Rainbow Six Extraction Maelstrom Protocol explained: Ranked guide

Andrew Amos
Rainbow Six Extraction operators flying in helicopter

Maelstrom Protocol is Rainbow Six Extraction’s ranked mode. Players can attempt new challenges weekly with limited resources at their disposal, but big rewards for those that succeed.

Rainbow Six Extraction has its own bevy of standalone, basic missions to complete. With four different regions and three maps in each one, plus all the difficulty modifiers, individual objectives, and mutations, there’s plenty of replayability in the game.

However, if you want to take your Rainbow Six Extraction experience to the next level, Maelstrom Protocol is the ultimate test and great for players wanting to push their limits. Here’s how the ranked mode works.

Rainbow Six Extraction Serial Scan mission
You’ll need to bring your best in Rainbow Six Extraction’s Maelstrom Protocol.

How does Maelstrom Protocol work?

Maelstrom Protocol is not your traditional ranked gameplay where you face off against other real-life players. That’s what Siege is for. Instead, the Rainbow Six Extraction mode puts you to the absolute test, dealing with limited loot and Operator pools, a near never-ending set of objectives, time limits, and more.

You can choose between six Operators to take on a set of challenges which resets weekly. It’s meant to be the “end game” of sorts, where you can flex your maxed out Operators to get some sweet rewards. You’ll come up against harder Archaeans, face evolving mutations, and the difficulty only ramps up the more missions you complete. On top of that, the game gives you less resources to work with as the refills decrease the deeper you go.

However, the more XP you earn, the more points you get, and that boosts your rank. You can also earn cosmetics by performing well, and plenty of REACT credits.

Maelstrom Protocol ranks in Rainbow Six Extraction

There are five ranks in Maelstrom Protocol ranging from Bronze to Diamond. The more points you earn on your run, the higher class you’ll be ranked into. The Rainbow Six Extraction ranked mode only takes into account your best run of the week before reset, so you can’t just spam the mode to get to Diamond.

Instead, you need to take each deployment as a learning experience, finetuning your strategies and Operator line-ups with each loss until you hit the fabled Diamond Class. The runs won’t change during the week, so you can take your time.

Here are the points you need to get to earn each rank in Rainbow Six Extraction’s Maelstrom Protocol:

  • Bronze Class: 20,000 XP
  • Silver Class: 30,000 XP
  • Gold Class: 50,000 XP
  • Platinum Class: 70,000 XP
  • Diamond Class: 90,000 XP
Rainbow Six Extraction diamond headgear for Maelstrom Protocol
You can earn exclusive rewards in Maelstrom Protocol.

Maelstrom Protocol rewards in Rainbow Six Extraction

By doing well in Maelstrom Protocol, you’ll be duly rewarded. Players can earn seasonal headgears with colors tuned to the class you achieved, as well as REACT Credits you can then spend in the in-game shop on other cosmetics.

While the REACT Credits are permanent, the seasonal headgear is not, and you’ll need to keep going back to Maelstrom Protocol each season to keep it in your inventory.


Be sure to study our other Rainbow Six Extraction guides by checking out our dedicated Rainbow Six page.

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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.