Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege launched in December 2015, gaining immense popularity over the years with its intricate and complex gameplay. This tactical FPS shooter recently kicked off Year 8 in 2023, and a lot has changed in terms of operator pick rate since its release.
We are now at the start of Rainbow Six Siege‘s Year 8 Season 2, and the current season Operation Dread Factor brought the newest operator Fenrir.
Rainbow Six Siege’s development team has shared the official data in their Designer Notes, which includes all the latest operator pick/ban rate data of the previous Y8S1.2 patch. And this should provide you with a greater insight into the most played and banned Siege operators in 2023, which might also help you pick or ban operators in your own matches.
Credit: All the graphs below have been collected from Ubisoft and contain data recorded from PC-Ranked Platinum and above.
NOTE: Presence – pick rate of an Operator when not banned; Win Delta- The Win Delta is aggregated from Operator’s Win Deltas per Bomb Site.
Rainbow Six Siege Pick Rates
Attackers
High Pick Rate (Presence > 35%)
- Iana
- Ash
- Ace
- Sledge
Iana, Ash, Ace, and Sledge sit on top of the presence chart with an over (approx.) 35% pick rate. This is because of their strong utility and primary weapons with high damage and relatively easier to control. Some other operators, like Finka, used to have a high pick rate during the LMG meta. But now, since that has been balanced, Iana has become the most popular operator on Attack, as she still has grenades, a great weapon, and a gadget to play as an entry fragger.
With the meta now being quite balanced but still past-faced and more run-and-gun in Ranked, players are shifting their attention back to Ash, the trusty 3-speed operator. The G-36C Rifle paired with the 1.5x can be considered one of the game’s best weapons, contributing to her presence chart.
Similarly, Ace is currently the most versatile hard breacher to pick amongst the others. He also has a powerful Assault Rifle, so players often use him just for his weapon. On the other hand, Sledge sees slightly less play due to him losing the SMG-11 and becoming a 1-speed, 3-health operator.
Average Pick Rate (10% < Presence < 35%)
- Thatcher
- Buck
- Jackal
- IQ
- Nomad
- Zofia
- Dokkaebi
- Thermite
- Hibana
- Osa
- Lion
- Brava
- Nokk
- Twitch
- Flores
- Amaru
With the introduction of secondary impact EMP grenades, Thatcher has experienced a massive 20% reduction in pick rate compared to Y7S2. These EMP grenades allow teams to be more flexible while picking operators, making it much easier to breach. As Thatcher is banned often, players have become proficient at breaching reinforced walls without him.
Zofia, the Polish attacker, boasted an almost 80% pick rate during Year 6. However, the major recoil nerfs on her LMG and M762 AR helped her bring more in line with the other attackers. And later, in Y7S4, she was reduced to 1-speed, which made her less appealing.
The three other hard-breachers of Hibana, Maverick, and Thermite are less appealing, as most maps and objectives can be played with one hard-breacher. Ace’s fragging power and his SELMA gadget make him more popular than the other choices. Maverick’s presence has also taken a noticeable hit due to the introduction of secondary EMP grenades.
Jackal still experiences a good presence rate, as his gadget works well to intimidate players, especially in lower Ranks. But Dokkaebi has seen quite a big increase in pick rate, as she is now a 3-speed operator with access to good primary weapons, gadgets, and impact EMP grenades. As a flank-watcher, Nomad is still the best operator, which shows in the presence chart, with her pick rate being much higher than others like Gridlock or Zero.
Some other operators like Osa, Lion, Brava, Twitch, Nokk, Flores, and Amaru are good “flex/support” options. They are not must-pick operators but are often used to form a balanced team.
Low Pick Rate (Presence < 15%)
- Maverick
- Zero
- Ying
- Finka
- Fuze
- Kali
- Glaz
- Capitao
- Blackbeard
- Gridlock
- Blitz
- Montagne
- Sens
- Grim
Several attackers are stacked together toward the bottom of the presence chart. Their pick rate is much lower than others as their gadgets are highly situational or not very effective in this current meta.
Overall, the presence and win delta has become quite tighter than before, which suggests Ubisoft is making the right decisions to allow every operator to be viable.
Defenders
High Pick Rate (Presence > 35%)
- Jager
- Warden
Jager again regains his number 1 spot in the presence chart after losing the position temporarily from Year 7 to Alibi. Jager’s utility and gun are still powerful and effective in this current meta during Year 8, an operator that you can see in almost every round. Over the years, the devs have tried to reduce his pick rate by nerfing his gun, changing his speed, and more. But Jager still remains the most popular defender, albeit a lot less than before when he used to break the charts.
Warden, once an underwhelming operator who didn’t get much play, is now seeing a huge rise in playtime. This is due to his easy-to-control MPX SMG with the 1.5x scope, which greatly helps in landing those important headshots.
Average Pick Rate (15% < Presence < 35%)
- Azami
- Alibi
- Valkyrie
- Kaid
- Mozzie
- Wamai
- Mute
- Smoke
- Bandit
- Solis
- Kapkan
- Doc
- Frost
- Lesion
In the average pick rate group, there are a lot of powerful operators, such as Azami, Valkyrie, Kaid, Mozzie, and more. While we would have guessed Azami to have a greater pick rate for her unique gadget, she sits right near the middle of the chart.
The intel-providing operator Valkyrie still remains strong because of her Black Eye cameras. Even after she was nerfed, where now her cams get disabled outside, Valkyrie still enables the defending team valuable visual intel that can help to win an entire round.
The pick rate of the SAS defenders – Smoke – has remained consistently in the middle over the years. Smoke has a versatile loadout and a crucial gadget, making him an easy pick on multiple Siege maps. Wall-electrifying operators such as Kaid and Bandit are also picked very often because of their important utility. With Thatcher banned, this often forces Attackers to bring Maverick or a Kali in their lineup.
Solis, one of the new operators, is quite fun to play, and her pick rate is quite respectable. Kapkan, the trap operator, has a noticeably higher win delta, meaning the stacking of EDDs can be slightly overpowered.
The other projectile catcher of Wamai sits very behind Jager in terms of presence. This is most likely because of the place-it and forget-it type of gadget Jager possess, while Wamai’s Mag-NET disc refills over a period of time, requiring him to play more passively to get used of all his discs. Wamai also received this 1.5x scope for the MP5-K again, which help in boosting his presence.
Low Pick Rate (Presence < 15%)
- Mira
- Aruni
- Oryx
- Castle
- Melusi
- Ela
- Goyo
- Thorn
- Thunderbird
- Pulse
- Rook
- Vigil
- Echo
- Tachanka
- Caveira
- Maestro
- Clash
In Y8S1 of Rainbow Six Siege, the operator pool is so deep that many strong operators are not experiencing a good pick rate. Plant-denial and intel-providing operators of Echo and Maestro used to have a very high presence; however, multiple nerfs to their gadgets and guns, including the removal of ACOG, have slashed their pick rate down to less than 5%. However, the positive win rate shows their match-winning capabilities.
Ban rate
Rainbow Six Siege ranked players mostly ban operators who have strong or unique gadgets like Mira and Thatcher. You can find all the ban statistics of this current Y8S1.2 patch down below:
Most Banned Attacker
The Thatcher ban has become quite a staple for ranked matches, making hard-breaching more time-consuming for attackers. On the other hand, Jackal is banned to reduce the frustration of getting tracked while roaming.
| Most Banned Attacker | Ban Rate (%) |
| Thatcher | 71 |
| Jackal | 56 |
| Dokkaebi | 19 |
| No Ban | 15 |
| Osa | 8 |
| Montagne | 8 |
| Nokk | 7 |
| Ace | 2 |
Most Banned Defender
Mira and Kaid are two of the most banned defenders on the defending side because of their valuable main gadgets.
| Most Banned Defender | Ban Rate (%) |
| Mira | 58 |
| Kaid | 31 |
| Valkyrie | 28 |
| Kapkan | 26 |
| No Ban | 14 |
| Clash | 12 |
| Solis | 10 |
| Azami | 7 |
| Melusi | 2 |
| Caveira | 2 |
Do keep in mind that these stats for pick and bans are only for PC Ranked – Platinum and above and don’t represent the full picture. You should pick and ban operators based on your team’s strategy. And if you want to know which are the best operators in the game right now, find our full operator rankings here.
We will keep updating this article throughout Year 8.
