Defect

*"Combat automaton which became self-aware. Ancient technology allows manipulation of Orbs."*

The **Defect** is one of four playable characters in Slay the Spire. Once was among the like of Orb Walkers and Bronze Automaton as one of many ancient automatons, it has since gained sentience and seeks its way out of the Spire. It attacks foes with a high-tech arsenal, array of Powers, and elemental evocations.
The Defect has a unique mechanic, the Orbs. Using cards and Relics, The Defect Channels these elemental spheres into a set of Orb slots, activating their passive effects each turn or Evoking them for a one-time burst. The Defect starts with three Orb slots, though cards and relics can add or  them. It starts with 75 hp.

The Defect's starting Relic is , which Channels 1 Lightning at the start of each combat.

It was added to the beta build in Weekly Patch 22: Testing the Third Character during the early access. It is released to the public, along with the game and other two characters on January 23rd, 2019.

## Cards

### Starting Deck

* 4
* 4
* 1
* 1

## Gameplay

### Orbs

*Main article: Orbs*

The Defect begins with three Orb slots and considers the rightmost Orb to be the 'next' Orb to Evoke. Channelling an Orb inserts it into the rightmost empty slot. If every slot is full, each Orb will be shifted one slot to the right, popping the right-most Orb out of its slot and Evoking it. The Defect can have a maximum of 10 Orb slots.

,  and  orbs have a passive effect that activates at the end of the Defect's turn, from right to left, or oldest to newest. The passive effect of  activates at the start of the Defect's turn. While these effects are initially weak, The Defect can increase  and channel additional copies to sharply increase their potency.

### Focus

*Main article:*

 is a stat unique to The Defect that affects Orbs the same way  affects Attacks and  affects . Increasing  increases the magnitude of both the passive and  effects of each Orb (except for ). It is possible to reduce Orb effects to 0 by decreasing .

## Relics

The Defect has fewer class-specific relics than the other classes, having only one class-specific rare relic rather than three (like the Ironclad and Silent) or two (like the Watcher). The Watcher has equally few overall, but instead of being short two Rare relics is short one Rare and one Boss relic.

Uncommon Relics: ,

Rare Relics:

Boss Relics:  (replaces ), ,

Shop Relic:

## Strategy

The Defect's game plan almost always involves implementing a long-term plan each battle. By developing Orbs, Powers, and cards with escalating effects, the Defect sets up an insurmountable late-game position and then destroys its enemies with its accumulated advantage. This is a radically different style from the Silent and the Ironclad, who tend to apply bursts of damage to take enemies out opportunistically.

As a consequence, the Defect struggles to win with a deck full of "good stuff". While it does have access to some individually strong cards, they don't present the sheer power that the other characters enjoy without support. However, due to the long-term nature of its best strategies, the Defect must sometimes take such individually strong cards, either to survive the first few acts or to provide frontloaded solutions while it sets up.

Juggling deckbuilding decisions between these two extremes of short-term benefit v.s. long-term power is thus an ongoing struggle during every Defect run, yet a rewarding one once all of the pieces fall into place.

The Defect also has a higher number of chance-based effects, like , , and .

The Defect's strongly synergistic cards encourage some powerful and well-supported archetypes. Identifying and focusing on one is a key aspect of the Defect strategy.

### Build types

Listed below are the standard synergies that Defect decks build towards, which may give you an idea of direction for your own runs. Some important things to keep in mind:

* Most of these builds aren't mutually exclusive. Think of each of the archetypes listed below as an engine that you can incorporate into your deck; depending on the situation, you are more than able to adapt or combine multiple of them.
* It's important to not "force" a particular build from the outset of the game. Build your deck to solve your immediate problems first and foremost, then allow an archetype to come to you organically. The only exception would be if you run into cards or relics in the early-game that are both individually impactful *and* form the crux of an entire archetype, and such situations are few and far between.

Cards or relics that increase :
* gives +1 Focus for free, helping you significantly at the start of a battle.
* is your bread-and-butter, and are priority upgrades.
* provides a large burst of Focus which can help you end hallway fights quickly. Its downside can be negated with  or blocked by your own . Combo this with  or  to gain permanent Focus with no drawback.
* is a more situational Focus gain card as it reduces your orb slots, but it is reusable as it is a Skill and not a Power. It is best if you have the  to offset its downside.

Cards that generate  and :
* (Zap+ is 0 cost)
* is a very high-impact card against multiple enemies and is generally the Defect's main AoE solve.
* provides card draw while channeling Frost, allowing you to dig for your main cards.

Other helpful additions:
* and relics such as  and  give you more Orb slots to benefit from Focus increasing Orb value.
* lets you pull your Focus-generating cards immediately out of the Deck.
* Card draw such as  and  can help cycle through your Deck to get Focus into play as soon as possible, especially when combined with  generators.
	+ is the best of both worlds, providing both card draw and Energy!
* can help generate  in a pinch.
* can duplicate your  which can normally only be played once, or give you multiple Orb casts.
* + can give you a large volume of orbs right away, but be wary of leaving orb generation up to chance against elites or bosses...

Once the shields are up, the Defect can devote every Energy to damage while the opposition cannot do anything back to it.
Frost Turtle builds require  and orb slot buffs to function. Refer to the Focus Stacking section for more information on these cards and relics.
* Cards that generate  include , , and .
* Cards and relics that generate  include , , , and .
* Cards and relics that add orb slots include , , and .

Your main priority as you approach endgame should be to find a damage solution for the final bosses, as defense alone might not win you the run.
* is one of your best options in this slot-based deck.
* may seem tempting, but it scales up very slowly, and takes a long time to match Barrage's power. It is still a viable option if you need spread damage.
* Combine this build with  Orb-generating cards and let them build up behind your Frost orbs, unleashing them when the time is right.

Other tips and useful additions:
* is a run-winning addition to this deck. The Defect will often have leftover  with a full setup, which this relic allows to snowball out of control.
* For orb slots, 2 copies of  should suffice, but you can take more if you want.
* Take as many  as possible, and upgrade as many of them as you can. Focus is even more crucial for this deck as 1 Focus means 1 additional  per channeled Frost orb.
	+ Since  and  are not expensive,  has an even greater chance to allow multiple free cards to be played.
* The  boss relic fills your orb slots with Frost orbs, which can help you more quickly establish your defenses.
* is also a powerful boss relic for this Deck, as the extra energy helps get everything into play. You will generally not care about the enemy's action once set up.

Key cards to this build:
* Cards that generate  include , , and .
	+ Electrodynamics is a key  or  target, letting you start fights against multiple enemies with a massive advantage.
* If you have a large number of powers,  can add value to those plays by generating even more Lightning.
* becomes significantly stronger when you're constantly evoking Lightning in the target's direction, amplifying all that damage.
* decreases the number of orb slots while increasing Focus. With fewer orb slots, you can rapidly Evoke multiple Lightning Orbs for a large amount of damage.
* turns the enemy's offense against them, channeling massive amounts of Lightning against multi-hits in particular.
	+ As you are willingly inviting damage to end fights, one or two copies of  are recommended to keep the Defect's health at safe levels.
* and  are this deck's premier finishers, dumping huge volumes of damage onto the enemy.
	+ generation from cards like , , or  thus helps this build quite a bit.

Other considerations:
* Have a  plan in mind, as you will gain much less value from  if you are constantly Evoking everything. For example, if you are supporting  with Energy generators, you can use  as well to defend yourself from huge hits.
* This build benefits greatly from damage mitigation relics such as  or , especially in conjunction with . When combined, they can completely nullify damage from almost all multi-hits.

Cards and relics that generate Dark Orbs:
* is your main  Orb generator. When upgraded, it powers up all Dark Orbs in play by one charge.
* is a solid spread damage option that happens to generate a Dark Orb. This card is what usually fits into a normal build as an early-game option, but gets to shine a lot more here.
* generates a free Dark Orb at the start of each combat.

Key parts of a Dark Orb engine:
* is arguably the most important card for Dark Orbs. This is because if you Evoke a Dark Orb with Recursion, it will immediately channel again with the same stats. If you have a Dark Orb in front but don't want to give it up quite yet, Recursion will move it to the back while dealing a huge chunk of damage in the process, letting you continue building its power.
* and  will unleash the Dark Orb multiple times onto enemies, usually ending the fight with a sufficient charge.
	+ If running Multi-Cast, you will want to support it with  generating cards like , , or .

Other considerations:
* Keep in mind that the Dark orb will target the lowest health enemy.
* This engine works well with  decks, as Frost Orbs help generate  and allow you to stall the fight until you are ready to Evoke a Dark Orb.
* Be extremely careful when fighting enemies with the ability to gain Intangible (namely Nemesis), as evoking a Dark orb at the wrong time will result in the target taking only 1 damage and the accumulated charges being wasted as a result.

Damage comes from 0-cost cards that do damage:
* - requires 2 plays (of 2- and 1-cost respectively) before it reaches 0 cost.
* +
* +

The Deck then also needs a lot of recycle/card-draw effects to get as many of the 0-cost cards in play per turn. The Defect has a lot of great support cards for this type of deck:
* - the best one for this deck as it allows you to re-play all of your 0-cost cards you've played in your deck up until that point
* - allows you to double-play cards like  and  to more quickly ramp up their effects.
* - reuse , double-play , or replay a 0-cost card.
* - good card draw that let's you immediately play any 0-cost cards it finds.
* + - when upgraded it becomes a free power.
* - very good if you already have the core engine of your deck in place.
* - great for finding , or even better, .

There are also some extremely useful neutral cards that either help get 0-cost cards, or are 0-cost cards themselves (or both):
* - can be difficult to get, but if you are able to acquire it, it will greatly speed up your deck by turning your strongest cards into 0-cost cards.
	+ 2 + with  and + is an infinite. Use both madness to reduce  and + to 0-cost, and use each one to put the other back into your hand.
	+ + makes this easier to pull off. Double Seek+ is even easier, as it allows for 3 of the 4 cards to be put into your hand immediately.
	+ also makes this easier to pull off.
* +/+ - both of these when upgraded will allow you to get your key cards faster.
* - as you will almost certainly be playing more than 5 cards every turn, this will be a guaranteed 10 damage to all enemies every turn.
* - upgrade this ASAP so that you can reuse it.
* - can get rid of Strikes/Defends during combat, which, depending on the state of your deck, may allow you to go infinite.
* - a rare card as it only comes from the Augmenter event, but any source of strength is a huge benefit for a deck that aims to play many 0-cost attacks every turn. As an added bonus, the card itself costs 0 and so, if you have the health for it, can quickly ramp up your damage to high levels in this deck.

Refine the deck by using Powers to fill the roles of Attacks and Skills. Consider  and  your primary sources of damage, and  and  your biggest blockers. A Power spam deck's win condition depends on the particular Powers you acquire. Most builds will create a huge amount of , but others simply lean on  and let the buffs snowball out of control.
Key cards and relics for this build:
* allows the deck to maintain offensive presence while setting up. Upgrade it as soon as you identify that your deck is leaning into Power spam.
* allows Power spam decks to scale to infinity without ever losing steam, synergizing amazingly with itself and all of the other Power-synergy cards that The Defect can get.
* is what makes a Power spam deck tick. It will allow you to blaze through your deck to find key Powers or  generation like , , or , which is critical to setting up before you take too much damage.
* + can delete useless powers that  generates, such as  or extra copies of Creative AI, and helps keep your deck size thin in longer fights.
* is your main  supplement; it is essentially guaranteed to be at 0 cost due to how this deck functions.
* , while a bit inconsistent, can provide a huge power spike depending on which Power is duplicated. Good targets for Amplify are cards like  and . If you choose to run it, support it with cards like  and  which can get it into your hand at the perfect time.
* is essentially a game-ender in this build. Being able to chain Powers and potentially play your entire hand for free is simply too good to pass up.
* The  is the perfect relic to recover HP lost while setting up.

Key cards and relics:
* is the star of the show. Upgrade it as soon as possible, and you'll gain +2  and  every time you cycle through your deck. You only really need one copy, and cards like  or  can help you get to it faster.
* A few copies of + let you reuse , repeatedly play  in an emergency, or recover copies of each other, scaling up your Block as needed. Your high Dexterity will easily make up for Hologram's low Block.
* allows you to double-play Reprogram at the start of the turn. Double-playing damage or block cards also compensates for the fact that Defect doesn't have many cards (aside from the unreliable ) that scale multiple times with Strength or Dexterity.
* deals massive AoE damage, and you can ignore its only downside.
* also effectively loses its downside, since you'll be gaining Dexterity faster than Steam Barrier loses Block.
* strategies fit well with this deck, since spammable 0-costs like  and  scale well with high Strength. It can also recover your .
* generators like + and  are good options, since Plasma Orbs don't scale with Focus.
* , while usually unreliable, is a surprisingly good relic to pick up when you have Reprogram. Other characters' damage cards scale much better with Strength and Dexterity, letting you better take advantage of the boosts.

Reprogram can also shine in a hybrid build. If you find yourself with lots of Orbs but no Focus, the following cards coupled with Reprogram can help speed your Deck up:
* allows you to get one last burst of value out of your Orbs by speeding through your Deck, letting you get Reprogram into circulation or finding your Echo Form earlier to begin the snowballing process.
* conditionally scales multiple times with Reprogram's Strength boost. If you have some Plasma generation or still have copies of damage commons such as  or  in your Deck that are generating useless Orbs, consider picking this up to still be able to capitalize on their presence.

* The Defect has several extremely powerful but expensive cards like , , , and . By taking  early enough, you can focus exclusively on taking these cards for absurdly high-value turns. Many of these effects will generate more energy than they spend.
	+ In particular,  will never cost more than 3 Energy, allowing you to always play it. Evoking the  Orbs it generates can also allow you to play more high-rolled cards, which somewhat negates the drawback of Snecko Eye.
* is completely broken with Snecko Eye. Since cards will retain their cost until you draw them again, it will fetch everything that was decremented to 0 cost, even cards that would normally be quite expensive. A 0-cost All for One paired with a 0-cost  (which is also a good card in this build for similar reasons) is an easy infinite.
* , , +, and  can provide large amounts of card draw, which is a premium in Snecko decks.
* Most of the Defect's 0-cost cards are dead weight in this archetype, so it is important to home in on it as early as possible. If you don't get  from Neow or the first boss, pick a different strategy.

* Getting the deck down to 10 cards allows for setting up 4 card infinite cycles with  and negative cost cards.
* , ,  (with ), ,  can combine in various ways to get negative cost.
* or a second  can be used to restart the cycle.
* Example set: +, +, +, +. Skim draws Hologram, Fusion and Dual Cast, Fusion and Dual Cast make 4 energy, Hologram retrieves Skim. Nets 1 energy and 5 block, can substitute any attacks in for Fusion and Dual Cast after energy is built up.
* 2 + and + can make infinite block, and channel an arbitrary number of Frost orbs for .
* It is important to only take cards that are either Powers, Exhaust, or are directly part of the combo while building the deck, since the goal is to get the total number of cards down under 10. Recycle can handle junk put in the deck and help thin it out if its not quite down to 10 cards.
* is very helpful as a free method of preventing damage during the first turn while the infinite combo is being set up while exhausting itself out of the deck to help enable the combo.

## Unlocks

The Defect itself is unlocked by completing a run with The Silent.

## Gallery

The Defect in-gameThe Defect appearing in its Steam BackgroundThe Defect featured prominently in the card art for Biased CognitionThe Defect as it appears in some official artwork for the gameThe Defect's character select screenThe Defect seen in the Launch Trailer alongside the Ironclad and the Silent