Best Guns in Rainbow Six Siege (And Some of the Worst)

For the most part, choosing the ‘best’ – or indeed the ‘worst’ – weapons in any first-person shooter is a mostly subjective argument. It’s a true thing – ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ – and that certainly applies to online shooters. However, sometimes, the argument can come down to cold, hard numbers – statistics that just cannot be debated one way or another. In this guide, we’re taking a look at the best guns in Rainbow Six Siege – both subjectively and by the numbers.

If you’re new to Rainbow Six Siege, you may not know the best guns for each Operator in the game. There are plenty to choose from, and not knowing what the worst guns in Rainbow Six Siege are could leave you out in the cold when it comes to winning your gunfights. For the most part, the Rainbow Six Siege guns in real life – the counterparts – are quite accurately replicated in the game, but what does that mean when it comes to figuring out which of them are the most effective in a fight?

Best Guns in Rainbow Six Siege

There’s no particular order to this – and it can be tough to categorise these weapons at all. From time to time (on a mostly regular basis), Ubisoft updates Rainbow Six Siege, and when that happens, weapons are balanced, buffed, or nerfed across the board, meaning that the ‘meta’ can change overnight. There may be changes to Operators, gadgets, maps, modes, and everything in between, but let’s work with the concept that these weapons are a universal constant.

MP5

The MP5 is a staple sub-machine gun in the world of first-person shooters, and it’s quite a capable weapon in Rainbow Six Siege. It’s wielded by the likes of Doc, Melusi, and Rook, and it combines a high rate of fire with a low recoil base that means shots will hit their target – and they’ll hit fast. It’s an agile weapon that lends itself well to fast pacing, which many of the best Rainbow Six Siege players prefer.

ALDA 5.56

As this is a mostly ‘close-quarters’ game, it seems bizarre that a light-machine gun would make the list of the best Rainbow Six Siege guns, but here we are. It’s available exclusively with Maestro, and it offers players a scalding fast rate of fire combined with easy-to-control recoil and a large ammo capacity from the get-go. It can clear a room, building, or map with ease, cutting down the opposition.

Read More: The Complete Guide to Rainbow Six Siege 1v1 Tactics

M590AE1

As it’s available for many of the starting Operators in Rainbow Six Siege, the M590AE1 shotgun quickly becomes a fan-favourite because of the fact that almost everyone will use it. It’s a very capable pump-action shotgun that can devastate cover and enemies alike, and it’s wielded by Mute, Warden, Sledge, Thatcher, and Smoke. It’s easily one of the best guns in Rainbow Six Siege because of its versatility and stopping power.

F2

As another staple weapon in the first-person shooter arena, the F2 – otherwise known as the FAMAS – is an instantly-recognisable powerhouse of a weapon that has long been favoured in many games, including Call of Duty. In Rainbow Six Siege, the F2 is a preferable weapon, offering manageable recoil and great stopping power combined with a decent-sized magazine. It’s also remarkably agile considering its size.

Worst Guns in Rainbow Six Siege

For many players, the worst guns in Rainbow Six Siege will be uncovered almost instantly. There’s just something off about a bad weapon, and one negative experience can spoil the use of that weapon for everyone involved, period. When word of mouth travels around, that weapon’s reputation is forever tarnished, leaving it in the dust and abandoned.

AR33

There’s a general consensus online that suggests the AR33 is – on a universal scale – one of the worst guns in Rainbow Six Siege. It has a bizarrely low-capacity magazine, it recoils wildly when fired on a sustained basis, and it doesn’t hit hard at any range, really. We saw one testimony online from an avid user that admitted they’d used this weapon just once in 700 hours of play, which is a fair representation of how bad this weapon is.

Read More: How to Unlock Operators in Rainbow Six Siege

Five-Seven (5.7)

In other games, the Five-Seven is one of the most powerful, stable weapons available. It’s a unique handgun that fires extremely precise and typically armour-piercing ammunition, and in games like Escape From Tarkov, it’s a go-to sidearm of choice. In Rainbow Six Siege, though, it’s a terrible secondary weapon that’s strangely quite underpowered, and even a sizeable magazine does nothing to alleviate its weakness.

SMG12

This is another weapon that might have a strong foundation in other first-person shooter games, but the SMG12 is one of the worst guns in Rainbow Six Siege. It’s small and fast, which can be considered a plus, but it also features dramatically over-exaggerated recoil that makes it near-impossible to keep the weapon on target, particularly in a fight driven by reflexes and powered by surprise.

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