Permanent Focus is among the strongest scaling available, though the upgrade is important enough to create real campfire pressure.

Permanent Focus is scarce, broadly useful scaling and strong enough to define almost any Orb deck.

A nearly universal one-card block solution that efficiently fills Orb slots and remains reusable without an upgrade.

Broken block density and two Frost Orbs make it one of Defect's safest and most universally useful cards.

Premium front-loaded Frost that fits almost every deck and can solve dangerous multi-enemy openings by itself.

Exceptional free front-loaded Frost that becomes absurd in multi-enemy fights and remains good at one Orb.

An enormous damage-and-defense package: Weak buys time while its Dark Orb grows into a fight-ending payoff.

An exceptional package of damage, Dark scaling, and long-lasting Weak that is very hard to pass.

One of the easiest commons to take repeatedly; Frost is excellent early and it naturally enables Hailstorm.

A dependable early common because the first Frost Orb is valuable and the attack remains useful with Barrage support.

The built-in passive trigger makes Dark strategies accelerate quickly, especially alongside Null, Shadow Shield, and Shatter.

Dark Orbs are a premier damage plan, and the extra passive trigger accelerates them into reliable fight finishers.

Defect's best damage Power: one Frost Orb turns it into consistent hallway and boss damage while the deck focuses on blocking.

Efficient passive damage once Frost is present, though it needs more setup than Defect's truly universal cards.

Effectively three Cold Snaps in one card, providing dense damage and Frost that scales well with Defect's burst energy.

Dense multi-hit damage and multiple Frost Orbs make it an elite attack for both immediate output and scaling.

An acceptable block card and Status enabler that rises to the top because it is a one-card Aeonglass solution.

Still a premier Aeonglass and Status solution on this patch, with excellent payoff from Defect's improved Status package.

Defect's best energy engine, turning its naturally Power-heavy decks into smooth draw-and-energy engines after an important upgrade.

Power-heavy Defect decks can turn it into an explosive energy engine, especially after its crucial upgrade.

Reliable passive draw that supports temporary Focus decks and is slow enough to pay off in every current boss fight.

Reliable ongoing draw makes every engine smoother and is almost always worth taking, especially with turn-one support.

A run-winning build-around: once upgraded to Innate, every created Status produces substantial random Orb output.

A premier Status payoff that floods the board with random Orbs and compounds dramatically in multiple copies.

It grows into an Apparition-sized block surprisingly quickly and becomes a dependable answer to a dangerous turn.

Scales quickly into a huge one-card block solution and is worth taking early in almost every run.

Excellent turn-one protection that saves HP without bloating later draws, with few current fights punishing its Innate timing.

Premium turn-one protection that covers Defect while Powers and slower Orb scaling come online.

Stops several game-defining large hits and is generically strong enough that even its upgrade can justify Defect's scarce campfire time.

A front-loaded defensive Power that buys the safe setup turns Defect's slower engines need.

Exceptional draw with extensive Status synergies, but actively awkward in slow, compact Frost decks that repeatedly reshuffle.

Free draw is outstanding in burst engines, and its Burn now enables enough Status payoffs to become an upside.

Wonderful Frost and draw for many engines, but inefficient in fast Status decks and less dense than Defect's premium Frost cards.

Excellent Frost plus draw, though less universal when the deck lacks energy or no longer wants temporary Focus lines.

Excellent passive block in slower multi-Orb decks, but effectively does nothing when a fast engine intends to win immediately.

A strong passive block Power for longer fights, particularly when the deck already wants to play many Powers.

The best temporary Focus card and outstanding when that plan matters, but some established engines avoid temporary Focus entirely.

A highly repeatable temporary-Focus payoff that rapidly turns an established Frost board into scaling.

A strong early block-and-Dark package that becomes unnecessary once a deck has already solved both damage and defense.

Strong immediate block plus a Dark Orb advances both defense and a late-fight damage plan.

Excellent when extra Orb slots matter; otherwise its repeated, increasingly expensive redraw becomes a meaningful liability.

Free draw plus a scarce Orb slot is highly speculative and powerful, with only occasional Dark-evoke tension.

A massive short-term Focus spike whose downside rarely matters in the damage-Orb decks that want it.

Defect's strongest burst-energy option after Subroutine, provided the deck has enough draw and retrieval to spend it productively.

Four burst Energy lets Defect convert its abundant draw into enormous setup turns and fast full-deck cycling.

A premium common multi-hit that can carry early damage and scale with Orb slots, Strength, relics, and enchantments.

A strong early common that scales into an endgame multi-hit payoff through Orb slots, Strength, and enchantments.

A dependable early block common whose delayed energy remains useful without requiring any Status payoff.

Solid front-loaded block whose delayed energy naturally supports Defect's explosive future turns.

A powerful engine and combo enabler, though early draw order and its important Exhaust-removing upgrade can be awkward.

Flexible recursion can reuse key zero-cost and engine cards, though extra copies and bad draw order can brick.

Dense block with enormous Status payoff potential, especially for Flak Cannon, Trash to Treasure, or Compact plus Iteration.

Dense immediate block whose added Dazed is often neutral or positive in Defect's Status engines.

Strong temporary Focus when upgraded or supported by abundant draw, but a dead card in decks that do not need that scaling.

Temporary Focus can help established Orb decks, but the card is poor without enough Frost, draw, and repeated use.

A less consistent Status payoff than Trash to Treasure, but its ability to trivialize Aeonglass makes it highly valuable on this patch.

A potent Status payoff and Aeonglass solution, though its Rare timing and setup keep it below the very best cards.

A strong early damage common that opens temporary-Focus lines, especially after its high-value upgrade or with Strike Dummy.

Its temporary Focus payoff is too weak early and too awkward late compared with Defect's better attacks and scaling.

Permanent Focus is rarer, but Dark Orbs are powerful enough that repeating the rightmost Orb still provides excellent scaling.

Repeating the rightmost Orb is flexible, powerful scaling for Dark, Frost, or Plasma-focused boards.

A strong Barrage and multi-Orb enabler that naturally fits Subroutine decks, but some fast or Status-heavy decks ignore Orb slots.

Easy to speculate on because extra Orb slots unlock Barrage, passive Orb value, and persistent Plasma energy.

Common, efficient draw that fits most engines and becomes especially productive when multiple Orb types are present.

Low-density draw that is usually passed for Overclock, Coolheaded, or other dedicated engine pieces.

The until-played cost reduction makes this reliable free damage in any deck creating Status cards, especially when upgraded.

Defect creates enough Status cards to make its self-discounting recurring damage consistently efficient.

Flexible energy for draw-heavy engines with the added benefit that its Void activates Defect's new Status payoffs.

Burst energy is much easier to exploit now, while the Void can actively feed Defect's Status synergies.

Energy-hungry but powerful enough as a Dark Orb payoff to justify building draw and energy around it.

Can finish a fight with a large Dark or Plasma Orb, but usually needs both excess energy and setup before it is pickable.

Weak remains excellent, but Null outclasses it and its low-density output can fall off quickly or miss enemy attack turns.

Zero-cost Weak is consistently valuable because defense matters even when Defect's damage comes from Orbs.

Primarily a strong two-card engine with Compact, ensuring Status cards are drawn and converted cleanly after reshuffling.

One of the best Status payoffs, turning the first Status draw each turn into powerful engine acceleration.

Better supported than before by Boost Away, TURBO, Overclock, Chill+, and Hotfix, though it still needs the right zero-cost pool.

Much better supported by Defect's expanded zero-cost pool, though it still needs the right cards to become exceptional.

Broken once Status payoffs exist and weak without them; Charge Battery is the safer speculative block common.

Good front-loaded block whose Status creation becomes a valuable engine piece rather than a real downside.

A valuable early AoE solve whose multi-hit and Glass Orbs exploit enchantments and dangerous multi-enemy matchups.

Multi-hit damage plus two Glass Orbs provides valuable AoE and scales well with Defect's attack support.

Outstanding combo-enabling draw once energy exists, but too energy-dense to add before the deck can support it.

Excellent draw for Defect's abundant burst energy and Status engines, but dangerous to speculate on before energy exists.

A solid early block-and-AoE card that adds Glass for Compile Driver and Coolant, but lacks the ceiling of premium options.

A serviceable early solve, but its mixed block and Glass output is less efficient than Defect's premium options.

A major early boost to Strikes and Defends that can anchor a non-Orb plan, though it becomes harder to add later.

A strong early Strength-and-Dexterity Power that upgrades starter cards and multi-hits until Orb scaling takes over.

Usually free output, but card-count relics, Aeonglass, and occasional draw-condition failures keep it from being an automatic addition.

Usually free damage with useful relic and shuffle interactions, held below S by occasional condition failures and Echo Form tension.

The one-cost Exhaust rework makes Plasma easy to add and much stronger, though the placement remains relatively untested.

Cheap Plasma is useful for explosive turns, yet the card is rarely essential compared with Defect's stronger energy tools.

An exceptional Dark Orb payoff in the decks built for it, but usually inferior to other Ancient choices without Dark support.

Provides useful Frost and Dark access, but two energy is inefficient now that better dedicated Orb cards exist.

A workable emergency Dark source and Orb refill, but less efficient than Defect's dedicated Orb cards.

Awkward generic Dark access, yet an explosive fast damage engine when paired with Shatter.

Powerful early Dark burst, but its forced evokes conflict with decks that want to preserve carefully positioned Orbs.

Random Powers are unreliable, but Subroutine can turn Creative AI into a bizarre and genuinely strong energy-and-scaling engine.

A situational scaling option that can excel with Power synergies but is too random and slow to be premium.

A flexible delayed-energy card with useful curse and hand-clog cleanup, but it needs draw and a real energy payoff.

A clunky delayed-energy and Status-cleanup tool used mainly for desperate timing solutions.

Extremely strong with a worthwhile scaling Power, but both its target requirement and valuable upgrade make it situational.

Flexible delayed Power duplication can win with Defragment, Loop, or other scaling, but requires a worthy target.

A serviceable persistent AoE solve whose Rare timing is often too late compared with Hailstorm, Refract, or Glasswork.

A strong persistent Glass damage solution that can be taken before its support and cleanly handles early multi-enemy fights.

Powerful only after both a five-energy enabler and a reason to exploit the resulting Plasma engine already exist.

Spectacular when five Energy and an immediate Plasma evoke are already solved, but otherwise too difficult to deploy.

Excellent AoE inside a developed Status flowchart and essentially unpickable everywhere else.

Fun and functional at critical Status density, but too slow and weak when only a few Status cards are present.

A strong early fight and AoE solution that does not contribute to Defect's late-game engine and is punished by more matchups.

Still a strong pseudo-AoE attack that refunds energy on kills, even if it feels weaker than its Spire 1 version.

Free draw with growing downsides from curses, large opening hands, and slower fights where reshuffling early is undesirable.

Status-heavy decks make its reshuffle actively awkward, leaving it mainly for upgraded or simple Frost-Focus decks.

Substantial damage with repeated Lightning evokes, but those payoffs usually require other niche Lightning cards first.

Lightning is rarely worth building around, leaving this slow Power without enough reliable payoff.

A solid early common and Lightning entry point that falls off sharply as soon as a real engine appears.

A reasonable early Lightning entry point that becomes a weak draw after Frost, Dark, or a real engine takes over.

The buff makes it acceptable early damage with occasional free-Power upside, though Navegreed remains uncertain about it.

A large emergency attack whose next-Power discount can matter, though better early damage is usually available.

An early damage solution trapped in the Rare pool; it arrives too late and cannot solve meaningful late-game damage.

Too slow and expensive for copy-based scaling when Defect has easier, more flexible damage plans.

Perfectly serviceable early damage, but comprehensively outclassed by Defect's unfairer common and uncommon options.

One of Defect's most reliable early damage commons, especially in Overgrowth, even though it falls off later.

The weakest energy option unless upgraded, supported by Ice Cream, or used with four base Energy.

Useful burst energy for draw-heavy engines, but it needs sufficient base energy and cards worth spending it on.

Usually a worse Barrage that adds a Slimed, though multi-hit enchantment scaling can justify an emergency early copy.

A strong early attack whose Status is often an upside once Defect's Status payoffs enter the deck.

Definitionally fair block: useful when an early Underdocks deck lacks better defense and unexciting everywhere else.

A respectable chunk of simple block that gets picked when early defense is needed, but offers no engine ceiling.

A fair common AoE fallback when the deck must solve multi-enemy fights before finding stronger uncommon options.

Its fair AoE damage is outclassed by Glass Orbs and other multi-enemy solutions.

Mediocre but functional early damage that enters only when the deck is desperate for a basic attack.

Improved raw damage, but Defect rarely needs a fair attack that only becomes free on a later cycle.

A multi-hit engine payoff with too many moving parts and too little utility for a Rare card.

Can convert Defect's large energy turns into meaningful damage, but as a Rare it needs support to justify the slot.

Can become a full damage solution with Claw or other zero-cost attacks, but badly wants an upgrade and existing support.

A workable zero-cost attack engine when support already exists, but not a Power worth forcing from scratch.

Acceptable multi-hit damage whose random replay becomes worthwhile only after removing Strikes or assembling unusual support.

The buff made it a strong common that cheats expensive attacks into play, chains copies, and scales with Strength.

Can explode in zero-cost decks, but often discards crucial Defragment or Echo Form setup cards.

Its unreliable draw can discard Defragment, Echo Form, and other essential setup cards for too little damage.

Power-heavy Lightning decks can make it excellent, but Lightning often pushes out Defect's stronger Orb types.

Occasionally explosive with Biased Cognition and many Powers, but Lightning support is usually undesirable.

The upgraded card deals real damage, but spending a scarce Defect upgrade on an Attack requires a narrow situation.

Strong early when Lightning is already present and upgraded, but swingy and prone to becoming a late-game brick.

Only attractive when a physical-damage deck or a large enchanted multi-hit specifically needs Vulnerable.

A fringe physical-damage pickup whose Vulnerable rarely helps Orb decks and whose draw can delay vital setup.

Needs Game Piece, Mummified Hand, an upgrade, or abundant draw before its random Power is worth the slot.

Random Powers are too unreliable without an upgrade or specific Power relic synergies.

Almost never worth taking outside a dedicated Lightning payoff such as Voltaic or an early Metronome.

Repeatable Lightning has occasional damage or Chem X use, but Defect usually wants Frost or Dark instead.

Best Defect card for every deck

Usable only in desperate, highly supported spots because its slow scaling and repeated copies crowd out defense.

A poor unupgraded card that becomes acceptable only when it arrives upgraded or no better upgrade target exists.

A clunky desperation Orb filler that usually needs an upgrade and gives less control than Defect's better options.

Far too expensive and setup-dependent outside multiplayer, despite eventually scaling in a dedicated Lightning deck.

An ultra-desperate Lightning boss solve whose cost, setup, and upgrade needs make it barely pickable.

A begrudging emergency AoE Rare whose Focus loss clashes with nearly every normal Defect strategy.

Almost never worth adding because its Focus loss ruins normal Defect plans without ending the fights that matter.