Purple deadnettle

Overview

Purple deadnettle is a low, soft Annual forb that fights as a fragile skirmisher propped up by its bench: its own armor is minimal, but while it is active it borrows defence from any benched ruderal allies. It is native across Africa, East Asia and Europe and invasive in Eastern and Western North America, Oceania and South America, so the arena can field it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker. Its damage is modest; its staying power comes from the pooled defence and a fresh seedling when it falls.

Moves

Its starter attack, Cultivate, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 32 damage as a native and 36 as an invasive. The free once-per-battle ability, Nudation, arrives at level 25: Strips the ground bare — heavy Wither, and the foe can't heal. It is a mid-fight mend. The advanced attack, Scatterseed, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (25 native / 29 invasive). Most of your purple deadnettle sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.

Abilities

Purple deadnettle keeps two always-on traits. Duff Stuff arrives on the level 10 riser: while it is active, its effective DEF rises by half the summed DEF of your alive benched ruderals — annual forbs, grasses, aquatics and bulbs — recomputed live, so the cushion shrinks as those allies faint while the donors keep their own DEF. Reseed arrives on the level 68 riser: when purple deadnettle is knocked out, a fresh Seedling token steps up in its place, the annual-forb signature. Both work at full strength from the riser that grants them. See Abilities.

Features

Purple deadnettle is non-toxic, so it carries no contact recoil and no poison rider — nothing punishes an attacker for striking it. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium or magnesium amendment for a little DEF — shores up its thin armor; as an invasive, offensive gear pushes its attack. See statuses.

Stats

At level 40 purple deadnettle reads 103 HP native and 89 invasive, with ATK of 26 native versus 37 invasive — the invasive gap is wide, though the raw attack stays low either way. DEF is just 1, at the soft floor of the annual-forb band, so on its own it takes hits with almost no armor and leans on Duff Stuff to borrow bulk from the bench. Its tempo is front-loaded: turn 1 runs on its initiative (38) and every turn after on its SPD (36), so it leads off the mark but is out-paced in a longer fight. Retreat costs 11 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.

At Level 100

Matured to level 100, purple deadnettle swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 48 / 76 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 1 — as a soft forb it buys bulk in health and almost none in armor, so its own defence stays paper-thin and the bench cushion matters more than ever. Retreat rises to 21 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature card acts last against almost anything younger.

Weaknesses & Resistances

As an annual forb, purple deadnettle 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, vines, shrubs, broadleaf trees), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Ruderal plants and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.

Gameplay uses

Play purple deadnettle as a bench-fed skirmisher. As a native it makes a serviceable buffer: keep other ruderals alive behind it to feed Duff Stuff, and its benched overshield helps your active weather hits. As an invasive its higher ATK gives it a little more push, but its damage is still low and it pays self-damage to its own bench for the privilege, so it wins by chipping and reseeding rather than by force. It is edible at the leaf, so feeding it Nitrogen pays ×1.25 coins while any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth. It plays as a fast opener that fades in longer fights and leans harder on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 25 as a native and 26 as an invasive — but it is always stronger at higher levels, so there is no reason to hold it back.