R6 Siege Attack Strategy Guide (2026): Drones, Map Control, Plant

Attacking in Rainbow Six Siege means walking into a building the defenders have spent 45 seconds fortifying, finding the bomb site and planting a defuser before the clock runs out. Good attacks look slow from the outside and fast at the end: a minute of quiet information and space-taking, then a coordinated push that uses every gadget in the right order. This guide walks through one attack round on the clock — bans and line-up, the preparation phase, map control, the utility trade, the execute and the plant — with the Operation Split Fire changes (Y11S3, patch Y11S3.3) that matter for attackers.

The attack round on one clock

A round of Bomb starts with the preparation phase: 45 seconds in which defenders reinforce and place gadgets while attackers scout with drones. Each attacker carries 2 drones, and the first one deploys automatically during preparation (fandom wiki). Then the action phase starts its three-minute clock. Attackers win by planting the defuser and protecting it until it finishes, or by eliminating every defender; defenders win by destroying a planted defuser, eliminating the attackers before a plant, or running out the clock. Planting takes 7 seconds in Ranked, the defuser needs 45 seconds after the plant finishes, and a defender needs 7 seconds to disable it.

• 45 sPreparation — drones out, defenders building
• 3:00Action phase in Ranked
• 7 sTo plant the defuser in Ranked
• 45 sDefuser timer after the plant · 7 s to disable

The phase split in the clock above is BoostPirate's planning guide, not a rule: some rounds you'll execute at 2:00, some at 0:45. What matters is that the team knows which phase it's in. Two common failures sit at the edges: spending the whole round gathering intel and planting with ten seconds left, or rushing in at 2:45 before anyone knows where the defenders are.

Bans and the attack line-up

Since Siege X each team bans one enemy operator every round. Bans stack up to six per match, reset when the teams swap sides and carry into overtime (Ubisoft, Operation Daybreak). In practice your favourite breacher or anti-gadget operator may be gone, so think of the line-up as jobs, with two operators you can play for each:

Hard breach

Opens reinforced walls

Thermite got one extra Exothermic Charge in Tenfold Pursuit; Hibana's X-Kairos fuse dropped to 4 seconds; Maverick's torch no longer pauses. Ace's second charge takes 1.1 s to deploy since Y11S3.3.

ThermiteHibanaAceMaverick

Anti-gadget

Clears the way

Thatcher's E.G.S. Disruptor detects and deactivates enemy electronics through obstructions (Tenfold Pursuit). Brava's Kludge Drone recovers faster after a miss since Y11S3.3.

ThatcherBravaTwitch

Intel

Finds the defenders

Jackal's Eyenox range rose to 15 m in Y11S3.3; Solid Snake's Soliton Radar keeps three precision charges since the mid-season patch.

JackalSolid SnakeLion

Entry & flex

Takes the first fight

Fraggers and flank players who clear the rooms around the site and trade the breacher. Pick what your team is missing.

AshIanaDokkaebi

Gadget changes from Ubisoft's Tenfold Pursuit, Split Fire, Y11S3.2 and Y11S3.3 notes. Grouping by job is BoostPirate's; Ubisoft's own specialty tags are explained in the operator roles guide.

BoostPirate's default: two players who can open walls or hatches, one who removes gadgets, one who gathers intel and one entry or flex. The upcoming guides on hard breachers, entry operators and intel operators go operator by operator. When you ban, remove the defender who breaks your plan: the operator who stops your breach on the site you expect, or the one your team keeps losing to.

The preparation phase: what your drone is for

45 seconds is short. Give your drone one job and finish it:

1. Find the site0–20 s

   Reinforced walls, a deployable shield or traps in a room usually mean the objective is there. Call it the moment you're sure; the rest of the team stops searching.

2. Count the anchors20–35 s

   How many defenders build the site, and which operators? Scanning an enemy marks them and pinging a gadget reveals its operator to your team (fandom wiki).

3. Find the roamers' routes35–45 s

   Note who left the site and where they went. Park the drone somewhere hidden near the site if you can — it may still see something in the action phase.

Keep your second drone for the execute: a drone in the site as you breach tells you who's holding which angle. Drones are destroyed by any single hit, and defenders can steal or jam them, so a drone hidden under furniture beats one sitting in the open. The upcoming drone guide covers paths and hiding spots in detail.

Map control: take space before the site

Map control is the rooms and angles around the objective your team owns. You need it because the site's walls are only opened from next to them, and because defenders who roam outside the site will kill attackers walking past. The first minute of the action phase is for taking it:

• Clear the entry point you use as a pair, not alone — one checks, one trades.
• Watch for spawn peeks in the first seconds: windows and doors facing your spawn are where defenders try for an early kill.
• Drone each room before you walk in, then clear it one angle at a time.
• Hold the rooms you've taken; a teammate watching a hallway stops a roamer flanking the breacher.
• Check above and below the site: ceilings and floors open new angles for both sides.
• Trade information: a callout of every defender seen keeps the count for the whole team.

Vertical control is a Siege speciality — attackers above a site can open hatches and floors to make the defenders' positions uncomfortable. The upcoming vertical play guide explains it, and the aim and peeking guide covers how to clear rooms without giving away free kills.

The utility trade: find, remove, open, enter

Defenders protect the walls you want to open: electrified walls, devices that destroy projectiles, traps on the entries. Attacking utility only works in order — a breach charge thrown before the electricity is gone is a wasted charge:

Some Year 10 changes matter here. Since Tenfold Pursuit, Castle's Armor Panels can be electrified, Ash's Breaching Rounds can be stopped by electrified surfaces, Aruni's Surya Gates can be shut off instantly by EMP Impact Grenades or Thatcher's E.G.S. Disruptor, and devices inside a deactivation field can't be triggered wirelessly. Siege X's destructible ingredients add tools for both sides: shooting a fire extinguisher concusses nearby enemies and releases smoke, and shot gas pipes burn and then explode. Fire hazards rose to 14 damage in the mid-season patch, so a burning doorway is worth waiting out.

The execute: go in together

The execute is the moment the team commits: the wall opens, utility lands and several attackers enter the site at once. A good one has three parts — BoostPirate's checklist:

1. A call10 s before

   Someone says what happens: "Thermite opens the wall, flash, two from the wall, one from the hatch, plant default." Everyone knows their door.

2. A second drone

   One attacker drones the site as the wall comes down. "Two in site, one behind the shield, one on the stairs."

3. Simultaneous entries

   Defenders can hold one angle well; they can't hold three at once. Enter from different directions in the same few seconds.

Two Operation Split Fire facts change executes. Noor, the season's new defender, fires Horus Lance projectiles that pierce shields and destructible surfaces and erupt into flames; after the mid-season patch they break a ballistic shield's guard completely (30% → 100%) and hit for 80 on impact — so a shield-first execute into Noor needs her gadget gone first. And Kapkan's damage rose from 60 to 62 in Operation Split Fire, so check the doorframes before you sprint through them.

The plant and the post-plant

The plant is where most attacks are won or thrown. Planting takes 7 seconds in Ranked; after that the defenders have the remaining 38 or so seconds to get 7 uninterrupted seconds on the defuser. Your job is to make those seconds impossible:

After the plant, spread out. Defenders retake from several directions, and an attacker in each one turns their retake into a crossfire. If you're last alive, play the defuser, not the kills: listen for the disabling sound and shoot the player on it.

Attacking in Ranked solo queue

Most Ranked teams don't have a shotcaller, so be one, briefly: during the prep phase name the site, your breach and your entry. Five players who follow an average plan beat five who each follow their own. Watch the information, not just your own screen — a callout of "one roamer in the kitchen" changes everyone's route. If the game is lost, Ubisoft's reworked surrender vote (Operation Split Fire) is open when your team is down in rounds or a teammate has been disconnected for at least six minutes; throwing the game instead breaks Ubisoft's Core Rules, as the penalties guide explains.

The map pool changes next season: Ubisoft said on 2 November 2026 that seasonal map rotations end and Ranked goes back to a "best of" pool of about 15 maps, including the nine played in Pro competition. Learn attack plans for those maps first — the solo queue climbing guide covers how to use the map ban.

Attack mistakes that cost rounds

• Droning the whole prep phase and learning nothing — find the site, then count the defenders.
• Using both drones before the execute — the second one is for the moment you breach.
• Breaching before the electricity is gone — find and remove first.
• Entering one at a time — a held angle beats each attacker in turn.
• Chasing kills after the plant — the defuser wins the round, not your K/D.
• Running out of time — commit by about a minute left, so a failed plant still leaves another try.