Breach

Open the Breach, survive the hive, and follow the chain down to Xesht.

Start: Unstable Breaches and Vruun0 of 4 lessons read

The way down to Xesht

Nine stops, in order. Each one opens the next.

0 of 9 done in game.

  1. Stop 1

    Unstable Breach

    A purple hand in a normal map. Fill its meter to stabilise it.

    Stabilise an Unstable Breach: fill its meter to 100%.

    Taught in Unstable Breaches and Vruun

  2. Stop 2

    Monastery of the Keepers

    Ailith's hub, south of your Atlas start. Home of the Genesis Tree.

    Reach the Monastery of the Keepers and meet Ailith.

    Taught in The Monastery and the Genesis Tree

  3. Stop 3

    Quest Breachstone

    After five more Breaches, Ailith gives you the first one. After that, Splinters make them.

    Finish the five Breaches Ailith asks for and get her quest Breachstone.

    Taught in The Monastery and the Genesis Tree

  4. Stop 4

    Breach Stronghold

    A cluster of Breach maps that a Breachstone reveals on the Atlas.

    Use a Breachstone to reveal a Breach Stronghold.

    Taught in Hives, Fortresses and Ailith

  5. Stop 5

    Breach Hive

    Burn the walls, then keep Ailith alive while she destroys the Hive.

    Finish a Breach Hive with Ailith alive.

    Taught in Hives, Fortresses and Ailith

  6. Stop 6

    Hive Fortress

    A longer defence, then escape while the core collapses.

    Finish a Hive Fortress and escape the collapse.

    Taught in Hives, Fortresses and Ailith

  7. Stop 7

    Hive Colony

    Fight It That Was Tul and It That Was Esh together. They drop the Breachlord Sac.

    Beat It That Was Tul and It That Was Esh, and take the Breachlord Sac.

    Taught in Tul, Esh and Xesht

  8. Stop 8

    The Dreamer

    Offer the Sac to the Dreamer, beside the Genesis Tree.

    Give the Breachlord Sac to the Dreamer.

    Taught in Tul, Esh and Xesht

  9. Stop 9

    Xesht, We That Are One

    The pinnacle, at the end of the Twisted Domain.

    Kill Xesht, We That Are One.

    Taught in Tul, Esh and Xesht

Vruun, Marshal of Xesht

An extra boss in Unstable Breaches. Once every stabilised Rare is dead, he sometimes appears. He is not Xesht; they are two different bosses.

He drops Lineage support gems. With the Atlas passive Flesh Flower he also drops his Head, which grows the Grasping Orchid at the Genesis Tree.

Two different Fortresses

The Hive Fortress is a Breach map where you defend Ailith. It has nothing to do with the Fortress at the centre of your Atlas, the road to the Arbiter of Divinity.

Go to the Fortress storyline

Lessons

  1. Unstable Breaches and VruunOpen a Breach, fill its meter, and what comes out when it stabilises.Up next
  2. The Monastery and the Genesis TreeAilith's hub, Hiveblood and Wombgifts, and how Splinters become a Breachstone.Open
  3. Hives, Fortresses and AilithStrongholds, burning walls, keeping Ailith alive, and the Hive Fortress escape.Open
  4. Tul, Esh and XeshtThe Hive Colony, the Breachlord Sac, the Dreamer and the pinnacle fight.Open
  5. Hive defencePass it to light up the test node on the map.After the lessons

The Genesis Tree

Breach's crafting, in the Monastery. Two things go in, one item comes out.

  • Hiveblood is the fuel. It isn't an item. It's stored at the Tree as you kill Breach monsters.
  • A Wombgift is the seed. Breach monsters drop them. Each kind goes to its own womb and births rings, amulets, belts, currency or a Breachstone.
  • Catalysts only come from here. Since patch 0.5.0, monsters no longer drop them.
Try the Genesis Tree on the map
Read “Hives, Fortresses and Ailith” as text

Reveal a Breach Stronghold

A Breachstone reveals a cluster of maps in a Breach area on your Atlas. That cluster is a Breach Stronghold. Patch 0.5.3 made Strongholds bigger, and the ones further out on the Atlas are about the size of the one near the Ziggurat. Inside them you find Breach Hives.

Patch 0.5.0 called this a Breach Domain. Later notes and the item text say Stronghold.

Burn the walls, or don't

A Breach Hive is a map grown over by organic walls. They burn away as you walk into them, and every wall you destroy adds monsters to the event. More walls means a harder fight and more loot.

Keep Ailith alive

Start the event at the centre of the Hive. Ailith works to destroy the Hive while waves of monsters come for her. Your job is to keep her alive. If she dies, the Hive fails.

Purple flames around the Hive give you her helper skills. The wiki lists heals, shields, a flame wall, freezes and meteors.

If it goes wrong: Losing her early? Burn fewer walls on your next Hive, and pick up flames as soon as they show.

Escape the Hive Fortress

A Hive Fortress is a longer Ailith defence, with more waves and more flames to pick up. When it ends, the core collapses and sends out pulses while you get out. Since patch 0.5.5 the Wombgifts at the end drop for every player in the party.

Finishing a Breach Hive and a Hive Fortress are both steps in Keepers of the Flame, and the wiki says both give Genesis Tree points.

Don't mix up the two Fortresses

The Hive Fortress is a Breach map. The Fortress at the centre of your Atlas, the road to the Arbiter of Divinity, is a different storyline. They share a word and nothing else. If someone says "run the Fortress", ask which one.

Decide on Reactive Hiveseeding

The Atlas passive Reactive Hiveseeding gives a 10% chance, when you finish a Breach, to add a Hive to a nearby map. Since patch 0.5.5 it also shows you which map. There's a catch: a map with a Hive doesn't get Unstable Breaches from Breach Tablets. The advice below is ours.

  • Take it: Finished Breaches sometimes seed a Hive nearby. Pick it when: You want more Hives and Hive Fortresses. The cost: Those Hive maps won't take your Breach Tablets.
  • Skip it: Hives only come from your Strongholds. Pick it when: You farm Unstable Breaches with tablets. The cost: Fewer Hives.