Rainbow Six Siege – Comprehensive Lesion Guide

This guide will be a comprehensive guide about Lesion, how to effectively use him to his max. potential and how to be a god with him.

Introduction

Note: Credit goes to Julian

Lesion is currently, in my opinion, one of the strongest defenders out there in Siege. He is certainly almost too overpowered some might argue, but arguably one of the best. His addition to the Siege roster has drastically been a nightmare for attackers with his Gu mines due to what they can do to impede attackers, which will be discussed in a further section. 

Lesion is a 2 speed, 2 armor operator. This means he can fulfill 2 roles in terms of defense. Lesion can be played as an anchor or as a lurker. This potential for him to be able to fulfill 2 roles makes him extremely useful and deadly as both roles have different functionalities to assist the team. In base, Lesion is a entry denial operator. This is due to the Gu mines’ ability to impede movement and cause damage to the struck operator. 

There are honestly so many pros to playing Lesion that there aren’t too many cons, but certainly one con is if Lesion is caught out of position. A Lesion caught out of position by the enemy team can almost be a blessing for them as they do not have to worry about additional Gu mines (Unless if they were already there before Lesion K’Oed). Other than that, Lesion is really about map knowledge and knowing what to do at the right moments.

Weapons and Loadout

Now, let’s get into the loadout for Lesion. Lesion has 2 primary guns at his disposal, the SIX12 SD shotgun and the T-5 SMG. There is not much debate for these 2 weapons so I will quickly go through them. 

SIXSD Shotgun

The SIXSD shotgun is a variant to Ying’s SIX12 shotgun, Lesion’s version being equipped with a silencer. Now, for new players, this might seem like a godly shotgun as it deals good damage and is already silenced without a damage penalty, but it really isn’t. The shotgun, first of all, is a CQB only primary, and this limits Lesion to only fighting close quarters without any chance in a medium range fight. This thus limits his role to being only an anchor as a lurker should also be able to take medium range gunfights to help the team. 

It has a base damage of 35, with a magazine capacity of 6. The rate of fire is also not impressive per se and thus can really inhibit Lesion’s role in the team. I barely use this gun as I feel that there isn’t a whole load of practical use into it and having to get close to your enemies puts you in more danger than you need to be in. As Lesion you should aim to stay alive for as long as possible to help your team gather info using your Gu mines and also deny a last minute push. 

If I were to use the shotgun, I would not put any attachments on it. Hipfiring with the shotgun is almost always a must and a laser just increases the chances the attackers will know your location due to them seeing the dot. 

T-5 SMG

The T-5 SMG, one of the deadliest weapons in R6 Siege. This is due to its capability of CQB and medium range fighting. There is a reason why Lesion is so feared as an operator and one of the reasons is really this gun. The T-5 SMG has a base damage of 28, low for a primary, with a damage dropoff to 19 at 28+m.

The fire rate, however, makes up for the low damage. It has a fire rate of 900 RPM and very easy to control recoil, making Lesion a fearsome operator with this gun. I use this gun almost 99.9% of the time as this gun has immense amounts of versatility in CQB and medium range. 

Now, attachments. Sights are really up to personal preference. Whatever sight you use, just keep in mind that you are comfortable using it and that you feel the sight reticle does not inhibit your vision while ADS’ing (Aiming Down Sights). I, personally, run the holographic due to previous experimentation and testing of the different sights and I felt the most comfortable with the holographic. But feel free to test and experiment with other sights to your liking. 

Now for the muzzle attachment. There are immense amounts of debate within the community about the holy trinity of muzzle attachments. The flash hider, the muzzle brake, and the compensator. I always run the compensator because the compensator reduces horizontal recoil, which means I can focus entirely on just controlling the vertical recoil. 

Secondary Gadgets

As Lesion, you can choose between the deployable shield and impact grenades. I primarily use impact grenades for numerous reasons. Impact nades can be used both offensively and defensively. It can be used to secure the kill, open rotate holes on site and also be used to create an escape route for you if you were to be cornered. The shield on the other hand, is only really useful for blocking a door way and laying a Gu mine behind it so enemies have a harder time getting out, but for the most part, impact nades are the better choice. 

What Roles Does Lesion Play?

In a defending team, there are roamers and anchors and certain sub-categories. Lesion can do both, albeit a different type of roamer. I will outline the two playstyles of Lesion and summarise how the playstyles can help the defense. 

Anchor

As the name suggests, an anchor would be someone who plays the objective. They are defenders who sit and watch the site to prevent the enemy team from taking the objective too easily. Through this playstyle, Lesion serves as an entry denier. By denying entry, you would delay the attacking team from making their push into the objective and start picking them off as time works against them and they start to rush because of the time constraints. 

Ideally, you will also serve as backup to your roamers with your Gu. Your Gu mines can cover their flanks and allow them to roam without worry. 

Lurker

A Lurker is a type of roamer who does not sit on site but also does not run off far away from the site. A Lurker is someone who holds an important room that can give the advantage to the attacking team which leads to the objective. A Lurker would cut off the attacker’s and disrupt their push. When need be, the Lurker can then quickly rotate back to site to provide support if need be. Your Gu mines are extremely useful here to provide you information as to where the attackers are and potentially getting you kills as well. 

You should ideally have good map knowledge so you can predict where enemies might push from and position your Gu mines to maximum effect. Getting kills will then become easier as you know where the enemies are pushing from coupled with the information that the Gu mines give you.

Gu Mines

Lesion’s trademark, his Gu mines. Fun as long as you’re not getting pricked by it. Lesion’s Gu mines are the other reason why he is considered overpowered. However, keep this in mind always when playing Lesion, his Gu mines are used to get intel, not to kill. I will go over what his Gu mines can do. 

• Lesion receives a total of 8 Gu mines throughout the round. 
  
• His Gu mines will replenish by one every 30 seconds. 
  
• Lesion’s Gu mines will automatically cloak when thrown and primed. 
  
• The Gu mines have an trigger radius of 1 m and will trigger if attackers enters this radius. 
  
• The Gu mines will deal 10 damage to the attacker when first activated and will then deal 8 damage in 2 second intervals until the attacker is downed or pulls the needle out. 
  
• When removing the needle, attackers are vulnerable. 
  
• The Gu mines slow the attackers down if not pulled out, disabling their ability to sprint. 
  
• Gu mines cause a greenish tint to appear on the attacker’s screen, thus reducing their vision. 
  
• When under the effects of the Gu mine, the attackers are not able to drop the defuser or plant it. 
  
• As Lesion, you are able to track all your Gu mines as they show up as little Gu icons on your screen. The icon will disappear when the Gu is triggered or destroyed.

This is the reason why Lesion is one of the most banned operator in ranked, due to how much his Gu mines can disrupt the attackers and delay their push significantly. However, there are counters to his Gu mines. 

• Lesion’s Gu mines can be destroyed with explosives and gunfire. 
  
• When droning, it is possible to spot the Gu mine through its faint silhouette. 
  
• Thatcher and Twitch can disable the Gu mines, provided that they hit it. 
  
• IQ can use her Electronics detector to find Gu mines and destroy them

Operator Synergies

This section will cover some operator synergies with Lesion. Any trap operator with synergise well with Lesion. 

• Kapkan and Lesion can be quite a combo as the Gu mines will prevent them from being able to run away to safety. The additional 10 damage done by the Gu is also a good bonus to the EDD damage. 
  
• Frost’s Welcome Mats can also work well as the Frost mat can instantly down them and the Gu can activate to kill if the downed attacker is in proximity. 
  
• Ela’s Grzmot mines can stack along with Lesion’s Gu mines, causing the attacker to be both disoriented and poisoned.

Tips and Tricks with Lesion

This section will outline some tips and tricks to improve your potency with Lesion and be of a greater impact for your team. (Most of these honestly applies to ranked only because no one is bother to call out in casual).

• Try to use all your Gu mines, they are super handy and can really assist the team. 
  
• Try to memorise where you put your Gu mines, doing this will help you give call outs for your team and for you to be able to capitalise on it as well. This is why map knowledge is also important. 
  
• When a Gu mine is triggered, give it a second or so then punish as they are more likely to be pulling out the Gu, leaving them vulnerable. 
  
• Nearing the end, flanks can be done if the situation allows it as most of your Gu mines will be placed or used up, the attackers will not expect a flank sometimes. 
  
• Use ALL of your Gu mines, PLEASE DON’T KEEP THEM. 
  
• Gu mines on stairs can really screw with the attackers as they can’t use the stairs as cover.

• Put your Gu mine a little behind the door that you want covered. This is to minimise the chance of the attackers seeing it.

• You can bounce Gu mines off walls, but don’t expect it to always bounce that far back.
  
• Always start with placing Gu mines away from site first (e.g doors that lead to the outside or windows), they can give you initial intel as to where the attackers are coming from. 
  
• Gu mines on objective doors or connecting rooms can be the second priority after the above point.

Using this map for Border of bomb on the second floor, this would be how the Gu mine placements may look like:

In the end Rainbow is a game that is really heavily centered on game sense and map knowledge. With these two things, you can be a powerhouse with any operator.