Squad Tier List after 600 hours - Into the Breach Perfect 40K Run Guide

[@nicky2coats]

This is such a wonderful video. I really appreciate you making it. Made me realize there was so much of this game’s potential I was missing.

[@leophd]

Thank you very much! That was exactly why I spent three months summarizing everything I knew before moving on.

[@nicky2coats]

@@leophdGreat stuff man. My game has improved a ton watching your videos. All I’ve done differently is think really hard through the entire turn, rather than the lazy “spray and pray” approach I had been using before. I wish you would do a video on proper deployment strategy - that’s the skill I still don’t get and I haven’t found a single online resource addressing the topic.

[@leophd]

@@nicky2coatsI should have talked more about deployment in the pilot tier list, because that's what makes the big difference. Otherwise it's case by case and it's the focus of all my 40K run, I discuss it even more on my failed attempts. At lower difficuties or for non-perfect runs it's not as important (just start close to the Vek), but 90% of the perfect 40K encounters are decided on deployment. I always talked about that in depth, but I fully understood it only after I started using Gana with the Steel Judoka.

[@nicky2coats]

@@leophdThanks to your videos, I just just completed my first perfect 40k run, using Mist Eaters. Granted, I got some amazing luck, namely getting Ice Gen early on, and Gana with Conservative to boot. I still had to complete the first island on my own, though. I used Mafan with the 3, 8 skillset and put the two reactors right into "More Smoke". The breakthrough in this game is figuring out that you don't actually need to kill the Vek - you need to focus on attack cancellation, area denial, and distraction. On Unfair, killing the Vek is largely pointless because they'll just respawn right away. But if the entire map is covered in smoke and fire, they can't attack anything and you can just park the mech on the spawn point while you generate more smoke.

[@leophd]

​@@nicky2coatsBrilliant! That's why you got the perfect 40K run: you summarized all the important things better than me! Once you understand the game that well, it's only a matter of time. Congrats!

[@its_nhoj]

Amazing analysis. I've yet to complete a 40k run; I always fail on the second or third island :( These videos really help me understand how to strategize optimally

[@leophd]

Thank you, that's my goal! With most (weaker) squads you need some good luck with weapons on the first or second shop. Also keeping Detritus as third increased my odds considerably, plus leaving the toughest Vek for the last Island, unless they are Tumblebugs (the leader version is just too strong to risk it). But what changed everything was skipping high threat missions or tough objectives when possible, playing safe isn't that fun but at least it's much less frustrating.

[@mesquiteaviation]

I’ve been trying to get 2, 3, and 4 island victories on all squads on unfair. I have 3 squads left to go, but the frozen mechs were a challenge. The mirror mech was just always a liability. I think the devs means for us to use one side to break the ice mech out of ice, but I could rarely make that work. I had much better luck when I stopped using Mafan and started using Gana on the mirror mech. I could put him where his cannon wouldn’t hit buildings or objectives, and I often put him one tile away from a water tile. I usually avoid scorpions like the plague on island 1, but I started looking for them with the mirror mech. He could push two of them away, and often put one in the water.

[@leophd]

Congrats! And that's exactly the reason for my pilot ranking, the old brutes are too weak for unfair without Prospero or Henry. Gana is a different story: my most important discovery of the whole game and I didn't want to repeat it too much after all the discussion in the Pilot tier list so I only added a note at the end of the Frozen Titan's section. I was a bit worried that I was getting lucky with Gana but I'm glad you confirmed that it's more helpful than Mafan (and possibly Prospero)! Let me guess the last 3: Secret, Zenith and Heat Sinkers?

[@mesquiteaviation]

@@leophd pretty close! I’ve been getting my butt kicked by the secret squad. I still need to finish the frozen titans, and I’ve been too scared to try the rift walkers. :) For whatever reason, I finished the heat sinkers really quickly. Without the ice generator. I think I just got really good vek combinations. Thank you for all you do.

[@leophd]

@@mesquiteaviation if you find a good ranged or prime weapon early (and start with gana/prospero/henry/kai on the upgraded brute) heat sinkers are not too bad but yeah the Vek we find have the biggest impact, close second the objectives. I was worried for the Rift Walkers too but if you skip timelines with moths and also too many scorpions or leapers (unless paired with easy projectile Vek), it's not too bad. Of course you'll need good secondaries for diggers and tumblebugs but that's not something we can control. Thanks for watching!

[@vanjahruska5661]

Thanks Super Mario, this helped me to better understand the game. You have my like and my gratitude.

[@joshspinney]

Saying "just don't" for zenith was hilarious. Worst squad to beat the game on unfiar for me, I can't imagine 40k

[@leophd]

I tried every option but unfortunately Zenith Guard is a hope-you-get-ice-generator squad for 40K runs

[@nicky2coats]

I can’t even beat it on Hard with that trash squad.

[@goodelf]

@@leophd lol, I actually beat the game on unfair with ice-generator (not 40k) But even with that, during 4 islands run - 3 pilots died Hilarious squad

[@G.Aaron.Fisher]

@@goodelf I picked up the game for the first time and saw Ice Generator for the first time on my fifth or so Unfair run. I think I actually said out loud "This breaks the game. Right?" I took it, and kind of expected there to be a catch. Like frozen enemies don't count toward the spawn cap. Or some of them have an action to unfreeze themselves. Nope. It just breaks the game. Final island was just freeze bombing the entire opposition twice.

[@tirell2075]

Nice video. Was waiting to hear about the Flame Behemoths (huge bias for fire and DoTs), and the suspense was certainly there when you mentioned that it's generally good when a squad has a science mech in place of a brute mech, then that there's one other base game S tier squad left. Was hoping that they'd excel from push angle options with fire not harming buildings. Have to agree with the damage issue, anything above 2 health can have a huge impact on whether you can set an enemy on fire one turn then ignore them or need to stop a second attack. Also happy to hear the Gana shoutout, he's such a huge boost to momentum through setting up first turn kills, luring attacks and letting the Flame Mech block or pre-torch breaches. I think Flame Behemoths have a far easier time with 2 island victories or lower difficulties, a 2 health vek spawning on fire and targeting one of your mechs can often be completely ignored (hello Gana deployment), good as already dead. It's been a while since I played religiously, but I think vek that aren't on fire try to avoid fire tiles too, which can be pretty nice for controlling melee vek. The teleporter mech is situationally very strong, especially in the volcano, but as far as custom squads do I just like fire so much that swapping it out for the Heat Sinker's Napalm Mech is too fun, like a mini Flame Mech. With so much overkill on fire, the Flame Mech even often gets hit on fire vek and properly utilise boost. If only flame shielding still cost 1 core... Would love to use the Dispersal Mech for the design and how flashy the weapon is, but it feels far too expensive to get online, low damage cap and awkward to fully utilise without pushing Vek into buildings.

[@leophd]

Great points! I have little experience on Easy and Normal but I tried to mention the differences. Fire is just too slow on Hard and Unfair unfortunately and that's where I tested for this tier list.

[@tirell2075]

@@leophd Oh absolutely. The mention about lower health was as much to consider the flaws on unfair difficulty, against elite vek, as speak to their strengths. Just rambling on a little. Certainly wouldn't say no to making fire tick stronger, but I think some synergies like Flame Mech further improving damage to on fire targets, or other fire weapons gaining similar benefits, would be a little more satisfying and less broken for the first couple islands. Picking up the game again recently, might try some unfair runs trying to stick to their starter weapons and see how they go.

[@leophd]

Good Luck!

[@pineapplesand556ers]

Another great video

[@X315-x2w]

Frozen titan + mafan is my first perfect 40K but it feels like cheating. Lmao

[@iloveTSA]

I'm unable to find the list with Squad + Best Pilot combo that you talk about @ 2:00 It would help me a lot! Thanks, great content.

[@leophd]

I am talking about this video: I am not showing the Pilots on screen because there are multiple options (depending on difficulty and playstyle) but I discuss them squad by squad

[@iloveTSA]

@@leophd Do you mind listing the "best Pilots" for each Squad for 30K/40k runs in your opinion? Just a list for further reference.

[@leophd]

@@iloveTSA I don't remember everything, try Kai or Mafan in every squad and if they don't work Gana or Prospero will

[@openone3183]

your accent is amazing

[@jafsrob]

zenith guard is the weakest squad? the starting 3 damage weapon begs to differ.

[@leophd]

The tier list is for Unfair, where pushing multiple tiles is worth more than damage (5-6 Vek on the field every turn of which likely 3 Alpha Vek with 4 Hp)

[@jafsrob]

@@leophd i mean, laser DOES hit multiple tiles, and with boost its damage bottoms at 2 instead of 1 on top of increase its maximum damage to 4

[@TheTriforcekeeper]

@@jafsrob As he said: pushing multiple tiles is worth more than doing more damage, even if AoE like the laser.

[@diva8889]

I ❤ the game sadly there are two weapon systems completely out of balance. First is the wind torrent and even more the ice converter both are far to cheap and broke the game balance in a bad way . Overall I would rate I mixed smoke squad with both converters are the best bet for a 40k .

[@leophd]

I believe the idea was that sometimes the player gets lucky and wins, but experience and planning will greatly raise the odds of winning without the OP weapon

[@jez9999]

Your accent is seriously hard to understand

[@ActualLuxury]

play the video at .75 speed and it should be easier for you