STS 2 Slay the Spire 2: Defect Guide and Overview

The Defect returns to Slay the Spire 2 with a complete glow-up. Rebuilt with a bulkier, more advanced chassis, it remains the Spire's master of elemental orbs and tactical programming, but its toolkit has been upgraded to handle the new challenges of the 1,000-year skip.

Its starting Relic is the Cracked Core, which Channels 1 Lightning Orb at the start of combat.

The Defect's gameplay revolves around Channel and Evoke for elemental Orbs, but with new layers of mechanical complexity and deck-thinning capabilities.

The fan favorite Claw decks will also be making their grand return.

A spammy 0 mana attack focused deck that cycles and enhances cheap attacks, notably Claw, to devastating effect.

Key Cards

Early Commons

• Claw - the bread and butter of this build. A few of these early and it's time to full-send!
• Momentum Strike - can be reduced to 0 Energy which synergises with other cards in the deck
• Beam Cell - easy Vulnerable applicator
• Go for the Eyes - easy Weak applicator
• Flash of Steel - good shop pickup to keep cycling

Early Uncommons

• Scrape - primary and key tool for cycling Scrape and other cheap cards
• FTL - another 0 Energy card that also gives a bit of draw
• Skim - seeing as your cards are cheap, your main issue will be card draw.
• Hologram - puts Claw (and later more importantly Scrape / All for One) back in your hand. Upgrade to remove the Exhaust

High Synergy

Great potential payoffs, but requires more commitment to the archetype.

• All for One - incredible for getting your Claw and others back in to your hand
• Feral - essentially an Echo Form but for 0 Energy cards, and it's cheaper to set up
• Machine Learning - helps with draw, but with All for One this becomes a little redundant
• Panache - spam cards, trigger Panache!
• Secret Weapon - pull out All for One or Scrape to get things moving

Relics

• Iron Club is a great draw tool
• The likes of Nunchaku, Shuriken, Kunai, Ornamental Fan, and Kusarigama all work wonders when spamming cards
• Power Cell gets you started

Tips

• As you don't use Orbs, stacking some Frost as passive Block can be a good idea
• It can be tempting to take all 0 Energy cards, but remember that you primarily want to draw Claw. Bloating the deck can make finding it harder

Cycle Orbs for a balanced playstyle and passive benefits. Focuses mostly on Lightning and Frost Orbs

Key Cards

Early Commons

• Ball Lightning - decent early damage with Orb upside
• Cold Snap - like Ball Lightning but for defense
• Coolheaded - great overall card for any Defect deck. When upgraded draws 2 cards
• Barrage - Often a 1 Energy 15 damage with multi hit upside
• Compile Driver - powerful draw tool
• Lightning Rod - not a great Block card but decent Lightning generator

Early Uncommons

• Glacier - solid defense option
• Chaos - like Zap but can hit Dark and Plasma
• Capacitor - more orbs for more end of turn effects. Pairs great with Focus, but hinders Evoke
• Loop - great with Focus
• Thunder - racks up damage as you cycle through Orbs
• Hailstorm - extra AoE damage with Frost

High Synergy

Great potential payoffs, but requires more commitment to the archetype.

• Defragment - take as many of these as you can and/or upgrade them
• Modded - good until it costs 2 Energy
• Multi-Cast - great finisher with some Focus, extra Energy from Plasma, and Dark orbs
• Voltaic - great late round finisher - excess Orbs will instantly be Evoked
• Tesla Coil - good with extra Orb Slots and some Focus

Relics

• Emotion Chip - great if you can manage damage taken
• Gold-Plated Cables - simple Orb benefit
• Metronome - should be Channelling a lot with this deck, making this free AoE 30 damage
• Runic Capacitor - not always needed, but good if you have a lot of Frost or Dark
• Data Disk - Focus is always welcome
• There tend to be a lot of Power Cards in Defect decks and this is no exception. Any Power synergy Relics will be beneficial, such as Lost Wisp, Game Piece, Jeweled Mask, etc

Tips

• Cycling through Orbs by Channelling new ones will Evoke them to unleash their full potential. You do not have to worry about your Orb slots too much in a balanced Orb deck such as this.
• Having high Focus and having multiple Channel effects will frequently Evoke your Orbs which is the core route to success with this deck
• If you wish to play more conservatively with a focus on Block, then increase your Orb slots and draft Frost Channel cards.
• Barrage will benefit from the increased Orb slots, while Dark Orbs from cards such as Darkness will have time to cook behind your Frost Orbs with extra Orb slots.