The Breach is the system Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Tactics is built around. Ubisoft calls it Breach Planning mode and describes it as breaking formation with traditional turn-based combat: instead of taking turns one Operator at a time, you plan coordinated actions for the whole active squad and then execute them as one synchronised assault.
How It Works
Scout first. The interior you are about to enter is covered by fog of war, so drones are sent in during the real-time reconnaissance stage to establish the layout and mark defenders. See Mission Structure.
Plan against that map. Every squad member's movement and attacks are plotted out ahead of time, drawn against the interior the drones revealed rather than against a guess.
Choose the way in. Entry points are picked per Operator, and breaching charges can be laid on walls so the squad does not have to use the doors the level provides.
Execute. The plan is committed and everyone moves at once, taking their assigned positions and firing as they go.
The result is a single explosive move rather than a sequence of individual turns, and Ubisoft describes it as bringing momentum and high-intensity gameplay to a mission. Once it resolves, the fight settles into conventional turns.
Why the Recon Matters
The Breach and the reconnaissance stage are the same system viewed from two ends. A plan is only as good as the map it is drawn against, and because interiors have fog of war while outdoor areas do not, the only way to plan a room properly is to have looked inside it first. Scouting badly does not prevent a Breach, it just means committing the whole squad to a room you have not seen. Gameplay covers the vision rules in more detail.
Interaction With Destruction
Breaching charges on walls are the most direct link between the Breach and the game's destructible environments, but not the only one. Because the squad enters through openings you create rather than the ones the level offers, the Breach is partly an act of level design carried out by the player: you decide where the building has a door. Destruction covers how terrain comes apart and what that does to cover and sightlines.
Squad Composition and the Breach
Consideration | Why It Matters to a Breach |
|---|---|
Wall opening | An Operator who can open hard walls widens where the plan can put an entry point |
Reach | A long-range Operator can be assigned a covering position rather than an entry position |
Absorbing fire | An Operator who can hold ground under fire changes which entry can be forced rather than finessed |
Ability timing | Abilities are scripted into the plan, so an ability's value depends on how well it fits a simultaneous move |
Ubisoft's framing is that you coordinate Operator abilities with the environment to engineer the perfect breach, outflanking and surprising threats rather than trading shots with them. Squad selection therefore happens partly with the Breach in mind, before you have even seen the map. See Operators and Headquarters and Intelligence.
Where the Idea Comes From
This is the clearest place where the game's source material shows through. The reconnaissance drones, the choice of entry point, the charges on walls and the simultaneous push are recognisably the shape of a Rainbow Six attack, rebuilt so it resolves inside a turn-based structure rather than in real time. Story and Setting covers the broader relationship between this game and the one its roster comes from.
Not Yet Confirmed
Whether a Breach can be executed more than once per mission.
Whether the Breach costs a resource, a turn, or has a cooldown.
How the plan behaves if it goes wrong part way through: whether it aborts, adapts, or plays out regardless.
Whether enemies can react during the simultaneous execution.
How many entry points a single Breach supports.
Whether specific Operators or gear are required to place breaching charges.
Whether the Breach can be used outdoors or only against interiors.