Sambucus canadensis
A fast-hitting soft perennial herb with a survival trait, playable as a wide-ranging native or an invader across Africa, Europe, Oceania and South Asia.
American elder is a soft, quick Perennial herb that fights as a low-armor aggressor with a self-mending safety net. It is native across Eastern and Western North America and South America, and invasive in Africa, Europe, Oceania and South Asia, so the arena can cast it either way — as a native buffer or as an invasive attacker (see nativity). It is a fragile but hard-hitting card, especially in its invasive form.
Its starter attack, Herbal Draught, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 31 damage as a native and 33 as an invasive — a clean hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Hemicryptophyte Hold, arrives at level 25: Hunkers at ground level — Bind and Wither the foe. The advanced attack, Bitter End, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (31 native / 33 invasive), another straightforward strike. Most of your elders sit well below level 40, where only the starter is available. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See moves.
Elder keeps a single always-on trait, Resprout. Because it draws only one eligible trait, Resprout arrives at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 one. When it works it lets the plant survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter health, but it triggers only about 60% of the time, so treat it as a coin-flip reprieve. See abilities.
Elder carries no special trait keywords — no thorns, no spore chemistry. It is non-toxic: no contact recoil, no poison rider, and no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, general defensive field gear helps it survive its own fragility; as an invasive, lean into offense to press its strong attack.
At level 40 elder reads 103 HP as a native and 89 as an invasive, with ATK of 28 native versus 35 invasive — a large invasive jump that makes the invader hit hard for a herb. DEF is just 2, near the floor of the perennial-herb band, so it takes hits at almost full force. Its tempo is even: turn 1 runs on its initiative (23) and every turn after on its SPD (23), which sit at the same value, so it is neither a fast opener nor a fast cruiser. Retreat costs 13 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield bar onto your active; as an invasive it pays self-damage to its own bench on each damaging attack and concedes 2 prizes when knocked out. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, elder swells to 190 HP native / 165 invasive and 50 / 69 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 4 — a soft herb gains bulk in health and almost no armor, so it stays exposed. Retreat rises to 26 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature elder acts last against younger cards.
As a perennial herb, elder is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and is hit for only ×0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play elder as a glass-cannon herb. As an invasive its high attack makes it a genuine threat that can trade up, though its thin armor means it will not survive a counter-punch — pair it with a wall or heal support. As a native its cushion and bench overshield make it a serviceable buffer. It is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins, making it a steady growth-earner. It fights as an even-tempo skirmisher that leans on its bulk as it levels, crossing over around level 10 — and higher levels only add punch, so keep leveling it.
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.