Rainbow Six Siege, a tactical first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft, has experienced tremendous growth throughout the years that it has existed. Even in its Year 8, the game has a substantial player base and a healthy esports circuit.
Buck is a 2-speed, 2-armor operator and is currently one of the unique support operators in the game. You can unlock Buck for 10000 Renown or 240 R6 Credits.
Here’s everything you need to know about this operator.
Buck Operator Guide
Biography
“Follow me. I know a shortcut.”
Côté comes from a long line of military veterans and served in the Canadian Reserves throughout university. After graduating with a degree in Criminology, he enlisted full time in the Canadian Armed Forces and was assigned to the Military Police. His specialized training in high-risk situations, both long- and close-range, marine rescue, and armed ship boarding made him a strong candidate for the RCMP Emergency Response Team.
Even after his acceptance into the world-renowned special operations force JTF2, Côté has continued to expand his repertoire of skills, including high-speed tactical driving on both land and water, hazardous materials management, and hostage rescue. When under stress, he exhibits self-discipline and adaptive thinking. His friendly and intuitive leadership style makes him one of the more flexible team members. Along with French and English, Côté speaks fluent Pashto and is currently enrolled in Kanien’kéha (Mohawk) studies for personal interest.
He grew up in close-knit family, the middle of three. I gather the entire family is very physically active and Côté says most of his activities are centred around the outdoors. That said, he was happy to share his fascination with mechanical puzzles. It’s an intricate maze of metal pieces that fit together and the challenge is to reassemble them. Côté told me that his uncle taught him how to make them and he’s been doing it ever since. The one he showed me was not only designed by him, but Côté machined the pieces as well. Being able to design and craft this type of complex structure demonstrates Côté’s analytical mind and artistry. I just wish that he hadn’t left it with me. It’s proving embarrassingly difficult for me to solve.
— Dr. Harishva “Harry” Pandey, Director of Rainbow
Best Weapon Loadout
- Primary Weapon: C8-SFW (ASSAULT RIFLE), CAMRS (MARKSMAN RIFLE)
- Secondary Weapon: MK1 9MM (Handgun)
- Secondary Gadgets: HARD BREACH CHARGE, STUN GRENADE
- Unique ability: SKELETON KEY
Buck has two options for his primary weapon: the C8-SFW Assualt Rifle and the CAMRS DMR (that Brava also shares now). The C8 Rifle is a really strong weapon in our eyes, because of it’s high damage and moderately rapid fire rate. To put into context, the Assault Rifle can take away 40 HP with a single bullet in an operator’s body within 25m. Pairing it with the Extended Barrel attachment can increase this damage further to 46, making it a fierce option.
However, the gun has quite some recoil, but nothing a seasoned player can’t manage. So, we using the flash hider or Compensator attachment paired with the 1.5x scope for this weapon. If you want a more controlled aim and are adjusted with 1x sights, then you can equip it as well.
On the other hand, the CAMRS DMR can also be a viable option. The weapon can deal 69 damage with a single shot to the body, so you can most likely 2-shot (killing with only 2 bullets) an enemy using it. The DMR has the option for 3x scope and all other magnified scopes below it, but we will suggest using the 1.5x or 2x for easier handling. The C8 will allow you to take gunfights more flexibly, from short, medium, and even longer distance gunfights. However, with the DMR, you can hold longer angles more easily, and landing those 2/3 shots can quickly get you a kill.
So which gun should you pick? We will heavily lean towards the C8-SFW AR as Buck is played as a vertical soft breacher. So holding angles vertically, and shifting away quickly can be difficult with a zoomed DMR.
For his secondary weapon, Buck’s only option is the MK1 9MM pistol.
Secondary Gadget
Buck’s two choices for the secondary gadget are the hard Breach Charge and Stun Grenade. Now, the choice is entirely upon your preference and the game plan for that round. We will argue that picking the Hard Breach Charge will be more beneficial as it allows Buck to open the hatches while playing vertically. So check what your teammates are picking and adjust accordingly.
Unique Ability
Buck’s primary gadget is called the Skeleton Key. This is an under-barrel attachment to his gun that allows Buck to switch to shotgun pellets. Using this Skeleton Key, Buck can destroy soft walls, create lines of sight on floors, and ceilings, and at the same time it serves as a secondary weapon for close-quarter combat. However, do note that the shotgun has a greater damage dropoff than the other primary shotguns in the game.
Buck can instantly switch to this primary gadget by pressing the designated gadget button. The Skeleton Key is semi-automatic and can contain 36 shotgun shells, so you will have to use them wisely.
Like Sledge, Buck’s primary role in a team is to make soft breaches. In most maps, defenders heavily fortify the bombsites, and it can be really difficult to attack horizontally. So, a soft breacher like Buck can be crucial in pushing the defenders from strong positions. Defenders will most likely get caught in the open or panic while Buck is creating new lines of sight above their heads, leading to an important kill for the attackers. And unlike Sledge, Buck can also open up ceilings from below. You can get the most out of Buck when there are a lot of soft surfaces around strong defender positions.
Buck is also useful in creating quick rotations to hunt down the roamers. Whether it be quick hatch drops or pushing a roamer with your teammate, Buck can be used to quickly utilize your game plan while in the heat of the moment. And as we said earlier, if you bring the secondary Hard Breach charge, you can even open up hatches if it is not electrified and help in opening more lines of sight.
Tips and Tricks
- Destroy the soft floors from a floor above to reduce chances of dying from a Nitro Cell (for example, destroying the Kitchen floor from Logistics in Clubhouse.
- Create lines of sight with the shotgun and destroy Wall-Denial gadgets like Kaid or Bandit to help in hard-breaching.
- Peek through your vertical holes after you’ve created multiple lines of sight from above.
How to counter Buck?
While Buck doesn’t have a direct counter, as his gadget is a shotgun attachment, you can still try to eliminate him in different ways. The most handy tool to counter Buck from destroying the floor above is to C4 him from below. To do this, you will have to listen to sound cues properly to guess his location or use Pulse or Valk cams to help get the kill.
On the other hand, when Buck is destroying the soft surfaces, there is a chance he will not be watching the flanks or have a teammate covering his back. So, this might be a great opportunity to flank the attackers.
Should you pick Buck?
Buck remains as one of the two primary Soft-breachers in the game (the other one being Sledge). Picking a soft breacher is almost mandatory in most maps and bombsites, so we will highly recommend this operator.
However, Buck’s full potential can be maximized in the hands of an experienced player. With better map knowledge, you can identify the common anchor spots of the defenders, and use the Skeleton Key to create multiple vertical angles and flush them out with the gun or a Stun grenade.
