Thornmelon is the cost-3 Legendary that arrived in the Sea Rebel season.
Full context
Thornmelon is the cost-3 Legendary that arrived in the Sea Rebel season. Every time your Captain takes damage it blasts every enemy on the field, and it pays for that by losing ATK. The Oct 27 patch changed the three numbers that matter: the blast got bigger, the ATK loss got smaller and, from level 8 on, its ATK has a floor. This page redoes the math with the new numbers from the card page and says where it now earns its slot.
WHAT THE CARD SAYS SINCE OCT 27
- Cost 3, Legendary, 18 ATK at 1★ and a normal attack every 4 s (checked in game).
- It comes from the Season Recruitment. Like every Legendary, it arrives at level 7.
| Level | Blast (1★/2★/3★) | Loss per blast | ATK floor | Ready |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 200%/240%/280% | 45% | not stated | nothing |
| 8 | 240%/280%/320% | 45% | 2/4/8 | nothing |
| 9 | 280%/320%/360% | 45% | 4/7/11 | nothing |
| 10 | 280%/320%/360% | 45% | 4/7/11 | ATK +12% |
| 11 | 320%/360%/400% | 40% | 4/7/11 | ATK +16% |
| 12 | 360%/400%/440% | 35% | 4/7/11 | ATK +20% |
Details and source
Official text: whenever its Captain takes damage in battle, deals 200%/240%/280% damage to all enemies, then reduces its own ATK by 45%. The three values are for 1★, 2★ and 3★. Before the patch it was 150%/200%/250% and a 60% loss.
Levels 10 to 12 don't restate the ATK floor. Wiki deduction: the level 9 floor still applies there. The ATK loss is permanent: the wiki owner checked in game on Oct 6 that ATK lost in one fight doesn't come back next round.
IF YOU'RE JUST STARTING
- One copy in rounds 1 to 3 does the job. Merge when another shows up: the 3★ (4 copies, 72 ATK) blasts more than five times harder than the 1★.
- Before the patch it faded after three or four blasts. At level 9 or higher, the ATK floor keeps it blasting at a low but steady strength until the end.
- It does nothing for Boss rounds, which you win with damage on the Boss. See the Boss rounds guide.
- Still building your first deck? Start with the starter deck made of free cards. Thornmelon is a piece for one specific deck, and your Recruitment pulls go further on cards that fit many decks.
Details and source
Treat Thornmelon as early-game defense. Every enemy unit that gets through and hits your Captain makes it blast all the others, so it punishes exactly the opponent who is running you over. The game team pitched it that way in the season preview video: a brake against aggressive openings.
HOW MUCH EACH BLAST DOES
- Level 7, 1★ (18 ATK): 36 on the first blast. 2★ (36 ATK): 86.
- Level 7, 3★ (72 ATK): 202 on the first, 111 on the second, 61 on the third and 34 on the fourth. Before the patch it was 180, 72, 29 and 12.
- Level 8, 3★: 230, 127, 70 and 38. After that the ATK stops at 8 and every blast deals 26.
- Level 9, 3★: 259, 143, 78 and 43. After that the ATK stops at 11 and every blast deals 40.
- Level 12, 3★, with a 35% loss: 317, 206, 134 and 87, and then never less than 48 per blast.
Details and source
Wiki math using the ATK from the card page (18 per copy), with no buffs. The value is the damage to each enemy on the field at that moment, rounded to the nearest whole number.
Adding up the first four, a level-7 3★ went from about 290 to about 410 damage on each enemy. At max level, the first three come to 657, almost the same as before (close to 670). So the patch helped low and mid-level Thornmelon far more than level 12.
The Ready gain (levels 10 to 12) comes on top: at level 12, a 3★ Thornmelon that enters the fight with 72 ATK goes up to 86 and the first blast reaches 380. Wiki deduction: since the gain is a percentage of whatever ATK is left, it matters little after several blasts.
WHAT SETS IT OFF
- an enemy unit reaching your Captain: blasts (the normal case);
- the enemy's Pirate Captain Badge, which deals 6 damage at Battle Start: blasts, but it may hit nothing if none of your units have entered yet. The Pirate Captain guide has the math;
- Boom Shroom, which costs your Captain 4% of max HP on each attack during the fight: blasts on every attack;
- Jack-o'-Licks, which costs 5% when deployed in the buy phase: also blasts.
Details and source
The English text says "whenever its Captain takes damage in battle". The Portuguese text leaves out "in battle". The wiki owner tested it in game on Oct 7, and in practice the broader reading holds: any damage to your Captain sets off the blast.
Boom Shroom and Jack-o'-Licks setting off Thornmelon was checked in game by the wiki owner (Oct 7, before the patch; the trigger text didn't change). The rest is a wiki deduction: when Jack-o'-Licks is deployed there are no enemies on the field, so the blast hits nothing and Thornmelon still loses its ATK. That's why Thornmelon and Jack-o'-Licks clash in the same deck, while Thornmelon and Boom Shroom fit together, since Boom Shroom burns HP during the fight with enemies on the field. Jack-o'-Licks I, new in Trick or Bleed, takes HP on Ready, also with no enemies on the field, so the same caution applies. Seen something different? Send a screenshot through the Contact page.
THE ATK FLOOR CHANGES THE BOOM SHROOM COMBO
Details and source
Wiki deduction, not tested in game yet. Before the patch, Boom Shroom used Thornmelon up in a few attacks: each of its attacks set off a blast and Thornmelon's ATK fell to 1. Now, at level 9, a 3★ Thornmelon stops at 11 ATK and every Boom Shroom attack turns into 40 damage on every enemy, for the whole fight. At level 12 it's 48. That's little against a Boss, but it clears small units that come in groups, and it no longer runs out.
FOR TOP PLAYERS
The simulator numbers below are from Oct 21, before the patch. The wiki hasn't redone the tier list with the new Thornmelon yet, so read them as the picture from before.
- On the simulator tier list from Oct 21 it sat in tier D, scoring 21.6 out of 100.
- Used in 0 of the 34 strong-player decks the wiki tracks.
- Simulator gain: −7.7 points at level 10 and +3 at level 12.
The reason was the damage math: it spent almost everything in the first waves and reached rounds 7 to 9 with 1 to 5 ATK. With a 45% loss and a floor of 11 at level 9, that drop is much smaller now. Wiki analysis: Thornmelon should climb in the next measurement, but Turnipette, which gains ATK every Ready and loses nothing (tier S, score 99.1, in 21 of the 34 strong decks on Oct 21), is still the safer pick for the cost-3 slot.
Where it can fit:
- Low-HP decks. Headless Jack gains +5/10/20 ATK for every 10% HP your Captain is missing, and Boom Shroom burns HP on purpose. Since Boom Shroom sets Thornmelon off, every chunk of HP you lose pays twice. The prebuilt low-HP deck in the deck builder doesn't run Thornmelon. The natural swap is Camellia Clerk, the other cost-3 card that isn't part of the plan. Test the swap in the builder before taking it to Ranked.
- Next to Pumpkin King. He gives every Minion +2 ATK per 10% HP lost, Thornmelon included. Wiki deduction: +10 ATK on a 72 ATK 3★ Thornmelon is almost 14% more blast.
- Against boards that flood the field. Hogsteen, Cabby Trainer and the Chuckleberry clones send many units at once, and the blast hits all of them.
WHEN IT LOSES
- Strong early rush: the 36 blast at 1★ or 86 at 2★ on level 7 won't stop big units, and Thornmelon hasn't merged yet.
- Level 7 Thornmelon in a long match: with no floor in the text, after five or six blasts it's back to being a Minion with a few points of ATK taking up a tile.
- Opponents who don't let units through until late: no damage on your Captain means no blast, and it only hits every 4 s.
FAQ: IS IT WORTH LEVELING THORNMELON?
More than before, and the step that pays most is level 9: it brings the 4/7/11 floor, which keeps Thornmelon useful until the end of the match. Level 12 barely improves the first blast compared with what it was before the patch. If it isn't part of your deck, a Legendary Omni Card still goes further on a card that fits many decks.
SOURCES
Text and levels: card page (version 3.0.1027, Oct 27, 2026 patch: official notice of Oct 22 and the game's level table). Permanent ATK loss and triggers: checked in game by me (Oct 6 and 7). Damage per blast, the Boom Shroom combo and decks: my analysis. Tier, score and usage: simulator tier list, Oct 21, 2026, before the patch.