Aloe officinalis
A native-only African succulent that withers the enemy, mends itself, and regenerates in any weather — a durable, edible support card.
Aloe officinalis is a fleshy Succulent that fights as a defensive staller: a spiny jab, a strong debuff, and steady self-healing. It is native to Africa and invasive nowhere, so the arena only ever fields it as a native buffer for your bench. It is a durable, self-sustaining support card whose real strength is endurance and economy rather than damage; on its own it will not close out fights.
Its starter attack, Deadly Surprise, unlocks at level 1 for 2 Sun and lands a spiny jab for about 26 damage. The free once-per-battle ability, Water Reservoir, arrives at level 25: Opens the whole store: heal 50%, and the foe can't heal. — a strong Wither that dries out the enemy and cuts into its offense. The advanced attack, Spine Wall, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (39 damage) and endures as it strikes, mending itself in the process. Most of your aloe sit below level 40, where only the starter is unlocked. None of its moves carry an initiative rider, so it never seizes a turn. See Moves.
Aloe officinalis keeps two always-on healing traits on separate risers. From the level 10 riser it carries Succulence at full strength: it regenerates health in any weather, though only about 60% of the time it checks, so it is a strong but unreliable mend. On the level 68 riser it adds Photosynthesis, which heals it in sunny weather on the same roughly 60% chance. Between them, plus its move-based heals and Wither, a mature aloe is a stubborn attritional wall — as long as the coin flips fall its way. See Abilities.
Aloe officinalis carries the Succulence keyword — the water-storing resilience behind its regeneration (covered above) — but no offensive keywords: no thorns, no toxin, no spore chemistry, so nothing punishes an attacker for striking it, and it is non-toxic. Its growth 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 extra DEF — reinforces its stalling game.
At level 40 aloe officinalis reads 121 HP and 16 ATK. DEF is just 2, at the soft succulent floor, so it soaks hits with almost no armor and depends on healing and its Wither debuff instead. Its tempo is even: turn 1 runs on its initiative (23) and every turn after on its SPD (21), which sit close together, so it is neither a fast opener nor a fast cruiser. Retreat costs 19 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, aloe officinalis swells to 233 HP and 28 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 3 — like all succulents it becomes a large health pool with almost no armor, so a heavy hitter still punches straight through. Its two heals matter more with that bigger pool to refill. Retreat rises to 41 Sun as it roots in, and its tempo has sunk to about 1% of cap, so it acts last against almost anything younger.
As a succulent, aloe officinalis sits in the Specialist succession group. It hits Competitor plants (perennial herbs, vines, shrubs, broadleaf trees) for ×1.5 and takes only ×0.667 from them; it is weak to Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs), which strike it for ×1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Specialists and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play aloe officinalis as a native buffer and defensive staller: bench it for the HP cushion and overshield, or lead with it to Wither the enemy active and heal through the exchange. Its damage is low, so it is support rather than a finisher. On economy it is a genuine highlight: it is an edible leaf plant, so feeding it Nitrogen pays ×1.25 coins, while any other nutrient banks ×1.25 XP instead — a reliable earner to keep on rotation. It plays as an even-tempo staller whose health pool keeps growing with level, crossing over around level 9 — but it is always stronger at higher levels in raw stats, 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.