R6 Squad Rank Restrictions (2026): Who You Can Queue Ranked With

Rainbow Six Siege lets you play ranked with friends, but only inside a rank window. Ranked 3.0, live since 2 June 2026, sets that window in whole ranks: three for most of the ladder, two at the top. This guide sets out the rule as it stands on 2 November 2026: Ubisoft's exact wording, a full matrix of which ranks can squad together, how the gap is counted, worked examples for duos and five-stacks, the placement exception, what a big rank gap does to your lobbies, and the other limits that decide who you can queue with.

The rule, in Ubisoft's words

The Ranked 3.0 update, published on 17 May 2026, gives it in two sentences: "Copper to Emerald can queue with teammates within 3 full Ranks of their own Rank. Diamond and Champion players are limited to teammates within 2 full Ranks." The System Override season page says the same thing more briefly: "Squadmates need to be within three ranks of each other, or two for Diamond and Champion ranks."

• 3 ranksCopper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Emerald
• 2 ranksDiamond and Champion
• No limitThe five placement matches
• SoloThe Legend Division playlist

Who can queue with whom: the full matrix

Apply the rule to every pair of ranks and you get this table. Find your rank on the left: the middle columns show every rank you can and can't squad with in normal ranked games.

Your rank	Can queue with	Blocked	Range
Copper			Copper to Gold
Bronze			Copper to Platinum
Silver			Copper to Emerald
Gold			Copper to Emerald
Platinum			Bronze to Diamond
Emerald			Silver to Champion
Diamond			Platinum to Champion
Champion			Emerald to Champion

Counted in whole ranks from Ubisoft's rule of 17 May 2026; placements are exempt. Badges © Ubisoft Entertainment.

How the gap is counted

Ubisoft says "full Ranks", which we read as whole ranks on the ladder, ignoring divisions: Copper to Gold is three ranks, Gold to Emerald two, Platinum to Champion three. On that reading a Gold I player and a Copper V player are three full ranks apart and can queue together, even though they're nearly four ranks' worth of divisions apart. Ubisoft gives no worked example and no division-level rule, so treat this as our interpretation and test a borderline squad in game.

Two consequences follow from the wording, because each player's limit applies to every teammate:

• The stricter limit wins. A Platinum player's own limit is three, but paired with a Champion the Champion's limit of two decides, and Platinum to Champion is three. Any squad with a Diamond or Champion in it has to fit within two ranks.
• Every pair has to fit. For a five-stack, look at the lowest and highest player: the gap between them must be three ranks or less, or two if the highest is Diamond or Champion.

Worked examples

Squad	Gap	Limit	Result
Gold + Copper	3	3	Can queue
Silver + Emerald	3	3	Can queue
Platinum + Diamond	2	2 (Diamond)	Can queue
Gold + Diamond	3	2 (Diamond)	Blocked
Emerald + Champion	2	2 (Champion)	Can queue
Platinum + Champion	3	2 (Champion)	Blocked
Copper + Platinum	4	3	Blocked
Five-stack: Silver, Gold, Gold, Platinum, Emerald	3 (Silver to Emerald)	3	Can queue
Five-stack: Platinum, Emerald, Emerald, Diamond, Diamond	2 (Platinum to Diamond)	2 (Diamond)	Can queue
The same five with a Gold instead of the Platinum	3 (Gold to Diamond)	2 (Diamond)	Blocked

Look at Gold and Platinum in the matrix: their own limit of three would reach Diamond, but Diamond's limit of two cuts it short, so Gold stops at Emerald and Platinum at Diamond. To check a whole squad at once, use our free R6 Squad Rank Checker.

Placements: the open window

"Placement Matches do not include Squad Restrictions, allowing players to queue freely with friends regardless of Rank." Every season starts with five of them, so the first games of a new season are the one time a Silver player and a Champion friend can play ranked together. One detail Ubisoft hasn't covered is a squad mixing players still in placements with players who have finished theirs; check in game before you plan around it. Our placement matches guide covers the rest.

What a big rank gap does to your games

Staying inside the limit doesn't make the gap free. Ubisoft balances squads as a unit first: "Team balancing is calculated at the squad level first," and "when squads contain large Rank gaps, the system weights the team closer to the higher-ranked player."

So a Gold player who queues with an Emerald friend plays lobbies closer to Emerald than to Gold. The Emerald player is in familiar company; the Gold player faces opponents well above their own rank every game. Inside the limits that's allowed, but it's rarely the quickest way up for the lower-ranked player. Since Ranked 3.0 there is no hidden MMR, so matchmaking works from Rank Points alone, along with squad size, time and location. Our Ranked 3.0 guide explains how RP move.

Crossplay, input and the Legend Division

Rank isn't the only thing that decides who you play with. On consoles, only the Squad Leader's Crossplay & Input Devices setting decides which pool the squad plays in and which devices are allowed, Ubisoft explained when native mouse and keyboard reached consoles in July 2026: mouse and keyboard only in the PC & Consoles pool, controllers only everywhere else. The details are in our mouse and keyboard on console guide.

At the very top, the Legend Division takes no squads at all: Ubisoft built it as a "SoloQ-only" playlist for eligible Champions. See the Legend Division guide.

Duo with a booster, honestly

Siege's squad rules are why a duo booster can't just be any high-ranked player: our duo orders are played by a booster on an account inside the limits above, so a Gold customer's duo partner queues from Emerald or lower, and from Diamond up the window shrinks to two ranks. Placements are the exception, with no limit at all. Our services are priced from the same engine as checkout, on PC. Five net wins at Platinum are $29.47 today, and Gold V to Platinum V $28.35. Rainbow Six Siege boosting isn't open for orders yet: get the launch alert on the R6 page.

Duo doesn't put a boost inside Ubisoft's rules, though. The Player Protection Core Rules (31 July 2026) list "Paying or using external services to inflate rank" as boosting, with sanctions up to a permanent ban, whether the booster plays your account or sits in your squad. Read the Risk Disclosure and is R6 boosting bannable? first. Coaching is the option that stays inside the rules.

• Climb: Rank Boost, piloted or duo inside the squad limits.
• Push: Ranked Net Wins at your rank, up to Diamond I.
• Improve: 1-on-1 coaching with a Champion coach, no rank window needed.

Related guides: Ranked 3.0 explained · R6 ranks explained · placement matches · climbing in solo queue