Defenders:
A-listers. Essential. You won't last without them.

First Place: Rook.
A worse Doc once his Armor Pack is down, Rook is nevertheless an essential choice just due to the added survivability he brings to his team. While the armor will make little difference at close range, the medium and long-range engagements where the Attackers hold the advantage at are the most affected by Rook's armor, and the most life-saving therefore. None of the Defenders are operating at peak potential until there's a Rook on the team. Rook has the single strongest team ability of any operator, period.

B-listers. Main composition of the team. Not a single one is a bad pick.

Second Place: Bandit.
The king of roaming, Bandit may the the operator closest to the title of "most hated" simply because he will kill you just when you least need or expect it. Adding to that, the potential to destroy Thermite's charges with a bit of good timing elevate Bandit from "annoyance" to "excellent". Unfortunately not an essential operator due to his self-focused playstyle, a good Bandit will steal victory every time.

Third Place: Smoke.
Combining an underrated but potent SMG with his obscene Mac 11 secondary and plenty of dangerous gadgets to toss around, Smoke is more than just a warning of danger. He's the single-best operator for killing shields, as there's no time to be tactical when a gas canister pops at your feet. It's do-or-die, and his nitro pack certainly makes the latter a possibility if a choking Shield decides to beat the drums and attack. Weighed down only by his limited range and little utility outside of killing, Smoke is a lifesaver when you hear the clanking of multiple shields.

Fourth Place: Doc.
Being the second of four defenders to have an Armor-Rating of three, and the only one with an ability actively useful for himself, Doc ranks in solidly. Capable of reviving himself after being knocked down, Doc is only held out of the A-list due to the finicky nature of downings, and the negative effect this has on his theoretically excellent ability. Although superior to Rook when both are present on a team, this superiority only arises because Rook is present and is therefore the reason preference is given to Rook. In short, Doc is a Rook who can't help the team as well, and can't roam well due to low speed and high noise. He's redeemed only because he's a tank who can pick himself back up.

Fifth Place: Jaeger.
Mainly useful for the life-saving threat denial of his ADS, Jaeger is a capable defender. Capable of denying Frag grenades, Fuze's Cluster Charges, Ash's Breaching Rounds, and potentially even Thatcher's EMP grenades, Jaeger brings a solid counter to all the top tools of the top Attackers. The 416-C is also the only of the Defender weapons to be classified as an Assault Rifle, with the appropriate range drop-off characteristics to match. What this also means however, is that he suffers increased recoil compared to his peers and may have difficult snapping off headshots, despite the increased damage he can put out for torso hits.

C-listers: The Bench. Operators here are generally strong, but certain B-list+ Attackers outright counter them.

Sixth Place: Mute.
A theoretically strong device that denies drones and breaching charges of all flavors, Mute's only weakness is the strength of Thatcher's EMP grenades, and the similar and sometimes superior benefits offered by Bandit's shock wires. Not a bad choice by any means, especially with his MP5k, but Mute's best use is serving as a redundancy for Bandit, especially since he brings Armor-Rank two instead of one. If you're on a map with too many ways in, Mute helps lighten Bandit's load.

Seventh Place: Pulse.
With an undeniably strong ability and the second-best shotgun to boot, Pulse is no slouch. As a roamer who can't even bring team benefits like Bandit, Smoke, or Mute however, Pulse unfortunately only brings the niche role of spotting hostiles, which only works when voice-communication is reliable. Anything else is too slow.

D-listers: The gutter. Pick these for memes.

Eighth Place: Castle.
Bringing a loadout near-identical to Pulse, Castle's loss of the nitro cell isn't his biggest worry. Rather, the strength of the Attackers who counter his barricades is what dooms Castle to mediocrity. With Sledge treating his barricades equal to wooden ones, and still being unable to stop Fuze charges, the only time Castle can trade evenly on equipment is against Ash, but she can still choose the most important barricades (not necessarily even his) to take down. The theoretically-unbreakable barriers that can be made with one of Castle's barricades and Mute's jammers similarly doesn't pan out because of the guaranteed presence of Thatcher. Where it not for the interaction between his ability and other operators being almost entirely in the Attacker's favor, Castle could be a contender for the B-list due to his otherwise beneficial ability. As it stands however, Castle is entirely mediocre despite bringing the second-best shotgun in the game.

Nineth Place: Kapkan.
An absolute waste of the Armor-ranking three, Kapkan manages to be subpar despite his excellent SMG, all on account of an unfocused and ineffective kit. Overly-visible traps, the worst of the semi-auto shotguns, and Speed-ranking one meaning no roam potential, it's no surprise that Kapkan ranks down here.

Tenth Place: Tachanka.
The last of four Defenders to bring Armor-Ranking three, Tachanka is by far the worst. Suffering from the same issues relative to Kapkan as Castle suffers to Pulse, Tachanka trades out his nitro cell for no benefit -- especially undesirable in this case because it leaves Tachanka without a single way to deal with shields. He can't even outrun them, and his turret leaves him a sitting duck against them. It's so bad they can actually walk up and melee kill him before he can dismount the turret. The only thing (maybe) worth taking Tachanka for, ever, is the meme strategy of combining the wall-penetration of his turret with the locations of hostiles gathered via Pulse or cameras on maps that lack solid cover. Even then, this heavily team-reliant strategy will not last in serious play, as hostile Attackers will either encounter or kill Tachanka before he can spring his trap, or will be able to secure solid cover as small as a brick doorframe due to extensive map knowledge.