Skipping Dead Branch

I'm in the middle of an A12 defect run (working my way up to a20 heart kill on each character, already beat silent and ironclad) and I just got offered dead branch as an elite reward towards the end of act 2. I'm currently pretty set up: bird urn, med kit, fusion hammer, echo form, genetic algorithm, self repair, seeks, an upgraded recycle. A lot of the good bread and butter plus random generically helpful relics and cards.

I know in theory with all the exhaust in my deck dead branch could pop off, but at this point I'm feeling confident enough surviving right now that I'm thinking about how I could lose vs the later bosses and the heart and such and a ton of deck clutter on future cycles could be bad vs the heart if the branch keeps dishing out whiffs. I'm taking it, but I think this is an interesting decision point and I'd love to hear feedback on the thought process here for as I rise in ascensions.