Dianthus scaber
A native-only European perennial herb that opens fast but fades, mending itself as it strikes and clinging on through one lethal blow.
Rough pink is a wiry Perennial herb that fights as a quick-opening staller: it lands the first hit, mends itself as it goes, and can survive an otherwise-lethal blow. It is native to Europe and invasive nowhere, so the arena only ever fields it as a native buffer for your bench. It is a modest, self-sustaining support card rather than a heavy hitter — useful early, but light on damage.
Its starter attack, Bitter Sap, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun and lands a reliable, even strike for about 26 damage. The free once-per-battle ability, Hemicryptophyte Hold, arrives at level 25: Hunkers at ground level — Bind and Wither the foe. — a mid-fight mend that suits its stalling game. The advanced attack, Tonic, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (32 damage) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your rough pinks sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn. See Moves.
Rough pink keeps a single always-on trait, Resprout. Because it draws only one eligible trait, Resprout arrives at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 one. When it works it lets the plant survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter of its health — but it fires only about 60% of the time, so treat it as a coin-flip reprieve rather than a guarantee. See Abilities.
Rough pink carries no trait keywords — no thorns, no toxin, no spore chemistry — so nothing punishes an attacker for striking it; it is non-toxic, so nothing chemical bites back. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment for a little extra DEF — suits its stalling game.
At level 40 rough pink reads 103 HP and 16 ATK. DEF is just 4, at the soft floor of the perennial-herb band, so it takes hits with almost no armor and relies on its healing instead. Its tempo is front-loaded: it opens on a high initiative (51) and usually lands the first hit, but its lower SPD (34) means it is out-paced from turn 2 on, so it wants to make its early strike and heal count before a faster cruiser takes over. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, rough pink swells to 190 HP and 28 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 8 — as a soft herb it gains bulk in health and almost none in armor, so it stays vulnerable to any real hitter. Retreat rises to 33 Sun as it roots in, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so its early-initiative edge fades to nothing and it acts last against almost anything younger.
As a perennial herb, rough pink sits in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play rough pink as a native buffer that opens fast: bench it for the HP cushion and overshield, or lead with it to land the first blow and heal through the follow-up. Its damage is modest and its early tempo fades, so it works better as support than as a finisher. On economy, it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP as a growth boost rather than paying coins. It fights as a fast opener that leans on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 33 — but it is always stronger at higher levels in raw stats, 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.