Bush honeysuckle

Overview

The Bush honeysuckle is a shrub in Supplant. It is native to Eastern North America and invasive in East Asia, so it can take whichever role the arena hands it — a defensive buffer on its home turf, or an aggressive attacker where it counts as an introduced weed.

Moves

Its kit fills in across three slots, and most of your copies will be well below the snapshot level of 40 where all three are live — the plant unlocks them as it grows. Tick Tumble is the starter attack, available from level 1 for 2 Sun. The free once-per-battle ability, Thicket Formation, unlocks at level 25: Closes into thicket — Bind, and the foe can't heal. The advanced attack, Coppice Comeback, comes online at level 40 for 6 Sun — Cut it down and it returns — heal 35%.

As a native its attacks land for about 27 (starter) and 22 (advanced); as an invasive those rise to 27 and 22 as the introduced-range aggression matures.

Turn order splits across two stats: initiative (38) decides who moves first on turn 1, and SPD (52) decides every turn after. This one is slow off the mark but relentless once the fight settles — it usually loses turn 1 and then takes the tempo from turn 2 onward. See turn order for how the two interact.

Abilities

Bush honeysuckle runs one trait per riser. Extrafloral Nectaries (level 10) recruits an insect guard that costs any attacker 3% of its own max HP, ignoring DEF and shields. Sapromyophily (level 68) makes the shrub the group's chosen victim whenever the engine must pick one. See Abilities.

Features

For field gear, a Calcium/Magnesium amendment adds flat DEF (most worthwhile on a bulky front-liner, least on a soft body), and the N/P/K fertilizers drive its economy (see Gameplay uses). This species is not Moss-Pole-eligible: that gear is keyed on a climbing growth habit (vine, epiphyte or hemiepiphyte), and its species record carries no growth-habit tag. Played native, favor defensive gear; played invasive, favor anything that pushes its attack.

Stats

At the snapshot level (40) it reads roughly HP 103, DEF 10, with a retreat cost of 12 Sun and tempo pips of 38 initiative / 52 SPD. Its DEF sits in the firm shrub band — better than a weed, well short of a tree. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects a green HP overshield bar onto your active. As an invasive its ATK rises toward 19 (against 19 native), and it pays "Faustian" self-damage to its own bench on every damaging hit it lands. Sun refills at +1 every 15 minutes up to a cap of 120; an empty bar attack-locks the plant. From level 52 it regenerates Sun mid-battle, and a level 85 capstone drops its starter to free. See stats.

At Level 100

It firms into a solid mid-armor bruiser: DEF around 20 and HP toward 190 — tougher than a weed, still short of a tree. Retreat rises to 22 Sun (an older plant is more rooted and costlier to pull), and the inverted tempo has sunk to its floor by now — the fast opening it had as a seedling is gone, so a mature copy leans entirely on power rather than turn order.

Weaknesses & Resistances

In the succession wheel it is a Competitor. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs) for extra damage (×1.5), and takes extra damage from Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes). Against its own group and the off-wheel "Weird" categories it is neutral. See the type chart.

Gameplay uses

Play it native as a defensive buffer — the HP cushion and bench overshield make it a body that protects the rest of your team. Play it invasive as an attacker, remembering it concedes 2 prizes on a knockout and bleeds its own bench with Faustian self-damage each hit. A shrub sits in the middle of the armor table — firmer than a weed, nowhere near a tree. It is a serviceable mid-line body rather than a carry. It is inedible in the game's economy, so any fertilizer you feed it banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins — useful as level fodder, not as a coin source. In the Total power gallery below you can watch it trade a fast-skirmisher opening for raw bulk as it levels: it leans on speed until about level 31, after which its power takes over. It is monotonically stronger the higher it goes, so there is never a reason to hold it back.