Slay the Spire 2 Defect Card Tier List — All Cards Ranked
Published 2026-09-208 min read
Every Defect card in Slay the Spire 2 ranked: Echo Form and Defragment lead the S-tier, Frost and Lightning engines fill the A-tier, and Claw stays a trap.
The Defect in Slay the Spire 2 is the orb robot: Lightning for damage, Frost for Block, and a Power pool that scales faster than any other class if you survive the early floors. Community consensus has long ranked Defect last in solo class tier lists — not because the cards are weak, but because the payoffs arrive late. This tier list shows where the power actually is. The class overview covers the orb basics; drafting method lives in the deck building guide.
S-tier — the engine block
| Card | Cost | Type | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Echo Form | 3 | Power | The first card you play each turn is played an extra time — the strongest scaling Power in the class |
| Defragment | 1 | Power | Permanent Focus (orb potency); every orb gets better, every turn, forever |
| Shatter | 1 | Attack | Frost payoff that converts block turns into burst windows |
| Glacier | 2 | Skill | Frost generation plus Block in one card; the reason Frost decks survive Act 2 |
| Null | 2 | Attack | Defensive insurance that erases the worst intent of the fight |
| Machine Learning | 1 | Power | Draws an extra card every turn; compounding consistency |
| Genetic Algorithm | 1 | Skill | Grows every combat — the slow-scaling card that always pays off |
| Trash to Treasure | 1 | Power | Channels a random orb whenever you create a Status; pairs with status clutter |
| Darkness | 1 | Skill | Passive-orb burst for the late-fight detonation plan |
| Modded | 0 | Skill | Free orb slot plus draw — tempo that upgrades your whole orb loop |
| Chill / Supercritical / Synchronize / Barrage / Capacitor / Buffer / Boot Sequence / Overclock / Ice Lance / Loop / Compact | 0–3 | Mixed | The rest of the S-block: orb slots (Capacitor), HP insurance (Buffer: prevent the next 1–2 HP losses), Focus payoffs (Supercritical), Loop's automatic orb triggers, and Frost/Speed combos that keep the engine running |
A-tier — the workhorses
Flak Cannon, Coolant, Turbo, Subroutine, Rocket Punch, Iteration, Hailstorm, Shadow Shield, Sunder, Spinner, Refract, FTL, Signal Boost, Cold Snap, Charge Battery, Coolheaded, Ball Lightning, Bulk Up, Skim, Go for the Eyes, Fight Through, Uproar, Boost Away, Gunk Up — frontloaded damage (Flak Cannon, Ball Lightning), orb-slot economy (Turbo, Charge Battery), and the Block-and-channel pair (Coolheaded, Coolant) that keeps early floors survivable. Draft two or three of these before touching Powers.
B-tier — situational
Hologram, All For One, Double Energy, Tesla Coil, Fusion, Creative AI, Feral, Rainbow, Helix Drill, Consuming Shadow, Synthesis, Leap — Hologram and Leap are honest defense; Tesla Coil and Fusion want orb-heavy decks that already work; Creative AI is a fun gamble, not a plan.
C-tier — only when the deck asks
Multi-Cast, Lightning Rod, Smokestack, Reboot, Meteor Strike, Compile Driver, Momentum Strike, Hotfix, Beam Cell, Scavenge, Glasswork, Adaptive Strike, Tempest, Storm, White Noise, Voltaic — most need a specific engine (Storm wants Power spam, Multi-Cast wants big Frost orbs) and do nothing on their own.
D-tier — the traps
Sweeping Beam, Thunder, Focused Strike, Scrape, Claw, Chaos, Hyperbeam — yes, Claw is a D-tier meme in StS2 too. Chaos discards your planned orb sequence; Scrape discards your tempo; Hyperbeam deletes your own Focus.
Defect draft priorities by act
- Act 1: two Lightning damage cards + one Frost/Block card per draft. Survive first.
- Act 2: Defragment or Echo Form — the run's scaling moment. Pair with Capacitor if orb slots are tight.
- Act 3: Frost density and Loop-style payoffs; your orb loop should fire without you micromanaging it.