Best Weapons In Gaming: Rainbow Six Siege’s OTs-03

Gaming is filled with a host of iconic weaponry, whether they’re huge tools of destruction or something that challenges you to rethink your environment. Well, we’re deciding to celebrate all of the best ones, and today it’s the turn of Rainbow Six Siege’s resident Spetnaz sniper Glaz and his patented marksmen rifle, the OTs-03.

We’ve long maintained here at Cultured Vultures that Rainbow Six Siege is one of the greatest multiplayer shooters ever made. The game’s tight mechanics and unique operator abilities make it an absolute joy to play, while the constant supply of new content has ensured that the core game has remained interesting for the past seven years.

With such a huge arsenal of weapons, deciding which is the best in Rainbow Six Siege would largely feel like a matter of personal preference. Some might favour the rate of fire of the submachine guns or machine pistols, while others will enjoy the sheer force of nature that is half of the game’s LMGs. However, in my opinion, no gun in Siege comes close to the satisfaction of Glaz’s OTs-03 marksman rifle.

A single-shot rifle, the OTs-03 is the ultimate in precision, and while the weapon’s stopping power has been nerfed over the years, especially in comparison to the more recent addition Kali, it’s still capable of shutting down folks who dare to peek at an angle that you’re holding. With Siege’s one-shot headshot potential for all of its weapons, the entire arsenal lets players feel powerful, but there’s something to be said about nailing headshots with the OTs-03 that’s unparalleled.

The OTs-03 isn’t the only marksman rifle in the game though, so why does Glaz’s trusty weapon get the nod over other rifles? Simple: Glaz’s special operator ability allows him to use a special thermal scope that reveals the location of defenders within the scope. With just that scope, the rifle goes from a simple but effective precision weapon to a tool that effectively punishes defenders for their mistakes.

At its best, Glaz is a perfect counter to the ultra aggressive Siege players who like to spawn peek from windows on defence, or even run out to try and sneak a couple of kills on the attackers. Glaz and his OTs-03 marksman rifle allows the player to sit back and watch these tryhards walk right into your killbox, and there’s no greater joy than blowing the brains out of the defender who’s intent on making sure you have a short round.

Seeing an operator’s entire body lit up in yellow might feel a bit like cheating in a game that relies on pixel perfect angles, but just being able to see players through smoke or confirm where they are because you can see a foot sticking out from behind a desk doesn’t make you an unstoppable killing machine. The OTs-03 isn’t a crutch that’ll make up for a player’s shortcomings, especially due to the lower rate of fire, but it will make you feel like an aim god when you drop players in one shot.

It’s also worth mentioning how iconic and satisfying the OTs-03’s audio design is. Part of the weapon’s feeling of power comes from how meaty the gun sounds, each shot releasing a deafening blast reminiscent of a cannon firing. Even if you haven’t played Siege in a long time, you can probably remember the sound of the OTs-03, as hearing that sound as a defender is enough to make you cower in a corner and hope that Glaz doesn’t see you.

Rainbow Six Siege is a multiplayer shooter for the hardcore, and will crush new players who aren’t used to the game’s rigours. After about 100 or so hours, I’m still not even anywhere approaching good, but hitting a few headshots on Glaz makes me feel like I am. If that doesn’t make it a contender for one of the best weapons in all of gaming, I don’t know what does.

READ MORE: AITA For Team-Killing In Rainbow Six Siege?