Pilots

Pilots control the mechs, gaining experience and valuable skills on the battlefield. Basic AI Pilots are already operating at their peak efficiency and do not gain experience in combat, making it necessary for you to find superior human Pilots, or advanced AI Pilots, to replace the basic AI. Cyborgs are both Pilot and Mech in one.

Unless otherwise specified, pilots are obtained by completing 100% of all objectives on Islands or collecting Time Pods.

Artificial Pilots and CorPilots[ | ]

The Artificial Pilot is the default mech pilot if the pilot is killed. No skills and always active without a pilot in the mech
CorPilots work for the Corporations in the current timeline, never have any special skills, and the best available pair of them start every new timeline

AI Pilot	Archive Inc Pilot	RST Pilot	Pinnacle Pilot	Detritus Pilot

Time Travelers[ | ]

Time Travelers are exceptional pilots, each with a special skill, and have jumped timelines more than once
Ralph Karlsson is the first known Time Traveler
- Karlsson can be chosen after achieving a 100% success rate on any Island.
All other Time Travelers can be unlocked by:
- Perfectly completing 100% of all objectives on an island and selecting a Time Traveler over a weapon or bonus grid power
- By recovering a Time Pod

Name	Corporation	Special skill	Debug Name
Ralph Karlsson	None	Experienced: Gain +2 bonus XP per kill.	Pilot_Original
Harold Schmidt	Archive, Inc.	Frenzied Repair: Push adjacent tiles when repairing.	Pilot_Repairman
Abe Isamu	R.S.T. Corporation	Armored: Mech gains Armored.	Pilot_Assassin
Bethany Jones	Pinnacle Robotics	Starting Shield: Mech starts every mission with a Shield.	Pilot_Genius
Henry Kwan	Detritus Disposal	Maneuverable: Mech can move through enemy units.	Pilot_Hotshot
Gana	Archive, Inc.	Preemptive Strike: Deploy anywhere on the map, damaging adjacent enemies. (1 power required)	Pilot_Warrior
Prospero	Detritus Disposal	Flying: Mech gains Flying (1 power required)	Pilot_Recycler
Lily Reed	Archive, Inc.	Impulsive: Gain +3 Move on first turn of every mission.	Pilot_Youth
Chen Rong	Detritus Disposal	Sidestep: After attacking, gain 1 free tile movement.	Pilot_Leader
Camila Vera	R.S.T. Corporation	Evasion: Mech unaffected by Webbing and Smoke.	Pilot_Soldier
Isaac Jones	Pinnacle Robotics	Temporal Reset: Gain 1 extra 'Reset Turn' every battle.	Pilot_Medic
Silica	R.S.T. Corporation	Double Shot: Mech can act twice if it does not move. (2 power required)	Pilot_Miner
Archimedes	Pinnacle Robotics	Fire-and-Forget: Move again after shooting. (1 power required)	Pilot_Aquatic
Advanced Edition
Kai Miller		Arrogant Boost: Mech is Boosted if full health, otherwise -1 Move.	Pilot_Arrogant
Rosie Rivets		Reassuring Hand: After Move, Repair adjacent Mechs.	Pilot_Caretaker
Morgan Lejeune		Field Research: Mech gains Boosted on kill.	Pilot_Chemical
Adam		Chosen One: On Reset Turn, gain Shield and +2 Move.	Pilot_Delusional

Secret Pilots[ | ]

After breaking a certain mountain tile or ice tile a "Strange Object" will be found under it. If you take it, a special time pod will fall from the sky. Recover the special time pod or protect it until battle ends to rescue a secret pilot.

Name	Special skill	Debug Name
Kazaaakpleth	Mantis: 2 damage melee attack replaces Repair.	Pilot_Mantis
Mafan	Zoltan: +1 Reactor Core. Reduce Mech HP to 1. Gain Shield every turn.	Pilot_Zoltan
Ariadne	Rockman: +3 Health and immune to Fire.	Pilot_Rock

Cyborg Pilots[ | ]

Cyborg Pilots become available after unlocking the Secret Squad by completing all Achievements.
All Cyborg Pilots have randomly-selected names, a portrait depending on their mech, and the same special skill:
- Vek : Normal Pilots cannot be equipped. Loses 25 XP when the unit is disabled.

Cyborg Pilot	Cyborg Pilot	Cyborg Pilot

Experience and Skills[ | ]

Pilots gain experience points (XP) when Veks are destroyed while defending a region. One XP is gained for each Vek health point (HP), so a 2 HP Vek is worth 2 XP.

The Soldier Psion adds 1 HP to each Vek giving an extra XP. A Hornet typically has 2 HP and is worth 2 XP, but with a Soldier Psion present it has 3 HP so the Hornet would be worth 3 XP. When a Soldier Psion is killed, every Vek is reduced by 1 HP. If a Vek that has 1 HP left is destroyed due to the death of a Soldier Psion, then the extra HP is taken away before the Vek dies and no additional XP is gained. If there's a Hornet with 1 HP left and the Soldier Psion is destroyed, the Hornet is reduced from 3 HP to 2 HP, then 1 HP is taken away from the Hornet. The dead Hornet gives 2 XP.

If a Vek is not directly killed by a Pilot, such as when a Vek is killed by an emerging Vek or dies from environmental damage, the XP is split among all the Pilots in the squad. If there isn't enough XP to split among all the pilots, XP is distributed to just part of the squad on a rotating basis.

Artificial Pilots do not gain XP.

A Pilot sent to a new timeline, the Last Traveler, retains their XP and skills from the previous timeline. If an invulnerable pilot's mech is disabled in the final battle they will not be able to teleport away and will die at the end of the mission. Bonus skills gained via level up are completely random, but certain pilots are prevented from learning specific skills.

Note: prior to patch 1.0.17 there was no blacklist for pilot skills, and could result in Mafan ( max HP = 1 ) having a useless bonus of +2 Mech HP.

Base Game Pilot Abilities[]

Human, Advanced AI, and Cyborg Pilots automatically learn a random abilities after gaining 25 XP and another 50 XP. Pilots stop earning XP after getting a total of 75 XP. They are ordered based on their internal IDs (starting at 0 and ending at 13).

There are certain pilots who can not learn specific abilities, and they are noted beside the ability description in the list below.

+2 Mech HP : Piloted Mech health is increased by 2.
+1 Mech Move : Piloted Mech movement is increased by 1.
+3 Grid DEF : Grid Defense increased by 3% resist chance.
+1 Mech Reactor : Piloted Mech reactor increased by 1.

Unobtainable with Ariadne.
Unobtainable with Mafan.

Advanced Edition Pilot Abilities[]

These abilities can only be learnt by pilots in the current timeline if the Advanced Content: Pilot Abilities setting was turned on.

There are certain pilots who can not learn specific skills, and they are noted beside the skill in the list below.

Opener : Gain Boost and +2 Move on First Turn.
Finisher : Gain Boost and +2 Move on Last Turn.
Popular Hero : Sells for 4 reputation.
Thick Skin : Immune to A.C.I.D and Fire.
Skilled : +1 Move and +2 Mech HP.
Invulnerable : Does not die when Mech is defeated.
Adrenaline : +1 Move per Vek killed in a battle.
Masochist : +2 Move when not full health.
Technician : Repair 1HP at the start of every enemy turn.
Conservative : Limited Use weapons are given +1 use.

Unobtainable with Ariadne.
Unobtainable with Mafan.
Unobtainable with Cyborg Pilots.

Corporate CEOs[ | ]

While not Pilots, the Corporate CEOs are heavily involved with guiding the Squads against the Vek.

Dewey Alms Archive, Inc.	Jessica Kern R.S.T. Corporation	Zenith Pinnacle Robotics	Vikram Singh Detritus Disposal

Behind the scenes[ | ]

Gizmo, Huang, and Kirk were Pilots from pre-release versions of Into the Breach.

Pilots may also be unlocked with cheat codes.

Gizmo	Huang	Kirk

There are some special skills that went unused in the game:

Cauterize : Fire heals instead of damaging Mech.
Frozen Stance : Stopping on any liquid tile freezes it, making it safe to stand on.
Retaliation : Deal 1 damage to adjacent enemies after surviving damage.