Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

In order to get the Data Expert achievement, you have to clear all 20 regular servers on the Tier 2 Network. The regular servers are the Versalife, Steiner-Bisley and Tarvos servers. You do not have to clear the Darknet servers, reward nodes, hyperlinks, and firewall nodes. You also do not have to clear S21_REBAR immediately below S04_CLAYMORE, S22_REBAR immediately above S17_CLAYMORE, and S23_REBAR immediately above S20_GARRISON. These are not regular Tier 2A servers but are additional servers that were added during a title update. Thanks to beets101 for his insight regarding this issue.

All regular servers are visible upon entry into Tier 2 and you can see them by scrolling while pressing . Any server that is not visible and appears later does not count towards the achievement. To clarify the servers required for the achievement, the following is a video that shows the Tier 2 map and the 20 servers that you have to clear:


Summary of achievement solution:
--Finish close to the entry point so you can exit effortlessly.
--Avoid combat unless the server objective is to kill enemies.
--For prime enemy servers, focus only on the prime enemy and not the riff raff.
--Never pay to Revive. If you do not clear a level, replay it and don’t waste the 10K credits that are better spent on packs.
--Don’t spend real cash on micro-transactions. You don’t need an arsenal if you avoid combat.

I outlined the basic approach in the Tier 1 Data Disciple Solution: 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 (this includes stun rifle ammo thanks as @the games masta points out in the comments) for when you really need it. Standard ammunition is refilled (to a point) whereas premium ammunition is not. The Data Disciple solution can be found here and its contents are relevant to clearing Tier 2 as well:

Solution for Data Disciple In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

The servers are more complex, the requirements are more demanding, and the enemies are tougher in Tier 2. However, if you are like me, your learning curve will outpace the increased challenge. I cleared Tier 2 faster than Tier 1 and Tier 3 faster than Tier 2.
You should be getting better equipment from your purchases and the reward nodes. My recommendation is to buy only the Elite packs for 50,000 credits. I find they have better ammo and curatives than the 6,000 credit premium packs and they provide you with powerful S class weapons. The Ripper pack is overpriced. The 200K credits the Ripper pack requires could buy you four Elite packs with a much higher probability of S class weapons.

Tier 2 requires better knowledge of the server map; enemy types, locations, and strengths; data stores; unstable blocks; etc. Make trial runs using simple weapons and standard ammunition until you are comfortable with the server. Then, you can switch to your best weapons and use premium ammunition. Since premium ammunition is not restocked, it should not be squandered on trial runs. You do so by choosing Retry or Continue if you fail a server. The latter takes you back to the server screen and you have to reengage it. The former immediately places you at the entry point of the server.

Never pay to retry. It’s very expensive at 10K credits a pop and you may not even clear the server. Even if you do, the benefit is confined to that one server run. In contrast, if you use your credits for packs, you will have continuing benefit as you progress through the server tiers. By the same token, never use real cash on micro-transactions. The best way to get the achievement is through evasion. Micro-transactions are of benefit to players who are climbing the global leaderboards and not achievement hunters. The achievements are best earned through evasion so there is no need to spend real money on expensive equipment and supplies that you will not use.

My recommendation is to use a pistol and a stun rifle most of the time. No matter how powerful the enemy, a stun rifle will incapacitate it with one round. The stun rifle does not have to be S class. I used a B class stun rifle for most of Breach and now have an A class stun rifle but still no S Class. The pistol can use standard, armor piercing, and EMP ammunition. The EMP ammunition will temporarily disable cameras and turrets. You can use the stun rifle and basic pistol as you explore and plan your plan of attack for the server. In fact, in most cases, you may be able to clear the server with just those two weapons. However, if you need greater fire power, once you have finished your reconnaissance runs, you can switch to the S weapon and premium ammunition of your choice.

The disruptor pistol with CTRL Disruptor ammunition is a game changer. A single shot will co-opt an enemy to fight on your side temporarily. Other enemies are attracted to the converted enemy and will fight it rather than you. So, not only do you have a bad guy doing your dirty work, but you can sneak on ahead while other enemies are misdirected—fighting the enemy or enemies you co-opted. Unfortunately, the CTRL Disruptor ammunition is very rare so you have to be judicious in its use. S14_TALONPIKE is a large, complex server with many enemies. You might find that the disruptor pistol with the CTRL Disruptor ammunition is the difference between success and failure.

Ultimately, though, you should play to your strengths. There is no single best weapon or plan of attack for any server. Use what you are most comfortable with. Familiarity with the server is the most valuable weapon. Once you know the lay of the land, the server becomes much less challenging and you can quickly accomplish the minimum requirements to clear it. Servers that appear difficult at first become much less challenging after you have scouted them a few times and know what you are up against.

Remember to plan to get the final requirement to satisfy the server objectives close to the entry point. Since the exit point is always the same as the entry point, you can make a quick dash and finish matters off. The exception is one of the few servers that features an abyss like S13_CORTEX. You can jump into the abyss when you have satisfied the server requirements and you will respawn at the entrance/exit point. So, you can exit simply by jumping into the Abyss and respawning at the exit point. It costs a small amount of health so you must have a modest amount of health remaining for this technique to work.

I feel you can clear all three tiers with the basic cloak, high jump, and triple jump augments. I consider these to be almost essential. Other augments should depend on your personal preference—more efficient use of energy for the cloak, greater health, Icarus dash, punch through walls, etc. I have found that the Smart Vision augment is of use during trial runs to help spot hidden servers (some servers do not appear on your map), enemies, secret passages, weak walls, etc.

*** 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 2 is composed of only Network 2A, which has 20 Server Maps, that all must be completed for:



Network 2A (20 Server Maps):
\S01_GARRISON, \S02_STOCKADE, \S03_THORAX, \S04_CLAYMORE, \S05_STOCKADE, \S06_TALONPIKE

\S07_THORAX, \S08_GARRISON, \S11_LAVAWALL

\S09_THORAX, \S10_STOCKADE

\S12_TALONPIKE

\S13_CORTEX, \S14_TALONPIKE, \S15_CLAYMORE, \S16_CORTEX, \S17_CLAYMORE, \S18_STOCKADE, \S19_THORAX, \S20_GARRISON


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 2A. 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!