Celtis koraiensis
A native-only broadleaf tree that hardens into a heavy wall and punishes attackers with Wither, but hits softly itself.
Korean hackberry is a broadleaf-tree — the heaviest, most armored category in the game. It is native to East Asia and invasive nowhere, so it plays a native-only buffer and wall role. Its own attack is soft, so it earns its place through durability, a contact counter, and its Sun-lending bench support rather than damage.
Its opening attack, Branch Slam (level 1, 2 Sun), hits for 32: "A heavy branch slams down." The ability Shade Tolerance (level 25) does "Waits out the dark: heal 40%, and the foe can't heal." — a large self-heal plus a heal-block on the foe. Its advanced attack, Barking Mad (level 40), costs 6 Sun for 35: "Sheds bark like shrapnel — the foe wilts."
From level 10 it carries Tannin Load — a contact counter: an attacker that strikes it takes a stack of Wither. At level 68 it adds Heartwood Core, a flat DEF bonus that scales with level, so its already-firm armor keeps thickening toward the cap. Below level 68 it has only the Wither counter.
No thorns, no toxin. As a canopy tree it is a Network carrier, projecting a Sun overshield bar onto your active from the bench. Not a climber, so no Moss Pole. Between its high DEF, Heartwood Core, and Tannin Load, it is purpose-built to sit in and absorb.
At level 40 it reads HP 103, ATK 18 (low), DEF 25 — firm and rising — with retreat 16 Sun. Opening tempo 29 and sustained tempo 34 are both middling-to-slow, so it usually moves last and wins by lasting. Damage scales by ATK ÷ (ATK + DEF), so its armor blunts small attackers hard. As a native it lends a +15% HP cushion and a bench overshield.
By the cap it becomes a genuine wall: DEF 57 from its wood density, thickened further by the level-scaling Heartwood Core, with HP 190 and ATK still low at 31. Retreat rises to 33 Sun and its tempo sinks near floor. Maturing buys a near-immovable tank whose weakness stays the same: it cannot deal much damage, so it wins slowly or not at all.
Korean hackberry is a Competitor: ×1.5 into Ruderals (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs), ×1.5 taken from Specialists (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), even with fellow Competitors.
Its best role is a native wall and Network carrier: bench it to lend Sun, or field it to stall while its Wither counter and heal-block wear the foe down. Its low attack makes it a poor solo coin-earner — it wins by attrition, not power, and needs damage from teammates. It is edible with a fruit you eat, so a Phosphorus amendment pays ×1.25 coins (any other fertilizer banks ×1.25 XP). Its bulk makes it power-favored from a very low level (crossover near level 18); it was never a skirmisher, so level it straight into the wall.
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.