Breach Guide - Path of Exile 2

Breach is an endgame mechanic in Path of Exile 2 which causes a temporary expanding ring to spawn hundreds of monsters that players must slay to acquire special loot drops, such as Breach Rings and Catalysts. There is also an associated endgame encounter called The Twisted Domain which can be accessed by spending Breach Splinters at the Realmgate

This guide will cover the basics of the Breach mechanic in PoE 2 and the rewards players can find by completing Breaches.

Breach on the Atlas

While in the Atlas, players will notice small, purple Hand icons on some Waystones. These icons indicate that that Map contains a Breach Encounter

Starting a Breach Encounter

While in one of these Waystones, players will encounter a large Breach Hands, which can be run over to begin a Breach Encounter. This will cause an expanding ring to open for a duration, and cause Breach monsters to pour out and assault the player

Breach Hand in a Map, with the Breach Minimap icon on the bottom left

The Breach Hand has been interacted with and the expanding circle has begun to open

The Breach will continue to expand from this central point, and players can slay monsters within it to extend the duration. However, the Breach duration can not be extended indefinitely and will eventually begin to close. While the Breach is closing, players have a short amount of time to defeat any last few monsters, or touch any Clasped Hands to claim more rewards.

As well as special monsters exclusive to Breach, players will also encounter Clasped Hands. Running over or clicking these Clasped Hands will contribute to the number of Breach Splinters dropped at the end of the encounter.

Don't worry, and items that drop while in the Breach can be collected after the encounter finishes, so you don't have to worry about picking everything up while the Breach is still open.

Because of the nature of Breach encounters being an expanding ring, it's generally preferred to run Breaches on Maps with open layouts such as Savannah as monsters will not be able to spawn if the ring crosses a wall. Maps such as Forge or Crypt aren't as ideal for Breaches because of their narrow layout, but are still always worth running to get whatever rewards you can out of them.

Breach Splinters

At the end of the Breach Encounter, a pile of Breach Splinters will drop at the player's feet. The number of Splinters a player receives depends on the Waystone Tier, how many Breach monsters were slain, how many Clasped Hands were open as well as the Map Modifiers that increased Item Quantity.

A specific number of Beach Splinters will allows players to access the Twisted Domain, the Pinnacle encounter of Breach, and fight Xesht, We That Are One for some special rewards. The number of Splinters spent will determine the Difficulty of this encounter; 50 for Normal, 100 for Cruel, and 150 for Merciless

Other than Breach Splinters, other special items can drop from these encounters, namely Breach Rings and Catalysts

Breach Rings

Breach Rings are a special Ring Base that can have up to 40% Quality instead of the regular amount of 20% that Rings and other pieces of gear can usually acquire. Up to this point, you may not know how to apply Quality to Rings as the only Currency items you've used are Armourer's Scraps, Blacksmith's Whetstones and Arcanist's Etchers. This is where Catalysts come in

Catalysts

Catalysts are a special Currency item, exclusive to Breach that allow players to improve the Quality of any Amulet or Ring (all rings, not just Breach Rings). Each Catalyst will improve the Quality of a specific item modifier, allowing players to fine tune their Jewellery

You can see which Tags a modifier has by hovering over an item and pressing Alt and reading the grey text next to that modifier. For example, if you see the word "Fire" next to a modifier when pressing Alt, a Xoph's Catalyst would improve the quality of that Catalyst

Using a different Catalyst on a Ring or Amulet will replace any existing Quality types, so players aren't able to apply multiple types of Catalyst to an individual item.

For example: if a Ring had +100 to Maximum Life and you applied 20% Life Quality with a Catalyst of Flesh, that Ring would instead grant +120 to Maximum Life. If the item had multiple modifiers with the Life Tag, all of those modifiers would be increased by 20%

Hopefully this illustrates the potential power of Breach Rings that can have up to 40% Quality instead of 20%!

Like most endgame mechanics, Breach also has an Atlas Tree which points can be allocated into to improve and alter how Breaches behave in Maps. These points can be acquired by completing specific encounters related to breach, and presumably also by defeating Xesht, the Pinnacle boss of Breach: PoE 2 Breach Boss Guide: Xesht, We Who Are One

Breach Atlas Tree

As you can see from the above Passives, you can gain a far greater number of Splinters, Catalysts and general loot by increasing the numbers of Breach Monsters that spawn in your Breaches and by increasing the amount of what they drop.

Players can further improve the loot they receive from their Breaches by making use of Breach Precursor Tablets. There is also a Unique Breach Tablet that can change the way Breach functions entirely. Breach Tablets will add up to 12 to 18 Breaches to Surrounding Maps and can be made Magic and have up to 1 Prefix and 1 Suffix. For more information on Towers and Tablets, read our guide here: PoE 2: Towers and Tablets

Breach Tablet Prefixes

Breach Tablets share the same Prefixes as other Tablets and provide generic increases to loot found within maps affected by them. They include:

• (10-15%) increased Rarity of Items found in your Maps
• (3-7)% increased Quantity of Items found in your Maps
• (3-7)% increased Pack Size in your Maps
• (15-25)% increased Magic Monsters in your Maps
• (10-15)% increased Gold Found in this Area
• (5-10)% increased Experience Gain

Breach Tablet Suffixes

Suffixes on Breach Tablets will affect the difficulty and rewards of Breaches specifically

• Breaches in your Maps spawn (15–25)% increased Magic Monsters
• Breaches in your Maps spawn an additional Rare Monster
• Breaches in your Maps have (4–6)% increased Monster density
• Breaches in your Maps have (3–5)% increased Monster density
• Breaches in your Maps open and close (5–10)% faster
• Breaches in your Maps contain 1 additional Clasped Hand
• (5–10)% increased Quantity of Breach Splinters dropped by Breach Monsters in your Maps
• Your Maps which contain Breaches have (2–4)% chance to contain three additional Breaches
• Your Maps which contain Breaches have (5–10)% chance to contain an additional Breach

A Breach Precursor Tablet can have a combination of one Prefix and one Suffix, and up to three Breach Tablets can be placed on an individual Tower, allowing players to thoroughly juice their Breaches

Unique Breach Precursor Tablet

There is also one Unique Breach Tablet known as Wraeclast Besieged. This Tablet reduces the number of monsters found in your Breaches, but changes their function so that they will not closed until you have slain all the monsters in that Breach

Courtesy to poe2wiki.net for the list of Breach Tablet affixes and image of Wraeclast Besieged

If you'd like to learn more about Breach or Path of Exile 2's endgame systems, check out some of our guides below!

• Xesht Boss Fight Guide
• PoE 2 Towers and Tablets Guide
• PoE 2 Endgame Atlas Tree Guide

Or maybe you'd like to learn more about another endgame mechanics

• Delirium Guide
• Shrine Guide
• Strongboxes Guide