Defect build tips

Not the most experienced played on this subreddit, but the builds I found most success with while playing the defect were Power card decks. There are some funky synergies that can be created. Creative AI is a really good card, so is Echo Form.

Anyone more experienced feel free to correct/add to this!

Look for focus and orbs. That’s about it

As slay the spire relies on so many factors, such as what relics you have, these tend to be a big part of what direction you should build your deck. That being said, if you are new to the game, it is not helpful to give complex examples, so I'll try and point you in the direction of good cards that I have learnt from experience, but mainly from watching people play who are very good at the game.

In essence, you want to draft attacks in act 1 to get damage to kill the elites and ultimately the boss. This obviously mainly comes from adding attacks to your deck, but can be in the form of powers too. Generally the best consistantly good defect decks I have had were power decks, but this does not always mean they are the way to go. Cards like heatsinks are good, but should not be picked early, instead wait until after you have decent powers in your deck, and only pick if it's not against better cards. Also I'd recommend watching Baalalord as he's very good at talking through plays and pointing out synergies.

Attacks

Ball lightning is a great pick up in act 1 for some early damage, but after that it falls off a bit. Cold snap can also be a decent pick early on, I undervalued it for a while. Also compile driver. Claw is bad in most situations, as much as it pains me you should skip it most of the time. Hyperbeam is generally good early on, though you do want to build focus, ending a fight quickly with this card can avoid the need. Streamline can be picked early if there are no better options and you need something to kill elites with.

Skills

Coolheaded is very good, I undervalued it for a long time, but it is normally a good pick up. Steambarrier can be OK early on, also autoshileds (1 copy) early in the game can be OK if you have damage. Glacier is a very good block card, it blocks the turn you play it, plus give you passive block going forward. Seek is a solid pick. Equilibrium is also a solid pick, but you don't want too many.

Powers

Defragment is a very good card for defect, generally pick and upgrade where possible, this can form part of your damage as it buffs lightning orbs. Biased cognition is also busted, took me a while to realise how good it was due to the downside, but it can be played straight up in most fights, and maybe held in long boss fights initially. Buffer is not as good as it looks, it can be OK in some decks, I thought it was insane when I first saw it, do not fall into this trap. Creative AI and Echo form can be very good, but can be risky to pick very early if you have no damage. Electrodynamics is very good in act 1 and 2.

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This list is not exhaustive, and is probably a bit information overload already, but trying to give insights it took me a while to master. Good luck slaying!

Im on ascension 18 with defect and even I don't even know how to play him consistently. I always end up having combos like echo form defrag or inserter consume, or bias cog with artifact charges or pellets... Beyond that I struggle to scale with him and I usually get demolished in act 2.