Defenders like Echo in Rainbow Six Siege rely on a variety of tools to secure the objective. Operator Echo, in particular, sows chaos to prevent the enemy's approach on defense. Named Enatsu Masaru behind the codename, Echo accompanies fellow Operator Hibana in the Rainbow Six Siege "Operation Red Crow" DLC. Contrary to Hibana and her breach specialization, Echo uses his Yokai drone to secure the team's defensive positions.
Thanks to Yokai Drones, Echo's core mechanic involves spying with these gadgets and disorienting foes with its ultrasonic bursts. When timed properly, Yokai Drones can disrupt an enemy's approach to secure an ambush. Alternatively, Echo can burst in guns blazing and eliminate enemies before they even pose a threat to the team. However, what other strategies can players employ to maximize Echo's toolkit?
10 Map Knowledge Is Crucial For Tactics
Given the reconnaissance/crowd control specialization of Echo, it’s important to know precisely when to scout and when to prep for a push. With this in mind, Echo needs map knowledge to ensure he can position his Drones in the best locations possible.
At its core, it helps to avoid positioning Drones near objective entrances since other Operators usually scan this area for drone activity. When scanning areas, it’s advisable for Yokai Drones to be hidden within the room. While this limits the intel gathered in a location, the strategy does boost drone survivability.
9 The Yokai Drone Screams Reconnaissance
Echo’s main toolkit lies in his gadgets, two Yokai Drones. Each Yokai Drone has two modes - one ground mode where it can crawl, and a ceiling mode where it can latch onto a ceiling. When deployed, Yokai Drones start on ground mode where they move with a camera feed. While they can’t use their Ultrasonic Bursts in this mode, the team can check the Drone’s feed via the Defenders’ camera pool.
In contrast, Yokai Drones enter ceiling mode when Echo forces it to leap upwards. When attached, Yokai Drones can’t move but can fire their signature Ultrasonic Bursts. Only Echo can control the Drones, but all teammates can check their footage.
8 Maximize Droning Asset
Being an Operator with a drone, Echo can easily contribute to the droning mechanic in the game. At its core, droning refers to maximizing drone usage to secure as many advantages against enemies as possible with the least risk. Thanks to the Yokai Drone, Echo can accompany roamers to scout locations for pushing.
Given the more active setup of the Yokai Drones, Echo can also capitalize on their usage to gain information on enemies as much as possible. With the right positioning, Echo can watch crucial locations and let teammates know what’s happening to prepare for ambushes or impending attacks.
7 Capitalize On The Ultrasonic Burst
Aside from the scouting potential of the Yokai Drone, its other main asset lies in its Ultrasonic Burst ability. Echo can only use this once the Yokai Drone is latched onto the ceiling, making positioning extremely important. Each Ultrasonic Burst gets a 15-second recharge, with a sphere projectile affecting a small area of effect up to 15 meters away.
At its core, the Ultrasonic Burst can cancel the continuous actions of most targets. When hit by the Burst, Operators get disoriented for 10 seconds. From the POV of players, this means slight screen shakes, visual disorientation, and hearing disruption. Due to this sensory overload, a properly-timed Ultrasonic Burst can determine the outcome of a firefight.
6 Disruption Controls Conflict Direction
When used properly, the Ultrasonic Burst can disrupt various Operators and change the course of the conflict. As a Defender, Echo can disrupt pushes from Attackers, especially from critical vantage points. If a room with a Yokai Drone becomes a point of contention, a well-positioned Ultrasonic Burst can destabilize opponents and give the advantage to Echo’s team.
Of course, the 15-second cooldown of Ultrasonic Burst leaves Yokai Drones defenseless. Players should note if using an Ultrasonic Burst is more important than providing intel via the Yokai Drone.
5 Boost Yokai Drone Defense With Surfaces
While Yokai Drones seem extremely potent with their Ultrasonic Bursts, they can become pretty visible to those actively looking for them. Thankfully, Echo can actually bolster their Drone’s defenses by strategically latching them to the right kinds of ceilings.
To avoid risking the Drone’s defense, Echo can deploy Yokai Drones to ceilings on top of tall but flat surfaces, such as closets and shelves. At its core, a Yokai Drone can deploy an Ultrasonic Blast and drop to the tall surface. Given the height of shelves and closets, a Yokai Drone can be hard to spot and, when detected, harder to hit.
4 Preempt Drone Counter Strategies
Thanks to Ultrasonic Blast, enemies will likely expect Echo to deploy his Drones in areas that can facilitate this attack. As such, foes will try to catch Yokai Drones off-guard or avoid open areas that normally give the Drone better coverage. Since these strategies can ruin an Echo’s day, it’s better to prepare contingencies for these situations.
For instance, enemies can split into sets of Attackers to anticipate an ambush after an Ultrasonic Blast. To circumvent this assumption, Echo can instead give info via the Yokai Drone and aid an ambusher.
3 Destroy Late-Game Strategies
While Echo doesn’t have any particular synergies with other Operators, Echo does specialize in denying opponents any advantage during late-game. Since Yokai Drones can provide useful information about enemy locations and objective statuses, Echo’s team can prepare their defense more appropriately. Eliminating foes via C4 and other environmental hazards easily complement Echo’s toolkit.
Likewise, Echo specializes in countering late-game pushing. Remember, Ultrasonic Blast can deny defusing. As such, Echo can clutch a win by disabling an enemy right before the round-timer expires. This late-game disruption can make Echo quite a deadly foe.
2 Maximize Disruption Potential
Given the scouting-heavy toolkit of Yokai Drones, they serve best for surveillance and reconnaissance. However, when used correctly, Yokai Drones can become quite an aggressive asset for both Defending and Attacking Teams. Here’s how Yokai Drones can work against other Operators:
- Cancel Defuser deployment: Thanks to Ultrasonic Burst, an Attacker can momentarily stop Attackers from plating defusers in Bomb. This alone can delay a key objective, giving Echo’s team a bit of legroom to counter-attack.
- Cancel preemptive actions: With a timely Ultrasonic Burst, Echo can stop Operators from setting Breach Charges. Certain Operators will have knee-jerk reactions as well, such as Montagne retracting his shield, Dokkaebi canceling his Logic Bomb, or Iana delaying her Gemini Replicator.
- Delay Attacker deployments: Thanks to the Ultrasonic Burst, a Yokai Drone can prevent Attackers from performing key actions. This is particularly debilitating to deployments, including Exothermic Charges (Thermite), Cluster Charges (Fuse), and RCE-RATERO Drones (Flores).
1 Stay Wary Of Counters
Despite the sheer potential of Echo’s toolkit to benefit both sides of play, some Operators can still disrupt his drone-dependent strategies. If Echo’s team faces off against someone that can destabilize other gadgets, then his Drones will have a hard time. Here are some ways other Operators can counter Echo:
- Disable Yokai Drones: Certain Operators can find ways to disable Yokai Drones. Such ability includes Electronics Scanner (IQ) that can detect their presence. Likewise, EMP Grenades (Thatcher) can force Yokai Drones to detach from ceilings and render them useless for 10 seconds. Lastly, Logic Bombs (Dokkaebi) can hack into the Yokai Drones.
- Destroy Yokai Drones: Worse, some Operators can outright destroy Yokai Drones. ARGUS Camera lasers (Zero) and even “cooked” Frag Grenades can have enough firepower to destroy Yokai Drones.