Crowdipper

Overview

The Crowdipper is a carrion aroid in Supplant. It is native to East Asia and invasive in Europe, Eastern North America and Western North America, so it can take whichever role the arena hands it — a defensive buffer on its home turf, or an aggressive attacker where it counts as an introduced weed.

Moves

Its kit fills in across three slots, and most of your copies will be well below the snapshot level of 40 where all three are live — the plant unlocks them as it grows. Triple Nose is the starter attack, available from level 1 for 2 Sun. The free once-per-battle ability, Naturalized Sward, unlocks at level 25: Spreads through the whole meadow — the foe's bench withers. The advanced attack, Forcing Function, comes online at level 40 for 6 Sun — Forced into bloom early — first, and faster after.

As a native its attacks land for about 54 (starter) and 33 (advanced); as an invasive those rise to 60 and 35 as the introduced-range aggression matures.

Turn order splits across two stats: initiative (35) decides who moves first on turn 1, and SPD (38) decides every turn after. The two are close on this card, so it neither dominates nor loses the tempo battle outright. See turn order for how the two interact.

Abilities

Crowdipper holds two working traits. Raphide Bundles (level 10) Poison anything that hits it for 2 stacks. Putrescine Aura (level 68) grinds the opposing active down by 2% of its max HP per checkup, shield-ignoring. On a card that plays the long game, that adds up. See Abilities.

Features

For field gear, a Calcium/Magnesium amendment adds flat DEF (most worthwhile on a bulky front-liner, least on a soft body), and the N/P/K fertilizers drive its economy (see Gameplay uses). This species is not Moss-Pole-eligible: that gear is keyed on a climbing growth habit (vine, epiphyte or hemiepiphyte), and its species record carries no growth-habit tag. Played native, favor defensive gear; played invasive, favor anything that pushes its attack.

Stats

At the snapshot level (40) it reads roughly HP 103, DEF 1, with a retreat cost of 12 Sun and tempo pips of 35 initiative / 38 SPD. Its DEF sits modestly in the low band. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects a green HP overshield bar onto your active. As an invasive its ATK rises toward 26 (against 21 native), and it pays "Faustian" self-damage to its own bench on every damaging hit it lands. Sun refills at +1 every 15 minutes up to a cap of 120; an empty bar attack-locks the plant. From level 52 it regenerates Sun mid-battle, and a level 85 capstone drops its starter to free. See stats.

At Level 100

HP swells toward 190 while DEF stays modest (1) — bigger, but no new tricks. Retreat rises to 23 Sun (an older plant is more rooted and costlier to pull), and the inverted tempo has sunk to its floor by now — the fast opening it had as a seedling is gone, so a mature copy leans entirely on power rather than turn order.

Weaknesses & Resistances

Its category is off the succession wheel entirely, so it deals and takes neutral damage against every group — no type advantage in either direction. It lives or dies on raw stats and its kit, not the matchup chart.

Gameplay uses

Play it native as a defensive buffer — the HP cushion and bench overshield make it a body that protects the rest of your team. Play it invasive as an attacker, remembering it concedes 2 prizes on a knockout and bleeds its own bench with Faustian self-damage each hit. Off the succession wheel it never gets a type edge either way, but it is not an empty card: it runs Raphide Bundles from level 10 and a Putrescine Aura from level 68, both working every match. It is inedible in the game's economy, so any fertilizer you feed it banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins — useful as level fodder, not as a coin source. In the Total power gallery below you can watch it trade a fast-skirmisher opening for raw bulk as it levels: it leans on speed until about level 26, after which its power takes over. It is monotonically stronger the higher it goes, so there is never a reason to hold it back.