Arctous alpina
A slow, low-damage native-only shrub that plates up at low HP and cannot be Burned — durable, if weak on offense.
Alpine bearberry is a low, ground-hugging Shrub that the arena only ever fields as a native buffer — it has no invasive form and no attacker scenario. It is native to Eastern North America. It is a weak card: its damage is among the lowest in its class, and it brings no ability, so it is mostly one for the collection. See nativity.
Its starter attack, Berry, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun, dealing about 26 damage (and 26 on the invasive stat line, though it is only ever fielded native) as a plain hit. The free once-per-battle ability, Arrested Succession, comes in at level 25: Stops the forest before it starts — the foe stalls and can't heal. It mends the plant. The advanced attack, Thorn in the Side, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (29 / 29) and pins the target so it cannot retreat. Most of your bearberries sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. No move carries an initiative rider. See moves.
Alpine bearberry carries one working trait per riser. Marcescence (level 10) is worth +4 DEF while at or below half HP. Lignotuber (level 68) gives this tundra mat a fire-proof crown: Burn will not take, and trying to apply it heals the plant. See Abilities.
Alpine bearberry carries no trait keywords and is non-toxic, so it shows no hazard ring and gives attackers no contact recoil or poison. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native buffer, defensive field gear suits it best — it has little offense to build around.
At level 40 alpine bearberry reads 121 HP native / 106 invasive, with ATK of 15 — a single, low base value with no distinct invasive form. DEF is 10, mid-range for the shrub band, so it takes hits with a little armor. Its tempo is very slow: turn 1 runs on its low initiative (18) and every turn after on its similarly low SPD (20), so it acts late in most exchanges. Retreat costs 13 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, alpine bearberry swells to 233 HP and 25 ATK, while its DEF climbs to 20 — a shrub earns a moderate wall, so at the top end it is a durable body even though its damage stays low. Retreat rises to 26 Sun, and its tempo has sunk to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature plant acts last against almost anything young.
As a shrub, alpine bearberry is in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for x1.5 and takes only x0.667 from them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which strike it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.
Play alpine bearberry as a slow native buffer: soak hits, mend once, pin a target, and use its cushion and bench overshield to prop up a real hitter. Its own damage is too low to carry a fight, so its value is defensive and, mostly, completionist. It is inedible, so any nutrient you feed it banks x1.25 XP rather than coins. It fights as a slow skirmisher until about level 4, after which its bulk takes over; keep leveling it.
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.