Moves

The three slots

Your kit fills in as you grow. The starter attack is there from the start; the ability and the advanced attack unlock later.

Slot	Unlocks	Sun cost	Type
Starter attack	Level 1	2	attack
Ability	Level 10	Free, once per battle	ability
Advanced attack	Level 18	6	attack

Attacks can be spammed as long as you can pay the Sun. The ability is free but fires only once per battle, so save it for the swing that matters. With an empty Sun bar you're attack-locked — the free ability (if unused) is your only guaranteed play, since retreating also costs Sun.

The damage formula

Every attack's damage value is a multiple of your effective ATK. The math is simple:

damage = round(dmg × ATK × matchup) − target DEF, minimum 1.

That damage drains the target's overshield segments front-first before it touches base HP. A few effects ignore the shield entirely (see below).

The matchup term is the succession wheel (type advantage): ×1.5 when your group beats the target's, ×0.667 when it's resisted, ×1 otherwise. Status immunities like warded and staked are a separate mechanic — see Statuses.

Effect vocabulary

Moves carry riders on top of (or instead of) raw damage. A damage value of 0 means pure utility.

• multi — strike several times in one turn.
• poison / wither / bind / dormant / blight — apply a status: damage-over-time, −ATK, no retreat, skip next attack, or deny healing.
• lifesteal — heal for a fraction of damage dealt.
• heal — restore a fraction of your own max HP.
• splash — hit one benched foe for a fraction of the damage.
• spread — bench AoE: hit several (or all) benched foes, optionally applying a status too.
• buffAtk / rampant — a one-time ATK boost, or a persisting one.
• initiative — act first this turn regardless of tempo.
• seedRain — flat damage plus flat healing that bypasses the overshield on both ends.

Example moves

Display names are re-skinned per species, but the effects are shared pools:

• Steady Growth — clean damage (dmg 1.0).
• Bitter Sap — dmg 0.8 plus poison for 2.
• Strangle — dmg 0.5 and makes the target skip its next attack.
• Strangling Reach — dmg 0.8, spread at half to every benched foe.
• Seed Rain — no direct hit; 10 flat damage and 10 flat heal, straight through shields.

Native vs Invasive

Moves are identical for both — nativity changes the numbers behind them, not the kit.

	Native	Invasive
ATK on attacks	Normal (with +15% HP cushion)	×1.75 (×1.4 if toxic) — hits far harder
Cost of hitting	None	Faustian self-damage (about 10 + level) to your lowest-HP benched ally on every damaging attack

An invasive's higher ATK shrugs off flat DEF and chews through shields fast, but each swing bleeds your own bench. Read Nativity before you build around one.

See also: Combat Overview, Abilities.