Helianthus annuus
A tall annual forb that plays either arena role — an Eastern and Western North American native buffer or a European invasive attacker — with a slow-building opener.
Common Sunflower is a tall annual Annual forb that fights as a light attacker with a supportive streak: a slow-building opener, a mid-fight self-buff, and a defence that borrows from your bench. It is native to Eastern and Western North America and invasive across Europe, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker. Its armor is minimal, so it wins by tempo and its team, not by soaking hits.
Its starter attack, Hypergrowth, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun; it is a pioneer-spread ramp with no fixed damage number — it hits harder each time it lands. The free once-per-battle ability, r-Selected Riot, arrives at level 25: All-out reproduction: +8 ATK and speed, kept. The advanced attack, Arrowseed, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun, dealing about 36 damage as a native and 42 as an invasive. Most of your sunflower sit below level 40, where only the starter is live. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Common Sunflower keeps two always-on traits. Duff Stuff arrives on the level 10 riser: while it is your active plant, its effective DEF rises by half the summed DEF of your alive benched ruderals — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs — recomputed live, so the bonus fades as those allies faint, while the donors keep their own DEF. It is a real, always-on defence, not a chance effect. Reseed arrives later, on the level 68 riser: when it is knocked out, a fresh Seedling token steps up in its place — the annual-forb signature. See Abilities.
Common Sunflower is non-toxic: it has no contact recoil and forces no poison rider, so nothing touching it is punished. Its 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 DEF — offsets its thin armor; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its aggression. See statuses.
At level 40 sunflower reads 65 HP native and 57 invasive, with ATK of 20 native versus 36 invasive — the invasive gap is real, though its raw attack stays modest. DEF is just 1, at the soft floor of the annual-forb band, so it takes hits with almost no armor and relies on Duff Stuff and its bench to firm up. Its tempo is lopsided: turn 1 runs on a low initiative (26), so it is out-paced off the mark, but every turn after runs on a higher SPD (56), so it settles into a relentless cruiser. Retreat costs 10 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active; as an invasive it pays Faustian self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, sunflower swells to 103 HP native / 90 invasive and 35 / 76 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 1 — as a soft forb it buys bulk in health and almost none in armor, so it stays exposed to any real hitter. Retreat rises to 18 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature sunflower acts last against almost anything younger.
As a ruderal annual forb, Common Sunflower sits in the Ruderal succession group. It hits Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Competitor plants (perennial herbs, shrubs, trees, vines), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Ruderals and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play Common Sunflower two ways. As a native it is a buffer: keep other ruderals benched so Duff Stuff can prop up its armor, and lean on the HP cushion and overshield it projects onto your active. As an invasive it is an attacker: its higher ATK (36 versus 20 native) lets it push damage, though it pays self-damage to its own bench on each hit and hands the enemy 2 prizes if it falls. On economy, sunflower's fruit is edible, so feeding it Phosphorus pays ×1.25 coins, while any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth. It plays as a slow-starting cruiser that leans harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 43 as a native and 40 as an invasive — but it is always stronger at higher levels, 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.