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Rainbow Six Extraction: How to grind XP fast

Jesse Lennox
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The loop of Rainbow Six Extraction is very different from the game it’s based on, Rainbow Six Siege. Instead of everything resetting between rounds, Rainbow Six Extraction has permanent progression and unlocks that allow you and your squad to take on the game’s tougher difficulty levels a bit easier. Each Operator in the game has their own individual level, with gear and skills to unlock as you get more XP, but you also have an overall level. These are both important to increase, but the game isn’t always generous with dishing out XP.

You only start with nine of the 18 Operators in Rainbow Six Extraction and have to unlock the rest via leveling up. Additionally, the Operators you do have all have individual levels that need to be raised by using them. That would be simple enough, but because you can’t always use the same Operator all the time, you will want to maximize how much XP you get while they are fit and ready for action. We’ve scanned all the intel and made a safe extraction to bring you the best ways to grind XP fast in Rainbow Six Extraction.

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Prioritize extracting

Soldiers shooting aliens in Rainbow Six Extraction.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

They didn’t put the word “extraction” in the title for nothing. Making a safe extraction from every mission should be your top priority when trying to get as much XP as you can. Even if it means you can’t complete all the objectives, ensuring you make it out alive is worth way more than potentially finishing one more task but not making it out. This is because each time you get a safe extraction in Rainbow Six Extraction, you will earn the Extraction Bonus multiplier for however much XP you managed to gather up until that point. Yes, a multiplier, not a flat bonus. It will give you an extra 90% of your ending XP, which is obviously close to doubling your final take. Even if you just do one objective and earn 1,000 XP (assuming you’re on the medium difficulty level) and extract, that will still net you 1,900 XP by extracting.

Related

The two most important parts about extracting, aside from the XP multiplier, of course, relate to your operator. We already mentioned that you earn XP for yourself and the specific Operator you’re using on that mission. However, that Operator won’t earn any XP if they don’t get extracted. The second is that failing to extract means that the Operator becomes MIA. So, not only will you need to swap to a different one and have to go on a rescue mission, but you also lose all that potential XP they could have earned.

Stealth-kill everything

Every Archaean you kill will give you a small XP reward, with stronger ones giving a bit more than the fodder enemies. However, there are plenty of bonuses you can, and should, take advantage of to make each kill worth your while. Stealth kills are the most consistent to take advantage of, but also should be part of your plan since going in guns blazing isn’t a recommended tactic when the hoards start rushing you.

Stealth kills are simple in Rainbow Six Extraction. As long as you have a gun with a silencer equipped, which you always should, then simply make sure you’re in the crouched position when you pop an alien’s head to get a sweet XP bonus. If you’re feeling extra sneaky and the opportunity presents itself, go for a stealth melee takedown. This will give you an additional XP bonus.

Other methods to earn additional XP per kill include killing scanned enemies, hitting their weak points, and getting headshots. These also apply to Nests as well, so not only will doing a melee takedown grant you more XP for killing the Nest, but you will also save plenty of very valuable ammo in the process. We’ll go more in-depth on that later.

Complete Studies

Studies are optional objectives that are unique for each of the regions in the game but are actually worth some of the highest XP payouts in Rainbow Six Extraction. You can see what the current Study objective is when selecting a map in Quick Play, and they come in sets of three. Once you complete all three, and new set of three will be generated. Once you complete all nine, the Study will be complete. Each individual objective isn’t worth much on its own, but completing the entire set is where the real payout comes. These objectives are mostly easy, like pinging a number of Nests, getting kills with your primary or secondary weapon, or even just using a command from the chat wheel.

Study objectives do get more difficult the further into them you get, or at least more specific, but thankfully you don’t have to do them all in a single run. Before each mission, check to see what the current objectives are for your Studies and attempt to check them off as you go.

Also, Studies often give you other additional rewards, like Codex entries and new cosmetic items for your Operators.

Pick the easy objectives

Each incursion you begin in Rainbow Six Extraction has a maximum of three main objectives separated by zones on the map. You have the opportunity to extract at any point, even before completing any objectives, but you also do get a preview of what each zone’s objectives will be. Not all objectives are created equal in terms of difficulty, and the second and third ones will always be more difficult than the first simply due to the fact that they will have a higher number and more dangerous Archaeans in later zones. They do give increased XP rewards — 1,000 for the first, 1,500 for the second, and 2,000 for the third on the moderate difficulty level — so pushing ahead when it makes sense is ideal.

The easy objectives you want to look out for are typically Triangulation, Nest Tracking, Biopsy, and Specimen. Triangulation can be done in pure stealth since you’re hunting down laptops to interact with. Nest Tracking is similar but does come with a higher risk of getting overrun if you get caught near a Nest. Biopsy just requires you to take down an elite enemy, which might be tricky if you don’t have any smoke or stun grenades, while Specimen tasks you with capturing an elite by luring it to the extraction point.

On the other hand, the most difficult objectives tend to be Gateway, Rescue, and Aberrant Nests. Decide how many objectives you plan on going for before starting, but also know that plans can and will change in Rainbow Six Extraction. When they do, remember our first tip: Prioritize extraction above all else. It is a much better use of your time to jump in and out of a mission early for some quick and easy XP than to sink an extra half hour into one that you end up failing.

Up the challenge

rainbow-six-quarantine-officially-renamed-to-extraction
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The moderate difficulty level isn’t too tough for teams of three, especially once you’ve started to unlock and level up your favorite Operators. If only to keep things interesting, you’ll probably want to raise the challenge level. Upping the level will automatically increase the XP you earn from every objective you complete, main and optional, but comes with some considerations. The main objectives, for example, go from 1,000 XP for the first objective on moderate all the way up to 3,000 XP on the critical difficulty level, so even completing just one and extracting is almost worth as much as extracting after doing two on the lower difficulty.

Aside from enemies being tougher, more numerous and aggressive, and powerful on higher difficulties, they will also introduce new modifiers to the mission called Mutations. These always put a wrinkle in the mission that works against you, such as making enemies leave pools of sludge when killed or giving Nests armor. You should at least wait until you have your Operators at level 5 before going crazy with the difficulty levels since this is when you unlock that Operator’s perk, all of which are very useful.

Farm Aberrant Nests

We did call this mission one of the more difficult ones in Rainbow Six Extraction, and it is, but if you’re able to handle it, then you can find yourself a nice opportunity to farm up some XP. The Aberrant Nest missions have you and your team track down five Nests on the map, destroy them, and then collect a specimen sample from the one in the middle of the cluster. They usually all spawn close together, but as soon as you pop the first Nest, the Archaeans will start to swarm in from the remaining Nests.

If you’ve got a nice choke point, you can just melee one Nest and hold down a position where you can funnel in the oncoming mobs and mow them down. You won’t get as much XP per kill as you would for stealth kills, but the sheer number you can rack up here more than makes up for it. Just make sure you keep an eye on your ammo and supply counts and don’t press your luck too hard that you end up failing to either complete the objective or make it to the extraction zone.

Focus on your squad

A squad shoots an alien in Rainbow Six Extraction.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This last tip has two meanings. The first is probably obvious for a co-op-focused game like Rainbow Six Extraction, which is to play as a team. Don’t go out there like a lone wolf or leave your downed teammate to fend for themselves. Just like Rainbow Six Siege, communication, teamwork, and coordination are what will win the day in this game. Along with that, try and synergize which Operators you and your friends use to complement each other. This will mostly come into play once you unlock each one’s unique perk that can really change the tide of a mission.

The other meaning is that you should have your own set of at least three Operators you feel comfortable with and stick to as much as possible. You will probably find your favorite early on if you don’t already have one picked out from playing Siege, but due to the MIA and progressive damage system, you can’t use the same Operator all the time. Rather than spread out your Operator XP across the entire roster, have your primary and backup Operators picked out so you can focus on leveling them up first. Once you max them out and want to try out some others, go for it, but early on, the grind will seem overwhelming if you’re rotating Operators at random and spreading out the XP too thin.

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Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox loves writing, games, and complaining about not having time to write and play games. He knows the names of more…
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