There is a short answer to what Number is, and a longer one about why it matters — both are here.

Short answer

Number is a fixed part of Rainbow Six Siege that most players meet once and remember, whether or not they understood it at the time.

  • Check which version of Rainbow Six Siege any discussion of it is describing.
  • Expect its role to have shifted at least once across updates.
  • If a menu path does not exist for you, your build is older or newer than the one described.

Siege rewards knowing the building more than knowing the gun, which is why map knowledge outranks aim here. If you only remember one thing about it, remember where it appears. Community shorthand around it has drifted far enough from the original meaning to cause arguments.

Whether it is worth going out of your way for

Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. It rewards understanding rather than grinding, which is unusual for Rainbow Six Siege. The in-game description is technically accurate and practically useless. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later.

It is more consequential in the late game than the early one, which is why first impressions mislead. It is the kind of thing veterans forget they ever had to learn. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why.

How it connects to the rest of Rainbow Six Siege

The game introduces it quickly and assumes you picked it up, which is where the confusion starts. It appears in supplementary material in more detail than it does in the game itself. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first.

  • Note where it first appears, so you can go back if you need to.
  • Do not confuse it with the similarly named thing — that mix-up drives most bad advice.
  • Check the version you are actually running before assuming anything is broken.
  • Ask what it is for before asking how to get it.
  • It rewards attention rather than preparation.

What it is often confused with

The wiki entry is thorough and buries the actually useful part six paragraphs down. It shows up in more places than its introduction suggests, once you know to look. The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. Its role has changed across updates, so older discussion describes something slightly different.

Early impressions of it are usually wrong in the same specific way. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you. It became noticeably more relevant after a change the patch notes barely mentioned.

Why people keep asking about it

Its practical value is narrow and real, rather than broad and theoretical. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it. Two similarly named things exist, and mixing them up explains a lot of contradictory advice.

Knowing this does not make you better at Rainbow Six Siege, but it does make the rest of it legible. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. There is a persistent myth attached to it that has never been true in any version.

What it changes in practice

Whether it is worth going out of your way for depends entirely on how you are playing. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work. Most guides mention it in passing and none of them stop to define it.

Where people go wrong

  • Rushing the last step, which is usually the one with the actual requirement in it.
  • Skipping the prerequisite because it looked optional in someone else's summary.
  • Ignoring the platform-specific note and then wondering why the steps do not line up.
  • Grinding a method that was patched months ago because a thread still ranks well.

Siege FAQ

Can I miss it?

Where it is missable, that is noted above. Most players meet it without going looking for it.

Why do people disagree about it?

Usually because they are describing different versions, and occasionally because a similarly named thing exists alongside it.

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.

Is this still accurate after the latest Rainbow Six Siege update?

The method is; individual numbers may not be. If a value on your screen differs, trust the screen and keep the sequence.

Come back to the caveats list if it does not work first time — the answer is almost always in there.