Best Defenders In Rainbow Six Siege Y9S1 | 2024 Tier List

Rainbow Six Siege offers lots of operators you can buy in-game, letting you pick the one that suits your playstyle and works best in battles. But with all the game updates since launch, it can get confusing when choosing an operator, especially defenders, due to the responsibility each player holds. 

That's why we've created the ultimate Rainbow Six Siege defender tier list to help assist first-time players with understanding which operators are worth playing with, and which are F-tier flops that should ideally be avoided. Fortunately, there are more than enough great defenders within Rainbow Six Siege to go around, meaning everyone walks away happy. For now though, here's a look at the best defenders in Rainbow Six Siege right now.

Rainbow Six Siege Defenders Tier List Overview

S-Tier Rainbow Six Siege Defenders

The S-Tier defenders within Rainbow Six Siege don't bow to the enemy nor crack in times of high pressure when used accordingly. Using a defender appropriately and suited to the operator's ability is essential to success within Rainbow Six Siege. This ensures that everybody takes advantage of their equipment and does not rely on their light-arms weapons to kill the enemy.

These following defenders are best suited in most situations and are believed to have the best chances of survival and success each round:

• Mira
• Smoke
• Kapkan
• Jaeger
• Azami
• Solis

Kapkan has been a fan favorite for years within Rainbow Six Siege simply because his traps are incredibly reliable. When trapping an area correctly, your defense position becomes infinitely more secure, raising chances of success for the team.

Jaeger, similar to Kapkan, has always been there when the going gets tough, being an original operator from the Rainbow Six Siege release. Despite Jaeger's rifle being nerfed to have less ammo, his ability to destroy enemy attacking and lethal equipment remains unmatched within the Rainbow Six Siege community.

A-Tier Rainbow Six Siege Defenders

The A-Tier operators within Rainbow Six Siege are still incredibly reliable but not quite as efficient as S-Tier. These operators are heavily used and respected by many players globally, with high success rates. The A-Tier operators are primarily used for completing specific objectives or alternatives to S-Tier operators already being used.

These A-Tier operators are great to have in your account portfolio and won't disappoint in stressful situations. 

• Fenrir
• Echo
• Doc
• Frost
• Kaid
• Warden
• Valkyrie

Despite Frost's nerf in the recent Season 3 update, she remains consistent and an effective part of the operator community, being very similar to Kapkan. Her traps allow defenders to ensure security around the objective and to further fortify and delay enemies from making quick advancements and gaining the objective.

Kaid can additionally electrify reinforced walls, battling thermite from destroying these walls and facing hardship. Most players will question the use of Doc as an A-tier operator; however, he can bring comrades back into the fight in times of disaster, making him an essential part of the Rainbow Six Siege defender squad. 

B-Tier Rainbow Six Siege Defenders

B-Tier Defenders in Rainbow Six Siege are typically only used by higher-level players in relevant strategies or situations to gain the upper hand over their enemies. For Rook, his weapons and overall usage while playing aren't great. However, his ability to give Kevlar vests can be life-saving in a lot of situations despite the Rook player being disadvantaged by bad weapons and movement.

Overall, these Defenders are respected and great to have, with most players using them frequently when needed:

• Lesion
• Mute
• Wamai
• Alibi
• Aruni
• Goyo
• Rook

Goyo can be an unbelievably helpful defender in many situations; however, he can be counter-intuitive if used incorrectly. This is because his deployable shield can burst into flames, engulfing the enemy and blocking off entry into an area. However, this ability is known to cause team damage and destroy friendly equipment.

Aruni is another great defender, although her detection gate doesn't have the capabilities of Frost and Kapkan. 

C-Tier Rainbow Six Siege Defenders

C-tier defenders were once good and are now outdated because of the release of more advanced defenders over the last few years. Despite being respected back in the day, the feeling is no longer the same, and players will receive criticism for using these operators in a competitive environment. Usually, the team will pitch a reason why a C-tier defender is necessary, with most players desiring an S to B-tier defender in almost every situation.

• Mozzie
• Pulse
• Melusi
• Bandit
• Castle
• Ela

Bandit is amongst the fallen, once being a heavily praised operator before the release of others. Unfortunately, his ability takes too long to set up during rounds, and usually, Bandit equipment is easy to destroy, invalidating his usage most of the time. Although having an awesome aesthetic, Ela lacks the same advantage as other trap defenders, with her mines only concussing the enemy instead of killing or wounding them, falling inferior to her competitors. 

D-Tier Rainbow Six Siege Defenders

The D-Tier Rainbow Six Siege defenders are the bottom-of-the-barrel operators. Anyone who dares to select the following will be ridiculed by their team. Either you're trolling or don't understand the meta of the game. The D-Tier Rainbow Six Siege defenders don't bring much if any, quality or advantage to any situation.

Once upon a time, these defenders may have held a solid place in our hearts, but time has changed, and people have moved on. 

• Thorn
• Thunderbird
• Caveira
• Maestro
• Tachanka
• Clash

Tachanka has never been a great example of a defender, setting up his overt and overweight heavy-machine gun in open locations and little cover, dying relatively quickly in most rounds. Thunderbirds concept works on paper, providing a portable healing station to players that need healing or a revival.

However, Thunderbirds must either calculate an effective place to drop the equipment or run around the map to people in need. This completely disadvantages the player because either their placement can be awful or they're at risk of running around the map trying to help other players; it's simply more fuss than it's worth!