Rift Walkers are the first squad in the game Into the Breach and are by far the easiest to play. This squad gives you a lot of options to work with in regards to handling foes, but is not insanely difficult to set up combos with this team. This is definitely the squad I would recommend all beginners to try to learn with. Winning with this squad will really test your fundamental knowledge of the game.
The Rift Walkers Units
Like all squads in the game, the team has only three units. Every squad in the game seems to have a gimmick. However, Rift Walkers are the one exception. Rift Walkers are the base squad of the game, and they feel like this. Despite this, the squad does a good amount of damage and does well on all difficulties. One thing all of the units do well on is pushing enemies around the board.
Combat Mech
The Combat Mech has a short reach of only one square around it. However, the unit does a pretty solid 2 damage to any of those enemies. This will also cause the enemy to be pushed one square in the direction away from the Combat Mech. This paired with the Combat Mech’s solid movement makes it a solid member of the team. However, this mech is still the baseline for performance.
If the player invests two reactor cores into this mech then that opens up the ability to obtain the dash. This lets this mech act like the rook in Chess. This makes the Combat Mech extremely mobile. However, this cross map movement must end in an attack. This mech really excels in moving enemies, and finishing off those enemies with the first attack.
Cannon Mech
The Cannon Mech is a range unit that has average health, movement, and damage. The mech has a lot of good utility that some of the other range mechs don’t really have. For example, the cannon mech can attack adjacent enemies as well as enemies on the other side of the map if they are in the same row or column. Also, the cannon mech also has a push whenever an attack lands.
Artillery Mech
The artillery mech is the support unit of the squad. The unit has very similar stats to the Cannon Mech, but with less health. However, what makes this mech interesting is the attack. The Artillery Mech can fire an attack in the same row and column as it is currently in, but can not attack adjacent enemies. The attack only does an average amount of damage. However, when it is fired it pushes all neighboring units to the point of attack one square away.
The artillery mech is great at pushing enemies away from buildings but also setting up kills for the other units.
Starting Positions and Strategies
The pushing mechanics of this squad give you a lot of options in how to approach. A good strategy is put the Cannon and Combat mechs apart from each other, and set the Artillery mech near the back. The Artillery mech has low health, so it is not a great idea to have it in the battle area. The Cannon and Combat mech could both flank the enemies and set up combos for each other.
The Rift Walkers are able to control the middle extraordinarily well. The artillery mech can push enemies from the edges into the middle, and the other mechs can finish them off easily. Setting up combos for bosses is not extremely hard with this squad. At minimum this squad can push strong enemies out of destroying buildings.
Conclusion
The Rift Walkers are the squad I recommend beating the game with before you move into more difficult squads. The strategy of controlling the middle will take you a far way. I would say if you grind out a win with this squad you should be able to tackle the game on a higher difficulty or take these fundamentals into more complex squads. If you want to learn more facts about Rift Walkers you should really read the wiki page.