Slay The Spire - Defect Guide

[@pr0cs]

Thank you for posting this video. After 34 hours I finally beat the game for the first time (yeah yeah, I suck). I was avoiding some cards for the Defect because I truly didn't understand why I'd ever want to use them, your video was pretty good at showing WHY you'd actually want them and your commentary discussing other potential cards and strategies finally got me to the end. Cheers!

[@Zaelvideos]

Ah that's so nice to hear. When I post these videos I never know if they can actually practically help people so I'm buzzing I was able to help you get over the line.

[@TheKasta87]

Dude this guide is golden, as soon as I watched it I finished act 3 for the first time ever! I would love a guide like this for all the character in slay the spire, keep up the good work

[@Zaelvideos]

Thanks for watching and your really kind comment. I have similar guides up for Ironclad & Silent and planning to do one with Watcher now that I've cleared A20 on her.

[@prevalentdarkness8481]

Worst thing about Defect is you either Die start of Act 2 cause aweful RnG or...you absolutely destroy anything(aside from bosses) within 3 turns with accessory like Necronomicon(x2 use on first card with 2+ energy cost at the start of each turn). There is no inbetween with this class. This means you can go 12 runs without finishing campaign even when you know what you are doing. Other class tend to clear once every 2-3 fails. Defect is by far the most "difficult class" which makes guides like these, very helpful. Thanks

[@ajmx3973]

Got my first Defect win right after watching this video, thanks! It was a super lucky run, but wouldnt have gotten that far without these tips.

[@Zaelvideos]

Thanks so much for your comment. Really happy I could help and thanks for watching!

[@Cynsham]

luck certainly plays a factor in this game genre

[@FlashKillerX]

Good assessment overall but I think you’re really undervaluing claw and all for one. They’re not the best cards if you wind up in an unrelated strategy but when 0 cost synergies go off early and go off well it’s extremely powerful. 2 or 3 claws and an all for one and any other couple of 0 cost cards make a deck very strong already, and one upside to all for one claw strategies is you can ignore orbs almost completely or synergize very well with full frost orbs. Definitely seems like you haven’t played with the archetype enough because especially in low ascensions 0 cost claw and AFO shenanigans are very fun. Even earned me my very first ever heart kill. At the point of the video I’m at by the way you’ve already been offered 2 claws and an AFO in act 1. Could have absolutely made that deck work especially with the boot as an early relic

[@Zaelvideos]

Haha yeah the claw and all for one strat sure is a fun one. My advice is go with what you like! If you find this synergy is fun and is working then go for it!

[@WetBoy]

Hello, I am the best player in the world and I have a few comments about some misleading comments you made over the course of this video. First, the defect is unique from the other characters in that he is a self-aware robot, so that's pretty cool. The best strategy for the defect is to let your HP do the blocking for you while you spam your strikes. Orbs are a beginners trap. The thing is, if you're using orbs, you are not using strikes, and you're pretty much crippling yourself.

[@Zaelvideos]

j...jorbs?

[@headdog9895]

I’ve been looking for a guide like this, thanks! That was very helpful.

[@Zaelvideos]

You're very welcome. Thanks so much for watching and your comment!

[@Nihilous]

Judging on the amount of views this video has compared to the others, I’m clearly not the only one having a more difficult time with the Defect. I’m going to do some runs before watching this one though.

[@TrueGamer22887]

I finished a run before unlocking like half the stuff for the first two guys but defect kills me, never seem to have time to set up

[@ryanbigham762]

Great stuff!

[@Zaelvideos]

Thanks man!

[@robovhull]

Using this guy for the 1st time I thought oh I don't like this it seems complicated. On my 1st run I beat act 3 haha

[@BigPackie92]

What about killing the heart? I have a problem to kill the heart with defect. Did it with every other character but with defect still haven't.

[@Zaelvideos]

Full disclosure I have yet to beat the heart on A20 for Defect, I've yet to even try it in fact. My goal was to beat A20 on all the characters first. I've done it on (I think) A15 though. You need really strong opening turns to get through the Shield & Spear safely which is something the Defect really struggles with. For me it usually came in the form of a lot of card draw and energy which I used to immediately remove either the Shield or Spear in like 2 or 3 turns. For the Heart itself you need to generate a lot of block and for me that usually came in the form of Frost Orbs boosted either by Focus or a ton of Orb slots. Defect can withstand almost anything the Heart can throw at it if you can get the Frost Orbs going.

[@BigPackie92]

@@Zaelvideos Thx. I haven't even tried on ascended yet. Usually I get through the Guards no problem. I had a fight with the hearth maybe 1/3 of the time in 15 runs (so about 5) and I always fail. The last time I failed cause during the turn he was about to do 60 damage, I had a bad luck pull of cards (I had 30 in deck, sounds a bit lot but I have seen a guy beating the heart on ascended 20 with a 35 (+-2) card deck ). During this last run I was sometimes able to generate over 100 defense during a turn. But I guess maybe I should have kept the deck size around 25 tops. What do you think. Should you not go above 25 cards on a deck or you can if you can guarantee a quick card turn rate. I had 2 relics and 4 cards for card draw.

[@Zaelvideos]

@@BigPackie92 I think sometimes having a big deck is absolutely fine. Just when you have like 30 cards I think instead of just thinking "is this too big" look at the cards themselves. Do all 30 cards have a purpose, am I a little bit heavy on early damage, or block or do I have too many niche cards, how likely is it that I'll draw a hand that I can do nothing with, are there really important cards in my deck that I now can't get to because I have too many cards? Ask yourself questions like these and you'll be able to answer whether or not your deck is too big.

[@BigPackie92]

@@Zaelvideos I was eventually able to beat the hearth. Yeah, thinking more about the deck helped. Having in mind whether I need more offensive cards, more defensive cards, or cards that help me rotate my card deck faster, and whether the cards synergize well with my overall build instead of them just being good on their own, and thinking especially in early stages of whether I need a very high cost card even if I cannot use it now (don't choose it even if it's gold unless it synergizes with your build or vision of a build or it is useful right away otherwise it's going to be a useless luggage)

[@Mattball82]

I’ve had runs completely saved accidentally from Static Discharge 👍

[@winchestersam746]

Subbed very informative for beginners! Hope you're doing well

[@tylerhorn3712]

Hey man, stop being so conservative. If you fail just reshoot.

[@sfglim5341]

“Hey please stop taking the game so seriously Play how I play the game so you have more fun with it” No 💀

[@SKOMEpocets]

nice video, but not sure why static discharge had to grow on you. it's so good