Defect best character

[RedKnight]

I'd say fight me, but I already chain-attacked you with lightning orbs on +2 focus, followed up by the dark orb I've been saving for the last 4 turns

[Cress]

Meanwhile, you're already dead because Watcher just 1-turn KO you :P

[LHGreen]

Originally posted by Cress:

Meanwhile, you're already dead because Watcher just 1-turn KO you :P

But Watcher was already dead because Defect KO'd her with a first-turn Claw infinite.

Not that it's necessary, because character health is so low that it'd be easy to 1-shot anyone.

[Devsman]

Best as in easiest to win with? I've had the most success with Silent, and it's not even close. In fact, it's not even close to close.

But Defect is definitely my favorite.

[Shneekey]

Depends on what you mean by 'best'.

Ironclad is certainly the easiest to make a deck with, most of its mechanics tend to synergize well so it's hard to lean into one mechanic only to be offered a bunch of stuff that doesn't work with it that uses a different mechanic. Plus there's always the Barricade/Body Slam combo. You don't really have to focus heavily on card removal as much, especially if you land a Perfected Strike.

Silent has a couple of very solid mechanics to build around, shivs or poison, but they tend to be mutually exclusive. You can do some of each, but ideally you'll be leaning hard into one or the other. Silent also tends to be more fragile, but does get cards like Blur to help with it. In either case, Silent really wants to get rid of the base attack cards more than defense, generally speaking.

Defect either leans hard into orbs or goes physical, generally claw, but these tend to be pretty mutually exclusive. And even leaning hard into orbs, you can further lean into one element or multiple, but Dark orbs tend to not really work in a heavy orb cycle deck due to how they function. Going infinite on Meteor Strike/Fusion is always a hoot, though. Infinite Claw is also fun. Obtaining and properly supporting a Lightning Strike gives you the obligation to use a certain song clip when used.

Watcher is by far the most challenging character, requiring you to Do The Math(tm) because you might well have lethal in hand and not realize it. Some days it feels like you're trying to play Yu-Gi-Oh with the level of complexity you can reach. However, the bar of achievement is also higher. You can do some frightening burst damage with Wrath/Divinity and the right setup. But do it wrong, and you're the one who gets bodied because you ended up not getting out of Wrath and ate a full attack from Book of Stabbing because you miscalculated and didn't actually have lethal.

[mk11]

I find Ironclad hard because the escalate strength and kill quickly and the massive block approach are at odds.

Silent I find a bit of poison (in particular, Corpse Explosion) plus shivs works fine.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by mk11:

I find Ironclad hard because the escalate strength and kill quickly and the massive block approach are at odds.

You can build block quickly with the cards ironclad gets though. Like impervious adds 40 block in a single card. Power through gives 20 for 1 energy. The block itself can even be used as damage. Impervious + body slam adds 40 block and does 40 damage for your 3 energy. How is that for single turn ramping? Meanwhile defect gets his frost orb that adds 2 block.

You can quite easily block fully for many turns. And they are not at odds with quick ramping. You can play impervious just to save your hp and still have energy left to play some strength buffing cards. Or you can simply ramp up your block and use entrench as a substitute for limit break and then slam instead of heavy blade.

Ironclad has even more ways to benefit from block. Like power through + second wind adds a lot of block. Cards like feel no pain multiplies this. Juggernaut and Charon's Ashes then adds damage for all the block you are gaining this way. Evolve lets you save wounds without negative effect and fire breathing adds damage to every saved wound. You don't even have to play any attacks to do damage. The block gaining itself can be the ramping, even if you don't have body slam.

[Nightflash]

Silent is best imo. Last night I killed the transient on turn 1 with her. I had ginryu, bag of marbles and the relic that gives attack every 3 attacks and flex potion. Lots of tacticians, reflects, acrobatics, adrealine and prepared to make the turn just last for eternity. Couple eviscrates for over 50 damage each for free, blade dances to mainly buff up the damage for other attacks, flechettes with full hand to deal something like 100-150 damage, normal attacks (bites in my case) with excessive energy to finish with the finisher (or 2 finishers, I don't remember anymore, I did multiple runs) dealing around 20x20 for 400 damage. And as a plus I could've used liquid memories for the finisher second time for a total of around 1600 damage.

Theoretically you could do even better if you manage to get an infinite combo deck, since this stops even at good rng because the adrealine exhausts, but this has to be one of the most insane combinations you can do legit without any mods or glitches.

Ironically the spiker was the hardest enemy in this run, since I had no defense against the thorns and I didn't do the heart, but I knew this would die to it for sure for the heart's invincible buff even if I got after image to counter the beat of death which would've also killed me.

[Lady_Galadhiel]

I like Silent the most, yet it really depend on luck sometimes. On what cards you get because I tend to go for a poison build and it can take some long time till you see the first poison card you would like to pick.

[Xgpmcnp]

In optimal play, Watcher is easily the strongest character. Outside of optimal play, it's based on what builds you prefer and master most.

[TimTim3000]

Best depends on a lot of variables. the ascension level, whether you're going after act 4 etc.

I do find that Defect is the most fun character to play. Of course that's subjective as well.

[LHGreen]

Originally posted by TimTim3000:

I do find that Defect is the most fun character to play. Of course that's subjective as well.

Yeah, Defect is definitely the most fun.

[2tecs]

You dont even need to worry about orbs or focus on the defect. True easy mode is stacking Power cards. The amount of ''the next card you play is played twice'' or ''plays power cards twice'' or whatever he has, not to mention combining them together. endless powers popping off he's invincible, not to mention really easy to both build and play.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by 2tecs:

You dont even need to worry about orbs or focus on the defect. True easy mode is stacking Power cards. The amount of ''the next card you play is played twice'' or ''plays power cards twice'' or whatever he has, not to mention combining them together. endless powers popping off he's invincible, not to mention really easy to both build and play.

Awakened One will feast on you.

[Cress]

Originally posted by 2tecs:

You dont even need to worry about orbs or focus on the defect. True easy mode is stacking Power cards. The amount of ''the next card you play is played twice'' or ''plays power cards twice'' or whatever he has, not to mention combining them together. endless powers popping off he's invincible, not to mention really easy to both build and play.

Yea, the true "I broke the game" deck for Defect is Mummified Hand + Creative AI. Mix in Amplify for even more silliness. Heatsinks and whatever powers you pick up along the way are also very nice.

What Hedning says is incorrect, you can easily outscale Awakened One with a power deck. But he's not very experienced with Defect so take anything he says with a grain of salt xD

[Devsman]

I dunno, I've found you can actually get too crazy with power cards. I, for one, am guilty of tanking a buttload of damage so I can use a power card, hoping it pays off later.