The Defect is one of the three older characters who have made their return to Slay the Spire 2, and its new version is significantly better than the older one.
Fundamentally, the Defect still works its magic via elemental orbs and programming, but its abilities have changed to match the lore of the game. Let’s look at how to build it up from scratch, and what type of decks you can run.
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How to use Defect in Slay the Spire 2
The Defect is one of those rarer characters that offers you the freedom to go for different deck archetypes. All decks will revolve around Evoke and Channel to efficiently use the orbs. If your deck lacks synergy, the Defect won’t be an effective character to use.
However, you can keep your deck options open and change them if required. Not only are the Orb mechanics fun to manipulate, but you can build them up to do more damage. The Defect also provides you with healing options when required.
Best Defect deck in Slay the Spire 2
There are different decks to run with the Defect, but the most consistent one for me has been based around Claw. The Claw is a 0-Energy attack item that keeps increasing its damage the more times it’s used. While the onus is to fill your deck with the Claw cards whenever possible, you have to build your deck around them.
Early commons and uncommons
| Cards | Reason |
|---|---|
| Momentum Strike | An amazing attack card that costs 1 Energy to do 10 damage when used for the first time. All subsequent use will cost 0 Energy. |
| Beam Cell | For 0 Energy, you get to do 3 damage and add Vulnerable to an enemy. |
| Flash of Steel | An extremely useful item that allows you to do 5 damage at no energy and draw a card as a bonus. |
| Scrape | This card does 7 damage and draws 4 cards. All cards that are not 0 Energy will be discarded. This is a perfect way to try and get cards like Claw and Beam Cell. |
| Skim | Another 1 Energy card that allows you to draw 3 cards (some of which will be 0 Energy – like Claw and Beam Cell). |
| Hologram | Allows you to get back cards like Scrape and Claw back into your hand. |
Best cards
| Card | Reason |
|---|---|
| All for One | Deals 10 damage and returns all 0-cost cards from the Discard pile to your hand. Great at getting back all the Claw cards for another attack. |
| Feral | Whenever you play a 0 Energy card for the first time, it will return to your hand. |
| Panache | This 0 Energy cost card allows you to do 10 damage whenever you play five cards in a single turn. Since there are loads of 0 Energy cost cards in the deck, it’s really easy to trigger the effects of Panache. |
Best relics for Defect in Slay the Spire 2
Here are some of the best relics you can look to draw while playing the Claw deck as Defect.
- Iron Club: Allows you to draw one extra card for every four cards you play.
- Shuriken: Allows you to gain 1 Strength for three attacks in a single turn.
- Ornamental Fan: Gain 4 Block when you perform three attacks in a single turn.
- Power Cell: This relic adds two 0-cost cards from your deck to your hand. It raises the chance of a strong start during a new combat.
