Whale Fin Plant

Overview

Whale Fin Plant keeps a slower pace than most succulents: no more than 1 in 7 succulents in the game sit as low as its sustained tempo of 12 at Lv 40.

Whale Fin Plant fights as a succulent (categories) in the Specialist 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.

• Water Leech — starter attack, 2 Sun. Draws the foe's water off for itself. Expected damage: 26.
• Water Reservoir — ability, free once per battle. Opens the whole store: heal 50%, and the foe can't heal.
• Sunscald — advanced attack, 6 Sun. Scalds the tissue through — the foe can't heal. Expected damage: 26.

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).

• Waxy Cuticle — from Lv 10. It takes 3 less damage from every direct hit.
• Root Sloughing — from Lv 68. Each checkup, active or benched, it sheds a stack of its worst 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)	68	112
HP (native)	79	129
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

Whale Fin Plant 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 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.