Defect Orb and Focus Guide: Fill, Hold and Evoke with Purpose
Orb slots help only when the deck can fill and cycle them fast enough. Keep the Orb that solves the current job, place the row deliberately, and use temporary Focus when several passives or Evokes will benefit from the same turn.
When should Defect add another Orb or Focus card, and when are extra slots slowing the deck down?
Open the Defect overviewThe job
What this package is trying to solve
Use Frost to survive startup, Lightning and Glass for normal fights, and Dark or repeated Evokes for long single targets. The package is useful only when it answers the fight in front of you; it is not a shopping list that overrides the map, enemy intent, or the cards actually offered.
Solve Act 1 damage and defense before collecting slow scaling.
Use Frost to buy turns, Lightning or Glass for immediate damage, and Dark only when the fight can support the wait.
Check row order before Channeling or Evoking.
Do not add slots faster than the deck can fill them.
Build the job, not the label
Cards and relics to recognize
Core cards
Cold Snap · Coolheaded · Glacier · Defragment · Hotfix · Synchronize
These are the cards that make the package's central action possible.Support cards
Glasswork · Compile Driver · Hologram · Shatter · Barrage
These help the package survive, draw, scale, or bridge into the next fight.Relics
Data Disk · Gold-Plated Cables · Emotion Chip · Metronome
Relics can change the value of the package, but do not force a plan that cannot solve the next combat.Commit condition
When should you take more of this?
Reliable Frost and at least one other Orb type are available.
The deck has Channel or Evoke access, not just empty capacity.
Focus changes several passive or Evoke values in the same combat.
Protect the run
When should you stop forcing it?
Core failure mode: Adding slots faster than the deck can Channel. Empty or slow-moving slots dilute temporary Focus and delay the forced Evokes that provide immediate defense or damage.
Extra slots remain empty or delay forced Evokes.
Temporary Focus is played while the Orb row is too slow to use it.
The current hallway needs front-loaded damage that the engine cannot provide.