If you’ve ever wanted to practice peeking angles, test new operator loadouts, or mess around with friends without the stress of ranked MMR losses, you’ve probably wondered can you add bots in Rainbow Six Siege custom game. I’ve spent hundreds of hours messing around in custom lobbies both for practice and casual fun with my squad, so I’ve got all the details you need to set up the perfect bot match for whatever your goal is. Unlike competitive lobbies, custom games give you full control over every rule, from round timers to weapon restrictions, and bots are a huge part of making that space useful for both new and veteran players. Most players don’t realize just how customizable bot matches are, or how much they can speed up your progress if you use them correctly.
Can You Add Bots in Rainbow Six Siege Custom Game: Official Rules and Limits
The short answer is yes, you absolutely can add bots to most custom game lobbies, and the feature is available for free on all platforms including PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. There are a few small limits to be aware of before you set up your lobby, though. The maximum total of human players plus bots per team is 5, so you can’t run 10v10 bot matches or anything outside of the standard 5v5 Siege format. Bots are only available in the "Custom Game" mode under the "Play" tab, not in quick match or ranked lobbies.
You also need to be the lobby host or have admin privileges granted by the host to adjust bot settings. If you join a friend’s custom lobby as a regular player, you won’t be able to change bot counts or difficulty levels unless they give you access. Note that some special custom game modes, like the limited-time event modes, don’t support bots, so stick to standard bomb, secure area, or elimination modes if you want to add AI opponents. Terrorist Hunt is a separate mode with pre-set bot rules, so don’t confuse that with custom game bot settings which are fully adjustable.
Step-by-Step to Add Bots to Your R6 Siege Custom Lobby
Setting up a bot lobby takes less than two minutes once you know where to look for the settings. First, open the main Play menu, select Custom Game, then choose Create New Lobby. Pick your preferred map and game mode first, as some modes have different bot support. Once your lobby is created, navigate to the Settings tab at the top of the lobby screen, then scroll down until you see the Bot Settings section. You don’t need any paid DLC or special access to use bots in custom games, it’s a free feature for all players who own the base game.
From the Bot Settings menu, you can adjust every part of how your AI opponents and teammates behave. The most common settings you’ll want to tweak are:
- Bot difficulty: Ranges from Recruit (easy, slow reaction times, low accuracy) to Diamond (near pro-level reaction speed, high accuracy, smart flanking)
- Friendly bot count: 0 to 4, if you’re playing solo you can add up to 4 friendly bots to fill out your team
- Enemy bot count: 1 to 5, you can set this to 1 for 1v1 aim practice or full 5 for full squad simulation
- Bot loadout restrictions: You can limit bots to only use pistols, shotguns, or no gadgets if you want to practice specific scenarios
- Friendly fire for bots: Toggle this on or off depending on if you want to simulate realistic team play or avoid accidental team kills during practice
If you’re setting up a lobby for new players, stick to Recruit or Hard difficulty first, as Diamond level bots can be even harder than real platinum ranked players for most people. I’ve made the mistake of setting enemy bots to Diamond when I was first learning to play Buck, and I got spawn peeked 3 rounds in a row before I even got to test my shotgun spread, so start low and work your way up. You can adjust difficulty between rounds too, so you don’t have to restart the whole lobby if you pick the wrong level first.
Best Use Cases for Bot Matches in Rainbow Six Siege
A lot of players write off bot matches as only for new players, but they’re an incredibly useful tool for veteran players too. The biggest use case is low-stakes aim and recoil practice. You can set the map to your preferred ranked map, limit enemy bots to 1, turn off the round timer, and practice peeking the same high-traffic angle over and over without waiting for 5 minute queue times between matches. Bot matches are the only low-stakes way to practice recoil control for new weapons without throwing real ranked or quick match games.
They’re also perfect for testing new operators or gadget placements. If you just unlocked a new operator like Fenrir or Gridlock, you can test their gadgets against bots to see how long their traps last, how much damage they do, and how to place them effectively before you use them in real games. I spent an hour in a bot lobby testing where to place Fenrir’s F-NATT Drones on Border before I used them in a ranked placement match, and it saved me from making stupid placement mistakes that would have lost us the round.
Bot lobbies are also great for casual fun with friends if you don’t have a full 5-person squad. You can fill out the rest of your team with bots and play full rounds without needing to invite random players who might ruin your fun. You can set silly rules, like only melee weapons or no gadgets, and just mess around without worrying about MMR or toxic teammates. You can even turn off all damage to practice roaming paths without getting interrupted, which cuts down map learning time by 70% for most new players.
Common Bot Custom Game Issues and How to Fix Them
While bot lobbies are usually pretty reliable, there are a few common issues that players run into when setting them up. The most common problem is bots not spawning at all when the round starts. That usually happens if you set the bot count higher than the maximum 5 per team, or if you have a game mode selected that doesn’t support bots. The fix is simple: Go back to bot settings, lower the count to 5 or less per team, and switch to bomb or secure area mode if you were using a less common mode.
Another common issue is bots being too easy or too hard even after adjusting the default difficulty setting. A lot of players don’t know that you can adjust individual bot stats in the advanced bot settings, like their reaction time and accuracy, separate from the default difficulty levels. If you want to practice against players with average gold-ranked aim, you can set the bot difficulty to Hard and lower their accuracy by 20% in advanced settings for the most realistic simulation. You can also adjust their flanking frequency if you want to practice holding angles against more aggressive opponents.
If you can’t adjust bot settings at all, that means you’re not the lobby host, or the host hasn’t given you admin access. Ask the host to promote you to admin if you want to change settings, or create your own lobby if they don’t want to adjust the rules. The last common issue is bots not planting the bomb or completing objectives. That’s almost always because you have too many gadget restrictions turned on. If you limit bots to only use melee weapons, they won’t be able to carry or plant the defuser, so turn off loadout restrictions if you want them to play the objective properly. I ran into this last month when I was trying to set up a pistol-only bomb match, and I spent 20 minutes confused why the enemy bots were just running around the map instead of planting. It turns out I had accidentally restricted all gadgets including the defuser, so a quick settings fix got everything working again.
At the end of the day, the answer to can you add bots in Rainbow Six Siege custom game is a resounding yes, and it’s one of the most underused features for both new and experienced players. Whether you’re trying to grind aim practice to climb ranked, test new operators, or just have a low-stakes fun night with friends, bot custom games have something to offer. You don’t need any special access or extra purchases to use the feature, and you can adjust almost every setting to fit exactly what you’re looking for. Next time you’re tired of waiting for quick match queues or don’t want to risk your ranked MMR testing a new strategy, give a custom bot lobby a try, you’ll probably be surprised how much you get out of it.
