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 “Unstable Breaches and Vruun” as text

Find a Breach

An Unstable Breach shows up in ordinary maps as a purple hand on the ground. You don't need anything to find one. The maps around the Monastery of the Keepers, south of where your Atlas starts, all have Breach encounters, and finishing them gives Breach Atlas points.

Want more of them? A Breach Tablet in the Map Device adds an Unstable Breach to the map. The wiki says each extra Breach Tablet adds another.

Touch the hand, then keep killing

Touch the hand and the Breach spreads across the ground. A meter shows how long it stays open, and every kill inside it adds time. Stay in it and keep the kills coming.

If it goes wrong: If it shrinks away before the meter fills, you weren't killing fast enough. That's fine while you learn; the next one works the same way.

Fill the meter to stabilise it

Fill the meter to 100% and the Breach stabilises. It stops shrinking and sends stronger Rare monsters out of its centre. Since patch 0.5.5 those Rares come in waves of five instead of all at once.

The wiki says loot from the whole encounter drops at your feet when it ends, whether or not it stabilised.

Then, sometimes, Vruun

Once every stabilised Rare is dead, Vruun, Marshal of Xesht sometimes appears. He is a chance, not a step, and he drops Lineage support gems. He is not Xesht: Xesht is the pinnacle boss at the very end of the Breach chain.

If it goes wrong: No Vruun? Nothing went wrong. The Atlas passive Frantic Invasion doubles his chance, and the tablet modifier "of the Commander" raises it too.

Know what a Breach drops

Breach monsters drop three things you use for the rest of the storyline. Breach Splinters: a full stack becomes a Wombgift that grows into a Breachstone. Hiveblood: the fuel for the Genesis Tree. Wombgifts: the seeds the Tree turns into rings, amulets, belts or currency. Breach Tablets drop from them too.

Lesson 2 shows where all of this goes.

Pick a use for your first Breach Tablet

A tablet goes in the Map Device, up to three per map. How many slots a map has depends on its modifiers: a white map with none gets no slot, and a map with six modifiers opens all three. Each tablet has 10 uses. These are three common ways to use a Breach Tablet. The advice is ours.

  • Learn the mechanic: A cheap Breach Tablet in a low-tier map. Play the Breaches, skip the rest, leave. Pick it when: You've never stabilised a Breach before. The cost: Little loot. That's not the point yet.
  • Farm Hiveblood: Look for "of the Flow": 30 to 60% more Hiveblood. Pick it when: You've reached the Genesis Tree and want to birth items. The cost: Needs a map with tablet slots, so it costs more to run.
  • Chase Vruun: Look for "of the Commander": Vruun 20 to 50% more likely. Pick it when: You want Lineage supports, or Vruun's Head (lesson 2). The cost: He's still a chance. Many runs end without him.