Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Breach is a mini-game that accompanies Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The mini-game is introduced in the latter half of mission 9 when you earn the following achievement:



When: Breach can be played at any time—before, during, or after you play the main game. Technically, you earn this achievement for clearing the 19 servers that comprise Tier 1. However, you cannot get to Tier 1 until you clear the four servers in Tier 0 so, actually, you have to clear 23 servers. Some of the servers are off the beaten path. You can find them by roaming using . The following video shows the servers you have to clear.


Bottom Line up front: Be systematic. Do some trial runs to learn the maps, enemies, data stores, hazards, unstable blocks, etc. Backwards plan. In other words, work from far to near so as to be close to the exit point (same as entry point) when you acquire the data or enemy kill that satisfies the mission requirement. Unless the mission requirement is to kill enemies, avoid combat where possible. It is time consuming and our goal for the achievement is to simply clear servers as efficiently as possible. Conserve consumables—ammunition, curatives, mines, grenades, etc. Save your premium ammunition for when you really need it. Standard ammunition is refilled (to a point) whereas premium ammunition is not.

This Data Detective guide includes videos that show how to clear the Breach servers and illustrate the principles stated in the preceding paragraph:

Solution for Data Detective In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

What: You do not have to clear the Darknet servers, hyperlinks, reward nodes, and firewall nodes. Breach challenges you to replay nodes to better your personal bests and to advance in the online leaderboards. However, there is a penalty to increased play. The server difficulties increase every time you replay a node and the increased difficulties apply to every server on every tier. You gain money and experience for replaying nodes which leads to advanced levels and, with each level, an additional Praxis. Nevertheless, you may find the increased challenge outpaces your leveling.

Tip: The difficulty increases do not start until after you leave Tier 1A. So, if you don’t mind grinding, you can replay Tier 0 and Tier 1A servers as many times as you want gaining funds and experience. It is worthwhile to gain a few levels and acquire the associated Praxis before you start to play in earnest. If you are able to start Tier 1B with the high jump, triple jump, and cloak augments; you will have a great head start. There is a 1500 credit daily completion bonus the first time you clear a server for that day. So, if you spend your first week to ten days replaying the four easy tutorial servers in Tier 0, you will have a healthy nest egg. Buying an Elite Pack for 50,000 credits should give you some top class weapons and items to start out with. Note that once you advance to Tier 1B and the server defenses increase every time you clear or replay a node they will also increase if you go back and replay Tier 0 and Tier 1A servers. So, it is only at the very beginning of Breach—before you leave Tier 1A—that you can replay servers with no difficulty penalty.

Consequences: This is a key feature of Breach. You can’t start over. Your actions have permanent consequences. So, if you are just beginning, here are some tips that will help you to clear all three tiers.

Controller configuration: I recommend you go into options, select the Breach control scheme for your controller and disable the aug & inventory wheel by pressing . Breach requires much more hand and eye coordination and quick reactions than the more deliberate play of the main game. The Breach configuration allows you to sprint by pressing down . You must clear each server quickly so the ability to seamlessly shift from walking to running is of benefit. You will be doing a lot of jumping and do not want to inadvertently bring up the augmentation wheel when you sprint and triple jump. It is for that reason that you disable the Aug & Inventory wheel for although you still have it when you press .

Augments: During the tutorial, you are required to spend Praxis to acquire the double jump augment. I recommend acquiring high jump and triple jump as your next two augments. They are the most valuable augments. The jump augments stack with one another so the combination of high jump and triple jump gives the avatar considerable vertical and horizontal range. Cloaking should be a priority after acquiring the jumps. The jumping and cloaking augments are all that you need to clear tier 3 so other augments are at your discretion. Icarus Dash is nice to have for getting to hard to reach places and escaping tight situations. Sometimes (but not often) you can reach inaccessible areas by punching through walls. Some people like focus. Increasing health and making energy consumption more efficient have obvious benefits and so on.

Tactics—Avoid combat! Early on, enemies are easy to kill. Later on, they are robust and require significant time and ammunition to put down. Wherever possible, avoid them rather than engage them. For the achievement, we are not playing for score. We just want to clear each server as quickly and safely as possible with no desire beyond satisfying the minimum requirement. Killing for score is for leaderboard climbers and not achievement hunters.

Plan your exit: Most servers require you to download data and a few require you to kill enemies. The server is not cleared until you reach the exit point which is always the same as the entry point. In the case of data download, it is best to plan for your last download to be the one closest where you enter. So, do not download it at the beginning. Make note of it and its size so that downloading it meets the server goal. Similarly, where you have to kill enemies, try to stay close to the entry point and have the enemies come to you. If that is not feasible and you must venture out, leave the enemies that are close to the entry point alone so you can come back to them and use them to meet the kill count. Some servers require you to kill a boss or prime enemy. There may be other enemies. Focus only on the prime enemy while trying to stay close to the entry point. As soon as you kill the boss, the exit appears at the entry point and you can clear the server. The above video includes some sample play to illustrate this point.

Engagement: Although the main game as a whole emphasizes stealth, Breach is more a combat shooter. The exception is the few servers that require stealth play. If you are detected, the mission fails. Cloaking is invaluable for the stealth servers. The stealth servers always require a download. Make sure you leave the data download closest to the entry point as your last download so you can quickly escape.

Consumables—ammunition, grenades, mines, curatives, etc.—are consumed upon use. Although the basic standard ammunition load is replenished, for the most part, ammunition is consumed. Accordingly, although you can retry a server countless times, resources are consumed. Some tougher enemies require specialized ammunition or other consumables. You may be tempted to use curatives to replenish health and energy. It is best to avoid curatives until you are familiar with the server map and to use the most generic ammunition until you are ready to close the deal. I, personally, recommend that you do not use any curatives during Tier 1 so you can save them for Tiers 2 and 3.

Purchases: Finally, I recommend buying only the elite pack. It costs 50,000 credits. It will yield high grade weapons up to S, credits, curatives, nuke viruses, and premium ammunition. You get five items per pack. If you are judicious in your use of ammunition, you will get all you need from the elite packs. The Ripper pack that costs 200,000 credits is a waste of your funds. It only gives you five items. For the same 200,000 credits, you can buy four Elite packs and get 20 items. The odds are also in your favor to get more S weapons from 4 Elite packs than one Ripper pack.

If you get a duplicate weapon (or a weapon less powerful than one you have and prefer), you can dismantle it for parts. Parts are otherwise hard to come by and are necessary to upgrade weapons to their full potential. My experience has been that the Elite pack gives better premium ammunition than the premium ammunition packs. More importantly, for me, Elite packs have been the main source of Nuke viruses that reduce server difficulty. Luck is an important factor in what you get so your experience may be different from mine. My experience was that the Elite packs provide the best bang for the buck.

Ammunition: If you consume premium ammunition at a rapid rate, you might be forced to use some of your credits on premium ammunition. Try to conserve ammunition so you won’t have to. Standard ammunition in an S weapon is more effective than premium ammunition in a lesser weapon. So your first priority should be to get an assortment of S weapons. Do not underestimate the lowly pistol. It can fire EMP, Armor Piercing, and standard rounds. The sample play in the above video shows that a lowly B 10 mm pistol can take out a prime enemy. So, although your goal should be to acquire a couple of powerful S weapons, you can afford to be patient and make do with the hand you're dealt with until something better comes your way.

Weapon of choice: Your best weapon may be the stun rifle. As enemies get tougher, they require a lot of (premium) ammunition and time to defeat. However, they can be stunned with a single shot from a stun rifle. Stun rifles can be upgraded with the Splash Ability where nearby enemies are stunned as well. Although stunned enemies are not eliminated and recover, you rarely need to linger in an area where that becomes problematic. Of course, the stun rifle will not work for the servers that require enemies to be defeated. However, as depicted in the above video, even a Prime enemy can be stunned and then finished off with another weapon. In the above video, the humble 10 mm Pistol, a B weapon with standard ammunition, is used to take out a stunned Prime Enemy.

Be that as it may, there are countless ways to clear a node and your choice of weapon will depend on your personal preferences and the luck of the draw regarding the weapons and ammunition you purchase. Stun rifle ammunition, for example, is not plentiful. One may be unlucky and not acquire it in booster pack or ammo pack purchases. So, the ammo you acquire in your purchases often dictates the weapons you use.

Reviving: Don't!!! If you have more than 10,000 credits, you may be given the choice to Revive. This is (IMHO) a waste of money. The money is much better spent on Elite packs. Simply replay the level if you fail to clear it. If you are systematic, you will learn the maps, data stores, and enemies of each level. Plan to finish each mission close to the entry point and you can make a quick exit as soon as you satisfy the requirements of the server.

Note on Micro-Transactions: Square-Enix would love for you to spend your hard earned real cash on Breach micro-transactions. IMHO, this is for hard core players who want to make their mark on the global leader boards. If you are, like me, a casual player who only wants to get an achievement worth 15 Gamerscore, the micro-transactions are of little value. This guide encourages avoiding combat. So, it is counterproductive to spend a lot of real money on an arsenal you will not use. Through normal play—clearing each server once—you will earn enough (game) money and unlock enough reward nodes to acquire all the weapons, ammunition, and consumables you will need to clear all three server tiers.

*** EDIT: As of November 3, 2016, with the addition of the "Breach Mode" DLC, the Tiers have a few additional Server nodes on each map that likely increase the base amount of Servers needed to complete in order to unlock these achievements. ***

I wanted to provide some information and tips for other players seeking to acquire all three Breach mode Tier achievements. I personally didn’t enjoy Breach mode, so hopefully this will help others who might find themselves in a similar situation, wanting to unlock the achievements as fast as possible and not purchasing any micro-transactions:

I won’t be mentioning how to maximize points/scores because the achievements only require you to complete the Server Maps for each Tier, regardless of your score(s). The maps for these Tiers are quite large and spaced-out, so be sure to hold and use to look around for uncompleted Server nodes (denoted by a white glow surrounding the node pillar) if the achievement hasn’t unlocked for Tier X yet.

Tier 1 is composed of Network 1A and Network 1B, which have 8 and 11 Server Maps respectively, that all must be completed for:



Network 1A (8 Server Maps):
\S01_STOCKADE, \S02_STOCKADE, \S03_STOCKADE, \S04_TALONPIKE, \S05_TALONPIKE, \S06_TALONPIKE, \S07_LAVAWALL

\S08_STOCKADE

Network 1B (11 Server Maps):
\S01_THORAX, \S02_GARRISON, \S03_LAVAWALL, \S04_CLAYMORE, \S07_THORAX

\S05_TALONPIKE, \S06_STOCKADE

\S08_TALONPIKE

\S09_GARRISON, \S10_STOCKADE, \S11_THORAX


Furthermore, this means technically you do NOT need to capture Reward nodes (but you should), any Hyperlinks, or any Darknet files to complete the Tier-based achievements.

Unfortunately, Breach mode has its own Credits currency system which means that ammunition, weapon attachments, Recovery items, etc., are mostly accumulated via randomized Booster packs. That means unless you’re looking to spend additional, real cash on this game mode, you’ll have to do a small bit of budgeting with your Credits to maximize what the game rewards you with naturally. Also, any five (5) Breach Softwares found in the Story mode can be sold to the vendor of the Tech Noir store in Prague for an additional Booster pack in Breach.

Now, for some tips:

1. Use the red Unstable Cubes in the maps to your advantage. They are explosive if shot at, and can kill the smaller enemies and lower-level Turrets in one hit.

2. Try to use Takedowns as much as possible. They OHKO the smaller enemies and simultaneously conserve your ammunition (thereby saving more Credits for other things). Of course, Takedowns also make the Stealth Server nodes considerably easier to complete.

3. I recommend only upgrading weaponry that you will use AND are S or A-ranked. Feel free to eventually sell B-ranked or lesser weaponry (and any respective ammunition) that you will not be using once acquiring these powerful weapons. (Combat Rifle and Revolver were most useful for me)

4. Therefore, always have that S or A-ranked weapon or two of your choice in your inventory, several stacks of ammunition, as well as all of your HypoStim Injectors and a few Biocells. Grenades and Mines are also useful but are not mandatory. The default inventory size ought to be enough.

5. If you are killed on a map, you are given the (timed) option to Continue, Revive, or Retry. Continue kicks you back to the map screen and you lose any and all progress on that Server node; Revive results in a penalty of 10,000 Credits OR 10 Chipsets that allows respawning on the map with your Server progress saved (however, there may be a different limit of Revives per map); Retry does not save your Server progress but your Modifiers, etc. are saved for that and any subsequent attempts. When you Revive, you will respawn on your entry/escape point. Use this to your advantage: it may be less of a headache and less time-consuming (at a cost to your score which is unimportant!) to purposely kill your Avatar and Revive during the escape sequence to respawn right on the escape point! Sometimes, you can also fall into bottomless pits (at a cost of 30 HP) and Revive for the same effect.

6. Therefore, always keep at least ~50,000 Credits available in your wallet. This gives you some comfort room for Revives and additional purchases, just in case.

7. Aside from Revive fees, spend Credits for ammunition, periodically peppering-in Booster packs to replenish your stock of HypoStim Injectors and whatever else you frequently use. Only buy a Premium pack or two if you are still in need of an S or A-ranked weapon(s), but don’t ever buy Cheats or Patches—in fact, I recommend ignoring Patches entirely because they explicitly make each map more difficult to complete, and subsequently that achievement(s) more distant to unlock. Similarly, feel free to use Cheats to make maps easier, and especially to counteract any pre-loaded Patches.

8. EMP rounds/grenades/mines will be extremely helpful against Turrets and Sentry Drones since they will stunlock these enemies. Try to reserve the rounds in particular for these enemy types since EMP rounds are uncommon.

9. Only use a Nuke Virus when the respective enemy modifier is ~4.0+ (probably around starting Tier 3). Nuke Viruses are extremely rare, so maximize their usefulness by downgrading the enemy AI when it has reached a high value.

10. Try to fully upgrade your Avatar’s JUMP.aug as well as your CLOAK.aug, and your EN_MODULE.aug. JUMP.aug will help traversing the vertical maps and escaping enemies, while the CLOAK.aug will help with avoiding Cameras, Turrets, and tougher enemies, as well as the Stealth maps. Upgrading the EN_MODULE.aug (Energy) helps you do more of these things. TITAN.aug can also be very useful in Tier 3 depending on your playstyle.

Ultimately, completing all the Server nodes in Tier 1 shouldn’t be too difficult for players who completed “Give Me Deus Ex” or higher difficulty in Story mode, but the second half of Tier 2 and most of Tier 3 can be tough due to the level designs and tedium. But arming yourself with a powerful, upgraded weapon, good use of Augmentations, ample Recovery items, a quick trigger-finger, and a healthy amount of patience—you will prevail.

To get this achievement you have to complete the Versalife, Steiner-Bisley and Tarvos servers in 1A and 1B. The other nodes and servers are not required.


For anyone who wants to blow through Breach mode as fast as possible there are two glitches for "infinite" health or "infinite" energy. They cannot be used at the same time, I used the energy glitch for stealth levels and the health glitch for every other level. They are also not really infinite (hence the quotes) but you can boost your health or energy to the point where they are inconsequential.

Infinite Energy Glitch

Prereqs: 1 praxis point, 1 energy expansion item (can be easily obtained from the 15000 credit packs as of this writing)

Step 1: Equip the energy expansion (move from reserve to inventory)

Step 2: Unlock one of the 1 praxis health upgrades

Step 3: Toggle the health upgrade on/off as many times as you want

You will now have an extreme amount of energy when you enter a server. This only needs to be done once, not before every server.

Note: doing this will reset the infinite health glitch.

Infinite Health Glitch

Prereqs: 1 praxis point, 1 health expansion item (can be easily obtained from the 15000 credit packs as of this writing)

Step 1: Equip the health expansion (move from reserve to inventory)

Step 2: Unlock one of the 1 praxis energy upgrades

Step 3: Toggle the energy upgrade on/off as many times as you want

You will now have an extreme amount of health when you enter a server. This only needs to be done once, not before every server.

Note: doing this will reset the infinite energy glitch.


You should now be able to blow through any server with little resistance whatsoever. Enjoy!