Skinny snake plant

Overview

Skinny snake plant hits more softly than most perennial herbs: fewer than 1 in 10 perennial herbs in the game sit as low as its ATK of 15 at Lv 40. Its sustained tempo stands out too: fewer than 1 in 10 of the category sit as low as 12.

Skinny snake plant fights as a perennial herb (categories) in the Competitor succession group. It is native to Africa, 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.

• Crown Split — starter attack, 2 Sun. Splits at the crown and strikes from both. Expected damage: 36.
• Stabilization — ability, free once per battle. Pins the ground down — the foe stalls, and can't break away.
• Alkaloid Ambush — advanced attack, 6 Sun. Poisons before the foe can react. Expected damage: 21.

Alkaloid Ambush carries the initiative rider, which does a different job on each surface. In a wild battle the move strikes first whatever either plant's tempo, unless both sides use one. In the arena it grants no priority: when the strike itself knocks out the target, the attacker keeps the turn and acts again (combat overview).

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).

• Bitter Principle — from Lv 10. Every direct hit on it Withers the attacker by 2 ATK.
• Resprout — from Lv 68. Once per battle, when it would be knocked out, it has a 60% chance to survive at 25% of its max HP, shedding every status.

Items and economy

• 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)	119	240
HP (native)	137	277
ATK (neutral)	15	25
DEF	8	20
Initiative	12	0.20
Sustained tempo (SPD)	12	0.20
Retreat cost (Sun)	14	28

• 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. 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 14 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.

Hardiness

Its climate is known only as a regional estimate: the tropical band. That is enough to name the band but not to give a hardiness zone, so none is shown. Until its range is measured, the card's climate chip shows the band alone and earns no climate XP bonus.

Succession matchups

Skinny snake plant is in the Competitor group (weaknesses and resistances). Its hits land at ×1.5 on Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatic plants and bulbs) and at ×0.67 on Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes). In return, Specialist plants hit it at ×1.5 and Ruderal 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 leads its tempo from Lv 1, so it plays as a heavyweight from the start. The Total power gallery below shows each crossover, with the card at that level and fully grown.