Eliminations and hitting an enemy 12 times grants you a charge to Beginning Anew. You earn haste for each sprout you are nearby.
Vine Staff
Vine Staff is a support Phighter. She was released on 15 July 2023 with V0.6.0.
Overview
Vine Staff is a healing support Phighter that specializes in giving regeneration to her allies. Her primary, A Thousand Petals outputs slow but consistent damages from close to mid range. The basis of Vine Staff's healing is focused around her passive, Death Brings Life, so she has charges for her secondary, Beginning Anew. Her five sprout charge limit fills up quickly by racking up assists in projectiles or healing. Preservation lets her to leech off damage in forms of healing through high DPS teammates, producing more sprouts. Root of the Oak is ideal for rooting enemies in an AoE as well as exploding sprouts for burst healing. Lotus of the Den turns the tides of battle if used correctly as long as teammates are around to trigger sprouts at their locations. The sheer amount of sprouts that grow can sustain a team's health and can make them unstoppable. By herself, Vine Staff will fall due to her poor mobility and slow damage compared to other Phighters. But when she is given the chance with her team, she can quickly become a nuisance with consistent, widespread healing and damage.
Abilities
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Death Brings Life | |||
Max. charges: 5
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A Thousand Petals | |||
Shoot fast, low damaging petals. Damage: 6
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Beginning Anew | |||
Use a seed and plant a healing sprout. When Death Brings Life activates, it advances to the next stage and heals all allies around it. At its fourth stage, it explodes, damaging enemies and healing allies. Healing:
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Preservation | |||
Heal a targeted ally. For the next 7 seconds, 40% of the damage they deal is turned into healing for both you and the ally. For every 50 damage they deal, you gain a seed. Healing: 20 (on cast) There's nothing here yet... |
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Root of the Oak | |||
Fire three branches which root enemies when hit. Hitting a sprout causes it to activate instantly and create an explosion which roots. Hitting an enemy gives you a seed. Damage: 30 (direct) / 12 (splash)
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Lotus of the Den | |||
Summon a lotus which heals and grants allies regeneration three times before disappearing. All allies in radius of the lotus will activate stage 1 Beginning Anew at their position and your seeds now plant level 2 sprouts. Healing: 40 + 60
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Strategy

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When playing as Vine Staff, it is important to have good awareness, positioning, and ability management. Vine Staff should never push beyond the midway point of the map unless a tank or strong melee such as Ban Hammer, Katana, or Sword is pushing up with her. Even if an enemy is low health, other Phighters designated for picking the enemies off are better suited for finishing the target rather than a Vine Staff who's priority is healing the team. Overextending will quickly isolate Vine Staff from the rest of her team, and result in a swift death. Staying in the midline is the most ideal spot for a Vine Staff to stay in - it will allow her to effectively heal and support all allies on the battlefield. When on the Conquer gamemode, staying on the edges of point while setting up her garden and chipping away at enemies is a highly effective way of playing Vine Staff.
Vine Staff's ability to passively heal large groups at any distance with her sprouts and Phinisher make her a valuable target. Terrain abuse is one of the ways that Vine Staff can easily extend her lifespan. Staying close to cover that is easily terrain abusable is important; sticking around pillars, walls, physical terrain, and any other props that Vine Staff can climb on is a sound way of extending one's life span.
Preservation is one of Vine Staff's primary ways of staying alive while simultaneously supporting her allies with only the click of one button. It is important to time Preservation right in order to benefit the most out of it. Casting Preservation just as an ally falls below shield is an ideal point to use it, or once they are around 3/4th of their health. It can be used in a pinch, however, be careful when casting it to quickly save an ally, as they could potentially die without it doing anything beneficial. Preservation is Vine Staff's ability with the longest cooldown outside of her Phinisher, so it is important to use it wisely. Preservation synergizes perfectly with Katana and Sword. Ban Hammer and Biograft are two other melee Phighters who also benefit greatly from Preservation, however, it must be timed more carefully, as Ban Hammer and Biograft have much more shield than health. Casting Preservation on any of the aforementioned Phighters during their Phinisher is an effective way of utilizing Preservation. Preservation can also synergize well with the Phinishers of Hyperlaser, Rocket, Scythe, Shuriken, and Slingshot.
Ability usage
- Death Brings Life
- Know the ways that you gain sprouts in order to best use this ability to your benefit:
- Every time you hit any enemy 12 times with A Thousand Petals.
- For every 100 damage your teammate does with Preservation active on them.
- For every hit on Root of the Oak.
- Every time you get an assist.
- Each of these can be more ideal depending on the situation, and you can quickly accumulate assists with sprout regeneration applied to teammates.
- Know the ways that you gain sprouts in order to best use this ability to your benefit:
- A Thousand Petals
- You should always be doing damage or planting sprouts whenever possible.
- Use on Phighters with large hitboxes and slow speed to quickly gain sprouts, such as Ban Hammer or Katana.
- Be wary of sniping from long distances on moving targets, as her projectile speed is too slow to reliably hit. Phighters such as Skateboard when he is skating are typically too fast for your projectiles. Do not waste your time on Phighters that quickly die when faced with your whole team. You are not a one man army.
- A common misconception is that Vine Staff's primary deals too little damage to kill people. While it is true she lacks quick burst damage to finish off low health enemies, her slow but high damage whittles away health. Do not be afraid to engage in 1v1's or take high ground to rain petals from above.
- Use your sprouts beforehand to sustain yourself and move closer to ensure all of your projectiles hit. Your sprouts will continue to heal you with every 12 shots hit.
- If needed, Preservation can also provide additional healing.
- Be aware that other opponents may dive in to support their teammate, so always have an escape plan and use natural cover.
- Beginning Anew
- The most important part of her kit. It is important to set up as many sprouts beforehand so all of your damage is contributing to levelling up sprouts and providing healing.
- Consider placing them behind cover so teammates who move forward will also be healed.
- Never have more than the max amount of charges (5) at a time, you will be missing out on potential sprouts.
- Sprouts have an almost infinite range of where they can be placed, use them to help teammates across the map.
- When in danger, spam them where you're retreating to and hit any nearby Phighters. You should be able to hit the required 12 shots to level up the sprout and heal you again.
- The most important part of her kit. It is important to set up as many sprouts beforehand so all of your damage is contributing to levelling up sprouts and providing healing.
- Preservation
- Keep in mind you can use this on Phighters that are near maximum health, they also provide value to you in the form of sprouts or healing.
- Use your Preservation on high DPS or tank teammates such as Ban Hammer, Biograft, Katana or Sword. It will sustain their damage and give you more sprouts and healing.
- Don't hold onto it for too long, it lasts for 8 seconds and the healing is slower than you may think.
- Use Preservation when a teammate is using a Phinisher. Many Phighters have a Phinisher that deals large amounts of damage. Use Preservation to both sustain them in their Phinisher as well as gain sprouts. Biograft's and Katana's Phinisher are both excellent examples of Phighters to use Preservation on when their Phinisher is active.
- Be careful to not use it on a low health teammate, as it is far more likely they will die before they can take advantage of its effects. Consider using Beginning Anew instead.
- Root of the Oak
- It is advised against using this to hit enemies from a distance, it travels too slow to hit reliably. Instead, use it close range or on a sprout for an instant explosion. It can be used for hitting enemies and rooting them as well as exploding sprouts to give regeneration to yourself and teammates.
- Be wary of immediately initating with it, save it for when you're being chased or need to secure a kill.
- Root of the Oak is able to hit enemies and explode sprouts at the same time.
- Lotus of the Den
- Use proactively and don't hold onto it for the whole game. With consistent sprout placement and damage it charges quickly. It shines in Conquer where she can place it on the point where most of her teammates will be.
- Be very careful where you place it and when you use it, you immediately become a target for a shutdown.
- Consider saving sprouts until you use your Phinisher, as when it is active your sprouts grow at level two instead of level one.
- Do not rely on it to save you and your team instantly. Regeneration is not ideal as an immediate response to high damage. Using it after a team fight or using it during a team fight is excellent to sustain your teammates.
- Keep in mind delay between bursts. You are not immortal because you used your Phinisher. The most important thing is to stay alive so your Phinisher stays active.
- Use proactively and don't hold onto it for the whole game. With consistent sprout placement and damage it charges quickly. It shines in Conquer where she can place it on the point where most of her teammates will be.
Ally synergy
Counterplay against Vine Staff
- Destroy her sprouts whenever you can to deny her regeneration. She is very vulnerable without them.
- Try to bait out her abilities and attack when she is isolated.
- Beside Root of the Oak, Vine Staff has no other way to create space between her and attackers, keep this in mind when engaging and consider committing to an attack only after the ability is on cooldown.
- If hit by Root of the Oak, consider retreating and approaching at a different angle or after waiting a bit, as a prolonged chase makes it incredibly easy for Vine Staff to plant and use sprouts, making her even harder to catch.
- Vine Staff has difficulty out-manuvering attackers if stuck in a wide open area, use moves such as Thread Tow or Lunge to move her into unfavourable positions.
Badge
Name | Icon | Description | Reward |
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vine staff badge | ![]() |
N/A | N/A |
Trivia
General:
- Vine Staff is based on the Vine Staff gear.
- Vine Staff was the first Phighter with preferred she/her pronouns.
- During April Fools' 2024, Vine Staff was renamed to aang, and remodeled to reference Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Development:
Skins:
- Valleystaff is a community contributed skin created by TRYN4F1ND.
- The skin was one of three winners of the August 2023 Skin Contest.
- Vine Splash is the first skin to replace a body part from the original model. It is currently the most complex skin in the game.
Version history
PHIGHTING! 4 - 1 April 2024
26 November 2022
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References
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Phighters
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Other
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