So first of all I want to talk to the people who follow my guides (steam subscribers & people from reddit or twitter), about this piece in particular. So, back on March and May I released those long operator guides, for Kapkan and Mira respectively. After that I've released these 2 non-operator guides and now I am making 2 new operator guides in the works (Hibana & probably Maestro after that). So, if you miss the operator guides, worry not; they are coming. If you don't wanna miss them or you'd like to see work-in-progress screenshots or whatever stupid things I post follow my twitter @GooGuides.
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As it is established, I want to thank my Patreon supporters:

• Michal Grochowski
  
• Bumi665
  
• Manuel Ferrandiz

For keeping up the monetary support for the project. At this point to be totally honest is not even about the "pay" part of it but the idea of them really getting behind the effort I put making the content that keeps the project going. Shout out to them.

And finally, I wanna shout out every reader on Steam! My last guide reached a 5 stars rating from almost 650 votes, which is just fantastic! It's the best any of my guides have done on the Steam platform and I wanna thank you, anonymous steam-guide browser, for giving my stuff the coveted green thumb.

This guide is pretty straightforward and simple; for players who have the standard edition of the game (which comes with all non-DLC operators) and are wondering what’s a good DLC operator to work their renown towards (in terms of viability, flexibility, fun playstyle, and beginner friendly-ness); I’m giving you a list with detailed info on who to buy next.

The list isn’t totally perfect because once you get past the essential operators to have, a lot of personal preference goes into the choices; so feel free to read it through, if you’re a new player, on each operator’s section and make your mind up on what you wanna buy next. The list will definitely help you avoid really awful purchase decisions that you’d regret though.

Now, this guide is NOT a tier list. You’ve probably noticed by the first paragraph that this takes into account other factors that don’t go directly with how strong the operator is in the current season/patch/meta. You’re not gonna tell a level 20 beginner to start saving up 25,000 renown so he can rush-buy Lion or whatever instead of a more pick-able, all around-er like Lesion.

This guide will permanently be updated with any future changes to operators and also the introduction of new operators to the roster; so favorite it if you’re just starting off and you’re planning to purchase them with renown because their places on the list are subject to change. Favoriting a guide saves it on your “guides” page so you can find it without saving the link or anything like that.

The suggested purchase order is just the order of appearance in the list (and index); I’m not numbering them because 1) New ops will be introduced and 2) As I said it’s not a rock-solid strict order to follow to like have it numbered. Check out the following section for details on the way I rated them on the list:
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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MiAuUjw5IFX4k5xe1BYuERaiKQUVo8ZXK_y1fLRilqg/edit?usp=sharing
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To keep it short and easy to digest, I’m putting all operators through a simple rating system; this will not rank them against each other; but rank their most relevant characteristics:

• Power. (How strong the operator is in the current meta & overall)
  
• Flexibility. (This is the operators ability to be picked into any map and team line-up)
  
• Overall Skill. (Skill & Practice required from the player to be useful to their team with the operator)
  
• Weapon Skill. (Skill & Practice required to get the most out of their weapons)
  
• Gadget Skill. (Skill & Practice required to get the most out of their gadget)
  
• Mainability. (Is it a good idea to “main” the operator? Is it worth it? Is it rewarding?)

A couple of concepts that are coming up and I just want to define in case some of you aren’t familiar:

Skill Floor: The skill floor is basically how easy or hard it is to pick up the operator and play it at any decent or helpful way. Operators with low skill floors are easy to learn.

Skill Ceiling: The skill ceiling is how easy or hard it is to get the maximum possible effect from a particular operator. Operators with high skill ceilings are hard to master, but very rewarding when so.

You can use the index on the right to quickly see through the whole list.

Remember this order is just recommended; I made the list so it alternates between attack and defense so you can build your roster in a balanced way, but if you don't mind or you're like "Maining" an operator in one of the sides, you can skip to whatever side you want to have more options on.

I'd say the first 4 or 5 (maybe even 6) are rock solid operators in the purchase order, and after that you can move operators that interest you up a bit or down if you don't care about what they do. I won't cry if you wanna have the tenth and twelve spot swapped, just don't buy like the eighth spot second; etc.

Each operator has both the rating and some explanation to them, but if you don't want to sift through too much words, at the start of each one you'll find a short summary in blue letters that'll do good enough.

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Mira is my suggestion for the first purchase; she is a 3 armor anchor defender that has relatively straight forward logic to her gadget. The placement of mirrors can be learned by just watching other people play if you don’t want to get into the specifics of it. She has a good gun at short and medium range, and she has a Nitro Cell.

She is for the most part beginner friendly, as after placing those mirrors, even if you get killed, you’re helping your team without being around (which is a really important feature for operators I recommend to beginners). She can hurt her team though, especially the anchoring aspect of defense if one of her windows is badly placed or opened at the wrong moment, favoring attackers.

If you’re purchasing Mira and you’re starting out and want to learn a lot of cool stuff to her, I have a guide I wrote about pretty much everything regarding her role and playstyle. You can find it by clicking here. https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1342047352

• Power: 3 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 3 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Low to Medium Floor, Low to Medium Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium Floor, Low Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Low Floor, Medium to Medium-High Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 4 out of 5.

Notes: Mira is overall a strong operator, and gives a huge advantage to her team when played correctly, but she can’t be insta-picked in all maps and sites to the same effect. You “can” main Mira, but you aren’t getting a massive reward by doing so, other than getting better at using her Black Mirrors; as her guns and potential is a bit flat, mainly because of the fact that she is an anchor operator.

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After having a solid defender available in the form of Mira, you’re fit to own a proper DLC attacking operator. Hibana is a 3 speed, hard breacher with two strong guns (both primary and secondary); which makes her a killing machine that also gives a huge hand to her team and herself, by being able to breach open reinforced walls and also 3 reinforced hatches instead of the max of 2 that Thermite is able to.

Her only downside is that she is not that beginner friendly; and getting killed hurts your team quite a lot.

• Power: 4 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 5 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Medium to High Floor, Medium to High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Low to Medium Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 5 out of 5.

Notes: Hibana is a very “main-able” operator, as she’s very powerful and only gets stronger the more you know how to play her, both in using her gadget and her 3 speed combined with your guns. Not exactly a beginner friendly - low skill floor operator; but definitely too useful and strong of an operator to not be your first DLC attacker purchased. The worst thing I can see happening is someone else asking you to change off Hibana because they may be more experienced players and they wanna play the round as her; but you should still have her available.

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Next we have Lesion, one of the most flexible defenders, if not the most flexible. He can be picked into basically any line-up and map, and be played as both an anchor and a roamer (or a lurker if you use that term as well). His Gu Mines are very simple to use and very intuitive in their placement and also in their combination with gameplay (using them as enemy-detectors to play around and flank your enemies).

If you are familiar to Kapkan’s playstyle as a non-DLC operator, Lesion is the logical side-grade, as you have a bit of less impact traps, but a more forgiving way of placing them and more quantity as well.

• Power: 4 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 5 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Low Floor, Medium to High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium Floor, Medium Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Low Floor, Medium Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 5 out of 5.

Notes: Lesion has a couple tech-y tricks here and there like the rappel windowsill Gu trick but for the most part he’s a straight forward, not that easy nor hard to learn, and not that easy nor hard to master. Totally mainable.

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I put Blackbeard next to the list because I personally use him very frequently, not because I depend on the shield or the super high damage DMR, but because he is, apart from Monty (though I wouldn’t exactly compare them), the only slow and safe attacker; as long as you don’t get ran-out on or flanked, you can contest your angles patiently like an anchoring defender would; which makes him the perfect pick for those rounds where you feel like enemies are constantly catching you off-guard, or whenever you’re not in your A game, sorta say.

The rifle shield gives you the safety you’d otherwise only have with distance, and you can effectively play Blackbeard as you would a sniper role on any other shooter. Taking your time and being very line focused.

• Power: 5 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 5 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Low Floor, Low to Low-Medium Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium Floor, Medium Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Very Low Floor, Low Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 5 out of 5.

Notes: Blackbeard is pretty much only guns, he is a very selfish operator and his only role really is to kill people and to stay alive. For this reason, he is pretty much independent of maps and sites; which makes him very flexible and so, “mainable”. However, the fact that he brings nothing to the table but his gun makes it so sometimes you wish you had someone with a more team-oriented gadget instead of him. If your team doesn’t have like a hard breacher or a good defuser planting operator, picking Blackbeard may not be the ideal play. Other than that, he’s pretty much never a “wrong” pick. I also recommend the purchase because his playstyle and benefit (of the rifle shield) does not come up in any other attacker in the game; unlike say, Zofia is different Ash. An argument could be made before Glaz had his highlight sight added, but now the argument can be made that they have different purposes in the team. The 5/5 power rating assumes you're using an ACOG SR-25 and you know what you're doing.

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After the Ela nerfs, Vigil has cemented his place as the go-to roam-heavy defender, at least as far as DLC operators are concerned. He is pretty much only guns and 3 speed combined with impact grenades, his gadget is very second nature to anybody who plays him a couple times; and there’s not much direct impact of it on the game in general. Both his K1A and the SMG12 are competitive guns and all you have to do is go about and kill people as you would with any other straight forward roamer.

• Power: 5 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 5 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Low to Medium Floor, Medium Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium Floor, Medium to High Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Low Floor, Low Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 4 out of 5.

Notes: The reason I’ve not rated Vigil a 5 out of 5 in power is really because a lot of the power in roaming defenders come with playing with flanks and being unexpected, instead of just raw gun power (which is what Ela was before nerfs, and it is what say, Ash is right now, with her R4C and her slim hitbox). I’ve not given him a 5 out of 5 in mainabilty either because even though you definitely can just pick Vigil whenever you want and not have people complain, he’s not extremely rewarding to main (like some other operator, with more gadget skill ceiling, would be), in other words, you don't get much better at Vigil by playing him a lot.

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Zofia is next on the list. She’s just overall a good operator, she has a good gun, a gadget that can be huge help to her team sometimes (for example opening floors to force a Mira window open) that can only otherwise be done with Ash (and to a lesser extent Buck). Zofia’s Stun Shots are also the longest range disable available in the attacking team, allowing you to delay people and “check” corners with their detonation from any distance you want, so even though you can get really consitent at fragging with them shooting them about liberally isn’t the worst thing ever unless you’re really hindering your team with the concussions.

• Power: 5 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 5 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Low to Medium Floor, Medium to High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium Floor, Medium to High Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Low Floor, Medium Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 5 out of 5.

Notes: Ash, Hibana & Zofia the overall strongest and most consistent attackers that you can pick to attack any site. After them you get into the more gadget-specific attackers.

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Other than being an anchor with an outstanding ability to hold rooms, Echo is one of the two DLC defenders with an ACOG, the other being Maestro. Now, obviously you don't get Echo for his guns, but purchasing him will give you that extra ACOG on defense. The reason he's up here in the list and Maestro is down there is because, overall, Yokai drones are better to have before Evil Eyes; since they cloak and you can move them on the fly, unlike Evil Eyes that have more specific uses like discouraging smoke pushes and being a rotating bulletproof camera.

• Power: 3 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 3 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Medium-High to High Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium Floor, Medium Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: High Floor, Very High Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 3 out of 5.

Notes: Echo’s Yokai, much like Valkyrie cams, has an insane skill ceiling; it can be a crazy, mobile, cloaked camera used to give your team constant calls and stunning enemies to coordinate flanks; and then later in the round used to deny that plant. However, you are very dependent on your team to get the most out of this feature, and also, you’re very dependent on what map and site you’re playing. Plus, you need to be aware of the attacking team’s movements to know when to forfeit positions and move the Yokai to a new placement. None of it is even the tiniest bit intuitive. You need to be rock solid as a Siege player in general, and then go Echo and say to yourself “ok let’s give this or that a try” to get the feel for him.

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Now that he's been nerfed, I can recommend playing Lion without worrying he will get wrecked in a future patch, as it seems he's in a good spot now. He has a good gun, and the best global gadget in the game. When used correctly, being able to have your whole team push while enemies are forced to stand still or get spotted is incredibly useful; and he's also very effective at making enemies waste time by standing still on tight moments such as after a defuser has been planted. He only gets stronger by having a coordinated team, also because he doesn't have ways to breach himself.

• Power: 4 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 4 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Medium to High Floor, High to Very High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Medium to High Floor, High to Very High Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 4 out 5.

Notes: His gadget has a bit of a skill floor meaning you'll need to learn when to use it and not waste opportunities, but once you get good at it, it can literally guarantee you kills especially enemies that you've droned and that now you're forcing to stay put.

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Even though Valkyrie isn’t beginner friendly at all, similar to Mira, she brings a potentially powerful tool to her team that I believe most players should have her available as a pick even if they have yet to perfect her playstyle. Getting to own her from relatively early on will get you interested in learning the way she’s played from early on as well, which will help you deal with really good Valkyrie players that will start popping up as you climb ranks.

• Power: 3 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 4 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Medium to High Floor, Very High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium to High Floor, Medium Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Medium to High Floor, Very High Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 4 out of 5.

Notes: Similar to Mira, I’ve only rated them 3 in the power scale, that doesn’t mean they are weak, but that they have limitations in firefights in the form of low damage guns with relatively kicking recoils. If you face an Ash she will roll your face, but if you’re playing with cameras, doing run outs, killing with your Nitro Cell through the floor and so on, you won’t be facing these limitations as frequently; much like how Mira can compensate her gun’s limitations by using the mirror to pre-fire enemies in real time.

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Buck is down here in the list mainly because of how hard it is to get used to his guns and to get the most out of them. He also requires more-than-average map knowledge and awareness to not get picked by roamers. And also, he benefits greatly by players who drone and cook frags really well as well; which are two skills that aren’t particularly first in the list of things-to-learn as a beginners. Or well, they are definitely below getting used to aiming, and learning the maps and flow of the game. He’s definitely a staple operator of high level play. I’d say it is the skilled, purist Zofia. For the man who says “Recoil? I can handle recoil.” and “Concussions? Gimme those frags boi”.

• Power: 5 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 5 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: High Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: High Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Medium to Low Floor, Medium to High Ceiling
  
• Mainability: 5 out of 5.

Notes: Buck’s “mainability” is definitely up there, considering how rewarding it is to learn and practice his recoil, the vertical angles, and the cooked frags; you’ll get used to him pretty easy if you play him constantly, and you’ll start seeing his strengths more clearly when you get pass the initial high skill floor/barrier. Plus, he's one of the few operators where his gadget is not a crutch sorta say, but something that increases his difficulty and potential even further; for this reason I'll accept if you want to buy him later on and get something like Jackal or Dokkaebi first, but it is what it is.

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At this point in the list we're way past the key purchases, so we get into the more specific operators that you don't default to but you actually pick for a specific purpose or when you feel like "yeah I'm going Alibi this round". She's pretty good, and she's not that dependent on her gadget in the sense that if you're not using the holos correctly you're still a 3 speed roamer and be sorta fine. If you do use them correctly then you'll be more effective at flanking, at creating weird environments for attackers, and in general you'll have fun wallbanging people on the marks.

• Power: 4 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 4 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Medium to High Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium to High Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: High Floor, High to Very High Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 4 out of 5.

Notes: Alibi falls into a similar category as Vigil or Ela in that they are full-purpose roamers, they work best roaming and their gadgets are best used in conjunction with roaming the map. Alibi's use of holograms is more map and site dependent than the ERC-7 or Grzmot mines, but due to the fact that she has such a high skill ceiling and learning potential I didn't let it affect her "Mainability" stat that much.

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Dokkaebi is also on the mid-low end of the list, for many reasons. One of them being the fact that this list is intended to any random player who may play casual and solo queue in ranked, without particularly cooperative or coordinated teams; the fact that she has no breaching charges, and only having 2 logic bombs that are only impactful on specific ocassions makes her a bit of a gamble-y pick for that sort of player. People say Lion “outclasses” her gadget completely, but they serve slighly different uses. Also, Lion is way above in this list because of how solid his 50 round gun is, compared to Dokkaebi’s DMR and the SMG12. Sometimes a Lion scan is better because it launches itself really fast and it takes effect freezing everyone immediately; sometimes a Dokkaebi call is stronger because it not only freezes people but also puts away their guns, the weakness being the enemies decide when to take the negative effect (turning the phone off).

• Power: 3 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 4 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Medium to Medium-High Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium Floor, Medium Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Medium Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 3 out of 5.

Notes: If you’re looking to get good at Dokkaebi, learn how to handle close quarters and how to be extremely aware with your surroundings with droning so that you may get better at using logic bombs to create chaos and disruption, and give positions away, instead of just giving defenders a short term obstacle. Also always always hack cameras if you have the opportunity, dead attackers are rarely useful to the ones left alive because of how drones get hunted by defenders, however, cameras, especially non-static cameras (like Black Eyes) are HUGE for your dead allies to just spot enemies on and call stuff out.

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Evil Eyes (Maestro's Gadget) have a lot of features to them, they are bulletproof, they highlight in white, they see through smoke, they break gadgets, they can damage/kill injured enemies on an infinite range, your dead allies can use them in clutch scenarios, etc. Plus, having two of them allows you to create particular setups supported by landscaping and have full coverage of areas just with 2 cameras. In summary, they are very hard to play properly, and they are very complex. Maestro is a high floor/high ceiling operator and his effectiveness is very much tied to your level of practice and thought behind setups and ability to put strategies in practice during the round. In terms of picking him; he has a similar process as Dokkaebi VS Lion; Echo is his more flexible, pickable version, but Maestro has more impactful potential outside of Echo's niche use (which is just stopping plants).

• Power: 5 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 4 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: High Floor, High Ceiling to Very High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium to High Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: High Floor, High to Very High Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 4 out of 5.

Notes: As of Para Bellum, Maestro's LMG has demonstrated to be a WMD and until that is addressed he's sitting at a 5/5 Power even as a 1 Speed.

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Jackal is generally regarded as the go-to anti roamer; but in reality he pretty much consists of kick-ass guns and being able to know when an entry is safe (seeing no footsteps is as useful as seeing them). Jackal is overall a strong operator even if you don’t use your gadget at all, he can breach a hatch with his shotgun and also carry smoke grenades, and he hits hard. His main weakness is that his gadget even though it can be useful, other operators, even if they have lesser guns, may have more impactful gadgets (Dokkaebi for example).

• Power: 4 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 5 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Low to Medium Floor, Medium to Medium-High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium Floor, Medium to High Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Low Floor, Medium to High Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 4 out of 5.

Notes: Jackal is not a 5 out of 5 in power or mainability not because of his own fault, but because of some other more viable potential alternative of operators to invest your time on. His guns are strong, some would even they are argue better than Buck’s, but he has no frags; and he’s no Ash or Hibana who combine the strong guns with their 3 speed. Jackal is not a bad operator, not really a “situational” one either; but you only honestly pick him when you go “Let’s go Jackal I guess”, or when you feel like you need some strong guns and the other alternatives are already taken. He has landed himself in the middle of the pile, even though he’s better than the average middle-of-the-pile operator. That’s just life.

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Ela has fallen way down in this list not only because she was nerfed, but because the meta has shifted to be very much against hard, gun-only, rambo roamers; like Ela. Now, she’s not unusable, in fact, she still has a lot of that raw rage in the form of her Skorpion EVO even after the nerf, mainly because it has a larger than average magazine and a crazy high firerate for a 3 speed roamer; combined with the fact that Ela knows when someone comes around the corner thanks to get Grzmot mine gadget, you still are an operator to watch out for. Vigil has replaced her as of lately because of consistency, and the need of people for impact nades while roaming, but she’s not out of the picture. Things like her lowered damage and wild recoil increased her skill floor drastically, forcing people to learn how to manage the recoil and force them to go for headshots; one would say she’s the Buck of the defender’s side.

• Power: 4 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 5 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Medium-High to High Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: High Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Low to Medium-Low Floor, Medium-Low Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 3 out of 5.

Notes: The mere situation regarding Vigil currently is enough to bring the idea of maining Ela way down, but, as I said, she still has a place. Playing her to her fullest potential is definitely not like other operators (with the exception maybe of Ash) in the sense that to truly put her to good use you have to play, peek, rotate, and play mindgames extremely fast; which takes as a given that you can headshot on flick. Remember when Elas would just play as recklessly as possible and would just stomp games before nerf? Well, that’s the intended way of playing her currently to get the full effect of picking her on your team.

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Finka is similar to Jackal in the sense that you don't pick her with a plan in mind. She has arguably the best "passive" global support ability in the game (maybe only outclassed by Rook's plates); and when boosted she is not a bad fighter at all, with increased ADS speed, reduced recoil and an extra health buffer to take body shots. Even if she buffs the whole team, she's very independent, much like Jackal. I dare say she can be a 5/5 in the Power category in the right hands, for example when she boosts herself and has the LMG equipped, and the player can aim, she can be quite scary. Plus, her sustain is off the charts, and it's a bit sad how this is so overlooked but as Finka you can step in so many traps before you're really at a disadvantage. Sure, stepping on Gu gets rid of your surge but you're still at 100 health instead of 85. Look at it this way, if you're full health and buffed, so 120 health, you step in a Kapkan trap, that deals 51 (because you're 2 armor), which puts you at 69 health instead of 49, which you can then buff with your second surge back to 89. There is no other operator in the game that can step in a Kapkan trap and be at 90 health for the next gunfight, that level of sustain is unmatched (in the attack side at least).

• Power: 4 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 3 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Medium to High Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium Floor, Medium Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Low to Medium Floor, Low to Medium Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 3 out of 5.

Notes: A big problem with Finka is the fact that getting an Adrenal Surge timing right can be really tricky, mainly because of the fact that Smoke’s Gas Canisters do so much damage to you and your team when you apply the surge; and you can very much ruin your team by surging them at the wrong time. Also, the potential upsides to the surge, such as being able to purge off a Yokai stun or Ela mine, reducing the negative effects of a team flash, and picking up injured allies are all incredibly situational and specific to get right every single game, if you don't get used to her then the rest of the time you’re stuck with an icky feeling gun and not much more.

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She is 3 speed, sure, she has impacts, sure; but her ability relies on enemies just not paying any attention to their team calls, not droning properly, and also them being split one from the other. Unless you’re “attempting a play” to clip it, you’re better off going for a Vigil, Jager, as hard roamers, or even Ela. When Cav pulls it off, it pays off, but is it really worth the pick? That’s up to you, but be honest and don’t put your team at a disadvantage on the off chance you may catch one of their rushers really out of position. I actually like Caveira a lot and there's a ton to her but it's definitely not an operator I'd recommend to someone who's just building their roster still. She's not just "a silent roamer" but there are some inintuitive features to her that give her an unexpectedly high skill ceiling, such as the ability to soundwhre while moving, and the 2 shot bodyshot injure pistol when you're under the 4 meter mark that are really really good if you're experienced and very very patient. Being silent does not make her more dangerous. Guns make you dangerous in this game and she has subpar weapons when compared to other roamers. A good Caveira player knows when to pick her and when to not pick her; and a bad Caveira player is probably the least helpful kind of player to have on your team.

• Power: 3 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 4 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Medium-High Floor, Medium-High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium Floor, Medium Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Medium to High Floor, High to Very High Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 3 out of 5.

Notes: Unlike other roamers like Vigil, Caveira’s gadget’s effectivity is the exception in matches, not the rule; that alone makes it so it’s not expected for her to really “work” every time she’s picked. On top of that, Cav promotes a lot of not particularly good practices for beginners, like getting unnecesserally close to the people she’s flanking (to engage in pistol range and to follow up with the interrogation), and also disregarding your team’s most important rooms outside of the objective that a roamer should be keeping clear; while Cav is constantly on the move not really working towards that.

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A very overlooked operator that lands herself near the bottom of the list just because of how unreliable her gadget is. During Operation Chimera, when all LMGs had their damage drastically increased, Ying's primary also recieved a recoil decrease, which puts her in actually a VERY decent place gun-wise. You should give her a try, if you played Ying on release and were dissapointed at her gun, you'll like her know, trust me. As far as her specific use goes, as I said, it's very unreliable; it's certainly more reliable than regular flashbangs, but since there's no feedback to flashing an enemy (for example Zofia has an "enemy stunned" notification, while Candelas get nothing). So, her best feature is her gun at this point; and that really isn't enough of a reason to go purchase her early. Candelas are not useless, but sometimes throwing them and then going into a room is a legit gamble for your life.

• Power: 4 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 3 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Medium to High Floor, Low to Medium Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Medium to High Floor, Medium to High Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Medium to High Floor, Medium Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 3 out of 5.

Notes: I think Ying is less than a buff away from being pickable and maybe even mainable, she really just needs that certainty enemies are flashed so she can navigate rooms with the advantage she's supposed to have considering her design.

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A bit of a shame Frost is so low in the list, but honestly she has got the be the operator to get outclassed the hardest in Siege. The addition of Lesion, and Kapkan buffs, and also just overall stronger possible picks for the defense side leaves you wondering when would you even say to yourself “yeah this is a Frost round right here”. She’s not completely garbage, her gun hits hard even if with it’s low firerate, and it feels good to use; and sometimes a welcome mat can ruin an entry for operators who have a very hard time taking them out on-vault (like, they vault and shoot them at the same time); for example shield operators, or like Glaz, which his super low rate of fire on the rifle; you may get them. But in general, not having any added features will leave you feeling your pick was a bit of a throw. If you manage to get 1 trap injure and kill that person before they get revived, then I think Frost was worth picking, but people don't always step on the traps.

• Power: 3 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 3 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: Low Floor, Low to Medium Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: Low Floor, Low to Medium Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Low Floor, Low to Low-Medium Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 2 out of 5.

Notes: There’s one huge upside to Frost though funnily enough, and that is the fact that she is, by far, the easiest DLC operator to learn and “master”. Next to Blackbeard, Frost has the most straight forward gadget, she has really manageable recoil on her primary, and has a bullerproof camera if you wish to play around it's intel along your traps, or in a way that you can play without relying on them. If you’re really struggling with Rainbow 6 overall, and you tend to default to the more mechanically simple operators, like Rook; where almost nothing can go wrong, then Frost may even be a good idea as one of your earlier operator purchases.

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All the way down here we got Capitao. “But hey! Cap’s a 3 speed, how the hell is he so low on the list?”. Well, Capitao has two very sub-par weapons, with unwarranted high recoils; no way to breach a wall, no frags (rip), and his gadget, the crossbow; even if it’s kinda cool and useful, it requires you to put your body out of cover and essentially peek a guy with that wooden trash in your hands instead of your ACOG equipped gun, plus, incendiary darts are very inconsistent as well. So, basically, the ideal way to use the crossbow properly is either just focusing on using your Smoke darts to like, plant the defuser, and use the fire darts at whatever; because to really get a kill or even any proper effect from the fire dart you need to position yourself specifically for that, which is hard to DO WITH NO waY TO BREAcH ANYTHINg.

• Power: 3 out of 5.
  
• Flexibility: 2 out of 5.
  
• Overall Skill: High Floor, Medium to High Ceiling.
  
• Weapon Skill: High Floor, Medium Ceiling.
  
• Gadget Skill: Medium to High Floor, High Ceiling.
  
• Mainability: 1 out of 5.

Notes: When you pull off a Capitao play, like actually blocking areas for defenders with fire darts and all that, it is definitely rewarding, but even then you’ll be feeling like you picked to play the round of “Hard mode Siege”. Also, Capitao is the worst possible operator to purchase as a beginner; he can take no advantage of the game’s destruction mechanics; he needs a cooperative ally to manage properly attacking a defended site; he has horrible recoil on his guns, and he can very easily hurt his teams and himself, with either a badly placed smoke preventing your allies from fighting when they are supposed to; and even worse, you can kill yourself and your teammates with a fire bolt that got stuck in the wall you were taking cover on. Be advised.

Alright so for those who didn't really understand what I meant in the intro, this recommended purchase order is for players who have literally just recently bought the game and are buying operators one by one, as they learn to play the game at the same time. This implies a lot of things, for example, Finka being so low in the list, the thought process being the player will only really understand where the passive adrenal surge advantage makes a difference with some experience; same goes for Dokkaebi, who "should be higher" in Para Bellum.

• If you're the sort of player who really focuses on learning an operator for their gun and not really their gadget, you should purchase Ying earlier, perhaps swapping her with Buck. Ying's gun is relatively consistent and straight forward once you get used to it.
  
  
• If you have gotten really good at map awareness, droning, and you have a squad you play with, purchase Finka earlier. Finka pretty much only shines in fighting at range and at sustain, but giving this ability to your squad will passively increase the chances of you winning rounds.
  
  
• If you're a methodical player that tends to win matches by waiting for the perfect moment to push, and it works for you, purchase Dokkaebi earlier. Dokkaebi is an extremely useful attacker, but you have to take your time and think through what you're doing to not get caught out.
  
  
• If you purchased Echo and you've gotten really good at it (or climbed ranks) and feel confident with your learning progress in Siege, purchase Maestro earlier than Alibi. You'll adjust faster and you'll have more time to practice him and get closer to his skill ceiling. I'd say you could even purchase him before Valkyrie.
  
  
• If you've gotten the first 5-6 operators and you still feel iffy and unsafe when playing, maybe not as confident with your learning progress, purchase Echo later. He requires a lot of key decision making that maybe you still haven't developed and you'd be much more useful and safe by sticking to a non-observation tool operator, with your gun at hand; such as Frost.

Hey, thanks for checking this one out! It's not exactly a guide but one of those is right in the works to be released next! I've been re-structuring all the publishing related quirks, add that to midterms season and work has been slow in terms of writing for the guide project.

So, I've been busy with Patreon specifically because I'm now making exclusive Google-Docs versions of all guides for Patreon supporters. Google Docs versions are much prettier, they load faster, and they are mobile friendly. If you guys remember my previous Kapkan operator guide, I have two versions for it, one Steam version and one Google Docs version[docs.google.com]. See the difference for yourself clicking those links!

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