Breach
Open the Breach, survive the hive, and follow the chain down to Xesht.
The way down to Xesht
Nine stops, in order. Each one opens the next.
0 of 9 done in game.
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 storylineLessons
- Unstable Breaches and VruunOpen a Breach, fill its meter, and what comes out when it stabilises.Up next
- The Monastery and the Genesis TreeAilith's hub, Hiveblood and Wombgifts, and how Splinters become a Breachstone.Open
- Hives, Fortresses and AilithStrongholds, burning walls, keeping Ailith alive, and the Hive Fortress escape.Open
- Tul, Esh and XeshtThe Hive Colony, the Breachlord Sac, the Dreamer and the pinnacle fight.Open
- 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.
Farm it
Meet BreachLearn Breach in low-tier Magic or Rare maps with a cheap Wraeclast Besieged tablet, which keeps Breaches open far longer. A short loop: prep, map, loot, upgrade.BudgetOpen the loopBreach Catalyst farmJuiced maps with three Breach Tablets for Hiveblood and Wombgifts, and a Genesis Tree set up for Catalysts to sell. By Masterer Mitch, on Farm of Exile (patch 0.5.5).AdvancedRead the guideMore Breach strategies will show up here as creators publish them.
Read “Tul, Esh and Xesht” as text
Fight Tul and Esh in the Hive Colony
The Hive Colony is a special map where you fight two Breachlords together: It That Was Tul and It That Was Esh. The wiki says they take turns until they're down to 40% life, then fight together on one shared health bar.
If it goes wrong: Since patch 0.5.0b you can retry the first quest Hive Colony after a failure.
Take the Breachlord Sac
Beating Tul and Esh gives you the key to the Breach pinnacle: the Breachlord Sac. GGG's notes call it a key; the wiki and guides name it. A Sac can also come from the Genesis Tree passive Reappropriated Offspring, at 0.3% per birth.
Where repeat Hive Colonies come from after the quest isn't confirmed yet, so we don't say.
Give the Sac to the Dreamer
Go back to the Monastery and offer the Breachlord Sac to the Dreamer, in the room next to the Genesis Tree. That opens a portal to the Twisted Domain.
If it goes wrong: Older guides send you to a Realmgate near the Ziggurat. It's gone from the Atlas since patch 0.5.0.
Run the Twisted Domain
The Twisted Domain is a long, linear area that runs toward the boss arena. The wiki says it opens with a Breach on a 45-second timer that kills extend. Xesht is level 79 for the quest kill and level 82 after that.
Survive Xesht's first phase
In the quest fight Ailith is with you, and Xesht aims his first attack at her. Stay close and circle him to beat his tracking energy shots. Dodge three times for his ground volley. Watch the shadow of the giant hand before it slams. He also burrows and comes up in a line slice, and calls on Breachlords: Xoph's slow sun orb, Tul's cone of ice that can freeze you, and Esh's lightning ring.
Since patch 0.5.4 he has 30% fire, cold and lightning resistance, down from 75%.
Finish phase two, then loot
In phase two, arms burst out of portals and keep coming, and Tul and Esh attack at the same time. Use the arena's walkways to get out of range. Xesht drops one unique from a short list, and sometimes Lineage supports, including Uul-Netol's Embrace, which only he drops and only rarely. Each kill also gives Breach Atlas points, 6 per kill according to the wiki.
That's the whole Breach chain. The test is next.