Reinforcement and Barricade placements - Strategy guide
In this guide, we will learn the basics of reinforcements and barricades, where to place them, and when not do it. Each game mode has some best spots.
Reinforcements
Reinforcements are large metal coverings you can place on breachable walls. They are bulletproof and can’t be broken by normal explosives. Every defender gets two per round, but recruits receive only one.
You can deploy them by approaching a “soft” wall (walls that can be shot through and breached) and holding the interact button with at least one reinforcement still in your inventory. This cannot be done on unbreachable or semi-breachable walls (walls that are either invulnerable or have metal bars on the inside).
You can also reinforce hatches, which are small sections of a floor/ceiling that can be broken open and dropped through.
Reinforcements’ main purposes are to prevent the attackers from having access to the objective, and to create a safe space for your team to defend.
However, your team has a limited supply of reinforcements, so be mindful of where to place them. Siege’s maps are designed with this in mind, and many sites require the use of every reinforcement your team has in order to secure it properly.
Breaking a reinforced wall
The only way to make any hole in a reinforcement is using specific operators’ gadgets.
Currently, the only operators that have those gadgets are Thermite, Hibana, and Mira. Thermite and Hibana are attackers, and Mira is a defender. Due to the importance of reinforcements, and how much of an impact they can have on a round, all these operators are very useful.
Don’t worry too much about placing reinforcements if you are new to the game, there is plenty of time to learn. Follow the tips in this guide and pay close attention to where experienced teammates put theirs.
Where to place reinforcements
People will usually tell you to place the reinforcements on any wall in the objective room. Mostly, this is correct, however there are a few caveats that may necessitate using your reinforcements differently: what game mode you are playing, what room(s) you are defending, and the operators on your team.
The most important walls to reinforce are those that lead outside - this is doubly important if the wall is right next to the objective! Having an external wall blown open near the objective is a quick recipe for disaster as the attackers will be able to shoot into the area from the outside. Get those walls reinforced first.
Next comes hatches. The only thing worse than being surrounded on 4 sides is being surrounded on 5, so you need to reinforce any hatches that are directly above the objective, otherwise anyone trying to protect it will be in a very difficult situation.
Lastly, walls inside the building. Focus on walls that lead to areas that will be harder for you and your teammates to defend.
Game modes
In Rainbow Six Siege there are three game modes: Bomb, Secure Area, and Hostage. Each one requires a slightly different approach to how you reinforce them.
Bomb
There are two objectives to defend, and they are placed in different rooms close together.
Attackers only need to secure one of these objectives however (their goal is to plant a defuser to neutralize one of the bombs), so the defenders need to keep both rooms safe. To do that, you will need to move between both objectives whenever necessary.
Break open one of the walls dividing them, otherwise you might be forced to take the long way around, wasting time and exposing yourself to danger.
Don’t reinforce any walls between the two sites when playing Bomb.
Secure Area
On Secure Area, the attackers have to reach the objective room and stay inside to capture it.
With only one site to defend, it’s much more simple to reinforce. One thing to keep in mind though is that the reinforcements are only useful as long as you are on the right side.
If the attackers have cleared the objective and the defenders must quickly return to repel them, the reinforcements may work in the attackers’ favor, as they will be safe behind cover. This doesn’t happen very often, but there are some objective sites on certain maps where it can be a big issue.
Hostage
In this mode, you not only want to keep the attackers out, you also want to keep the hostage in. The attackers’ goal is to grab the hostage and escape the building with them.
In addition to Secure Area’s “reinforce the objective” mindset, you also want to reinforce any hatches near the hostage, to prevent attackers that grab him from having an easy way out.
Operators - Mira’s impact on reinforcements
Currently, Mira is the only operator on defense whose ability is both reliant on reinforcements and can make holes in them. Her special gadget is a deployable, bulletproof, one-way window that can be placed on the black side of a reinforcement.
When there is a Mira on your team, the placement of your reinforcements could either help or entirely ruin the effectiveness of her gadget. Always think carefully where you will place your reinforcements when one of your teammates is playing as her.
If you are not very familiar with her usage, or are new to the game, the best course of action would be to ask the Mira player where you should place your reinforcements. If you don’t get a response or are confused, wait for her to deploy both of her gadgets, and place your reinforcements anywhere else but next to them.
Hatches
Generally, hatches you will want to reinforce include those that lead into the objective from the floor above, and those that, if broken open, will render a piece of cover inside the objective unusable. Most other hatches can either be left alone or, in some cases, broken open.
Hatches you want to break open are those that can be used by the defending roamers either to flank the enemy or escape from being hunted, or those that provide an angle to watch one of the attackers’ entry points.
A good example can be found on the ground floor of Bank. In Skylight Stairwell, there is a hatch that, if broken, provides a good angle for watching the attackers’ entry from the tunnels that lead outside.
Where not to place your reinforcements
Not all objective sites are created equal. There are some sites that are too difficult to hold from within that require a different approach, like breaking everything open and defending the site from another room.
It happens because the site has little to no cover for the defenders, making it dangerous to stay on-site while the attackers are attempting to take control of it. The most prominent example is on the top floor of the map House, in Kid’s Bedroom.
Here’s a picture of the site, standing in the door that leads to it.
It’s a small room with no cover at all, and four different windows from which the attackers can assault the objective. This would be already sufficient to make it a bad site to defend, but in addition there is only one way into the objective for the defenders (the single doorway) - the placement is safer for the attackers than for the defenders.
This problem is only made worse by reinforcing the room, as it means there is no way to even shoot them through the walls to force them off of the site.
Ultimately, you should blow open all the walls and defend it from elsewhere.
With nowhere on site for the attackers to hide if they enter, it becomes too dangerous for them to attempt taking it, which forces them to find another way to complete the task.
Barricades
Barricades are deployable wooden planks that can be used to cover up doorways and windows. Unlike reinforcements, you have an unlimited amount of barricades.
They can be placed on a doorway or window by walking up to one and holding the interact button, just like putting a reinforcement on a wall. They can be torn down at any time by holding the interact button again on the barricade, and can also be destroyed with 3 melee hits, or by gunfire (usually takes 20 bullets to break them fully).
Where not to place barricades
Usually, it’s not necessary to place barricades. They can help to cut off temporarily certain areas and to block site lines, but if you are not careful about their placement, they can easily obstruct your own team much more than the enemy one.
The outside of the building is completely sealed off at the start of each round, with very few exceptions. There is frequently no way for the attackers to enter the building without breaking a window, door, or wall, so you don’t need to barricade anything connecting to the outside.
Roamers (defenders that aren’t holding the objective from on-site) need to have access to all necessary flank routes. If they are cut off by a barricade, they either need to tear down it (which makes a lot of noise and will reveal their location) or find another way around, neither of which is ideal.
Barricades can provide safety to the attackers if placed in the wrong spots. If they don’t need to worry about being flanked because everything is barricaded up, they can push towards the objective more effectively, with little risk of being shot by roamers from behind.
Where to place barricades
With the above points in mind, there are some places where placing barricades is actually a good idea: mostly in areas that will keep sight-lines covered up, so the defenders don’t need to worry about too many angles.
A good example can be found on the top floor of Bank. Attackers can climb to the top of a parking garage and see inside the building, all the way to one of the objectives. However, there are windows on the inside that can be barricaded to prevent that.
