Chema anthurium

Overview

Chema anthurium hits more softly than most epiphytes: no more than 1 in 5 epiphytes in the game sit as low as its ATK of 15 at Lv 40. Its initiative stands out too: no more than 1 in 5 of the category reach 36.

Chema anthurium fights as an epiphyte (categories) in the Specialist succession group. It is native to Eastern North America, where it plays as a buffer. It is invasive nowhere on record, so it never takes the attacker role; anywhere else it plays neutral (nativity).

Moves

Every card has three move slots (moves): a starter attack from Lv 1, a free once-per-battle ability from Lv 25 and an advanced attack from Lv 40. Damage is the expected hit at Lv 40, before the target's DEF and the succession wheel.

• Aireater — starter attack, 2 Sun. Feeds straight off the air — strike and heal 15%. Expected damage: 23.
• Impounded Water — ability, free once per battle. Drinks its own standing pool: heal 70%.
• High and Dry — advanced attack, 6 Sun. Leaves the foe stranded — it can't heal. Expected damage: 23.

Aireater carries a heal rider that lands 75% of the time, and the heal is paid for in Sun.

Always-on traits

Always-on traits arrive on two trait risers, Lv 10 and Lv 68, one trait on each; anything else its category offered is dropped for good (abilities).

• Canopy Anchorage — from Lv 10. It can never be Bound, or forced out of the active slot.
• CAM Idling — from Lv 68. Each checkup, active or benched, it heals 2% of its max HP, even while Blighted.

Items and economy

• It climbs, so it can take a Moss Pole (field gear).
• It is not edible, so an N/P/K amendment on it earns 25% more battle XP.
• A Ca/Mg amendment adds +2 DEF.

Stats

Every number here is the card without per-card genetics, which nudge HP, ATK, sustained tempo, initiative, retreat cost and DEF on the plant you actually own (stats). HP, ATK, DEF and retreat climb in a straight line from Lv 1 to Lv 100, while both tempo stats fall. A native's ATK is the neutral figure.

Stat	Lv 40	Lv 100
HP (neutral)	138	290
HP (native)	159	333
ATK (neutral)	15	25
DEF	6	13
Initiative	36	0.59
Sustained tempo (SPD)	22	0.37
Retreat cost (Sun)	12	24

• DEF is diminishing armour: a hit is scaled by ATK ÷ (ATK + DEF), so a strong attacker pushes through armour a weak one can't, and Poison ignores DEF entirely.
• Tempo: initiative decides who acts first on turn 1 and sustained tempo decides every turn after; it opens faster than it cruises. In a wild battle, a tie goes to you. Both fall as it grows, and by Lv 100 every plant is down to a fraction of a point — which is why the Lv 100 tempo column reads in decimals while the rest are whole numbers.
• Retreat: switching it out costs 12 Sun at Lv 40, and after it enters the active slot it must stay 1 turn before it can switch out.
• Sun is what attacks cost. Its bar holds 120, and an empty bar leaves it unable to attack, though its free ability still works.
• Refilling: out of battle it regains one Sun every 15 minutes at Lv 1, rising to 3 times that pace by Lv 45. Above Lv 52 it also regains Sun during battle, up to 4 a turn at Lv 100, and from Lv 85 its starter attack is free and its advanced attack costs 2 Sun.
• Benched as a native, it adds a green overshield bar to your active plant sized by its conservation status (Least Concern): 1.9% of the active's max HP. Direct attacks drain that bar before HP; Poison, Burn and recoil go straight to HP.

Succession matchups

Chema anthurium is in the Specialist group (weaknesses and resistances). Its hits land at ×1.5 on Competitor plants (perennial herbs, vines, shrubs and broadleaf trees) and at ×0.67 on Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatic plants and bulbs). In return, Ruderal plants hit it at ×1.5 and Competitor plants at ×0.67. Everything else is neutral.

Playing it

• As a native it is a buffer: its HP cushion, and the overshield bar it lends your active plant from the bench, are what it adds to a team.
• Over its life, its power overtakes its tempo at Lv 13 as a native and at Lv 16 neutral: below that level it plays as a fast skirmisher, above it as a heavyweight. Its HP, ATK and DEF only grow as it levels, so the crossover is never a reason to hold it back. The Total power gallery below shows each crossover, with the card at that level and fully grown.