Defect Build

🦾 Claw Machine

Name: Every Build For Defect in Slay The Spire 2
Channel: YonTato

Stack Claw, recur it for free, and bury the room under a flood of zero-cost attacks

Updated for Early Access patch 0.104.0· Updated 2026-06-06

AAdvanced

clawzero-costattacksscalingcombo

Win condition: Permanently buff Claw by playing it over and over in a single fight, then use Feral, All for One, and empty-hand draw to keep cheap attacks flowing until one Claw-heavy turn deletes the room.

A-Tier
Tier: Advanced
Difficulty: 12
Core cards: Snowballing zero-cost aggro
Power

Reviewed by SpireForge Editorial

Updated 2026-06-06

Strategy informed by RatForge, YonTato

Deck core

Core cards

The cards this build is built around — prioritize these on every run.

Must-pick

Flex picks

Synergy

Relic priorities

What to grab from shops, bosses and chests to power the engine.

Power CellCore
Adds 2 zero-cost cards from your draw pile to hand each combat, often kicking off your Claw chain on turn one.
Unceasing TopCore
Draws a card whenever your hand is empty during your turn, so a fully spent zero-cost hand refills itself for free.
ShurikenStrong
Gain 1 Strength every time you play 3 Attacks in a turn; trivial with a flood of Claws and it permanently buffs all attacks.
KunaiStrong
Gain 1 Dexterity every 3 Attacks per turn, padding Block on your defensive cards while you spam attacks.
NunchakuStrong
Gain energy every 10 Attacks played; a zero-cost Claw turn racks that up fast for extra fuel.
PocketwatchSituational
Strong on the rare slow turns; if you play 3 or fewer cards you draw 3 extra next turn to reload the chain.
Mummified HandSituational
If you run Feral or Panache as your only Powers, each one makes a random card free, smoothing a non-zero-cost play.
Bag of PreparationSituational
Two extra opening cards help you find Claws and enablers a turn faster against fast enemies.

Game plan

How to play

Step-by-step through the run, from opening hands to the win.

Buff Claw before you spend big attacks
Lead with your cheapest Claws first; each one raises every Claw's damage for the rest of combat, so the Claws you play later in the same turn already hit much harder. Front-loading the buff is the entire skill of the deck.
Lay down Feral early
Feral is a 2-cost Power, so play it on a setup turn. Once it is out, the first 0-energy attack you play each turn comes back, giving you a guaranteed extra Claw or Flash of Steel every single turn for free.
Use Scrape to dig, not just to hit
Scrape draws 4 and keeps only the 0-cost cards, so it reliably refills your hand with Claws and cheap draw attacks while throwing away clog. It is your best single card for keeping the zero-cost chain alive.
Reload with All for One for the kill turn
After you have dumped a pile of Claws and other 0-cost cards into the discard, All for One pulls them all back to hand at once. Hold it for the turn you want to flood the board with a second wave of buffed Claws.
Empty your hand on purpose
Restlessness draws 2 and gives 2 energy when your hand is empty, and with Unceasing Top you draw a card whenever your hand is empty during your turn. Spend down to nothing deliberately so these refills keep the chain going.
Let Panache punish long turns
Once Panache is down, every fifth card you play deals 10 to all enemies, and a zero-cost turn crosses that line several times. Just keep playing cards and the AoE handles crowds while your Claws focus the priority target.

Honest take

Pros & cons

Strengths

Snowballs hard within a single fight as Claw's permanent buff stacks every copy you play.
Extremely energy-efficient; most of your damage comes from 0-cost cards you replay for free.
Panache and multi-hit Claw turns clear both crowds and single targets without orb setup.

Weaknesses

Build-around; it needs several Claws and the right enablers, so it is heavily draft-dependent.
Claw's buff resets each combat, so every fight starts from a weak 3-damage baseline before it scales.
Light on Block, leaving the early turns of a fight vulnerable while the chain spins up.

Opening

Mulligan & priorities

What to keep, what to ditch in your opening hands.

Keep Claw, the more the better; you need bodies on the board to start the permanent buff.
Keep Feral so your first 0-cost attack recurs every turn from the opening.
Keep Scrape to dig toward more Claws and filter out non-zero-cost clog.
Toss All for One turn 1; it is a payoff that wants a loaded discard pile to reload, not an opener.

Map strategy

Pathing

How to route the map to assemble the build and stay healthy.

Draft every Claw you see

Claws scale off each other, so card-reward screens offering Claw are almost always a take. Three or four Claws turns the build from a gimmick into a fight-ending engine by Act 2.

Prioritize 0-cost draw and recursion

Flash of Steel, Finesse, Minion Strike, and Restlessness all keep the chain moving, while Feral and All for One recur your attacks. These enablers matter more than raw single attacks for sustaining the turn.

Keep the deck lean

Every non-zero-cost card you add is a card Scrape discards and a turn where your hand stalls. Skip expensive orb payoffs and thin the deck so you draw into Claws and enablers consistently.

Avoid these

Common mistakes

Playing your big attacks before stacking Claws, so the Claws you play later miss out on the damage buff you could have had.
Adding lots of 1-2 cost cards that Scrape just discards and that clog the zero-cost flow.
Forgetting Feral only returns the first 0-energy attack each turn, so playing a non-attack 0-cost first wastes nothing but mis-sequencing the recur does.
Cashing All for One on a near-empty discard pile instead of after you have spent a wave of 0-cost cards.
Ignoring Block entirely; the deck needs a turn or two to come online and you still need to survive the windup.

Quick answers

FAQ

Common questions about the Claw Machine Defect build.

Is the Claw Machine build good in Slay the Spire 2?

Yes, it is a strong A-tier aggro engine when you can draft several Claws, because each Claw permanently buffs all the others within a combat and you replay them for free. It is draft-dependent and starts every fight at a weak baseline, which keeps it just below the top orb engines.

Best cards for a Claw Defect build?

Claw is the centerpiece, with Feral returning your first 0-energy attack each turn and All for One reloading every spent 0-cost card from your discard. Scrape digs toward more Claws while filtering clog, and Panache turns your high card count into free AoE.

What relics does the Claw Machine want?

Power Cell adds 2 zero-cost cards to hand each combat to jump-start the chain, and Unceasing Top draws a card whenever your hand empties, so a fully spent turn refills itself. Shuriken and Kunai reward the many attacks you play with permanent Strength and Dexterity.

Does the Claw build really infinite?

It can chain a very long turn rather than a true infinite: Feral recurs one 0-cost attack per turn, All for One reloads your discard, and empty-hand draw from Restlessness and Unceasing Top keeps cards coming. In practice you flood a single massive Claw turn that ends the fight rather than looping forever.

Provenance

Sources & video guides

This build's strategy is informed by these community creators.

Every Build For Defect in Slay The Spire 2
YonTato·20K·6:38