The Defect full review

[Sakubou]

I've played over 20 hours of the new character and this is my take on him overall. Please use this feedback to improve upon the character to make him a better and more balanced character! Thank you!
((L - Lightning, F - Frost, D - Dark, P - Plasma))


Strike & Defend - basic and obviously fine
Zap - Good utility, great when upgraded to 0 cost, no complaints
Dualcast - Decent card; multiusage, upgrade for 1 cost is fine, no complaints
Axe Kick - Good for 0 cost, decent damage, no complaints
Ball Lightning - Good damage, channeling 1 L is good as well, sort of underwhelming upgraded form but it's not bad for a 1 cost card
Barrage - Fantastic card, amazing synergy with Inserter relic, no complaints
Beam Cell - Good card, situational but for 0 cost it is fine
Capacitor - Perfect card in most builds, upgraded is very strong, no complaints
Cold Snap - Good card normally, very underwhelming upgraded
Coolheaded - Good utility, card draw is great in most decks, no complaints
Go for the Eyes - Underwhelming overall, decent for 0 cost but could use a small buff
Hologram - Decent card, could use a small buff, situational
Impulse - Fantastic card, amazing utility, perfect upgraded form, no complaints
Leap - Good block, great when paired with Calipers, no complaints
Rebound - Great for setup for combos, upgraded could use a small buff
Skim - Utility at it's finest, no complaints
Stack - Needs setup to use, definitely better upgraded, no complaints
Streamline - Great in most deck builds, upgraded even better, no complaints
Sweeping Beam - Good AOE damage, good utility, overall a decent card, no complaints
TURBO - Good speed card, better in larger decks so less chance of drawing that void card, no complaints
Aggregate - Needs a deck built around it, very situational, might need a small buff
Auto-Shields - Good card, better if you're running it in a F deck, would be even better if it activated at end of turn with synergy for Orichalcum (a very underrated relic due to lack of synergies)
Blaster - Great for AOE, Energy regain for multi-orb decks (running Capacitor and having Inserter relic) is great for utility, no complaints
Blizzard - Only good in F decks sadly, for a 1 cost card the damage is fine and the AOE is definitely helpful but would be made much better if it was a multi-hit card like Lightning Strike
Buffer - AMAZING card, honestly one of the best cards for The Defect in my opinion, paired with Echo Form is almost too strong (but not strong enough to justify a nerf)
Chaos - Decent card, only very useful once upgraded
Chill - Great card, Innate is a good upgrade for it, no complaints
Claw - Only good in large quantities of it or in low deck size, still overall no complaints
Conserve Battery - Would be better off moving it to a 3 cost Power card to conserve energy and gain the 7 block, extremely underwhelming in its current form
Darkness - Good card, no complaints
Defragment - 100% useful in any deck, upgraded is fantastic as well, a few Defragments and any deck can become overpowered, no complaints at all
Doom and Gloom - Great AOE, channeling the dark is a good bonus, upgraded may need a small buff (14 > 15 damage)
Double Energy - Good utility, no complaints
FTL - Good speed deck card, the 3 card limitation is good to stop infinite combos, no complaints
Flux Capacitor - Great in X cost decks, otherwise very situational
Force Field - Great synergy with the White Noise and Creative AI cards, no complaints
Genetic Algorithm - Great card, good stacking mechanic, sadly would like to see spawn rate for this card higher up in Act 1 otherwise you don't have much time to stack it to be useful
Glacier - Great block card, 2 F is a great bonus, no complaints
Heatsinks - Good utility, good synergy with White Noise and Creative AI, no complaints
Hello World - Underwhelming, needs a buff; possibly changing cost to 0 and upgraded making it Innate like how it is now
Loop - Fantastic power, great synergy with Gold-Plated Cables, no complaints
Melter - Amazing card, great to deal with pesky Guardians with their 45 block, no complaints
Recycle - Good card, possibly adding some effect when exhausting curses with it?
Reinforced Body - Only super useful in X cost decks, needs a small buff
Reprogram - Good setup card, situational at best, no complaints
Rip and Tear - Decent multihit, no complaints
Scrape - Good utility and decent damage, no complaints
Self Repair - Great power, upgraded is fantastic for sustain in Ascension modes, no complaints
Static Discharge - One of my personal favorite deck strategies, incredible synergy with the Torii relic, upgrading for 2 channel L and then limiting your damage through block and Torii to take 1 damage is a very fun strategy, no complaints
Steam Power - Good utility, adding burn to limit the use of the card is okay, no complaints
Storm - Only very useful with White Noise and Creative AI, otherwise extremely situational, might need a small buff
Sunder - Very fun card, great combo potential with Echo Form to burn mobs and bosses, extremely well paired with Bottled Flame to make it Innate, no complaints
Tempest - Good card, very useful in certain situations and X decks, no complaints
Undo - Extremely strong when paired with Buffer to make bosses a breeze, perfect card, no complaints
White Noise - Much like Distraction for The Silent except with a power, good Uncommon card, no complaints
All for One - Would be better named One for All, situational but very strong in the right deck, no complaints
Amplify - Great Rare, no complaints
Biased Cognition - I don't enjoy this playstyle myself but for speed running the 4 focus could be handy, upgraded is very underwhelming, it's a fine card where it is but not amazing
Creative AI - Good card, a core card for certain decks, no complaints
Echo Form - Fantastic card and fun to work around, no complaints
Fission - I haven't gotten to make full usage of this card but it definitely has potential, no complaints
Fusion - Good in X decks, no complaints
Hyperbeam - Good for mob clear early, late becomes a bit irrelavant, possible buff?
Machine Learning - Good utility but seems underwhelming, possible buff?
Meteor Strike - Super situational, possible change to 4 cost card and channeling 2 plasma?
Multi-Cast - Great card, amazing in D decks
Nova - A must for White Noise and Creative AI decks, no complaints
Prime - Very fun to run in Static Discharge decks, good utility overall, no complaints
Rainbow - Fun, good looking(even if the art isn't finished), and useful card, no complaints
Reboot - Great reset card, no complaints
Redo - Great in most decks, seems almost too strong, possible nerf but it is in a fine position as is
Seek - Combo Combo Combo Combo! Amazing setup and useful in almost every deck type
Thunder Strike - Running this with Static Discharge makes for hilarious amounts of damage, one of the best cards for Defect in my opinion and a perfectly balanced card

RELICS
Cracked Core - Good starting relic, not too strong, good for fresh characters
Data Disc - More focus for free? Yes please!
Gold-Plated Cables - Fantastic efficiency in all decks, perfect uncommon relic
Symbiotic Virus - Over 20 hours of playing The Defect I still have yet to get to use this relic!! :(
Emotion Chip - Have I mentioned I LOVE the Static Discharge deck? This relic is the second strongest synergy with this deck right behind Torii. Constantly taking 1 damage and then proccing all of your orbs? Amazing potential
Turnip - (not exclusive to The Defect but still a new relic) Great addition to the immune to X lineup. Frail is a super annoying status and to stop it completely feels great
Inserter - SUPER STRONG (in the right deck), an okay relic for most decks but completely overpowered in others, no changes needed, works perfectly fine
Nuclear Battery - A Free energy with no strings attached (unless you evoke it), sounds good to me!
Runic Capacitor - I have yet to be able to get this relic but 3 free orb slots? Amazing relic


And that's my analysis of The Defect so far. I think he is a great new character who could use a few tweaks but he is a great option to Slay the Spire and just needs a few small buffs to be able to win on higher Ascension levels! Thank you for reading!