LogFAQs > #972227774

I'm pretty bad myself but I'll try to add to what these guys have been saying.

For act 1 you need to think about two things: can you kill the elites and can you kill the boss? Usually you need a big single target damage card and some defense. An upgraded Streamline or that big 3 energy for 32 damage is good. Orb generation is good. Generally taking cards for a future synergy is always risky compared to upfront improvement.

For act 2 you want aoe, since many fights, elites and bosses can be quite nasty if you don't have damage that scales with number of enemies.

If you see pellets in a shop it's almost always worth it. Making somewhat big decks isn't awful on defect. Turbo and Aggregate are incredible for energy but need upgrades. Overheat is not so good for card draw though. Better to stick with Skim, Coolheaded, or Compile driver. The AI card that gives you a new power each turn can win long fights for you, but make sure to not focus too much on it during short regular fights. Same with Echo form really. It's easy to want to use it a little bit too much when you could just skip it. An upgraded Recycle can turn big cards that you don't need anymore like Hyperbeam into a source of energy. It's also a key component of defect infinite setups.