While Rainbow Six Extraction does push you to play in squads of three, there is the option to play solo. However, playing solo is more difficult, even though the enemies are calibrated for solo play.
This does make leveling up both your overall Progression and your Operators more difficult, but there are some quick and easy ways to quickly increase XP.
Read on for some quick leveling up tips. This guide will be geared more for newcomers to the series and players who prefer to play solo.
1. Always play on lowest difficulty and safely extract for an Extraction Bonus
The number one thing to remember is to always extract safely from a zone, regardless of if you’ve completed the Objectives. This will be much easier if you play on the lowest difficulty. As long as you gained some experience during an incursion, you will receive an Extraction Bonus multiplier to your XP. Currently, it’s a 90 percent modifier, nearly doubling your gained experience!
For example, if you safely extract with 500 XP gained, the extraction bonus will net you another 450, totaling 950 points. If you complete the first Objective, your 1,000 XP will net you 1,900 points.
Sometimes, being cautious and extracting is the better tactical decision, particularly early in the game and with lower level Operators.
2. Get kills and use tactics to increase your XP
As one would expect, killing enemies nets you XP, tiered to the strength of the opponent. After you kill an opponent, you will see a red skull icon appear to indicate the kill, followed by the name of the enemy and a number indicating how many experience points that kill gained. However, how you kill Archæans is also important.
Whenever possible, kill enemies from stealth (crouch). This nets you extra XP per kill. Further, if you are able to takedown an Archæan with a sneak melee attack, you will gain even more XP. Using REACT Tech and Operator abilities will also help with the points boost; killing enemies scanned by the Recon Drone nets more points as long as they still have the red outline around them. If you hit a weak spot, that will also net you points. Lastly, always get headshots whenever possible. These net you the most extra points.
These are known as tactical kills. You will see a purple icon appear with what tactic was counted (stealth, takedown) and a number to indicate how many points you gained. Don’t be surprised if after extracting, you find that you gained more XP from tactics than from kills alone.
A quick note: Nests should be taken out with takedowns as it will take several bullets to destroy them. Shooting them will also alert nearby Archæans and possibly agitate any nearby Nests – they tend to be grouped together. Nests might be the quickest source of XP farming – granted you’re able to stealthily take them out each time. Check the kill and tactical experience you gain from a stealth destruction of a Nest and you’ll see just how beneficial they can be to your leveling up. Don’t forget to check the ceilings!
3. Only attempt Objectives that you are confident in accomplishing
At the beginning of every incursion, you are given three Objectives, one for each subzone (check out the Objectives guide). The XP for completing them are 1,000, 1,500, and 2,000. However, the second and third subzones are much more difficult than the first subzone with far more Archæans to battle, including high-tiered Archæans. Only proceed to the second and third subzones if you have utmost confidence you can make it through solo.
Some Objectives will be easier to complete than others. In particular, Nest Tracking only needs you to plant trackers into three random Nests, which should be an easy way to gain 1,000 points. Others to target in the first zone include Decontamination, Specimen, Hunt, and Biopsy. While the latter three can be difficult, a little bit of planning will help you accomplish these solo.
Remember, you don’t have to do any Objectives. You can extract at any time in the first zone from the same place you started. Sometimes, it’s best to use hit-and-run tactics to quickly net some experience and the retreat until your Operators have leveled up, unlocking more of their loadout.
4. Complete Studies for big XP boosts
For each map, you will be tasked with a series of Studies to better understand the alien threat. The studies will differ between maps. They will also range in difficulty from something simple as pinging unalerted Nests and Archæans to more difficult ones such as killing three Bloaters or Breachers with takedowns.
Some other easy ones include merely killing a set number of Archæans, getting a set number of headshots, and getting kills with a silencer (which are automatically equipped). Studies are the biggest XP netter, so make sure to complete them when you see them.
When you click on a map, under Quick Play you’ll see Studies. This will be where all of your challenges are located. Once you complete them, return here to read what the study unlocked. You can also check the status of your challenges during an incursion by hitting Options (PlayStation) or Start (Xbox). You must complete all three in a set to unlock the next set of challenges.
Completing Studies also unlocks Codex entries in addition to giving you a lot of XP. Certain studies may also come with other goodies, like skins or attire.
For trophy and achievement hunters, there are two that are associated with Studies. You pop It’s All Connected for reading each region’s final Study Description, which requires all Studies to be completed in each region. You pop Major Flex for safely extracting after completing all Studies.
5. Grind XP for Operators to Level 5 by using the same methods
While your overall level will increase regardless what Operator you use (if you extract safely), Operators will only gain XP when used and safely extracted. This means you could be at level seven (Milestone 7) and have maybe one or two Operators above level one. That’s fine! Go to the Progression tab to see what goodies you’ll unlock at each level – usually including a REACT Token to unlock more REACT Tech!
So, what you need to do then is grind XP with each Operator. It’s recommended to get every Operator to at least level five, unlocking half of their loadout upgrades and importantly, unlocking each Operator’s perk, before attempting higher difficulties and even different regions. Unlocking more guns for their loadouts is always nice if only so you can switch out that shotgun for something with more range and accuracy, but probably less power. Advancing all Operators to level five in this way also means you’ll likely clear New York and finish its Studies; hooray!
The other reason to grind with each Operator is so you can develop a style for each Operator and their unique abilities. For example, it’s not recommended to use the same frontal assault tactics you might use with SLEDGE for DOC as the former’s ability is melee-focused while the latter’s is support-focused as a healer.
Once they’re all at level five – and by this time you should have unlocked all Operators at overall level 17 (Milestone 17) – you should be ready to take on the deeper subzones on higher difficulty, coupled with your training in leveling up all of your Operators. Just remember that the higher the difficulty, the more likely you’ll be to face high-tiered enemies as well as mutations taking hold.
These tips should help solo and beginner players quickly level up with the least amount of stress and frustration. Remember that the most important thing is to always safely extract from a zone. Without that, any experience gained is moot!