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Rainbow Six: Extraction

Rainbow Six: Extraction - Tips and Tricks

We've come up with six handy points to help you tackle the evolving Chimera parasite.

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Now that the latest Ubisoft title, Rainbow Six: Extraction, is out in the wild, many of you are probably looking to grab a copy (perhaps through Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass) to put yourself and a couple of friends through the ringer. With this in mind, as I've been playing the game for a little while now, and I've looked back on my experience and pulled together a bunch of tips and tricks to help you understand and tackle the challenge of this cooperative, PvE shooter.

Before getting started, if you haven't already, be sure to read my thoughts on Extraction in my review here.

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Focus on levelling Operators that offer up more to your team

While Extraction doesn't have a roster of Operators of the same scale as Rainbow Six: Siege, there are still 18 characters to play as. While each Operator has its own strengths and weaknesses, there's no doubt that certain characters bring more to the table than others. When you're getting started and looking to level up some characters so you're ready for endgame activities such as Assignments and Maelstrom, it's a good idea to pick a few that have more of a team presence, and focus on them. For example, healers like Doc and Finka, or Operators with strong recon tools, such as Pulse and his HB-7 Cardiac Sensor, make handling and surviving the onslaught of Archaeans far easier than certain other characters do. We love you Sledge, but a hammer isn't the handiest of tools against aliens.

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Silenced weapons are handy, but you only need one

From the get-go, Extraction does its best to instil a mindset that stealth is the way to go when playing this game. For the most part, this is true. Remaining under the radar and keeping Archaeans unaware of your presence is a sure-fire way to complete objectives and extract safely. But, this isn't always possible. You'll make mistakes and alert nearby enemies, and likewise, certain objectives such as Serial Scan will automatically trigger Archaeans to your presence, and when that happens, you won't need a silencer on your primary weapon, so replace it with a muzzle break, and trade stealth for a boost in damage, and chew through aliens more easily. Just make sure to keep your sidearm silenced, as that way you can eliminate threats and nests quietly without needing to ever get up close and personal.

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Get creative with your equipment

As you rank up your profile, you'll get access to new gadgets, each of which has a different purpose. The options you are provided with at the start of the game (i.e. Smoke Grenades and Recon Drones) work fine and will rarely fail you, but they are far from the best of the available gadgets. Nitro Cells can quickly take out the more threatening Archaean sub-species, and Recon Vapor Devices can help uncloak any invisible enemies, so that you can easily eliminate or take them down. Likewise, while Revive Kits and Body Armour will make you less likely to become missing in action (MIA), and therefore reduce the chance that you'll fail a mission, sometimes it's better to bring an Ammo Satchel or an Explosive Harness, as the extra ammunition or gadgets these will allow you to deploy with might just save your life down the line anyway.

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There are benefits to playing solo

Extraction is meant to be played as a trio. That is absolutely clear. But, this game is still playable alone or as a duo, and sometimes, deciding to deploy solo can be to your advantage. Want to quickly level up? Run through a few objectives on the Moderate or Cautious difficulties solo, as there will be fewer enemies and dangers to manage. Got a couple of Operators that are MIA? No problem. Quickly dive into the sub-area they are located in alone, on a lower difficulty and get your Operator out without putting another character in too much danger. I wouldn't recommend you only play solo by any means, but it works and can be advantageous.

Complete Studies to earn quick experience

One of the quickest ways to earn some experience is to complete the Studies challenges. These are simply extra objectives to tackle in an incursion, which when fulfilled will reward you with a meaty lump of XP to boost your account progress, as well as some lore to fill the gaps on your quest to learn more about the Chimera parasite. Sometimes a study will push you to do something you probably don't want to, for example shoot an armoured Smasher Archaean directly in its most protected areas (all for the sake of science, so we're told), whereas other times, you may simply need to takedown a nest without alerting it. Regardless of the challenge, the extra XP is handy when unlocking new Operators, game modes, and gadgets.

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Don't feel like you need to push yourself

This might seem like a strange thing to mention, but it's perhaps the most important piece of information I can give you. Extraction has four different difficulties, which will see you facing a broader range and a greater number of Archaean archetypes, and while completing an incursion on a higher difficulty will see you rewarded with more experience to advance your profile, if this means you routinely fail to extract, then it's all for naught. Choosing a lower difficulty to ensure you complete as many objectives as possible and safely extract is always the better option, as that way you won't have Operators going MIA, and likewise, will actually see some account progression to boot. Don't get me wrong, if you can handle the Severe or Critical difficulties, do it! But, don't feel like you have to play on these.

With Rainbow Six: Extraction now available on PC, PlayStation and Xbox, hopefully these six points will help you get on your way as you take the fight to the Chimera parasite. If you haven't had a chance to play for yourself yet be sure to check out some more gameplay below, as well as our video review.

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Rainbow Six: ExtractionScore

Rainbow Six: Extraction

REVIEW. Written by Ben Lyons

Step back into the shoes of your favourite Rainbow Six Siege Operators to join REACT and fight back against an invading and constantly evolving alien life form.



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