Rainbow Six Siege X vs VALORANT – which 5v5 is easier to play?

Both titles are 5v5 tactical shooters at their core, and both have loyal fan bases and esports scenes, but which is easier to play? As we look at Rainbow Six Siege X vs VALORANT and run through the elements to consider, we’ll think about where and how they differ from the other title, whether that be in mechanical abilities or tactical awareness, and what this means for ease and accessibility. 

We also dive into some fun and potentially revealing evidence from the pros, look at player counts, and draw on this writer’s decades-long gaming experience to land a balanced conclusion. So, should you currently be deciding which title to check out, or you’re just looking for views on the debate, read on. 

Looking at a comparison of R6 vs VALORANT, we should start with the obvious: regardless of differences, both are 5v5 tactical shooters. This exemplifies the variety available within the genre but honestly doesn’t give either title enough credit for what each has achieved. 

R6 Siege X is now in its tenth (hence the ‘X’) year of active support and popularity, with the recent Siege X update spiking the player count for R6’s unique brand of tactics-first gameplay. One criticism often leveled at R6 is its gunfight mechanics, but conversely, its tactical gameplay is essentially unmatched when it comes to in-game tracking of vital information and player positioning. Even audio cues are essential for winning rounds. 

Siege X’s 5v5 ‘Attack vs Defense’ dynamic is a hugely strategic gaming experience, pitting specialist attack and defence operators against each other in close-quarter urban locations where verticality, destructible environments, and unique abilities need to be accounted for and countered. 

This makes the game less dependent on precision gunplay and skillshots, but raises the skill ceiling for tactical nous, preparation, and planning with your team. Not to mention knowing the best way to deflect attackers or penetrate defences for each map with 75 operators to choose from.

While the 2025 Siege X update and Dual Front mode arguably now move R6 closer to other tac-shooters (CS certainly, in that specific mode), at its core, it’s a situational and operator-centred game for players who thrive in nuance.

None of this is to say that VALORANT vs Rainbow Six Siege X is a one-sided debate. VALORANT, especially with the arrival of the new Corrode map, is now taking a step towards a more classic FPS and less agent-focused approach. This fast-paced title requires precision, accuracy, and familiarity with weapons available via in-game purchase each round. 

The skills required to eliminate or frustrate the opposing team can stem mainly from players who know their agents like the back of their hands. However, players’ mechanical and reflexive abilities are also required to proactively peek, shoot, rotate, optimise angles, and have a great base in core first-person shooters.

Naturally, map and agent knowledge are important in VALORANT, but it’s hard to compare any VALORANT map’s site A/B acquisition requirements to a locked Siege X team with abilities specifically designed for the task of attacking or defending any map’s objective.  

We’re going to avoid the ‘ranked’ conversation here because matchmaking based on skill levels ultimately obfuscates the objective difficulty of games. Instead, we’re going to deal with our own (this writer’s) experience before looking at the pros. But more on that shortly. 

As a gamer for over 30 years, the idea of first-person shooters isn’t hard for me to grasp. Yes, metas, abilities, weapons, maps, and gunplay do change, but the idea of VALORANT as a hero tac-shooter is familiar, and it will likely have some familiarity for you if you’ve played any kind of FPS title. 

That doesn’t make the skill ceiling low; it just means that I can know what’s going on even if I can’t help turn things around and help my team win. It’s the same feeling I’ve had when jumping into Marvel Rivals or Overwatch, because I may not immediately be even average at these games (and well past my fast-twitch muscles’ prime), but I know I can improve fairly quickly with a little time. 

That’s not the same for Siege, and I think this may be the core of any VALORANT vs R6 Siege comparison. In my experience, being good at FPS games doesn’t make you solid at Siege, because R6 Siege’s difficulty comes from the niche map+operator+abilities+counters equations needed to understand for reliable tactical planning.

In short, even learning R6 Siege, in-game cues, and possibilities takes longer, while relying on sharpened mechanical aim and shoot skills (not that I have those) isn’t any kind of guarantee of readiness. 

Yes, you can come down on the side of “they’re different and not comparable”, and that’s fair. But it’s also interesting to consider a thought experiment: Rainbow Six Siege X vs VALORANT: who would win? That’s hypothetical, but we have at least one piece of evidence for an answer. Professional Siege and The Finals player, Shawk, tested whether five VALORANT pros could beat five Siege pros in Rainbow Six Siege and whether R6 Siege pros could win in VALORANT.

The answer from this entertaining and pretty revealing 2023 video, posted to Shaw’s YouTube channel, was that neither set of pros could get the W in the other title. However, while the R6 Siege pros won 4-0 in a clean sweep in their own game, the VALORANT Pros won 13-8, closer than you may expect.

Can you take player numbers as a quality of accessibility and therefore, ease? Potentially, so here’s what you need to know about VALORANT vs Rainbow Six Siege player counts.

At the time of writing, VALORANT has around 4-5 million daily players, which is unsurprising given its huge global fanbase and, as we’ve pointed out, easy familiarity for FPS fans. Conversely, Siege X has a daily player count of around 100,000.

Yes, R6 Siege is 10 years old, but its relatively modest record high of 200,000 consecutive players speaks to its slightly more niche appeal. There are plenty of factors to consider here, but it’s probably fair to say in general that more accessible competitive games that are easier to play (or to understand quickly) get more eyes and more people in lobbies.

Neither Rainbow Six Siege X nor VALORANT can be considered easy games. However, if we’re picking one that’s easier than the other, then it’s VALORANT. It’s not that the skill ceiling is low in VALORANT, but coming at both titles with no prior experience makes it far more accessible, and R6 Siege X is trickier to get up to speed on. 

Siege X’s uniqueness is a huge positive, but it also makes the more niche title harder to jump into and harder to get to grips with. Plus, if R6 Siege pros can win a solid amount of rounds in VALORANT while shutting the door in Siege…it’s a slight glimmer of a reflection of our experiences across the two titles.