Hibana is an incredibly useful Operator in Rainbow Six Extraction, equipped with a gadget that will make light work of any Archaeans brave enough to get close to your team. While her skills lie predominantly in crowd control, which means you’re in trouble, she’s helpful in any mission if you give her a chance. This guide provides a few tips for how to play as Hibana and help your team reach every airlock and get to the extraction zone.
Hibana is a three-speed one-armor Operator, making her vulnerable to Archaean hits but fast enough to avoid them. You can use her at the front or back of your group, but you need to be sharp in whatever position you’re playing. Her gadget allows her to lay down traps and protect the team, and she’s equipped with weapons that will make short work of anything they’re pointed at.
Best weapons for Hibana
Hibana’s default weapons are silenced, which is perfect for her as an Operator. It means you can sneak silently through the Sprawl, taking down Archaeans without anything else noticing you. Most Operators only have one silenced weapon, and having two means, you can shoot the Sprawl to clear space for teammates without it feeling like a waste of ammo. Hibana’s weapons also have a high rate of fire, meaning you’ll take enemies down more effectively than other Operators, but only if you aim for the weak spots.
Best ways to use Hibana’s X-Kairos
The X-Kairos is a powerful gadget that lays down several sticky explosives at once. These can be remotely triggered, but Archaeans can also trigger them if they happen to walk in the wrong place. The beauty of these explosives is that they ignore enemy armor, meaning they deal a good chunk of damage regardless of which Archaean type they hit. Of course, you can upgrade the gadget to be even more lethal and advantageous, but it’s incredibly powerful in its base state too.
We found ourselves using the X-Kairos most when things went south. If we were being swarmed, pumping a few explosives in doorways and areas of high enemy traffic meant that many Archaeans were weakened if not obliterated by the time they reached us. That space in battle can be the difference between three Operators making it to the airlock or one.
Best ways to play as Hibana
Most Operators in Rainbow Six Extraction have some weight to their movement, but Hibana is light on her feet. This makes her perfect for missions where you need to guard several doorways or keep track of targets. For example, in an MIA Operator mission, you need to shoot Archaean nodes that grow from the walls and keep the Operator pinned to the tree. Hibana can quickly move through Sprawl and shoot these faster than an Operator like Sledge or Lion. Each mission you take on in the game will contain at least one task best suited to Hibana, and if she’s not on your team at the time, you’ll regret picking someone else.
Finally, Hibana may be light on armor and designed to infiltrate and lay defenses, but she’s an excellent all-purpose Operator if you play her right. Her weapons work for any situation, her gadget is perfect for protecting your team from all angles, and she’s got the capacity to fulfill any role you need, including carrying VIPs and MIA Operators to the extraction zone. She isn’t fantastic if you run into the fray and alert all nearby Archaeans to your presence, but she’ll put up a decent fight when faced with impossible odds.
