Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming

Rainbow Six Extraction: How to grind XP fast

By

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.

Recommended Videos

See more

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.

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.

Editors' Recommendations

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…
Modern Warfare 3 Zombies: Mercenary Convoy guide
Soldiers in a car driving and shooting zombies.

The old format of Zombies has been left behind in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in favor of a more open-world, objective-based take on the undead survival game type. This time, you will squad up and drop into a map with specific objectives you can choose to complete to earn tons of XP, while also pushing the narrative forward and unlocking new, more difficult tasks to take on. The early-tier missions are generally very simple, but in Act 1, you will be given the objective to find and destroy a Mercenary Convoy somewhere on the map. This sounds easy enough on paper until you realize you have no idea where this convey is or how to find it. Every run in Zombies risks losing all your hard-earned progress, so we'll lead you to the Mercenary Convoy to take it out before the zombies even know you were there.
How to find the Mercenary Convoy

Your first challenge will be to find this Mercenary Convoy. The problem here is twofold: first is that it isn't marked on your map in any way, and second is that, being a convoy, it is mobile. Once you land, you and your team should find the nearest vehicle and head toward the center of the map. Depending on how the threat levels are on your particular map, you are looking for roads and highways that are around the medium-threat level zone. You will have to patrol these roads until you come across the convoy, which only consists of three vehicles. Once you are in range, it does appear on your map to let you know you've found it.

Read more
How to rank up fast in Modern Warfare 3: best ways to farm XP
A soldier with a shotgun in Modern Warfare 3.

Every year when the new Call of Duty title drops, the playing field is once again reset as everyone needs to start grinding back up the ranks. Fully embracing the RPG elements, Modern Warfare 3 once again allows you to earn XP as you play match after match to rank up your character, with each rank not only bringing you closer to hitting prestige but also unlocking new options for your chosen operator. Your player rank is unique from your weapon levels and can take a lot longer to grind if you don't know the most efficient methods. If you want to fast-track your career through the ranks, here are the fastest ways to earn XP in Modern Warfare 3.
How to earn XP fast in Modern Warfare 3
There's basically no way you can play Modern Warfare 3 without earning XP, but some modes and methods can earn you double (or more) what you could if you were just playing without a plan.
Play the objective

We all love playing team deathmatch or any other mode where all you need to worry about is being the one to shoot first. However, if you want to earn that sweet XP fast, you need to choose one of the objective modes like Domination, Hardpoint, Ground War, or even Kill Confirmed. Not only do you get XP for killing enemies, but the amount you get on top of that for playing the objective can make up the bulk of your XP gain. This is especially true if you're not at the top of your game and end up dying more than you kill since you have another method to contribute. Also, objective modes grant you an XP bonus just for finishing the match.
Always work towards daily and weapon challenges

Read more
The best skills to unlock in RoboCop: Rogue City
Robocop getting out of a car.

Murphy is far more than a man in RoboCop: Rogue City. His robotic and cybernetic enhancements have made him the perfect crime-fighting machine, or so we thought. As it turns out, there is a lot of room for upgrades in your new body and multiple ways to invest your points. The tree is broken down into eight different categories, and each one has three unique perks sprinkled in that give you new and powerful abilities. Or rather, some of them do. Depending on how you want to dispense justice, there are plenty of skills that will be a complete waste of time to get. Before you go on your quest to serve the public trust, protect the innocent, and uphold the law, make sure you know the best skills to unlock in RoboCop: Rogue City.
Best skills to unlock

The skill tree in RoboCop: Rogue City is broken into the following eight categories: Combat, Armor, Vitality, Engineering, Focus, Scanning, Deduction, and Psychology. There are 10 slots in each, with perks unlocking at the second, sixth, and final slots. Note that once a skill point is invested, you cannot change your mind later.
Shield
You may be in a shiny metallic body, but you aren't invincible. Especially in the early game, you will find yourself a bit less tanky than you expect. Thankfully all you need to do is pump two points into the Armor tree to get the Shield ability. Once active, you reduce all incoming damage by 80%. If you're digging that feeling, you can even go to the next perk which is High Damage Reduction. This is a passive skill that automatically cuts explosive and high-caliber weapon damage by 25%. There's no need to max out this tree since Deflect isn't all that useful in the long run.
Fuse Boxes Recovery
Taking less damage is great, but what about when you need to heal? The first perk in Vitality makes Fuse Boxes healing items that restore 50% of your health, plus increases how many OCP Recovery Charges you can store up to 4. Depending on how difficult you find the game, you can continue down to basically get a better version of this skill that makes Fuse Boxes restore all your health and cap your Recovery Charges at 5, or invest all the way and unlock Auto Regeneration to passively restore HP up to 75%.
Dash
You're a walking tank, but that doesn't mean you have to move like one. Dash unlocks on the second node of the Engineering tree and gives you, well, a dash! You can use it to slam into enemies, get into or out of cover, or just maneuver around however you need. Movement in RoboCop: Rogue City is a bit clunky, so this makes combat far more responsive.
Enhanced Learning
This will be a skill you need to spend a lot of time investing in the Deduction tree to get but should be done as early as possible if you're going to go for it. Enhanced Learning increases all XP gain by 30%, thus making all future skills easier to get. Plus you will get Enhanced Scanning and Enhanced Map on the way, which make doing side missions and gathering items around the map way easier.

Read more