.
If you're destroying nests or placing trackers on them, you could take:
- Vigil
- Pulse
- Finka/Rook
This would let you clear a path stealthily, find the Nests, then buff the damage resistance of those two squishy Operators or let you pick them back up when they fall down.
Then if you're planting charges and defending a point, you could take:
- Sledge
- Tachanka
- Finka
Here you could smash a path to the objective then set up a single opening to funnel archaeans through, then set up a turret, then round out your squad with Finka to keep everyone healthy.
A good rule of thumb when teambuilding is to bring one Support or Healer, one Scout or Stealth Operator, then one Defence or heavier Operator for when things go loud.
Finally, you can smooth out the rough edges of your squad with tech once you unlock some.
For instance, if you don’t want to bring a pure defensive Operator, you can use claymores in your grenade slot to mine a point. Or if you don't have a dedicated healer, you can bring a self-revive instead.
You don't all have to bring the same tech either. Only one of your team will ever need a recon drone for example, freeing the others to take body armor or a revive. You might not even need one drone if you have IQ or Pulse too.
It's not immediately obvious, but tech is very powerful, so you should use it to your advantage.
As a meta and tier list develops in Rainbow Six Extraction, we'll update this page with the best lineups.
If you're struggling to find players for your team, the Rainbow Six Extraction Buddy Pass lets you invite two friends with the trial version of the game to join your squad for as long as you play together.