Into The Breach plays fair with the player — everything is explained and shown in concise, visual terms. The order of enemy attacks and events are shown in detail, but not everything is clear. Sometimes, the game’s systems interact in interesting ways. Ways that aren’t always so easy to predict.
That’s why we’re digging deep and explaining all the weird little details Into The Breach doesn’t explain. These interest tidbits were compiled by Steam User jon on his guide here. There’s some interesting stuff here. It ranges from the obvious (fire makes ice melt instantly) to the not-so-obvious (acid puts out fires, and acid will linger on a tile, even on water) — with as simple as Into The Breach appears to be, there’s plenty of secrets hidden under the UI.
More Into The Breach guides on Gameranx:
- Into The Breach: 10 Tips To Help You Crush The Vek | Beginner’s Guide
- Into The Breach: An Easier Campaign Victory Guide | Custom Squad Build
- Into The Breach: How To Use Console Commands | PC Cheats Guide
- Into The Breach: How To Unlock Secret Alien Pilots | FTL Easter Eggs Guide
- Into The Breach: How To Unlock The Secret Vek Hybrid Mech Squad
All The Weird Things The Game Doesn’t Tell You
There are plenty of strange features in the game, but let’s start with the basics. Here, we’re going to cover (mostly) ways you can interact with different environment effects. Shields do not protect you from insta-kill environment effects.
- General – Repairing
- Repairing doesn’t just heal you, it also removes status effects. Frozen / Fire / Acid are cured when using repair.
- General – Armor
- Armor will protect against self-damaging effects.
- Pilot Abe’s armor skill only applies once. There is no stacking armor buff.
- General – Shields
- Shields do not protect you from insta-kill environment effects.
- Shields can be applied to Vek — though why would you want to?
- Shields protect Mechs from status effects. Frozen / Fire / Acid are not applied if you have a shield active.
- Shields also stops self-applying status effects.
- Shields will not fix status effects. Frozen / Fire / Acid will still be applied under your shield.
- Shields protect buildings from a single attack.
- Shields can also protect trains from attacks.
- Shields will not protect trains from crashing.
- Status Effect – Fire
- Fire-based attacks will melt ice tiles instantly.
- The train, standard buildings, and the Renfield bomb are all immune to fire, even if their tile is on fire.
- Allied NPCs you can control, like the Terraformer building, can be set on fire.
- Status Effect – Ice
- Ice-based attacks freeze water tiles, and instantly put out burning tiles.
- Ice-based attacks put out units on fire.
- An ally / enemy that is frozen is considered grounded. Freezing a hornet will cause it to fall to the ground and lose the “flying” status.
- Freezing allies / enemies interrupts attacks. Even if an ally / enemy is unfrozen on the same turn.
- You can freeze the train to stop it from moving. The train does not need to reach the exit to complete the mission.
- Freezing satellites will stop the launch. Unfreezing them will interrupt their action. They will attempt to launch again next turn.
- Applying a freeze effect to a standard building is just like giving the building a shield — it protects against one damage.
- Status Effect – A.C.I.D.
- Killing a unit affected by acid will leave behind an acid tile.
- Stepping into water while affected by acid creates an acid-water tile.
- Acid-based attacks put out tiles on fire, but does not put out units on fire.
- Acid-based attacks nullify armor buffs from Psion Vek.
- Acid-based attacks leave an acid puddle on tiles. Even over emerging Vek tiles.
- Acid tiles do not pierce armor. Acid-based attacks applied directly to enemies will pierce armor.
- Status Effect – Smoke
- Smoke, when applied, puts out burning tiles.
- Smoke also puts out burning units.
- Smoke always interrupts enemy attacks for the turn, even after the enemy moves out of smoke.
- Smoke will prevent satellite launches.
- Pilot – Isaac
- Isaac gives you two Resets. If you have high grid defense, you can use Resets and hope for a lucky no-damage hit to buildings on your map. If a building is going to take a hit, use multiple Resets — the RNG will change for each Reset.
- Pilot – Camila Vera
- Although this pilot is immune to smoke / webbing, Vek will still attempt to web her mech.
- Enemy – Emerging
- Emerging enemy tiles can have acid applied.
- Emerging enemy tiles can be blocked by boulders.
- Emerging enemy tiles can be permanently blocked by destroyed mechs. A destroyed mech cannot be removed from the map.
- Enemy – Psions
- Killing a Green Scion causes all enemies to lose 1 HP. Enemies with only one HP left will die instantly.
- Purple Scions’ shell passive is ineffective against acid.
- Enemy – Burrowers
- When damaged, Burrowers dig underground. While underground, they will put out fire effects applied to them.
- Enemy – Beetles
- Enemy Beetles attack by charging straight across the map. If their path enters a water / lava tile, they will die instantly.
- Boss Beetles will pass directly through water / lava tiles undamaged.
- Enemy – Giant Blob
- The enemy jelly attacks by moving into a tile and instantly killing / destroying anything in the tile. If multiple jellies attack the same tile, they will kill each other instantly.
- Mech – Blitzkrieg
- Standard lightning does not damage or chain through buildings. Standard buildings, corporate HQs, power plants, bars, labs, solar panels, are safe from lightning strings.
- Boulders thrown by the Boulder Mech will chain lightning.
- Boulders can be used to block emerging Vek.
- Structures you can take control of, like the Terraformer, will chain and take damage from lightning.
- Mech – Steel Judoka
- The Vice Fist throw ability will not work if the tile behind you is already blocked.
- Mech – Flame Behemoths
- Fire-based attacks do not affect buildings. Buildings, even when on burning tiles, are not damaged by fire.
- The Teleporter can be used to escape webs.
- Upgrade the Flame Thrower’s range to gain a push effect.
- Mech – Hazardous Mechs
- Do not use Hydraulic Legs to jump into another acid tile. The acid effect is applied during the jump, and then the acid tile effect is applied on top of that when you land. The acid effect is doubled.
- Viscera Nanobots heal mechs before they are destroyed. If you have 1 HP, and you use an attack that self-damages but kills an enemy, you will still heal to 1 HP or 2 HP.
And that’s all the weird tidbits we’ve got so far. Check back later, we’ll add more as they’re discovered.
