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Destructible maps turn positioning into a moving problem. Breaking a wall, floor, or hatch can create a route, a sightline, or a new exposure at the same time. The player who opens the surface may gain access but lose cover, while the opponent must decide whether to hold, rotate, trap, or abandon a position that no longer has the same geometry.
In Rainbow Six Siege, strong flanking and defense therefore begin with the same question: what does this surface connect, and who benefits when it changes? Treat every opening as a tactical trade rather than an automatic advantage.
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What destruction changes during a round
A destructible map changes more than movement. It changes the information available to both teams and alters which areas can be defended safely. Ubisoft’s early Tools of Attack guidance describes a moldable environment in which destruction helps attackers create opportunities, while the launch game guide stresses that breaching should be used carefully. Those principles remain useful even though the articles were written around the game’s early development.
Movement and route choice
An opening can connect two rooms that were previously separated. That may produce a flank, a second entry lane, or a way to rotate behind an objective. A hatch can also connect different vertical levels, allowing pressure from above or below. However, a hole is not automatically a usable doorway. Its size, height, surrounding cover, and the defender’s lines of fire determine whether crossing it is realistic.
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Sightlines and information
A small opening may be valuable even when nobody can pass through it. It can reveal a doorway, staircase, plant location, or defender’s rotation. Conversely, an opening can expose the attacker who made it or the teammate using it. The tactical change is therefore informational as well as physical: both teams must account for what can now be seen and from where.
Cover and defensive geometry
Before destruction, a defender may rely on a wall, corner, or corridor as a predictable boundary. Afterward, that boundary may contain a new angle. A formerly safe position can become visible from another room or level, forcing a retreat, a crossfire adjustment, or a new camera placement. The map has not merely gained a hole; it has gained another relationship between spaces.
Read the surface before you commit
Surface recognition is a map-knowledge skill. Ubisoft Toronto’s map-modernization discussion emphasizes that materials should communicate their destructive or tactical potential. Learn to treat visual material as a cue, then confirm what the game allows rather than assuming every wall or floor behaves the same way.
| Surface situation | What it may provide | Decision to make |
|---|---|---|
| Destructible wall or floor that can be opened for passage | A route, a flank, or a new angle | Can the crossing be covered, and where will the user be exposed? |
| Surface that can be shot through but not traversed | Information and damage angles without a new route | Is the sightline useful enough to justify revealing your position? |
| Hatch connecting levels | Vertical pressure or a rotation between floors | Is it open and usable, and who controls the landing area? |
| Barricaded or otherwise prepared boundary | Time, warning, and a defined approach for the defender | Does breaking it improve your plan more than it advertises your approach? |
The launch guide specifically distinguishes some metal-stud walls and floors that can be shot through from surfaces that can be traversed. That distinction prevents a common mistake: seeing a penetrable surface and treating it as a doorway. Check the geometry, the opening size, and the destination before spending utility or exposing an operator.
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How attackers use destruction to create flanks
Create a route with a purpose
An attacking breach should answer a positional problem. A new opening might let a second squad enter from an unexpected side, cut off a rotation, or force defenders to watch two directions. If it does not connect to a useful room, angle, or timing window, it may simply add risk while consuming resources.
- Identify the destination. Determine which room, corridor, staircase, or level the opening reaches.
- Identify the defender’s likely view. Check whether the breach exposes the attacker to an objective angle, camera, trap, or crossfire.
- Assign the covering player. Someone should hold the destination or the most dangerous return angle while the breacher works.
- Choose the timing. Open the surface when teammates can exploit the changed geometry, not several seconds before anyone can use it.
- Recheck the route. A defender may relocate, place a trap, or gain a new view after the opening appears.
Use openings for information, not only entry
A breach that cannot be crossed can still reveal movement. A narrow hole or floor opening may let an attacker watch a rotation and call it out, forcing defenders to slow down or change positions. Because the user may be visible from the other side, take the angle from cover and avoid assuming that information is free.
Apply vertical pressure through hatches
Hatches are a distinct form of flank because they connect levels. The launch guide describes surprise attacks through a floor hatch as a possible use of destruction. The route is valuable when the area above or below the objective is weakly watched, but the entry point can be predictable once defenders know the hatch is open.
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Account for the exposure created by your own breach
The player making an opening often focuses on the new route and forgets the angle facing back toward them. Before crossing, identify where a defender can stand to watch the breach, whether a teammate can clear that position, and whether the opening leaves you trapped between two lines of fire. A flank is successful only when the route can be entered, occupied, and exited safely enough to matter.
How defenders reshape the map
Build a setup, not a static bunker
Ubisoft’s Tools of Defense guidance presents barricades, traps, and surveillance as ways to shape the environment. These tools define which approaches are slow, visible, or costly. They do not make the original layout permanent. A defensive setup should be designed with the expectation that attackers can open new paths.
- Barricades: establish a boundary and delay a direct approach, while also making the defender’s preferred routes legible.
- Traps: punish predictable crossings and make newly created openings less attractive when placed with a clear trigger area.
- Surveillance: reveals when a wall, floor, or hatch has changed and helps defenders decide whether to hold or rotate.
Reassess after every meaningful opening
When an attacker breaks a surface, do not continue holding the same spot by habit. Ask whether the opening now exposes your flank, gives an attacker a view of your retreat, or creates a second entry into the objective. A camera that watched the old doorway may no longer cover the most important approach. Move the defender, adjust the crossfire, or surrender the room if the new geometry makes the position untenable.
Preserve a fallback
A defender who commits every player to the first line can be trapped when a wall or hatch changes the route. Keep at least one rotation or fallback concept in mind: a room to retreat through, a teammate who can watch the new angle, or a surveillance source that confirms when the pressure shifts. The exact setup depends on the site and current game balance, so the principle is more reliable than a fixed universal arrangement.
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The tactical loop: before, during, and after destruction
| Phase | Attacker’s question | Defender’s question |
|---|---|---|
| Before destruction | What does this surface connect, and does the opening solve a route or information problem? | Which boundary protects the setup, and what happens if that boundary disappears? |
| During the breach | Who covers the breacher and the destination? | Can the breach be watched, trapped, or used as a cue to rotate? |
| Immediately after | Is the opening actually usable, and what angle covers the crossing? | Has a formerly safe position become exposed? |
| After the first exchange | Can the team maintain pressure without funneling into the new angle? | Should the team hold, fall back, or contest the new route? |
This loop turns destruction into a repeated decision rather than a one-time action. The important reassessment is a tactical inference from the documented changes to routes, sightlines, and defensive setup; it is not a universal rule that every opening must produce an immediate rotation.
Choosing between opening a surface and preserving it
The following comparison helps when both options are available. It describes tactical trade-offs, not measured win rates or guaranteed outcomes.
| Choice | Potential benefit | Main risk | Best question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Create or use an opening | Additional route, sightline, or vertical pressure | Breacher and entrants may be exposed; defenders gain a cue about the attack | Can a teammate cover the entry and the return angle? |
| Preserve the surface | Maintains a predictable boundary and existing cover | Leaves the team with fewer routes or less information | Does keeping this boundary deny more access than it denies our own plan? |
| Shape the area defensively | Barricades, traps, and surveillance make approaches easier to monitor | The setup may become obsolete after a breach | What is the fallback when the prepared boundary is gone? |
Practical map-knowledge drills
Map knowledge is not memorizing a list of breach spots. It is learning how material, levels, and sightlines interact.
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- Walk the objective area. Identify every visible wall, floor, and hatch that connects to another playable space.
- Classify each surface. Mark whether it offers passage, only bullet penetration, or no useful interaction. Do not generalize one surface’s behavior to the whole building.
- Trace the defender’s view. From the likely holding position, note which new opening would expose the defender and which would expose the attacker.
- Trace the flank. Starting from a possible entry, follow the route to the objective and list the rooms where a defender could stop or trap it.
- Practice the reassessment call. After imagining a breach, state what changed: “new route,” “new sightline,” “lost cover,” or “vertical pressure.” Then choose hold, rotate, or contest.
The PlayStation beginner overview also frames walls and floors as multiple points of access and egress. Use that broad idea as a starting map exercise, then rely on the current game client and map-specific observation for exact geometry.
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- Command an arsenal of gadgets to secure the win: Set traps, fly drones, track footsteps, see through walls, and more
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- Join a massive online community of over 45 million players as you fight for supremacy
- An ever expanding universe of Operators, gadgets, items, and events updated all year long
Common mistakes and how to correct them
Assuming every wall or floor is destructible
Not every piece of map geometry behaves alike. Correct the mistake by testing the material and separating traversable openings from surfaces that merely allow shots.
Opening a route without covering it
A breach can become a defender’s firing point against the first attacker through it. Assign a covering player, clear the destination, and avoid entering until the team can support the crossing.
Ignoring the level connection
A hatch may create vertical pressure but also expose the entry to defenders above or below. Identify both ends of the connection before committing an operator.
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Holding a position after its cover has changed
Once a wall or floor is opened, recheck the angle on your body, your retreat, and your teammate. If the position is now visible from a second direction, relocate or change the crossfire instead of defending the old geometry.
Treating an old operator guide as current rules
The 2019 Amaru example is useful for illustrating hatch access and entry vulnerability, but operator abilities and balance can change. Confirm current behavior in the game before building a round plan around a historical interaction.
Quick Recap
What to remember in a live round
- A surface can change movement, information, cover, or all three.
- First decide whether the opening creates a traversable route, a sightline, or only a penetration opportunity.
- Attackers should pair every breach with coverage and a clear destination.
- Defenders should treat barricades, traps, and surveillance as adjustable shaping tools, not permanent walls.
- After an opening appears, reassess who can see whom and whether the old position still exists in practical terms.
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