Ambrosia trifida
A non-toxic annual-forb attacker that borrows DEF from its benched ruderals and pins its target, playing either arena role — a North American native or a Eurasian invader.
Giant Ragweed is a rangy Annual forb that fights as a light attacker: it hits, it pins, and it borrows armor from the ruderals behind it rather than carrying much of its own. It is native to Eastern and Western North America and invasive across East Asia and Europe, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker.
Its starter attack, Insect Alliance, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 32 damage as a native and 35 as an invasive, and it carries an initiative rider: in a wild encounter it seizes the initiative and strikes first, while in the arena it instead finishes a kill and keeps going. The free once-per-battle ability, Disclimax, arrives at level 25: Holds the ground open — the foe stalls and withers. The advanced attack, Floormat Chokeout, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (29 native / 32 invasive) and can pin the target in place as it strikes. Most of your Giant Ragweed sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. See Moves.
Giant Ragweed keeps two always-on traits. Duff Stuff arrives on the level 10 riser: while it is your active plant its effective DEF rises by half the summed DEF of your alive benched ruderals — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, and bulbs. It is recomputed live, so the bonus shrinks as those allies faint, and the donors keep their own DEF; it is a genuine, always-on defence, not a chance-based one. Reseed arrives later, on the level 68 riser: when Giant Ragweed is knocked out a fresh Seedling token steps up in its place, the annual-forb signature. See Abilities.
Giant Ragweed is non-toxic, so it has no contact recoil and no poison rider — striking it costs an attacker nothing. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium or magnesium amendment for a little DEF — shores up its thin armor; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its aggression. See statuses.
At level 40 Giant Ragweed reads 103 HP native and 89 invasive, with ATK of 27 native versus 35 invasive — the invasive gap is real, though its raw attack stays modest. DEF is just 1, at the soft floor of the annual-forb band, so on its own it takes hits with almost no armor and relies on the Duff Stuff pool instead. Its tempo is uneven: turn 1 runs on its initiative (37) and every turn after on its higher SPD (48), so it is out-paced on the opening exchange but relentless once the fight settles. Retreat costs 12 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active; as an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, Giant Ragweed swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 49 / 71 ATK, but its DEF stays at 1 — as a soft weed it buys bulk in health and none in armor, so it stays exposed to any real hitter and depends on the benched-ruderal pool for real toughness. Retreat rises to 23 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature card acts last against almost anything younger.
As a ruderal, Giant Ragweed sits in the Ruderal succession group. It hits Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Competitor plants (perennial herbs, vines, shrubs, broadleaf trees), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Ruderals and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play Giant Ragweed as a bench-backed attacker: keep a couple of live ruderals behind it so Duff Stuff holds its armor up, then trade and use the advanced pin to slow a faster switcher. As a native it is a fine buffer that stiffens while your other weeds are alive; as an invasive its higher ATK lets it push, though it still wins by tempo and the pin rather than force. On economy, Giant Ragweed is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a slow-opening, fast-cruising attacker that leans harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 29 as a native and 31 as an invasive — but it is always stronger at higher levels, so there is no reason to hold it back.
Leveling trades speed for power. A plant’s tempo (SPD + INI, the turn-order edge) fades as it grows, while its power (HP + ATK + DEF, net of the rising Sun cost to retreat) climbs. The crossover is the level where power overtakes tempo: below it the plant is a fast skirmisher, above it a heavyweight. Shown for each stance this plant can actually hold — native adds a HP cushion, invasive an attack edge, neutral neither — with the card at its crossover and fully grown at Lv 100.