There is a simple version of this and a complete version, and both are below in that order.

Short answer

Do the simple thing first. It is correct more often than the complicated thing people recommend instead.

  • Note the exception cases — they are specific rather than vague.
  • Try the straightforward approach before the elaborate one.
  • Give a method one honest attempt before deciding it does not work.

Siege rewards knowing the building more than knowing the gun, which is why map knowledge outranks aim here. Testing this yourself takes a few minutes and settles it definitively. Most of the disagreement online comes from people describing different versions of Rainbow Six Siege.

What to do instead

Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. The accepted community answer is broadly right and wrong in a specific way that matters here. The mechanic behind it is simpler than the discussion around it suggests. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration.

It is worth separating what the game does from what players have concluded it does. Edge cases are genuinely rare, which is why the simple answer is usually the correct one. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later.

The practical answer

Nothing here depends on a setting you are unlikely to have. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice. Rainbow Six Siege is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look.

  • Revisit after a major patch if the behaviour changes.
  • Check which version any conflicting advice was written for.
  • Check the version you are actually running before assuming anything is broken.
  • Do not build a routine around an edge case.
  • Test it yourself where testing is cheap.

Worth knowing alongside this

Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it. Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on.

Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of.

Why it works this way

Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first.

It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different. The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional.

When the usual advice fails

There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work.

Where people go wrong

  • Rushing the last step, which is usually the one with the actual requirement in it.
  • Changing five things at once and then not knowing which one helped.
  • Downloading a helper tool for something the game already does in its own menu.

Siege FAQ

How long does this take?

Minutes if it goes cleanly, an evening if you hit the edge case in the caveats list. Neither is unusual.

What is the short answer?

It is the paragraph near the top. Everything after it exists for the cases where that paragraph does not quite fit.

What if none of this works for me?

Then something in your setup differs from the assumption — version, region or platform. Check those three before anything else.

Does this change between platforms?

The behaviour does not. Where menu paths or prompts differ, that is noted above.

That is the whole of it — if something here stops matching Rainbow Six Siege, the game changed, not the method.