If you’ve ever queued for a casual or ranked Siege match and run into a player that locks in an operator, spins in circles nonstop, or hits impossible headshots without even looking around, you might have encountered a bot. That’s why so many players ask what is botting in Rainbow Six Siege, and how it affects the game they love. I’ve spent over 6 years playing Siege across every rank from Copper to Champion, and I’ve seen botting evolve from simple AFK farmers to sophisticated aimbots that are hard to spot at first glance. This guide breaks down everything you need to know, from how bots work to what you can do if you run into one in your lobbies.
What is Botting in Rainbow Six Siege, Exactly?
Botting refers to any use of third-party software or hardware that automates in-game actions, either to gain an unfair advantage over other players or to farm rewards without actively playing. Unlike smurfing, which is just a skilled player on a low-level account, bots require no human input for most or all of their actions, and they break Ubisoft’s Terms of Service 100% of the time.
Most bots fall into one of two core categories. The first, and most common, are AFK farming bots. These simple scripts queue for matches, move slightly every few seconds to avoid being kicked for inactivity, and earn battle pass XP, renown, and event rewards without the player ever touching their controller or keyboard. A lot of users run these bots on secondary accounts to grind renown for new operators or limited-time event skins without wasting time on their main accounts.
The second category is competitive exploit bots, which are far more disruptive. These include aimbots that automatically lock onto enemy heads the second they come into view, trigger bots that fire the instant an enemy crosses your crosshair, and wallhack bots that show you exact enemy positions through walls without any intel tools like drones or Valkyrie cams. Some newer hardware bots even plug directly into your console or PC, so they’re harder for standard anti-cheat software to detect. Not all unusual gameplay is botting, though. A new player might have terrible aim or wander aimlessly, and a high-ranked player might hit clips that look impossible to lower-ranked folks, so you don’t want to report every player that outplays you.
Common Signs of Botting in Your Siege Lobbies
If you’re unsure if a player in your match is a bot, look for these consistent red flags that are almost impossible for real players to replicate:
- Unnatural, robotic movement: This includes snapping between targets faster than human reaction time, spinning in constant 360-degree circles, or walking into walls for minutes at a time without adjusting course.
- No response to communication or in-game triggers: Bots won’t react to your pings, text chat, or voice chat, and they’ll often ignore enemies that are shooting them from behind instead of turning to fight back.
- Impossible accuracy stats: If a player has a 90%+ headshot ratio across 10+ rounds, never misses a shot even when moving at full speed, or hits shots through smoke without any intel, that’s a near-certain sign of an aimbot.
- Identical behavior across multiple matches: If you run into the same username multiple times in one day, and they always lock in the same operator, follow the exact same path every round, and never change their playstyle, they’re almost certainly running a bot script.
I’ve lost count of how many Copper to Bronze lobbies I’ve sat in where half the enemy team is running AFK farming bots to grind renown for new operators. These are the easiest to spot, since they’ll just stand in spawn spinning until the round ends. Competitive bots are far trickier to catch, since many modern scripts add small delays and missed shots to make their performance look more human. I once ran into a bot in a Champion ranked match that was so convincing, I thought it was just a pro player until I watched the replay and saw it was locking onto enemies through 3 walls before they even made a sound. If you’re suspicious, pull up the match replay after the game ends to watch their perspective: if they’re locking onto enemies through walls before they even come into view, you have solid proof of botting.
Why Botting Is So Harmful to the Siege Community
A lot of new players assume that botting only hurts if you run into an aimbot in a ranked match, but even low-effort AFK farming bots cause real damage to the game’s ecosystem for everyone. First, they ruin match quality for casual players who are just trying to have fun. If half your team is AFK farming, you’re stuck playing a 2v5 match that you have almost no chance of winning, wasting 15+ minutes of your time for no reward. Event modes are often hit hardest by this: last year’s Halloween event had so many AFK bots that Ubisoft had to roll out a temporary AFK detection system that kicked players after 30 seconds of inactivity, which fixed the problem for the rest of the event.
Second, botting devalues the rewards you earn through normal play. If thousands of players are botting to get every battle pass skin and operator within a week without playing a single real match, the skins you worked 40+ hours to unlock feel far less special. Some bot users even sell fully leveled accounts with all operators and rare skins for real money, scamming new players out of cash and flooding the market with illegitimate accounts.
Worst of all, botting pushes new players away from the game entirely. A new player who jumps into their first few matches and gets headshot by an aimbot every round isn’t going to stick around to learn the game’s mechanics, which shrinks the overall player base and makes queue times longer for everyone. I’ve talked to dozens of new players who quit Siege permanently after their first week because they ran into too many bots, and that’s a huge loss for a community that thrives on new talent and fresh playstyles. Botting also leads to harsher anti-cheat measures that can sometimes flag legitimate players for unusual behavior, which is another frustrating side effect for the whole community.
Penalties for Botting and How to Report Suspicious Players
Ubisoft takes botting extremely seriously, and they have multiple anti-cheat systems in place to detect and ban bot users automatically, even if no one reports them. First time offenders almost always get a permanent ban on their Ubisoft account, not just a temporary suspension. That means you lose access to all your purchased skins, operators, battle pass progress, and even other Ubisoft games linked to the same account. There is no way to appeal a permanent botting ban in almost all cases, since Ubisoft’s anti-cheat collects multiple points of evidence before issuing a ban, so there’s almost no room for false positives for confirmed bot users.
Some players think they can get away with botting on smurf accounts, but Ubisoft can link smurf accounts to your main account if they’re on the same IP address, so you could end up losing your main account even if you only bot on a throwaway. That risk is never worth the small reward of a few extra renown or a rare skin.
If you run into a suspected bot in your match, reporting them only takes a few seconds and helps Ubisoft flag accounts faster. To report a player, go to the scoreboard at the end of the match, select their username, and click the report button, selecting “cheating” as the reason. If you have replay footage of them botting, you can also submit it through Ubisoft’s official support portal to speed up the review process. The Champion ranked bot I ran into got banned within 24 hours because 7 players from both teams submitted reports and replay clips, so your reports really do make a difference. Never try to use botting software yourself, even if you just want to farm renown quickly. The risk of losing your entire account is never worth the small reward of a few extra skins or operators, and you’re actively ruining the game for thousands of other players who love Siege as much as you do.
At the end of the day, Siege is at its best when every player is on a level playing field, working with their team to outthink and outplay the other side. Understanding what is botting in Rainbow Six Siege helps you spot unfair play faster, report it correctly, and avoid the permanent consequences that come with using these tools yourself. If you see suspicious behavior in your lobbies, don’t shrug it off as just another cheater: reporting it helps keep the game fun and fair for casual and competitive players alike. I’ve seen the community push back against botting a lot over the last few years, and between player reports and improved anti-cheat, the number of bots in lobbies has dropped significantly, but there’s still work to be done to keep the game we love fair for everyone.
