Are Rainbow Six Siege operators free? Only for extreme grinders

You can grind out every Rainbow Six Siege operator for free, as long as you do your mission for 3,528 days straight.

Now in the fourth season of its fifth year, Rainbow Six Siege is one of the longest-standing tactical shooter video games. Siege’s original cast of 20 operators has ballooned into 62 different operators each with their own set of equipment.

While the base roster is guaranteed to all players, the 42 and counting DLC characters are not free to play. Players can unlock Rainbow Six Siege operators by purchasing them with real money or grinding Renown, an in-game currency.

The amount of operators you actually have free access to depends on which version of Rainbow Six Siege you buy. If you purchase the base game for $20 on Steam, you only get access to the base roster of 20. The $30 deluxe edition includes operators from the first two years of DLC.

Siege mixes slow, strategic map control with destructible environments and a low time-to-kill. Each operator comes with different guns, gadgets, and tools to complete the multiplayer objective. Each version of the game has access to the same multiplayer modes, cosmetics, and crossplay.

The cheapest way to get access to all operators in Rainbow Six Siege is to buy the Operator Edition. This version comes with the base game with every character unlocked from the very start. Rainbow Six Siege Operator Edition costs $70 on the Steam Store, which is the same price as many current-gen AAA console titles.

How to unlock Siege operators for free

If you didn’t shell out a ton of money when you first bought the game, there’s still a way to get new DLC Siege characters for free.

Renown is Rainbow Six Siege’s “freemium” currency. By completing weekly tasks and ranked matches, players can earn small amounts of Renown as they play. Renown can be exchanged for a bunch of different rewards including weapon skins and playable operators. Another method of acquiring Siege Renown is to complete challenges in the seasonal battle pass. 

With 42 DLC characters to unlock, it would take almost 10 years worth of daily missions to unlock every operator for free.

The recently-added operator shown above costs 25,000 Renown to unlock. By completing daily missions, Rainbow Six Siege players can earn up to 300 Renown. Saving up for a new Siege operator with daily missions will take 84 days. For reference, Alpha packs cost 5,000 renown each. 

In addition to Renown, Rainbow Six Siege has another currency called Credits that can be purchased from Ubisoft with real money. Credits can unlock the same things as Renown, but at much lower rates. 1,200 credits, enough for two operators, are available for $10 through the Ubisoft store.