Into the Breach - Pilot Tier List

[@conjecturemm]

hope you enjoy my Pilot tierlist! I'm excited to view the new pilots that are released and see where I'll place them on this list UPDATE: Here it is - kzbin.info/www/bejne/nn7bnJeVd6tsea8&ab_channel=Filet64 Also, join the discord if you want to join our community livestreams of playing Into the Breach here on KZbin! discord.gg/ZPKTYSFjGJ

[@frilans5974]

Thank you for the nice video and excellent analysis. I would agree on most of it but I do consider Kazaakpleth to be the best pilot. His inherent ability to attack with 2 damage plus push means that both equipment slots can filled by limited use items like Light Tank or modifiers like Force Amp. I would also rate Gana as mid-tier pilot.

[@ozb1010]

Itb is getting an update? Fuck yeah baby

[@axu2378]

You forgot one crucial factor when it comes to the pilots: their charming personalities, which makes Abe with his Samurai poetry easily the best pilot in the game.

[@creebotthegreat4159]

Love Harold for his scientific passion towards the Vek. Would love to see his reaction seeing the Secret Squad.

[@antonioscendrategattico2302]

I love Gana for his absolutely insane quotes about rounding up and executing malfunctioning components.

[@schizophrenic_rambler]

I'm a soulless metaslave powergamer

[@rileywoolstenhulme4065]

​@@antonioscendrategattico2302gana has to be my favorite pilot in the game, I wholeheartedly agree with you

[@antonioscendrategattico2302]

@@rileywoolstenhulme4065 He's funny as fuck. Unfortunately his power is trash :(

[@thomaswelch1585]

I think you're underestimating Gana. Being able to do 1 damage at the start of the match is nice, but being able to place a mech ANYWHERE on the board is a game changer for certain mechs

[@conjecturemm]

Yeah as I think about it more I'm probably going to move him up a tier when I remake this list. Even though I really don't love him at all, I would 100% of the time pick him over any of the other pilots in the bottom tier, so I feel like I have to move him up one.

[@aRennix]

Yeah I think so too. Putting Gana in strong prime mechs for when your expecting strong enemies or boss fights is great so you don't have to menuaver around on your first turn. You can set him up so on your first turn you can start dealing damage to bosses early on with negligible need for repositioning.

[@headcrab4]

Another redeeming factor about him is that sure, 1 damage isn't a lot, but in the Ice island there are quite a few 1 HP robots that he can take out before the first turn even begins.

[@Mr_Smith618]

He's my new favorite, being able to place anywhere on the board and possibly even kill 1 hp bugs

[@MechaMario64]

gana + blitzkrieg = my favorite combo ever

[@pointynoodle]

Another thing to mention about Mafan: Since he can't get the +2 health upgrade, he is much more likely to receive a +1 move or +1 core experience upgrade.

[@Maxi-Gonz.]

Mafan already has +1 core, can he really get another +1 core?

[@pointynoodle]

@@Maxi-Gonz. Yeah I think so

[@KimFareseed]

​@@Maxi-Gonz. When I first found them they had +1 reactor. So, they took over the Science mech from Hazardous for the rest of that timeline.

[@stevenbray4104]

I completely agree with where you put everyone, except for Henry. While, yes, flying is better, in the early game his extra mobility is exceptionally useful. I don't think I play to block as many spawns as you might, so I might be navigating a more target rich environment (at least at first), increasing the value of moving through them. He also deserves to be top tier based solely on all the cool dialogue he's got. He's the pilot with the most personality in my eyes.

[@conjecturemm]

Yeah Harold being higher has been one of the most common criticisms I’ve received so far. Maybe it is just a difference in play style because I truly rarely get good use from him. Also I regretfully must inform you that because I rarely use him I have no idea what his personality is lol. Incoming personality tierlist

[@Mr_Smith618]

He was my first consistent carry over pilot that I finally started beating the game with. Being able to go right through enemies especially when I boosted his movement was great while I was learning

[@miles_tails0511]

@@Mr_Smith618 I was chanting "Koo-wan" "Koo-wan" as I blasted him thru multiple timelines. Henry Kwan + hook mech anyone?

[@fernando47180]

@@Mr_Smith618 For me, it was always him or the one that avoids webbing and smoke. They are both super handy to have

[@gabrielrussell5531]

A lot of the aliens are more concerned with being faithful to their FTL race than being balanced. I'd love to see what the Slugs, Engi and Lanius would be like. (Especially Lanius since their central mechanic was oxygen which isn't a thing in ItB) Maybe they'll be secret pilots in the update. For example in FTL the Zoltan had lower HP, but they added one power to whatever room they were in, and their ship's main gimmick was the "Zoltan supershield". The Mantis are bad at fixing things, but good at fighting crew. The Rocks had huge HP pools, were immune to fire, and moved slow.

[@conjecturemm]

I did not know any of this as I have not played FTL. I think I'll have to try it soon!

[@meepoffaith6153]

Perhaps the Slug's ability to see enemy crew without sensors could play into telling you what Vek are emerging.

[@simonastron555]

also adriane is from a quest in FTL where she is going to be forcefully married and you have the option to get a augment for handing her over, or you can save her.

[@simonastron555]

also the mantis is a pirate in ftl.

[@meepoffaith6153]

@@simonastron555 im pretty sure mafan is the pacifist zoltan in the ship quest

[@joetrayax9300]

And there is one more downside of vek pilots - if I remember right, they are hardwired to their mech, and a) cannot be taken to the next playthrough (and you lose pilot taken to this) b) you cannot swap pilots between mechs, so if you get a useful combination on a wrong mech - sucks to be you

[@conjecturemm]

Correct! Though honestly I think I wasn’t even considering those factors for any pilots in this tierlist

[@animarthur5297]

I love Camila soooo much. Webbing is so annoying and she completely negates it, plus she synergizes extremely well with squads that use smoke such as the Rusting Hulks and Mist Eaters

[@magnarstensland7154]

She doesn’t really synergize with mist eaters though, since they eat the mist

[@RorikH]

Having that extra reset from Isaac has helped me out on a couple of occasions. Sometimes you just don't realize all of the possibilities and risks until you've already moved... twice.

[@conjecturemm]

Sometimes it helps me out, too, but usually if I just think a little bit harder/longer I wouldn't need to reset like 90% of the time that I do. So if you're trying to run through quickly or playing distracted he's more help imo lol

[@randyrockholt834]

I swear Gana is the most underrated pilot in this game. The applications and tempo you gain from his ability is something most players don't seem to break down. Lets take a look at the things his one ability does: 1) Starting anywhere on the map for one damage to adjacent vek not only gets that one extra damage that you might need to put them away a turn sooner (which is huge), but more importantly, its positional manipulation. Often times if you can deploy him right in the midst of the vek, you can usually bait 2 of them to waste their first turn targeting him instead of separate buildings. This is massive to help early tempo. Anyone that has a lot of hours in this game knows that you are generally at the greatest disadvantage turn one when there are the most vek on the map and your pilots don't have the best positioning. In a game where you are forced to play reactive from the jump, that early tempo is huge. This starting position amongst the vek also helps make it easier to reach them when he is in a mech with only 3 movement. 2) On missions that require 2 mountains to be destroyed, you can deploy him next to them to destroy both or at least one mountain, completing a mission objective turn one. 3) The ability to destroy mountains means that you can use his ability to destroy a cracked mountain or ice tile with the hidden beacon in it, thus requiring one less action to obtain it. 4) With the new DLC, the mission that requires 8 tiles to be on fire, you can take care of up to half of them with his ability. 5) With the new DLC, his ability can be used to remove the shield from the building that's powering the robot at Pinnacle, thus requiring one less action to destroy it, just like the cracked mountain. 6) Also on the DLC, he can destroy those boom robots setting off a nice chain of damage. There may be other missions on the DLC where his ability comes in clutch that I'm just not thinking of right now. 7) I know this one was actually mentioned in the video, but seeing where the pilons will be on the final mission is also helpful. Most of the complaints I've heard about him revolve around the blood and shell psion shutting down his damage, and while this is true, it still doesn't negate all of the other positive benefits that I've listed here. And now with the DLC adding an additional 4 new psion (that don't shut down his ability) the odds of running into one of those 2 psion is smaller. I'm not saying he is the best pilot in the game (mafan) but he is my favorite and I think in terms of ability he has a unique creative ability that puts him top 5 in my book.

[@conjecturemm]

I would definitely not put him top 5, however you can see from my other comments I actually do think I underrated him here and will likely move him up to mid tier when I update this list!

[@aRennix]

THANK YOU I honestly couldn't have said it better myself. I was screaming inside when he put Gana in bottom teir 😂 Gana is by far one of my favorites and easily top 5. Imo if you think Gana is anything below mid then you just don't know how to use him effectively.

[@randyrockholt834]

@@aRennix Your welcome! How is all that not worth ONE reactor core?? BTW I love your ITB videos Filet. Particularly this video and the mech team tier list. It helps to expose this awesome game even more. I just want people to be able to recognize all the things you can do with Gana. If you have the time and interest it would also be cool for you to do a weapons tier list that includes all the DLC stuff, once you've had ample time to play with it all.

[@josephbierzynski1884]

Love any talk about ItB! I want to point out that pilots aren't created equal because they don't exist in a vacuum. Some of the "weaker" pilots aren't a great pick for carrying over into a new playthrough, but do have niche value over their competition. For example, encountering Chen on the first island instead of Archimedes could be the difference between a perfect playthrough and one with strategic losses.

[@conjecturemm]

Agreed, and that’s why I tried to make the actual tiers somewhat vague, since with a game like ItB it’s hard to have concrete ratings

[@FelipeKana1]

The robot that deploys anywhere in the map also has a huge problem: very prone to be swamped by the enemies by starting so close to them

[@conjecturemm]

True, got to pick and choose where they go carefully!

[@aRennix]

Bright side is if they are swarming Gana then you don't have to worry as much about protecting your grid. Usually an artillery mech with knockback is all you need to get him out of a swarm. Imo Gana is great for boss fights. If I put him in a strong prime mech I can set him up to start dealing damage to the boss very early on in the round.

[@pendragonchen]

even ignoring the placement advantage that gana gives in normal ITB, the introduction of on-kill mechanics to AE makes his 1-damage placements a lot more useful than before. Can't wait to see the updated list!

[@conjecturemm]

true, like if he has opener then he can do two damage! Though admittedly this list doesn't really factor in abilities.

[@ChadEichhorn]

I feel that the wind turbine weapon is far from the strongest interaction with Silica. Silica in the prime mech of Blitzkrieg, Flame Behemoths, or Hazardous Mechs can usually single handedly win a run. Especially so in Blitzkrieg and Hazardous.

[@conjecturemm]

I agree that those are powerful but you still generally need to be in the right space for it to work. With the wind torrent you can be literally anywhere

[@therealMolochko]

I like Silica with strategic mechs. Swap mech is my favorite. Jet mech is also top tier with Silica.

[@Clawdragoons]

I generally agree with the tier list, except for a few quibbles. I think Gana is better than you give him credit for. Sure, 1 damage isn't going to kill a lot of vek outright, but there are plenty of attacks which would leave a vek at 1 health later on, and that can really help dealing with problem vek. Additionally there's some advantage to be gained with setting tiles on fire, cracking ice, and so on. I'd bump him up a tier. Especially because you put Lily in mid, you recognize the value of positioning on the first turn. If anything I might swap the two. The vek pilots do get to actually make use of self-destruct button without additional support, but it's a pretty minor benefit. I'd keep them where they are, of course, but it is a plus worth mentioning. Ariadne I'd consider moving up a tier. She's at least borderline? Her health ability helps her body block a vek attack, block vek spawns, and manage self-damage weapons easier, and the fire helps with self-damage abilities (because you don't need to worry about avoiding forests), positioning, blocking, and some other cases. I think she shines more in random and custom squads, where you might end up with fire weapons but no flame shielding. Or if you just find one of those weapons to add to your loadout. Isaac's definitely where he belongs in the bottom tier, though I will say, resets do have some marginal use in testing whether you have a grid resist. Those are rolled in advance, so if you know you've got one you can plan around it. It's... an incredibly small benefit and with a better pilot you might not need to rely on grid resists at all, but it IS at least a benefit.

[@conjecturemm]

Thanks for sharing this feedback! Yeah I get what you're saying about Gana's ability to deal small damage helping out later, and even cracking ice tiles or putting things on fire. But imo the fact that it costs a reactor core still holds him back. Like in the beginning I'd be much more likely to want to use that reactor core on upgrading weapons, so maybe Gana's ability could be more useful once you've got the build you want and have cores to spare (which is funny because that's kinda the opposite of what I said in the video). Also, I actually did think about whether or not he and Lily should be on the same tier because their abilities give you similar first-turn options. But the difference that puts Lily above Gana to me (besides not needing a reactor core) is that she has a ton of movement *after* the vek make their first turn. Where you can spawn Gana anywhere, but then the vek still get to move wherever they want after. Gana's movement flexibility comes on turn 0, where Lily's comes on turn 1. All this being said, I would definitely rather have Gana than any of the other pilots in the bottom tier...so he probably does belong in the mid tier. By the vek pilots you mean the secret pilots? Yeah true but if you use it a lot then you'll just wind up with 0 XP constantly so I don't see it as very different from an AI pilot (not even a CorPilot). I would leave Ariadne in mid personally. Health is great but movement and other options are a higher priority for my play. I agree though she could be very helpful in random runs, especially ones that give you flame or self-damaging weapons. I think that's what makes something like a pilot tierlist so tough to create, is that I'm trying to give a generalized average but the reality is that (except for imo the low tier pilots) all the pilots can be extremely useful in different scenarios. Yep Isaac is the worst by far for experienced players, I guess except for the CorPilot. I agree with your description of his benefit (and I even have a video on how to take advantage of grid resists) but it's pretty easy to do that normally with just one reset per map, not two, so I'd say Isaac is still the weakest.

[@joetrayax9300]

Also Gana's damage on deployment is completely useless if armor psion appears at the beginning and almost useless if regeneration psion does the same thing (vecs will heal Gana's damage before out mechs will get their turn)

[@seleckcka7104]

I think the main use for Gana is the deployment not the damage. First turn is usually the most dangerous one since you have the most Vek to deal with and your pilots are a little further away from the action. Of course often it won´t matter but I rate the pilots more by if they will help me prevent grid damage I otherwise wouldn´t be able to over an ability which might have more uses but doesn´t change the overall picture.

[@ih8people]

Isaac's ability has a very obscure and not very well-known side effect of affecting the _probability_ of a grid resist. I also agree on Gana being better than they are saying it is. Deployment is one of the most crucial phases of the game, and being able to deploy anywhere is huge. What surprised me is that Harold was put into Mid tier. In my eyes (I play exclusively on Hard nowadays) he's definitely one of the top tier pilots because of how much he can affect the battlefield.

[@aRennix]

@@seleckcka7104 Exactly. I love putting Gana in strong prime mechs, especially for boss fights. I don't have to risk wasting a turn trying to menuaver my mech when I have Gana cause I can drop him right next to the boss and start pounding them on turn 1. It's not at all about the 1 damage drop, it's about the easy access and convenience to start dealing damage early on with little need for repositioning

[@yourpal4l]

I disagree with you about the Vek being Negligible. Having access to Self Destruct as an option is so good. Ever had those runs where you know you can't kill the boss beetle? Now you can do that without that sacrifice. Ghana I feel is very balanced. Yes, you do 1 damage when landing is useless but you can deploy ANYWHERE. I find it good when you get the extra weapons that no mech has like the Sword since if you deploy deep and you get swarmed, you can easily setup a hit with the sword where you can multihit.

[@conjecturemm]

Yeah my thoughts on him have changed since I made this tierlist! I’m putting him higher when I remake it

[@remy8587]

With the exchange mech, having gana is good because you can put him into water at the beginin of the run and then get one free kill by exchanging him to a ground vek right away

[@jafsrob]

abe also lets you move your mech with OTHER mechs attacks for less health cost. situational, but useful.

[@Phantom_Kraken]

13:59 His a beginner pilot unless your like me and get him as your 2nd last pilot😓

[@conjecturemm]

RNG baby!!

[@SilvaRings]

I’ve always been really iffy about steel judoka, never knew how to use them properly. Putting the Mantis guy on the prime kinda fixed it for me (even if it was on easy lol)

[@Uforianer]

Silica with the bomber mech that can spawn a 1 hp walking bomb is incredible, you can attack 2 times and each spawns 2 range 1 hp 1 unit. And since they themselves can walk the not moving becomes even more irrelevant. Like Silica can block 4 emerging vek all by himself

[@RaidPerspective]

Solid list and I think you are just about spot on. If anything there probably needs to be a tier above worst and below mid though as I feel Gana is ranked too low, but the difference in some of the mid tier pilots necessitates increased granularity.

[@conjecturemm]

Thanks! I tried to keep it very vague (very helpful in all vs very helpful in few/somewhat helpful in all) because the range of options that this game can throw at you makes ranking all of them "fairly" makes it difficult imo

[@counterplexus2574]

Great tier list. Great content. Can't wait for AE and right before you rated them for a lot of the pilots I predicted exactly where you were going to rate them right beforehand, all though I had very differing opinions (which I won't explain because it would be a long and annoying rant) as a player with more than 400 hours of experience I can understand and respect your opinion. also I really liked your idea with the squad tier list by making it 2 dimensional.

[@conjecturemm]

Thanks! Yeah I considered doing a multi-dimensional tierlist like the squads, but I think there's a fundamental difference between them imo: some pilots are objectively better than others (like, say, camila vs isaac jones) whereas squads are much more subjective. I still tried to keep the tierlist pretty open-ended, but I doubt I can please everyone! Very excited for AE DLC to come out soon!

[@Killpocalips]

Take gana and three driller mechs. Drop him in the middle of them so they all target him. Since he's weaken them dropping in its basically a free kill first turn.. which means there's cracked tiles for your other two to drop things in. Easy "win with three of the same mech" and "win with three flying mech"

[@jeevananand4810]

Oh man I'm so excited to watch you play the AE content! I've been really enjoying your Pacifist series too.

[@conjecturemm]

I'm excited to play it! Glad you're enjoying, too :)

[@twentysixomg]

You had me until Harold! He’s easily a top 3 pick for me. A 4-way pulse often solves 2 problems at once, even if it’s just moving Vek, and not only is it free, but it heals him too! Almost guarantees his survival through the game. You mentioned the potential downside of pushing Vek into buildings, which can happen, but this is very rare in my experience, and even then I’ll take a grid damage compared to losing a premium pilot. Yes he deals no damage, but there’s entire mechs that have no damaging attack, and only 2 other pilots that even have a push or damage ability. All islands have some kind of environmental instant death (water, chasm, acid lake), all it takes is a push!

[@conjecturemm]

Harold's placement has been one of the most complained about things in this list lol. He really doesn't fit my playstyle well but I've come to see that he probably is better than I give him credit for

[@marvinvargas4988]

Late reply but I had to post my agreement! Harold is definitely my personal fav because so many mechs have very finicky, situational attacks and having a simple push option is a constant life saver for when your main attack can't get a Vek out of the way. It's basically like getting a decent 3rd weapon slot for free!

[@Studious_Studios]

Thank you very much for all these insights, this will definitely help.

[@conjecturemm]

Happy to help!

[@AceoftheVoid]

It took 2/3 of this video for me to realize the secret pilots are just an Easter egg to ftl

[@conjecturemm]

I need to play FTL at some point and see what they actually do in the game!

[@FarmHend]

Gana have perfect synergy with combo of self destruction and restorative nanites. Just drop it behind the enemy line, draw some nasties closer, and detonate.

[@NiMzOa9b9c9]

The strong things with silica is with weapons that are by themselves moves, as the jump from hazardous squad, the copy that do no damage, or the dash from the prime mech. Wind turbine can be nice, but that's kinda situational imho. Edit : Also, I would argue that Camila Vera is the best pilot, above Mafan. As you say, her ability could easily cost 1 core and she would still be in there, so on could say that you also "gain 1 mech reactor" here, and this capacity is SO MUCH USEFUL to bait every web-causing vek, it makes you save a CRAZY amount of actions.

[@gfgfxfndf]

Huge advantage of Gana is that he triggers a shit ton of Vek attacks on himself, giving you a lot of freedom on your first move. I had islands when 4 out of 5 Veks were targeting Gana on first turn and that's a lot of wasted resources

[@conjecturemm]

Yep, I adjusted this in the updated list!

[@alpal4245]

I've found 1 movement to br more helpful bc it's available from the start and I focus less on blocking spawns. Maybe that's bad but I tend to only need to move a pilot one space out of the way of something or into the way of something else. Plus, the spawns tend to happen in a centralized area so I don't usually need as much movement to get to then if Clara is in a melee mech close to them already

[@aRennix]

Subbed! :D nice to see someone who covers Into the Breach content Hard disagree on Gana but I saw that you've changed your mind in put him in mid. He is easily one of my personal favorites. If you know how to use him effectively you can get sooooooooo much use out of him (also his personality is great lmao)

[@conjecturemm]

Haha I'm glad you read the comments! Yeah, I think that robot boy is definitely better than I gave him credit for. I however don't pay too much attention to the personalities of the pilots? Lol I have no idea what any of them are.

[@anticitizenjuan]

Prospero is such a sick concept

[@ApocPlzPking]

Top quality ITB content, cheers man! Now I just need to finish off the last couple of achievements in time for the new update...

[@conjecturemm]

Thanks! Yeah get those achievements going. Pro-tip: do them on easy since that counts too 😂

[@Steve-nk6vl]

Holy shit Ganna is amazing?! I'm only up to normal difficulty but it's so helpful choosing where to deploy

[@SteveSoper1979]

Bethany on the frozen titans that freezes enemies (effectively killing a unit that's next to a building and also then serving as a blocking point) is the best combination in the game. Frozen Titans, Random (keep re-rolling until you get that mech, and custom squad always go for her ;)

[@conjecturemm]

There is one pilot who imo is better than Bethany, if you’ve found him yet!

[@mpalmer22]

Archimedes was my primary pilot for the first 50hrs I put into the game, but I lost him when I was trying to get the Lightning War achievement because I was rushing and forgot to move him when his tile was targeted for environmental damage. I could only watch in horror as his tile sunk into the ground and he disappeared, and I had already used my reset so I couldn't get him back.

[@conjecturemm]

A fitting end for a brave soldier. But at least you can select him from the beginning again 😂

[@michaelaeschbacher4648]

I'm willing to move Gana up to mid tier, having more flexibility for map placement is kinda nice. Aside from that, this tier list is dead-on. Also interesting note, one of the new advanced edition pilots makes Issac Jones SLIGHTLY less useless if you're able to get both of them in the same squad.

[@conjecturemm]

Agreed about Isaac and Adam. I’d also love Gana up after making this

[@seanpatrickkinney9593]

Would love to see your thoughts on all of the weapons/items and mech upgrades, I know many will depend upon the squad for weapons but! I think your feedback could be really useful

[@conjecturemm]

I'll probably make something like that at some point!

[@jessehunter362]

i didn’t even read that the secret squad had that ability

[@jodille6784]

Really solid, clean video! I don't really have ITB KZbinrs I follow, so I'm gonna bookmark your channel for AE release. Also, I disagree about Harold! If you use the same logic that you did for K, Harold is top tier. Like K, I consider him to essentially have a starting weapon, which is strong on its face. The fact that his weapon also repairs is more of a bonus feature.

[@conjecturemm]

Haha great, I'll definitely be playing it a bunch! Yeah as I've read more comments here and on reddit where I also posted this, I've come to the conclusion that Harold is either very high mid tier or maybe even top tier. I'm still leaning toward high mid-tier but we'll see if that changes with time!

[@therealMolochko]

You're exactly right. I love Harold in the weaker science mechs. For instance put Harold in the defense mech and you've just doubled the utility of one of the worst offensive mechs in the game AND you can perpetually camp a Vek hole.

[@ninertactics]

Man I cant wait for the update, Id play and make content about it too.

[@justachillguy197]

Really needed this

[@conjecturemm]

Really needed you

[@Diggsiii]

great list

[@Its_me_Stolas]

I have seen experience playeers using CONCOLE to reset their turn on multiple occasions. And most of those whom I observed are playing on unfair

[@leojones1964]

Advanced Edition mech squad tier list please!

[@betr8]

But you only spoke about the first power, some other powers are just so OP!

[@deoskipsbasics]

Hi, i'd love to see your opinion on the 4 new pilots of advance. Also, I think there could be an "early game" and "late game" clasification. While silica is really powerful pilot, I never pick ir at first as it's ability is useless until island 2, unless you have +1 core and use the capsule core on the first island. It also requires a bit of setup wich can be hard to obtain on first steps of the game with basic equipment on certain squads.

[@conjecturemm]

So I toyed around with the idea of a two-dimensional pilot tierlist, and I think I'm going to stick with one for now. But hopefully I'll do a better job of clarifying the tiers when I update the video!

[@Tacyturne]

Maybe I'm just bad at using him but I've never found Silica to be that good. In a game where you have to constantly maneuver around each turn I could barely used his power effectively. And in my opinion two cores for an inconsitent power just seems too expensive. But I guess he can also be great in the Lightning Mech.

[@joelaugustin6407]

Kazaaakpleth with opener from the advanced edition is something else entirely, especially when you get rocket barrage.

[@conjecturemm]

What is opener? I haven’t seen that skill (weapon?) yet

[@ddshocktrooper5604]

@@conjecturemm Opener is one of the new levelup abilities you can get instead of move/grid/hp/reactor. Grants some additional movement and +1 damage/healing on your first attack/heal on the first turn.

[@joelaugustin6407]

@@conjecturemm an even more awesome combo is missile barrage with the new "conservative" skill which gives you another shot with limited use weapons

[@meathir4921]

I feel like you could’ve had one tier separating the mid tier a little, for example I think +3 HP is much better than -1 dmg taken since it applies to all damage sources and that high damage attacks like 4-5 alpha damage can be survived with a 2-3 HP mech with +3 HP but not with -1 dmg.

[@conjecturemm]

Yeah I tried to make the tiers pretty vague because there's so much variability that comes into play for a roguelite like ItB. I'll explain more about that in the update video I make.

[@maxvarjagen9810]

Disagree on Abe. Dude carried me for most of the game, not just in the self damage mechs. His tank ability might fall off in the later islands, but for the teams that struggle in the early game like the Judoka, the ability to block projectiles for free is invaluable in surviving long enough to where your momentum starts to pick up.

[@conjecturemm]

But the judoka already has an armored unit! Anyway I know a lot of people think Abe is great outside the self-damaging mechs, but I disagree 🤷‍♂️

[@beauricard]

Hard disagree on Gana. On unfair it's fantastic to bait the 5 or 6 enemies away from buildings with 4 potential attack points within range of units that would otherwise attack buildings. Soft disagree on Harold for unfair where vek manipulation is more important than direct damage, but of course that's best in mechs that don't already have vek manipulation baked in.

[@FelipeKana1]

They should add pilot-tied achievements in the game. Something to make us play with all pilots at least a few times. I have more than 200 hours in the game and never used many of them, mostly because never thought to be worth it

[@conjecturemm]

Honestly a great idea. Yeah I think there are some I unlocked and have literally never used

[@nickfrancalangia9586]

Wild that you put Lily above Ghana lmao

[@conjecturemm]

I'd never put Lily above an African country

[@maason1379]

Abe is pronounce Ah-bay. It's the same as the recently deceased former Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe

[@conjecturemm]

good to know, thanks!

[@garthmarenghi9040]

Nice to see a fellow cultured Camilla enjoyer.

[@conjecturemm]

She’s the only non robot, non-FTL pilot to make it to the top!

[@OroborOSX11]

Assuming Abe Isamu is Japanese, his first name is pronounced like “ah-BAY”

[@conjecturemm]

Many comments have told me this haha I was wrong

[@Its_me_Stolas]

Gana on brutes like leap mech or the jet mech is pretty good at the late game. Those guys can escape webbing on ease and will be a great bait for Veks like Gastropod aka Nautilus or artilery Vek at that point. Except for Mosquitoes. These guys are a bad match in this type of situation

[@josephbierzynski1884]

Also, Gana is definitely an AI/robot character because it's ability requires power. The difference between human and AI pilots is that reactor cost.

[@conjecturemm]

I didn’t realize that until someone else pointed it out to me! You’re right

[@josephbierzynski1884]

@@conjecturemm It's easy to miss/forget when you're hundreds of hours deep! Since the ability "can't" be free, I think a great buff would be inflicting ACID around the landing. Fire might be too niche still and ice would be busted I think.

[@conjecturemm]

After having played him a bit more than I did before in my mist eaters run, I think I was a little too hard on him. He's not amazing but definitely not bad.

[@themobius5798]

Out of curiosity, if Gana's drop deal 2 damage instead of 1, would that make it mid tier for you, or is it OP?

[@conjecturemm]

my thinking has evolved after publishing this video, I'd now consider him mid. 2 damage would probably be high tier

[@alter5793]

What's your opinion about new pilots? I would put Morgan and Kay on top tier (arguable on high difficulty, as Morgan would not be that easy to land a last hit every turn), Adam is meh but pretty usable since that is at least a free shield. Also I just cannot find the second (of all four, left to right) one by any meaning.

[@conjecturemm]

I'll explain this in the next video but basically morgan and kai top the other two mid

[@conjecturemm]

yeah you gotta get somewhat lucky

[@DavidAllanLaursen]

Clearly you haven't played many strategy games if you think Gana is *just as bad as having no ability.* In a strategy game, where everything is about placement, this ability is god tier. Not only is placement anywhere you want, but it's first turn. Imagine if you could place your queen anywhere you wanted at the start of a chess game! It also deals damage, meaning it can kill certain enemies even before play begins. Placing Gana near enemies will actually draw their attention away from buildings and critical targets. That is half the battle right there: sometimes all you need to do is move your pilots to avoid taking damage but when you have to kill or move enemies around the clunky terrain and avoid points of interest, it can be far more difficult.

[@atotalsecret1024]

I hate gana because one time I deployed him on enemy lines and was unable to defend the train on turn 1. I didn't even know it was possible to have an impossible turn until then.

[@conjecturemm]

Yep it is indeed possible to have an impossible turn! I've never been too fond of Gana, either.

[@pesk8801]

Silca never works for me, i just cant get any use out of his ability. there are no good squads to pair him with and if you want to use his ability, you wont be able to move. most weapons in the game fire horizontally and vertically so its difficult to get em a good position without sacrificing your buildings. He also falls flat during train missions. Idk if its my playstyle tho because i like wide movement with pilots like porspero.

[@conjecturemm]

Honestly Silica doesn't fit my personal play style terribly much, but I recognize the crazy amount of potential he has.

[@randyrockholt834]

Obviously you don't want to be sinking 2 reactor cores into an ability that is inconsistent so I wouldn't bother with it, with 3 exceptions. 1) As mentioned in the video, he can be pretty OP with the wind torrent. 2) Put him in the lightning mech and just have him camp by a building and spam lightning through it. 3) Put him in the bomber mech that was added with the DLC.

[@danger2236]

I feel so bad for this list after the new update, basically a free dlc

[@conjecturemm]

A new one is coming soon!

[@pjkrill3109]

I don't know who you are or what this game is but I agree fully with the tier list

[@conjecturemm]

I welcome your unquestioned loyalty

[@Camarada_Cao]

Ice Meka + Bethany Jones. ❤️

[@Grreegg]

Good tuto

[@item459]

How could you do this to my boy Isaac lol, he carried me through the game and is my first choice lol , however this vid does provide more insight into the other pilots lol

[@conjecturemm]

Haha well if you never need to reset more than once (which should be your playstyle imo since no other pilot can do this) then he is technically useless!

[@item459]

@@conjecturemm fair enough , started a new file recently and now firmly believe in Mafan supremacy , I lucked out with his level ups and he got an extra +1 to reactor which is massively broken haha

[@jatelitherius9842]

I’ve won a lot with gana.. wild

[@jatelitherius9842]

Kazaakpleth…kilik It’s kazaakplethkilik

[@conjecturemm]

It's also possible to win with the AI pilots! It does also come down to playstyle, ultimately

[@jatelitherius9842]

@@conjecturemm Well, winning with the AI pilots is surely more skill than playstyle- I have all the achievements, but not all the victories, so you certainly have more skill & experience than I, but I do think Gana's drop into enemy territory is worthwhile

[@alter5793]

By the way, Chen Rong is described as male in ITB wiki

[@conjecturemm]

yep I got that wrong lol

[@Slaanash]

Abe's name would be "ah bay" since he's presumably Japanese.

[@conjecturemm]

Yes yes yes

[@arielmarcelomeza9548]

They put new pilots

[@justinamick5074]

You said that you'd put Gana into bottom tier, even if his ability was free, and then put Lily into mid-tier, which is just a worse (but free) Gana. Why you gotta do my boy Gana like that?

[@conjecturemm]

Read my other comments on this video about Gana!

[@Prodigial]

Disagree on Silica. He's great with Wind Turbine but not being able to move is a huge downside, and for TWO cores? Absolutely not worth it. Cores are huge and you simply cannot afford two cores on a negligible ability you won't use half the time. Pilots should be rates on how they do with all squads I think. Abe makes two squads FAR more playable, and Harold turns terrible squads that have useless mechs (Hook Mech and Blitzkrieg I'm looking at you) halfway decent. Carmila, Kazaakpleth and Mafan are easily the best, followed by Abe, Archimedes, and Harold. I find Prospero's flying to be overrated but he's B tier.

[@conjecturemm]

Haha, I disagree on Silica! The two cores are an investment, but with anything that isn't a prime mech I can usually get good use out of him. I did rate pilots on how useful they are with all squads. And like I said in the video, I think Abe is top tier...for any self-damaging mechs. But otherwise is pretty meh. So that's why I didn't put him in top.

[@Prodigial]

@@conjecturemm Having the Vek arrange themselves so you can displace then/kill them without moving while ALSO not getting shot is hard enough, and to be able to do that twice and make use of it? I just don't see it. Two core is massive and way too steep for me. Even for a single core I'd rank him below the ones I listed as top tier. I've been doing unfair now (I've gotten 5+ 30K with every squad prior to the update) and I really think you're underestimating Abe. Sometimes, the difference between taking grid damage or not comes down to whether your mech can tank a shot. Him being the best pilot for 2/9 original squads also has to be taken more into account imo.

[@cozumi8625]

Sorry dude, now you’re gonna have to redo the whole thing.

[@conjecturemm]

not a problem at all haha

[@marolyn6319]

You forgot the one big upside of the cyborg vek pilots: You can fish for good upgrades. Did your guy just get grid def? Kill him. It doesn't make them good, but you're forgetting that as an upside. Also in the example, you give, you're forgetting that you'd have lost that CORE anyways if any other pilot died. With this in mind, their being able to die AND lose experience in order to re-roll is just a complete positive.

[@conjecturemm]

You don’t actually get to re roll their upgrades when they die. They get the same upgrades when you get them to level up again. And yes, they’re obviously better than having an AI but I still consider them very low tier overall

[@pointynoodle]

Not enough tiers, 3 doesn't show the variety well enough. Mafan and Camila for example would be S, and Kwan and Harold would be A.

[@conjecturemm]

Yeah I tried to keep it to only three tiers to keep it very broad. I think it would make sense to add a second dimension before adding more tiers, though.

[@jesusmannwhaaat]

lily is mid but gana isn't? gana has a better version of her ability plus damage. I guess it does take one power though...

[@conjecturemm]

Gana is gonna be moved up but their abilities are different despite costing an extra core. Gana moves turn zero. Lily moves turn one. That might not sound like a big difference but you get flexibility in placing Gana before the enemy moves. Whereas you get flexibility in moving lily after the enemy moves, which imo is a big difference

[@scottleland403]

Team Archimedes FTW!

[@conjecturemm]

best boi

[@seleckcka7104]

Honestly I find Archimedes to be the best pilot overall. Unlike for example Mafan he can often save or keep you out of impossible positions. Espescially if one likes going for perfect runs his ability to spawn block and always take a good position for the next turn is just vital.

[@MynameisFICTION]

i feel you got the vek pilot wrong. because while lossing a perk sucks that also means you can manipulate their abilities with intentional deaths. like double core or +6 grid def

[@conjecturemm]

This is incorrect. They will always roll the same skill even if they die and lose the exp. It’s predetermined, you can’t change what they get from intentionally killing them

[@MynameisFICTION]

@@conjecturemm Yeah i learned that acouple days ago with some testing. I also did not know you cannot get two of the same skill on the same pilot. You can still run a custom squad to feed xp on one pilot you want to use on harder difficulties to tilt the odds. Still doing runs to see if boost on first turns effects ganas titanfall dmg.

[@vicarion]

Being able to move 3 extra spaces first turn: Super useful Being able to deploy infinite spaces first turn: Not very useful Disagree.

[@conjecturemm]

So did most people! Gana will be higher up when I update this

[@femimark5021]

Technically infinite spaces turn 0

[@Hchris101]

SPOILERS

[@conjecturemm]

Sorry! Hard to rate everyone without mentioning everyone 🙃

[@Hchris101]

@@conjecturemm now i know this game has pilots. Smh 🤦🏻‍♀️

[@japmaster02]

He is Japanese. It’s pronounced Ah-Bay E-ma-sue. 🇯🇵

[@conjecturemm]

E-sa-mue?

[@jvmoony]

It's your opininion though. Some are agreeable. But to me it's wrong.

[@conjecturemm]

The beautiful thing about opinions

[@PhilippeLemaire]

I believe Chen is a dude.

[@conjecturemm]

Yep I got that wrong.

[@gunsalves]

Really wanted to like this game but it's literally an complex version of dice rolling...disappointing.

[@conjecturemm]

I personally disagree, I think there's a lot you can actually control. Why do you think that?

[@gunsalves]

@@conjecturemm well if you play on the hardest difficulty there are situations that can come up where there is no good option. Your units will just get destroyed. I mean the game is randomly generated. You can't create a randomly generated puzzle. There needs to be a solution to every puzzle.

[@Dogedoge337]

@@gunsalves It's pretty tough, yeah. Sometimes you just have to make sacrifices and pray for the best. Many times I've had to attack buildings just to kill a vek, sometimes I get lucky and take no damage, other times it doesn't work and I just have to deal with that.

[@gunsalves]

@@Dogedoge337 ye it's a big flaw with the game though. Kind of ruins it for me. If a you get a few situations in a row where you have to make sacrifices it can end your run. The game is literally wasting your time if it can just do that at any moment.

[@Fearless0700093]