The first Lightning
Unlock Defect by playing a Necrobinder run and opening Booting Up. Cracked Core Channels a Lightning Orb at the start of each combat. That provides an immediate Orb for Dualcast even before Zap is drawn.
Lightning’s passive damage targets a random enemy. Do not assume it will finish the attacker you most need to remove from a group. A direct attack can choose the target; an Orb can supply additional output after the cards are spent. Compare the two separately before accepting an enemy attack as unavoidable.
Ball Lightning adds direct damage and another Lightning channel in the same card. Coolheaded adds Frost while drawing, and Glacier supplies immediate Block with more Frost. Those effects improve current turns while leaving room to develop a later engine.
Orb order and timing
Dualcast Evokes the rightmost Orb twice. Check which Orb occupies that position before spending the card. Evoking Lightning for damage is a different turn from Evoking Frost for Block or Plasma for Energy.
Frost gives passive Block at turn end. That can free Energy for setup, but the amount has to meet the actual enemy attack. A small Frost field is not complete defense against a boss whose multi-hit attacks grow with Strength.
Plasma supplies Energy and is unaffected by Focus. Defragment improves the Orbs that do use Focus; it does not turn Plasma into a larger Energy source. Inspect the actual Orb mixture before choosing a Focus upgrade over another defensive improvement.
Choose a damage direction
| Current package | What improves it | Remaining problem |
|---|---|---|
| Several Lightning channels | Focus and ways to use recurring Orb output. | Random targeting and the setup turn. |
| Reliable Frost generation | Focus, cycling and a damage plan. | Winning before enemy scaling overtakes the defense. |
| Claw and inexpensive attacks | Repeated plays, recursion and enough draw. | Hands filled with cards the recursion cannot use. |
The Lightning guide and Frost guide explain Orb-centered development. The Claw guide covers a card-attack route that still needs defense and consistency.
Recursion and restrictive draw
Claw increases the damage of all Claw cards during the combat. Replaying it develops that value, but adding every zero-cost attack can dilute access to the cards doing the scaling.
Scrape draws several cards and discards those whose Energy cost is not zero. That can be useful for a compatible attack hand while removing the costly Power or Block card the turn needed. Before playing it, compare the desired draw with the cards its restriction will discard. More draw is not interchangeable with unrestricted access.
Zap and Dualcast upgrades reduce Energy costs. The saved Energy helps only when the rest of the hand can use it. Compare that concrete extra play with the recovery available at a rest site.
Status-heavy encounters
Compact gives Block and transforms Status cards in hand into Fuel. Against Aeonglass, keep it until the Wither generation you intend to trigger has arrived. Playing it first can leave a fresh Status in hand afterward.
In co-op, Ignition gives another player Plasma. Choose the recipient by the turn it enables, rather than assuming every ally benefits equally from an Orb whose passive and Evoke effects have different timing.
