The mechanical Defect has an interesting deck of cards that makes it one of the more intriguing classes to play as in Slay The Spire. It differs dramatically from the Ironclad and Silent in that it plays the long game; building strength and power over time to shred enemies in the later stages of combat rather than fight opportunistically.
This often means ignoring cheap shots and sticking to a carefully laid out plan no matter what, but for those who can embrace this style and remain patient they can become masterful fighters in the late game. If players are looking to develop a long term strategy for the Defect build, here are the strongest cards to consider using.
Updated on July 2, 2021 by Ben Baker: The key to a deck-building game like Slay The Spire is for players to use their limited resources to maximize results with each turn. Knowing which cards to prioritize can go a long way towards improving overall success. It seemed appropriate to include a few more cards that should also be worth considering. They may not be stronger than the previous ten, but they are definitely worth paying attention to. Here are a few more of the best cards for Defect players, what they do, and a few tips for when to use them.
15 Chill
Chill is a great card for opening up combat. At zero cost it Channels a Frost orb for every enemy in combat and then Exhausts afterward. It’s not exactly a game-changer, but it does act to give the player a solid footing while stalling for better cards.
After all, the Defect character is about stalling long enough to snowball to absurd levels and obliterate opponents. Chill when used early on can achieve that. Even later in the game, it acts as a one-turn delay to bide time for something better.
14 Coolheaded
Coolheaded costs one energy and will Channel one Frost and allow the player to draw one card. Coolheaded serves as more of a synergy card with things like Capacitor or Consume. But on its own, it still serves a valuable role.
It serves to give the player some Frost and hopefully a more useful card through the draw. Later in the game, it loses some steam and really needs synergy for it to be useful. In the beginning, it’s a solid card that can give the player some options.
13 Reinforced Body
Reinforced Body has an X cost and will provide seven Block X number of times. Like all X cards the X is dependent on the energy consumed and with this card, the more energy the better. Having seven Block for one turn is great, but getting it for two or even three times is phenomenal.
It doesn’t rank higher because its usefulness is dependent on the energy available and it consumes everything at once. Still, seven Block regardless of how long it lasts is nothing to be upset about. Combine this with Chemical X or Recycle and the player is a force to be reckoned with.
12 Steam Barrier
Steam Barrier has no cost and provides six Block with the caveat of decreasing the card’s Block by one each time it’s used. Six Block for zero cost is incredible for Defect and a great way to get some defenses up to build power.
That decrease in Block is why the card doesn’t rank higher. It essentially has six uses before it becomes useless and each use it sees a diminish in helpfulness. Granted, most players won’t ever use it that many times, but there is a cap on the card’s power in a long battle.
11 Electrodynamics
Electrodynamics costs two energy and causes Lightning attacks to strike all enemies. It also Channels two Lightning when used. The one-two punch of enhancing Lightning attacks and then providing Lightning is what makes this card so powerful.
It's also a strong component for Defect’s scaling-over-time style of play. All Lightning attacks will now become AOE attacks without losing their potency. Hallway battles become a breeze after utilizing this card and it synergizes very well with Static Discharge.
10 Glacier
Glacier is a skill card that gives nine block and channels two frost orbs. The nine block is handy for negating solid damage in an upcoming attack and the channeling effect will load two frost orbs to give improved defensive capabilities.
Frost orbs struggle in the beginning, but if the player can hold out they create an impenetrable wall of defense that make combat a matter of attrition. It’s a strong card, but you definitely need the right setup to take advantage of the frost orb channeling.
9 Streamline
This attack card is the epitome of the Defect’s overall strategy. Initially it costs two energy to deal 15 damage and enters the discard pile, but every time it’s used afterward, be it through reshuffling or drawing from the discard, it’s cost goes down by one until it hits zero for the remainder of combat.
This means after a total of three uses players will have an attack card that does 15 damage and costs zero energy. This is unbelievably helpful as it allows players to allocate that energy to other cards while still doing hefty damage.
8 Hologram
The Hologram card is an example of why cards like Streamline are so useful. Hologram gives a nice three block and then allows the player to take a card from the discard pile and put it in their hand. With the low energy cost of one players can easily use many other cards in the deck after playing this card.
Granted it does exhaust after a single use, but it potentially lets the player reuse very powerful cards to hit the enemy twice in one turn or ratchet block up to incredible heights prior to a major attack.
7 Static Discharge
This passive power card is helpful for whittling down opponents while the player is busy building up the character’s overall abilities. Every time Defect takes damage with this card in play it will channel one lightning.
Lightning are orbs meant for damage dealt over time with each turn. Having the ability to channel Lightning every time Defect takes damage can quickly build up lightning abilities and whittle down opponents.
6 Machine Learning
This power is much more straightforward and arguably more useful for both short term combat and long-term power up. Every turn after drawing five cards the player can draw an additional sixth card. Considering how many zero cost cards there are in a Defect deck, odds are the player will be able to use whatever they draw without worrying about the energy cost.
This power gives yet another chance to deal damage, set orbs, or build block reserves. Six cards in a zero cost deck can go a long, long way.
5 Boot Sequence
Boot Sequence is a skill card that gives 10 block and then is exhausted. It may not seem like much, but what makes this card so useful is that it’s Innate. Innate cards are guaranteed to be in the hand at the start of combat which means the player is guaranteed to have this right out of the gate.
Even better is the fact that it has zero energy cost so they get a free 10 block at the beginning of combat without using any energy. This gives some solid defense and the ability to use three energy worth of cards still.
4 Self Repair
This is an incredibly useful card for long-term survivability and keeping Defect alive during setup. Self-Repair is a power card that will heal Defect by seven health points at the end of combat.
Any kind of passive heal in this game is rare and having seven health returned is nothing to scoff about. It may not be a demonic based attack like Ironclad or a flashy Corpse Explosion like the one used by Silent, but passive health regeneration is arguably far more powerful then either in this game.
3 Seek
This zero cost energy skill card allows the player to choose one card from the draw pile and place it in their hand. It essentially allows the palyer to replace it with something powerful from discard.
It does exhaust afterward so it’s a one-time use, but it guarantees access to a powerful card that can be used twice in the same round or recovered from earlier in the game and get it’s effects again.
2 Reboot
This card is very similar to Seek but is arguably more useful, albeit with some RNG involved. Reboot allows the player to place all of the cards in their hand back into the deck, shuffle the entire thing, and then redraw five cards.
Admittedly this has a small chance of receiving some of the same cards they were trying to get rid of, but if the hand is absolutely lousy the player can get a do over and potentially have a much stronger hand. It does exhaust, but it’s such a powerful card it probably only needs to be used once.
1 Echo Form
Without a doubt the most powerful card for Defect is the Echo Form. It’s a power card that takes the first card of each turn and plays it twice. This means if the first card was a Boot Sequence instead of providing 10 block it provides 20.
This gets really absurd when you consider all the cards above this one on the list. Seek would let the player take two cards, Streamline would deal 30 damage instead of 15 and so on. By carefully considering which card to play first each turn the player can get a tremendous boost out of this power. One thing to keep in mind is that this card is Ethereal so if it isn't played it will be lost.