Rhododendron aberconwayi

Overview

Rhododendron aberconwayi hits more softly than most shrubs: fewer than 1 in 10 shrubs in the game sit as low as its ATK of 15 at Lv 40. Its initiative stands out too: no more than 1 in 6 of the category sit as low as 10.

Rhododendron aberconwayi fights as a shrub (categories) in the Competitor succession group. It is native to East Asia, 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.

• Bramblemaze — starter attack, 2 Sun. A maze of brambles the foe can't back out of. Expected damage: 26.
• Chaparral Climax — ability, free once per battle. Owns the dry hillside: heal 60% and +4 ATK.
• Briar Cage — advanced attack, 6 Sun. Closes a briar cage around the foe — held, and sapped. Expected damage: 18.

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).

• Marcescence — from Lv 10. It gets +4 DEF while at or below half HP.
• Sapromyophily — from Lv 68. Whenever the game picks one plant on its side at random — the target of a Seed Rain or of incoming Spore-drift, or the ally sent in when a shove forces the active plant out — it picks this one. A lone wild plant leaves no choice to make, so it pays off on a full bench.

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)	102	192
HP (native)	117	221
ATK (neutral)	15	25
DEF	53	129
Initiative	10	0.16
Sustained tempo (SPD)	11	0.17
Retreat cost (Sun)	12	23

• 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; it opens slower than it cruises. 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 12 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.

Succession matchups

Rhododendron aberconwayi is in the Competitor group (weaknesses and resistances). Its hits land at ×1.5 on Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatic plants and bulbs) and at ×0.67 on Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes). In return, Specialist plants hit it at ×1.5 and Ruderal 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.