You never know what gear you might find during a game of Into The Breach. Whether you're gifted advanced tech by an island's leader or you recover equipment sent from a destroyed world via a Time Pod, a single upgrade for one of your mechs can open up entirely new tactical options in your struggle against the Vek.
Theoretically, any upgrade can be acquired through gameplay, even those that are unique to a specific squad. If you see any of these exceptional components, be sure to equip and power them - they'll make it much more likely that you'll succeed in destroying the Vek hive.
7 🍷 Critical Shields
This is the kind of upgrade that you hope you'll never have to use, but if it does become necessary you'll be glad you have it. If the Power Grid is reduced to one bar, all buildings on the map gain a Shield. This allows them to shrug off a single attacﷺk, no matter how powe🃏rful, potentially saving your run.
Make no mistake, having the Grid on the brink of collapse is never a position you want to be in, but Critical Shields give you a chance to escape a tough situation and try to recover. Best of all, this upgrade doesn't require any Reactor Cores, letting you save your precious resources for other systems.
6 Stabilizers 🐼 💛
One of the best ways to keep enemy numbers under control is to block emerging Vek with a mech, obstacle, or another Vek. This keeps the blocked enemy from joining the fight for at least a turn, at the cost of dealing a point of damage to the blocker.
Stabilizers, when powered, allow the equipped mech to block an emerging Vek without taking damage, potentially letting your pilot sit on the same tile and keep the Vek from ever reaching the surface. This upgrade is best placed on Ranged-class mechs, who don't need to move around as much as other types.
5 𒁃 Vek Hormones ♈
A key component of most squads' strategy is repositioning the Vek so that they attack one another rather than mechs or buildings. In late-game battles this is often the only way to handle the swarms of powerful enemies that flood the map. A mech equipped to disperse Vek Hormones causes Vek to deal extra damage when attacking their brethren.
This upgrade doesn't require any Reactor Cores, making it an economical choice, but if you have Cores to spare it can be upgraded twice. Each upgrade causes the Vek to deal an additional point of damage to one another, making it well worth the investment if you choose to fully power the device.
4 𝔉 Networked Armor
A single point of damage can be critical to a pilot's survival. With Networked Armor, your entire squad will have an extra buffer to keep everyone in the fight.
This upgrade provides 🐓your entire squad with an additional point of Health. It requires one Reactor Core to power, and if you add two additional Cores it will give your mechs another point of Health.
3 🉐 Repair Field ಌ
In general, stopping to repair a damaged mech is a last resort. It's almost always better to stop an attack or destroy an enemy, so a mech should only repair if they have nothing better to do or are in critical condition.
That changes if your squad has a Repair Field. Which this upgrade, any time a mech stops to repair it will also heal both of its teammates, regardless of the distance between them. This can even reactivate a disabled mech and resurrect the pilot inside!
If Harold Schmidt is on your team, he can make extensive use of the Repair Field by keeping your mechs in top shape while also pushing enemies around whenever he wants.
2 Force Amp
Pushing, pulling, and throwing the Vek around the map are key elements of gameplay in Into The Breach. Smashing giant monsters into one another is not only fun, but it's also an efficient and effective way to deal extra damage. The Force Amp improves your kaiju-bowling game by making Vek take extra damage from collisions.
Nearly every squad has a forced movement ability, making the Force Amp a versatile upgrade for the cost of a single Reactor Core. It also causes Vek to take an additional point of damage from blocking emerging enemies. Toss a foe onto a burrowing tile for a double-whammy, dealing two damage to the enemy on the ground and preventing the arrival of t🎐he one underneath!
1 🔯 Networked Shielding ꧟
This upgrade can only be found if Advanced Edition content is enabled, and costs two Reactor Cores just to activate, but you won't find a better passive ability in the game. With Networked Shielding equipped and powered, your mechs will no longer take damage during the Player Turn. This allows you to unleash area attacks, pushes, and self-damaging weapons to your heart's content without fear of accidentally blowing up your mechs.
There are still plenty of ways your mechs can take damage during the Enemy Turn - this is Into The Breach, after all - so Networked Shielding shouldn't be mistaken for an invulnerability field. Fire, emerging Vek, environmental damage, and chasms are all perfectly capable of bumping off your pilots, to say nothing of the actual attacks made by the Vek. You'll still need to be careful with your placement, but Networked Shielding opens up enough options during your turn that you'll be able to try strategies other squads would have to abandon.