The Best Rainbow Six Extraction Operators

In Rainbow Six Extraction, a great number of Operators from Rainbow Six Siege have been called upon to form REACT, the only team equipped to deal with the Archaean threat. But some Operators are better equipped than others. While most of the game's customizable characters come over from Siege with all of their abilities and gear intact, a few have seen minor tweaks to suit the PvE setting. Collectively, this means the meta of Extraction will prove to be different from its sibling game in the long run. Out of the gate, here are the five best Operators in Rainbow Six Extraction, according to the GameSpot team that spent many hours fighting for our lives.

Finka

Of all the healers in Extraction, Finka is the best one, and for a few reasons. Right away, her Adrenal Surge ability allows you to revive teammates instantly and without even needing to be near them. This is a crucial skill for when you're learning the ropes of each difficulty level, and it can be the determining factor between extraction and capture. If you use her surge when everyone is standing, the squad receives a temporary health boost instead. At level five, Finka can also self-revive by notching kills. Each Archean killed restores five HP and if you restore her health all the way, she gets back on her feet. Bring Finka on an Incursion when you know things will get tense.

Vigil

Vigil is the stealthiest character in the game, and like most on this list, he's available right away as one of the game's introductory nine Operators. His ERC-8 Disruptor gives him a brief moment of invisibility and silent movement, but it tends to be just long enough to sneak up on an Elite for a takedown, or you slink out of a sticky situation so you can be the one in your group left standing and giving you all a shot at a successful extraction. His skill tree eventually makes him much faster, with a shorter cooldown on his Disruptor, and even the ability to make allies go invisible too. He's well worth getting to level 10.

Lion

Lion is the best recon-centric character in Extraction thanks to his EE-One-D Drone that scans all moving Archaeans in an area. With enough usage, you'll soon increase the radius of his drone scan, reduce its cooldown, and even ping the enemies so that they stay visible even after the drone scan expires. All around, Lion is an excellent member of any team because, no matter the objective, you always benefit from knowing where the enemy is lurking. His combination of skills is quick and quiet, making him perfect for high-level play, because in Rainbow Six Extraction, quick and quiet is always your best path to success.

Ela

Ela's rechargeable GRZMOT stun mines are an excellent defensive item to have in the game's many moments where a swarm is closing in and you and your teammates' backs are up against the wall. Stunned enemies become easier to shoot in their weak spots, or even to kill using a melee takedown, and her reliability in this regards means sub-zones have a better chance of staying clear of the slowing Sprawl that would spread if the Archeaens were killed more sloppily. Upgrading Ela eventually gives her more mines that stun for longer and in a wider radius too. She packs a great punch.

IQ

IQ is the only Operator on this list who isn't available right away. Instead, you'll need to get your progression tree to level five. But she's the best of the Operators to come after such a delay, and level five means you'll still have her early on in the game. Her Red MK IV Spectre is a scanning device that can identify all tech objects (and eventually even some Archeaens) in a sub-zone. This makes some objectives, such as Triangulation and MIA Rescue, much easier. As a bonus, she is also the best Operator for locating the resource caches around each map, which saved us more times than we can count.

For more on Rainbow Six Extraction, don't miss the complete beginner's guide, as well as a breakdown of how long it takes to beat the game. You can read our full thoughts on the new PvE game in our Rainbow Six Extraction review.