All objective types in Rainbow Six Extraction: Mission strategies

Andrew Amos
Pulse, Ela, and Nomad fighting Archaeans in Rainbow Six Extraction

In Rainbow Six Extraction, you’ll have to complete numerous objectives to complete a mission and gain XP. We’ve got a list of all the objective types in the game here as well as strategies you can use to get the job done.

Rainbow Six Extraction is all about strategy and planning, and it’s handy to know what you’re going up again. If you can master all the objective types quickly, you can easily devise strategies to take on the task at hand.

We’ve got a rundown of all the objective types in Rainbow Six Extraction right here, as well as some starter strategies that should help you get a grip of the game’s missions.


Objectives in Rainbow Six Extraction


Rainbow Six Extraction operator stabbing Archaean in back
Some Rainbow Six Extraction objectives require stealth, others brute force.

Biopsy

In Biopsy, you need to hunt down Proteans stealthily and collect a tissue sample from them. Stunning them with smoke grenades and flashbangs before backstabbing them is the way to go, and is usually a two-man job so it goes smoothly.

Once you collect the samples, you can either choose to extract or move on to the next objective.

Decontamination

The Decontamination mission revolves around hunting special nests around the map. You need to locate Aberrant Nests and eliminate them all to open up the Neoplasm, before getting a sample from that by walking up to it.

The difference between Aberrant Nests and normal ones is these ones pulse green versus red. However, be wary as Archaeans will swarm like no tomorrow once you start taking these out.

Gateway

Gateway is the hardest and rarest objective in Rainbow Six Extraction. You will be teleported to a new realm to try and fight off an incredibly difficult Archaean who has special abilities and an incredible amount of health.

Once you take down the Archaean, you’ll be rewarded with a handsome amount of experience. Don’t worry about running short of supplies either ⁠— there’s some dotted around the singularity like ammo, med kits, and grenades.

Rainbow Six Extraction singularity for gateway objective
Travel through the Singularity to take on the powerful Archaean in Gateway.

Hunt

Hunt is one of the more simple Rainbow Six Extraction objectives. All you have to do is locate an elite enemy’s allies, kill them to attract their attention, then kill the elite enemy.

Typically you’ll have to kill three allies before unlocking the big boss, but it’s as gun-them-down as Extraction gets in terms of objectives.

Missing In Action

You will be given an MIA objective if one of your Operators went missing in a previous mission. To retrieve them (and play them again), you’ll have to find them in an Archaean tree and try to pull the Operator down by shooting the pulsing Arch Cells to weaken its hold.

Once you rescue the Operator, go and extract them immediately so you can equip them for your next mission (although they’ll be injured for a while).

Rainbow Six Extraction missing in action objective
You’ll need to fight back against the Archaean tree to free your MIA Operators.

Nest Tracking

Once again requiring stealth, Nest Tracking involves planting autotrackers in dormant nests without disturbing them. You have to walk up slowly to them and inject the autotracker before they start spawning enemies.

If you wake up a nest, you can no longer place a tracker in it, so take your time.

No One Left Behind

The No One Left Behind objective will be tacked on to your objectives if you or one of your teammates goes down in battle.

To complete it, pick up the ally wrapped in stasis foam and extract them safely. If you fail this mission (either by dying or extracting without your ally), you’ll be prompted to rescue them in your next mission with the Missing In Action objective.

Rescue

Rescue is a hostage-style objective where you have to locate and carry a VIP to the extraction zone safely. If the VIP gets killed by Archaeans, the jig is up and you just need to move on to the next zone or extract.

Be sure to move quietly to get to the Rescue point, else the Archaeans will just carve the VIP up before you get there.

Sabotage

Sabotage is Rainbow Six Extraction’s tactical FPS objective. You have to plant charges in Arch Spines, reinforce the objective (just like Siege), and make sure they go off while fending off the horde of Archaeans.

Good setup by barricading doors and windows, laying down React Tech, and reinforcing walls is key to slowing down Archaeans and putting up a successful defense.

Rainbow Six Extraction Serial Scan mission
Be sure to set up a solid defense to make defending the charges easier in Sabotage.

Serial Scan

Serial Scan has a control element to it ⁠— players must locate objectives and capture a scan by standing on pads and controlling areas. The more players you have controlling the objective at once, the faster the scan will complete. If you step off, progress will reset after a short time.

To help you get the scans off safely, set up traps across the battlefield to kill Archaeans before they reach you.

Shutdown

Shutdown in Rainbow Six Extraction is akin to Nest Tracking, although there’s less of a need for stealth. You just need to run in, insert injectors into nutrient nodes around the map, and then get out.

It helps to have one person doing all the injecting while others fend off Archaeans that try to stop the process. Don’t all rush in to do the injections.

Specimen

In Specimen, you have to capture the elite target by luring them to the extraction zone and subduing them without killing them. If you kill the target before trapping it in the zone, you will fail the mission.

It’s best to use one of your teammates as bait while the others clear the way making for an easy extraction. Getting rid of nests in between you and the elite target will make collecting the Specimen a piece of cake.

Rainbow Six Extraction operators fighting protean at extraction site
You’ll need to guide enemies to the extraction zone and subdue them in Specimen.

Triangulation

Triangulation requires a bit of prep to get it right. Players need to find three Seismic Stations the map and activate them in order, under a quick time limit. Don’t be fooled ⁠— you can’t just activate and mosey along to the next two, you will have under a minute at best.

Clearing a path between objectives and splitting off after activating the first Station is the best bet. You can opt to have one player standing at each Station to do it quickly, but you leave yourself prone to surprise attacks. Think about your loadout and what works best for your squad.


Be sure to check out our Rainbow Six section for more Extraction guides in anticipation of the game’s January 20 release.

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About The Author

Hailing from Perth, Andrew was formerly Dexerto's Australian Managing Editor. They love telling stories across all games and esports, but they have a soft spot for League of Legends and Rainbow Six. Oh, and they're also fascinated by the rise of VTubers.