Alnus hirsuta
A native support tree that heals a benched ally and shields your active from the bench, with little damage of its own.
Manchurian alder is a Broadleaf tree that fights as a native support tree — a benched buffer that heals and shields your active rather than a front-line hitter. It is native to East Asia, and no invasive card exists, so it plays only as a native buffer. Its own damage is low; its value is in the bench.
Its starter attack, Branch Slam, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun, dealing about 34 damage, and it also chips the enemy bench as it lands. The free once-per-battle ability, Nurse Log, arrives at level 25: The fallen feed the next: heal 25%, even the bench, and call back the lost. The advanced attack, Deadfall, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (42 native) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your Manchurian alder sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider. See Moves.
Manchurian alder keeps two always-on traits. Mycorrhiza arrives on the level 10 riser and heals a benched ally, but as a sustain trait it fires only about 60% of the time, so treat the mend as likely rather than certain. Network arrives on the level 68 riser and, as a canopy tree, projects a gold Sun overshield bar onto your active from the bench. Below the level 68 riser it offers only the mycorrhiza heal. See Abilities.
Manchurian alder is non-toxic, so there is no contact recoil and no poison rider — striking it costs an attacker nothing. Its habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear — a Cloche, or a calcium/magnesium amendment for a little DEF — suits its benched support role. See statuses.
At level 40 Manchurian alder reads 121 HP with ATK of 22. DEF is 19, in the firm broadleaf-tree band — the sturdiest armor in this set — so it soaks hits better than any shrub or herb here. Its tempo is back-loaded: turn 1 runs on a low initiative (29) so it is out-paced off the mark, but every turn after runs on a higher SPD (32), so it grows relentless in a long fight. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.
Matured to level 100, Manchurian alder swells to 233 HP and 39 ATK, and its DEF climbs to 41 — a genuine wall, as a tree buys real armor where a shrub or herb barely would. Retreat rises to 33 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so a mature alder acts last against almost anything younger.
As a broadleaf tree, Manchurian alder sits in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from 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 Manchurian alder as a native support piece: bench it to heal a wounded ally, project the Sun overshield onto your active, and lend the HP cushion, while its tree-grade DEF lets it stand in front when it has to. Its own attack is weak, so it wins by keeping your team alive rather than by trading blows. On economy, it is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks ×1.25 XP toward faster growth rather than coins. It plays as a slow-opening but durable support that only gets tankier as it levels, crossing over around level 14 — but it is always stronger at higher levels, so there is no reason to hold it back.
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.