Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak: release date, operators, maps, gameplay, zombies - everything we know

Rainbow Six Siege might be one of the best multiplayer shooters of the past few years, but its PvE experience has been lacking, especially when compared to previous Rainbow Six games. Ubisoft hoped to change this with Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak, a co-op event that launched alongside Operation Chimera and ran for four weeks.

Official information on Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak had been arriving piecemeal since the event’s announcement in late 2017, but after months of digging through ARG files and Ubisoft blog posts the event was unveiled in full a few weeks before release. Lion and Finka are new operators joining Team Rainbow as they attempt to contain a mysterious outbreak of the undead variety. They come from the French GIGN and Russian Spetsnaz respectively, and together they form the new and entirely fictional CBRN CTU, which specialises in handling biohazard threats. But they’re not to only noteworthy additions. Here is everything we know about Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak.

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Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak operators

For Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak the two aforementioned new operators are joined by Smoke, Ying, Buck, Kapkan, Ash, Doc, Tachanka, Glaz, and Recruit. You will hear from Thermite and Jäger will also crop up from time to time over your radio, but they will not be playable.

Operator gadgets work exactly as they do in the main game: Smoke’s toxic babes are great for locking down corridors, Ying’s Candelas blind infected, and Kapkan’s EDDs are perfect for covering flanks. Oddly, smoke grenades appear to confuse and disorient enemies, buying valuable seconds to reload or get far away from the threat. If you are one of the dedicated few Tachanka mains then you will be thrilled to hear he is among the best Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak operators – his turret is essential when your team is on the back foot.

As for Lion and Finka? Finka is by far the most useful of the two new Outbreak operators. Her ability can revive fallen teammates with a simple key press, but will also provide the whole squad with a temporary health and aim buff. Her Spear .308 assault rifle is brilliant as well, with decent damage, very low recoil, and a solid rate of fire. Lion, on the other hand, can call in a drone scan of the level that reveals all moving enemies with red realtime outline that the whole team can track for a few seconds. It is reasonably helpful for tackling waves of enemies, but it offers you no real help for then eliminating them. Check out the full loadouts for these new Rainbow Six Siege operators.

As you can only bring a squad of three into each Rainbow Six Siege outbreak mission, you should ensure you have all the bases covered: healer, area of effect, and fragger. We recommend bringing Buck, Finka, and Smoke.

Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak trailer

After all the codes secreted away in levels and teaser images, Ubisoft released a Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak trailer. Sadly, there is no gameplay to be found, but we do get an atmospheric glimpse at the origins of the infection: a Soviet space capsule that has crash landed in New Mexico releasing its lethal cargo upon the town of Truth or Consequences.

Another Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak trailer shows a team of SWAT members being torn apart by the infected enemies, before offering us a glimpse at Ash, who can be heard calling in some help from Team Rainbow. There is no new information in the trailer, but it does offer us a look at Ash’s Elite skin. You can watch it above.

Finally, the latest Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak trailer gives us a better look at the infection itself and also showcases Ash, Thermite, and Lord Tachanka discussing the mission. Check it out below.

Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak maps

There are three coop maps in Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak: Resort, Hospital, and Junkyard. These maps are only playable in Outbreak, so do not expect to find them in multiplayer any time soon. Here is a breakdown of what each Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak map offers in terms of objectives and threats:

Resort

The first part of Resort sees your squad battling through a hotel complex in an effort to destroy a nursery that is being developed by the parasites. The first part of this mission requires you to locate three weak points in the gaudy hotel the parasites have made their home, plant explosives on them, and protect those explosive while the fuse runs down. For the next part, you will have to save Jäger, who has crashed his helicopter near a car dealership. The mission crescendos with last-ditch defensive scenario inside the dealership where you will have hold down a number of angles from waves of Grunts, as well as some of Outbreak’s toughest foes like Rooters and Smashers.

Hospital

Think of this map as one elaborate escort mission. Your goal is simple: locate and extract a VIP from inside the hospital. Smoke is an essential operator here as his SMG-11 sidearm and easy to deploy toxic babes makes him the perfect candidate for escorting the target. The hospital is made up of lots of narrow corridors that interconnect, so expect combat here to be up close and personal. Tachanka is a very useful operator on this map as his turret is peerless when taking on enemies in funelled paths, but you need the support of your teammates when it comes to changing mags or killing the occasional stray that attacks from behind.

Junkyard

This map is arguably the most defence-heavy map in Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak, so consider your operator picks carefully. To start with your squad will have to battle through a trailer park in search of some special Thermite charges – you can get through this area rather effectively with silenced weapons and headshots. Next up is a house that you will have to clear, then defend as those Thermite charges burn their way into the houses basement. You will face a Smasher here, which is particularly tough to beat thanks to the confined conditions.

Next, you will find yourself in the titular junkyard and needing to activate a crane before you can move on. The crane will take a couple of minutes to do its thing, during which time you will have to outlast an onslaught of infected enemies. You can shoot them down from the chain link fences to buy yourself some time, but eventually they will scale the walls and you will have to keep moving and shooting in order to survive. A Rooter will spawn here and cause you even more problems, so be sure to kill it as soon as possible.

Finally, you will arrive at ground zero for the infection. You have to place three charges around the building, but only one needs to detonate in order for you to complete the mission, so focus your reinforcements around the charge you plan to defend.

Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak zombies

The enemies of Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak are no standard zombies. There are five types of foe in Outbreak, and they appear to have spawned from a parasitic infection that was brought to Truth or Consequences by a crashed Soviet satellite. The infection reinforces the bones of its host and takes over their body, turning them into brutal killing machines that can take a lot of damage and deal plenty out as well.

Here are the five Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak enemy types:

Grunts

As the name suggests, Grunts are the most common enemy type in Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak. They become much tougher when they detect an enemy, sprouting extra armour that makes it more resistant to bullets. Want to take Grunts down with ease? Use stealth.

Breachers

Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak’s Breachers are highly agile proximity bombs. They can destroy indestructible walls and launch themselves from great distances – avoid these monsters at all costs.

Rooters

You will not encounter too many Rooters during Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak, but that is probably for the best as these are some of the trickiest monsters to defeat. Rooters send waves of coral spikes at you from range that deal damage and temporarily immobilise operators caught in their wake. On top of this, Rooters almost never stand still, making them very difficult to kill, and when you have nearly killed one they get even more dangerous.

Smashers

In the case of Smashers, the parasite reinforces its body with a thick hide that can shrug of small arms fire with ease. Like Breachers, Smashers can also tear down walls, but will not incur any damage for doing so.

Apex

Apex is the toughest form of the Rainbow Six Siege Outbreak infection. It sets waves of other infected at your team rather than attack you on its own. They can also lob blinding projectiles that can only be countered by Finka and Doc. Taking down an Apex is a proper test of your squad’s skill and coordination.