Rainbow Six Siege rank guide: R6 levels, divisions & how to climb

If you’ve ever wondered about the ranks in Rainbow Six Siege, then we’re here to help. Ubisoft’s popular competitive tactical FPS has been a dominant force in the esports scene for nearly 10 years. Ranked play is among the most exciting to watch and some of the hardest experiences thanks to the focus on deliberate movement, precise firefights, destructible environments, and a laundry list of Operators to choose from. 

Our Expanse guide covers much more than all ranks in Rainbow Six Siege. We’ll also outline what each division means, how they are calculated, the differences in the previous MMR-based system and the newer Skill and Rank system, as well as how to improve at the game. 

There’s a lot of ground to cover with the game, but we’ve pulled together all the need-to-know information all in one place for your convenience. 

So, what are the ranks in Rainbow Six Siege? 

There are a total of eight Rainbow Six Siege ranks in the game’s competitive meta, which are Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Emerald, Diamond, and Champions. With the exception of the last rank, every other division has a five-level tier system from V to I, which is an inversion from what we traditionally see from competitive shooters, as the numbers tend to scale upwards, indicating higher-level play. 

All ranks in Siege used to be based upon a hidden MMR (matchmaking rating) because the game used the divisions and levels to gauge who you would play against in the skill-based matchmaking. 

Ubisoft announced with Ranked 2.0 that MMR would no longer define who you’ll play against when the Emerald rank was introduced. Instead, it’s said that your rank will now be determined by RP (ranked points) instead. Below, we’ve included the full R6 rank list (and their rough MMR equivalent). 

The Rainbow Six Siege ranking system changed with the introduction of Ranked 2.0, which was rolled out in December 2022. By adding the Emerald rank, Ubisoft also disincentivized the hidden MMR system, instead replacing it with metrics of Skill and Rank. 

Skill is an outright replacement for MMR, which represents your ability to win games, how effectively you play in a team, and how well your operators do against the rivals, with a rough estimation determined at the end. 

It’s a rough system of determining Rainbow Six Siege ranks because there are many variables, which Ubisoft itself has claimed can be “probabilistic.” 

By playing more games, your Skill rank will be more accurately updated based on the outcome of matches, which can be swayed by consistent (or abnormal) performance. 

Every rank in R6 demonstrates your progression up the competitive ladder, something which has remained consistent throughout the game’s launch in December 2015; only that now, there are eight divisions instead of seven. 

The player base met the changes with a mixed reaction, with some stating that the matchmaking became more unreliable and the linear progression system felt more drawn out with the five more levels of the Emerald rank. 

There have even been situations of Copper V, the lowest rank, being matched up to Champions, the best rank in Siege, which shows that the new system isn’t always perfect. With a shift away from the hidden MMR system to a more transparent one, there were bound to be moments where things were inconsistent. 

Rainbow Six Siege rank distribution follows a similar trajectory to what we’ve seen from Dota 2 ranks and Valorant ranks, in that there’s something of a pyramid shape when analyzing the user base from the lowest to the highest ranks. 

According to Rainbow Six Siege Tracker, there are over 1,566,080 players across the game’s competitive meta, giving accurate statistics of people playing in 2025. 

The average Siege rank is Bronze V, which accounts for 6.3% of the player base (which adds up to around 99,681 users), which is seconded to Bronze IV, where 6% of all players (about 94,898 gamers) play. There’s a steep (but consistent) drop curve going from the latter Bronze levels into Silver and then Gold, with averages of only about 4% into 2% (going from around 70,000 players to just 32,000 players) across the middle of the board. 

As expected, things get even slimmer with some of the best Rainbow Six Siege ranks. The range for Platinum-ranked players spans between 2.1% and 1.3%, with the newer Emerald rank’s five levels split across 1.4% and 0.8% of players. 

It shouldn’t come as a shock, then, to see Diamond be diluted even further with between 0.6% and 0.3% playing at this high level. 

Champions does not have a level or tier system, so this elite rank only accounts for 0.3% of players, with a confirmed number of 5,929 players right now. 

There’s no silver bullet solution to going up the ranks in Rainbow Six Siege. Given the legendary difficulty curve of the tactical shooter, with places an emphasis on steady, controlled close quarters combat and split-second decision making fast-paced over run-and-gun action, the path of progression is equally steady, and should be treated as a consistent journey of improvement instead of something you pick up and play as and when. 

Getting better at Rainbow Six Siege isn’t fast or easy, but our best advice is to focus on improving your fundamentals. Because you have to be Level 50 to play Ranked Siege in the first place, you’ll already have a handle on how to breach, how to control your firearms, get the most out of an Operator’s move sets and arsenal, and basic strategies for winning matches. So, this is more about smoothing out the inconsistencies of your play, learning from your mistakes, and thinking as tactically as possible instead of just being the best shot in the team. 

Pro tip: Adjusting your aim sensitivity and experimenting with how each weapon feels with different mouse DPI settings can be a big help. For some weapons, you’re going to want more of a drag with lower sensitivity if you have to be particularly precise, whereas a weapon with a longer range (or further spread) can be used with a higher mouse DPI, such as the Reaper Mk 2, SMG-11, or the SC3000K. It also means becoming more familiar with what some of the best Rainbow Six Siege operators, such as Blackbeard, Maverick, Ace, Ash, Thermite, and Brava, can do. 

Rainbow Six Siege operators are divided into two categories, Attackers and Defenders. As their namesake suggests, the former is better at going on the offensive whereas the latter is best at defending. 

A huge part of becoming a better Siege player is to understand the objectives and your role within a team. It’s not just about scoring a high K/D ratio or trying to do a team wipe. Instead, high-ranked play is about the mental side as well as the physical playing. 

You’ll earn Siege rank points for winning ranked matches, but there is also consideration made to how many players you eliminate. Remember, your Skill rating is not based on your K/D ratio, but on how many matches you have won. That means going up R6 ranked levels can be done by playing objectives, effectively communicating with your teammates, and trying to survive instead of charging in headfirst. 

As there are no restrictions on which ranks can play together, this could be harder if you’re a lower rank (such as Bronze or Silver) being matched up with Gold, for example. 

Lastly, you can ensure more consistent performance to steadily climb the Rainbow Six Siege ranks by learning the map layouts intimately. While there are 36 maps available in the game, only 10 of them are in the ranked map pool. You won’t get very far if you don’t know where the chokepoints and effective entryways are in the likes of Lair, Nighthaven Labs, Emerald Plains, Bank, Border, Chalet, and Clubhouse. That means you only need 27% of the available maps to get ahead. 

Instead of trying to do this in games, you can go through the Practice Mode (Training Grounds) to do walkarounds of each area (with any operator) at your own pace. There are even detailed YouTube guides on exactly where to go and what to look for, which you should familiarize yourself with before you jump into a ranked game. 

There is no rank decay in Rainbow Six Siege to worry about, meaning that you’ll retain your rank even if you don’t consistently play or try and move up the ladder competitively. 

With that said, Rainbow Six Siege ranks reset as each new season is introduced (which generally happens every three months or so). The visible rank resets to Copper V, and you’ll have to climb your way back up, effectively making ranks completely seasonal. 

With Ranked 2.0, they became more of a visual emblem rather than a denotion of your abilities, as Skill replaced the previously hidden MMR system for skill-based matchmaking. 

The Rainbow Six Siege ranking system is fairly complicated at first, but can be better understood now thanks to our thorough guide. Across the eight divisions (and 36 levels), they act as a rough indicator of how well you play, but are not necessarily indicative of performance. 

That’s because there are no restrictions on who can play together, as Skill now determines who you play against instead of the previously hidden MMR. It’s still worth climbing the ranking ladder in 2025, even if the reformed system with Ranked 2.0 isn’t (generally) as favorably viewed as in previous years. 

For more, we recommend checking out our Rainbow Six Siege esports content, which goes over the teams playing, the tournaments happening now, some of the best players, and more on the ever-evolving meta.