An ingenious new Operator is lighting up Rainbow Six Siege with laser tripwires that you can design and deploy on the fly, creating brazen barriers or sneaky snares that damage and slow any Attackers who happen to get zapped. The new Defender’s name is Denari and he arrived today with the launch Operation High Stakes on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. This new season also delivers modernized versions of the Consulate, Lair, and Nighthaven Labs maps, adding more-immersive lighting and strategically destructible items like gas pipes and fire extinguishers. Operator balancing changes, R6 Shieldguard improvements to game security, and evolving content for the 6v6 Dual Front mode are just some of the other impactful updates in Operation High Stakes.

But only one of those updates can cause you laser problems. To help you prepare to face this new threat or to inspire you to diversify your devious designs, we’ve put together a starter guide of different approaches to making the most of Denari, Rainbow Six Siege’s clever and creative new Operator.

Concentrate Lasers for Maximum Threat

Denari gives you the power to turn any room into an EDM rave-worthy laser display. Attackers that touch any laser will take damage and suffer a temporary slowing effect, and this happens for every laser they touch, so a laser danger room with multiple potential points of contact is a deadly proposition indeed. Your opponents will need to deal with this threat, and herein lies one of Denari’s superpowers: making Attackers waste time. The more time they spend on dismantling your perilous party room, the less time they have to complete their objective.

Denari’s lasers are also a visual distraction: A handy side-effect of a room full of highly visible lasers is that they really grab the eye. And if an Attacker is even slightly distracted by danger beams, that’s an advantage for Denari’s Defender allies. Position yourself in such a way that a laser breaks up your silhouette and they’ll never see you coming.

Place Connectors in Easily Overlooked Spots

Denari likes his foes to know they’re on his turf, and the lasers created by his T.R.I.P. Connectors are easy to spot. Still, he can take a cue from fellow Defender Kapkan’s laser-triggered Entry Denial Devices and try to catch aggressive Attackers unawares. Denari’s lasers can be placed lower than Kapkan’s traps, so try a floor-level laser connection across a doorway. Make sure to position the Connectors wider than the doorframe itself so that Attackers can’t get an angle to shoot them. Connectors can be shot and destroyed easily, so keeping them out of your enemies’ line of sight is a must.

Don’t put Connectors too close to existing lasers: Denari’s lasers can destroy gadgets like drones, grenades, and his own Connectors that you place too close to them. Though it is tempting to stack lasers to maximize the damage your enemies take, you must be careful to not overlap them lest you lose a precious Connector. A tight little criss-cross of lasers can pack a mean punch, but is also more visible, so consider hiding it behind one of Denari’s deployable shields to give vaulting Attackers a nasty surprise. This tactic is a classic for a reason.

Beware the Single Point of Failure

Denari has a whole bunch of T.R.I.P. Connectors and each one is capable of connecting to as many other Connectors as it has line of sight to. As tempting as it can be to create a dazzling pinwheel of laser connections all emanating from a single Connector, all it takes is one shot to remove the majority of the threat. Consider a more durable example: four Connectors placed in a square shape will form lasers not just around the four sides, but crossing diagonally through the middle as well. When one of the Connectors gets taken out, the other three still form a triangular shape that is more than capable of obstructing an offensive push. Keep this in mind when attempting to criss-cross a key hallway or objective site entry: grids with redundancy built in can last longer, costing the Attackers precious time.

The Glaive-12 shotgun is great for making safer connections: Verticality is a great way to get even more redundancy built into your grid, and Denari has just the thing to help make it happen. His Glaive-12 shotgun sidearm – a new addition to Rainbow Six Siege – shoots destructive and deadly slugs that are perfect for punching holes in soft ceilings. Aim at an angle and try to destroy just the ceiling material and not the floor above, then throw a T.R.I.P. Connector into the gap between the metal beams to get both vertical connections and sightline protection.

Explore Gadget Synergies with Teammates Like Azami

The Operators of Rainbow Six Siege always shine brighter when they work together, and the dazzling duo of Denari and Azami is the perfect combo of creativity. Azami is able to deploy her Kiba Barriers to create new cover positions, patch over doorways or breach holes, and reshape the geometry of a room to her team’s advantage. Denari can use these barriers to hide his Connector placement, making his grids harder to destroy. Azami, in turn, can create new surfaces for Connectors to deploy on, opening up new potential laser angles. While Attackers attempt to dismantle these defenses, Denari can use his three-speed mobility to get somewhere the Attackers don’t expect him to be and use his Scorpion EVO 3 SMG or FMG-9 SMG to take them out.

Use the preview lasers to intentionally obstruct Connectors for a late-round surprise: When deploying a Connector, Denari can see a solid line where a laser connection will be made and a blinking line where a laser connection is currently obstructed. This allows him not only to troubleshoot the grid he wants to make (perhaps by blasting impediments with his Glaive-12 shotgun), but also to plan where a grid could be built if only a certain obstruction was removed. One judiciously placed Connector blocked by a Kiba Barrier could be ready to make several laser connections as soon as the barrier is broken. Wait for your opponents to push into the area, shoot the Kiba Barrier yourself, and watch the laser-fueled chaos erupt.

How Do I Counter Denari?

In addition to destroying Denari’s T.R.I.P. Connectors with bullets, explosives, and melee, Attackers can use Impact EMP grenades (or Thatcher’s EMP for a larger radius) to temporarily disable the devices. IQ and her electronics detector can help you pinpoint connector positions, and when it comes to destroying the connectors from a safe distance, the drones of Twitch and Brava – as well as Zero’s Argus Camera – are excellent options.  

Denari can counter Attacker gadgets: Denari’s gadget options include the deployable shield and the observation blocker, both helpful for blocking physical line-of-sight and drone/camera line-of-sight to his connectors, respectively. But when teamed up with Mute and his Signal Jammers, Denari has even more protection from drones, while Jäger and Wamai can snatch grenades of all varieties out of the air before they have a chance to cause trouble.

Denari has entered the fray, so watch out for lasers when you fire up Operation High Stakes today. You can download and play Rainbow Six Siege in free access for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, or play the Ultimate Edition with a Ubisoft+ subscription and instantly unlock more benefits, including 52 additional Operators. Denari can be unlocked today as part of the Operation High Stakes Battle Pass, or in two weeks’ time with Renown or R6 Credits.