Darkwood Creeper

* Normal
* Upgrade

**Darkwood Creeper** is a character card. It is a 0/3 that, when any character on your board survives damage while it is alive, gives that character +1 Attack permanently.

## Strategy

**Darkwood Creeper** is an investment character, providing you with little-to-no board strength immediately. But it comes with an ability that turns a board that can take hits into one that can dish them out too - giving Permanent +1 Attack buffs to any character on your board that can survive damage while it is alive.

Be wary that surviving hits is not too common in this game, so **Darkwood Creeper** should only be taken if you have characters with high Health pools. Newer players tend to overestimate the value of this card, but it can be almost completely useless unless it's built around. In addition, because **Darkwood Creeper** costs you short-term strength, it needs to pay out long-term, so the characters buffed by its ability should be characters you intend to keep long-term. Happy Little Tree is by far the best example, as it is a high-health, long-term investment character, and the Attack **Darkwood Creeper** gives it rounds out its stats excellently.

If you take **Darkwood Creeper**, Heartwood Guardian is very desirable on level 4, as **Darkwood Creeper** wants characters to stay long-term to benefit the most from its ability, and Heartwood Guardian helps Treants stay long-term. (And **Darkwood Creeper** is a Treant, so in a pinch it can be buffed by Heartwood Guardian, though it isn't the best candidate for this.) As such, Treants like Happy Little Tree and Soltak Ancient are excellent partners for **Darkwood Creeper**. Royals with King Arthur to invest in them can work too, though Royals generally don't quite have as high of health pools as Treants, and they usually do not want non-Royals on board.

Other examples of good characters with **Darkwood Creeper** are Trojan Donkey or Wizard's Familiar, though these are less likely to stay on your board long-term.

Ring of Meteors is an excellent treasure to pair with **Darkwood Creeper**, allowing this unit to buff all characters every turn. Keep an eye out for Falling Stars in your shop with **Darkwood Creeper** for the same reason.

**Darkwood Creeper** usually wants to be placed in the back row so that its ability remains active as long as possible. Its 0 Attack means it won't initially attack in brawls, which can be planned around, though it can pick up Attack from its own ability, so it's hard to plan around this long-term.

This character's buffs are often irrelevant at higher levels, so do not become overly attached to this character in the late game. A +1 attack buff is rarely relevant once everyone is level 6, and surviving hits becomes quite rare at that level, so strongly consider replacing this unit at that point if not earlier. However, if a Heartwood Guardian has sufficiently buffed its stats, it may reach a point where it can stay late-game on a Treant board, especially with Ashwood Elm.

## Gallery

*Darkwood Creeper* card art*Darkwood Creeper* card art pre-Sept 13, 2022 by Kate (Ekaterina) Chesalova
## History

 June 18, 2021 | Released in *Storybook Brawl's* Early Access launch.