Translated from Japanese using AI assistance and human editing.
Who is The Defect?
The Defect is a combat automaton that has gained self-awareness. Utilizing ancient technology, it manipulates elemental orbs to attack and defend. Its unique mechanics offer a diverse range of strategic possibilities.
Defect Strategy Tips
The Defect excels in building decks with clear concepts:
- Utilizing Lightning orbs for automatic and evoked attacks.
- Employing Frost orbs for defense, building up powerful attacks over time.
- Harnessing Plasma orbs to generate significant energy in a single turn for massive assaults.
- Leveraging a variety of zero-cost cards for both offense and defense.
- Gradually enhancing Strength and Dexterity for balanced combat.
The Defect is a defensive character that withstands enemy attacks before launching a counteroffensive. Due to its diverse deck-building options, card synergies are crucial. Compared to other characters, constructing a clear deck archetype is essential, making card selection and removal key factors.
Additionally, The Defect often requires several turns to become fully operational. Ensuring block coverage until the deck is activated, or finding ways to kickstart the deck on the first turn, is vital.
For beginners, building a Frost deck helps grasp The Defect’s mechanics effectively.
Recommended Deck Archetypes
For Beginners
Frost Deck
A deck that utilizes Frost orbs (passive: 2 block, evoke: 5 block) to build defense while developing attack options.
Key Cards:
- Coolheaded: Channels a Frost orb and draws a card.
- Glacier: Channels two Frost orbs and provides significant block.
- Darkness: Channels a Dark orb, which grows in power over time.
- Claw, Streamline: Low-cost attacks that scale with use.
How to Play:
- Focus on channeling Frost orbs to build defense.
- Develop attack options like Dark orbs or scaling attacks.
Tips:
- Early turns may have low damage output, but once set up, the deck can deal over 100 damage in a single turn.
- At lower Ascension levels, simply picking Frost-related and Dark-generating cards often leads to victory.
Focus Deck
A deck that increases Focus through cards and relics to enhance both offense and defense.
Key Cards:
- Defragment: Increases Focus.
- Biased Cognition: Provides a significant Focus boost at a cost.
- Consume: Increases Focus by reducing orb slots.
How to Play:
- Utilize draw and energy-generating cards to rapidly increase Focus.
- With sufficient Focus, simply evoking orbs can defeat enemies.
Tips:
- This deck simplifies damage and block calculations, making gameplay more straightforward.
- A favorite for its ease of play and effectiveness.
Advanced Decks
Zero-Cost Deck
A deck that leverages various zero-cost cards, using All for One” and “Scrape” for massive draws.
Key Cards:
- Claw, Beam Cell: Zero-cost attacks that scale or provide utility.
- All for One: Returns all zero-cost cards from the discard pile to hand.
- Scrape: Draws cards, emphasizing zero-cost ones.
- Hologram, Seek: Retrieve specific cards from discard or draw pile.
How to Play:
- Accumulate multiple zero-cost cards early.
- Use All for One or Scrape to recycle and draw zero-cost cards.
- Chain plays for continuous offense.
Tips:
- Synergizes well with energy-generating cards and relics — especially Turbo, which is a 0-cost card that can be retrieved from the discard pile using All for One, enabling energy loops.
- Relics that trigger effects after playing multiple attacks per turn enhance this deck, such as Kunai, which grants Dexterity when you play three attacks in a turn. These relics complement the high number of 0-cost cards played each turn.
- Neutral cards like “Madness” can create infinite combos.
- Avoid picking Scrape, as it has terrible synergy with All for One. Scrape discards all non-zero-cost cards, which often includes All for One itself — making it difficult to execute your core combo. Be cautious not to draft both in the same deck.
- A fun deck that allows playing numerous cards each turn.
Lightning Deck
A deck centered around Lightning orbs (passive: 3 damage, evoke: 8 damage) for rapid offense.
Key Cards:
- Electrodynamics: Channels Lightning orbs and makes their passive effect hit all enemies.
- Static Discharge: Channels Lightning orbs when taking damage.
- Tempest: Channels multiple Lightning orbs based on energy spent.
- Thunder Strike: Deals damage for each Lightning orb channeled that combat.
Tips:
- This build is highly offense-focused and offers little room for defensive cards. Because of its aggressive style and reliance on sequencing, it requires solid familiarity with The Defect’s mechanics and card pool.
- At higher Ascension levels, cards like “Self Repair+” become crucial.
Energy Deck
A deck that generates massive energy in a single turn to unleash powerful attacks.
Key Cards:
- Charge Battery, Turbo, Fusion: Energy-generating cards.
- Plasma Orbs: Provide energy each turn.
- Meteor Strike: High-cost, high-damage attack.
- Tempest: Channels multiple Lightning orbs based on energy spent.
How to Play:
- Set up energy generation early.
- Unleash powerful attacks utilizing the amassed energy.
Tips:
- Key is establishing energy generation and draw sources by turn one.
- Relics like “Nuclear Battery” and “Ice Cream” enhance this strategy.
- Meteor Strike is a high-cost, high-impact attack. After casting it once, you can recycle it using draw cards and discard pile recursion to play it multiple times in a single turn, enabling devastating turns. Though it’s difficult to use correctly, it’s a card worth challenging yourself with — mastering Meteor Strike can unlock powerful plays unique to The Defect.
Technical Decks
Reprogram Deck
A deck built around the “Reprogram” card, which sacrifices Focus to gain Strength and Dexterity.
Key Cards:
- Reprogram: Reduces Focus but increases Strength and Dexterity.
- Draw and energy-generating cards to play multiple Reprograms quickly.
How to Play:
- Aim to play Reprogram three times early to gain +6 Strength and Dexterity.
Tips:.
- Reprogram can shift your deck toward burst turns, but until then, maintaining a balance with orb-based play is often necessary.
By understanding and utilizing these strategies and deck archetypes, players can effectively master The Defect and ascend the Spire with confidence.
See you agein!!
