Pinus strobus
A sun-hungry conifer Specialist that heals and shields under a clear sky — a durable buffer at home, a heavy-hitting Sun engine when it invades.
Eastern White Pine is a conifer, which makes it a Specialist on the succession chart. Specialists live and die by the arena: their kit only fully switches on when the sky is sunny. Like every plant, its whole role flips on nativity.
In a region where it's native, it plays as a buffer — HP ×1.15, and while it's benched it projects green HP overshield segments onto your active plant. Pure upside, no cost. In a region where it's invasive, it becomes an attacker — ATK ×1.75 (×1.4 instead if it's toxic), hitting far harder, but it pays a "Faustian" self-tax of about 10 + its level to its own lowest-HP benched ally every time it lands a damaging hit, and it hands the enemy a coin bounty (wild) or extra prizes (PvP) when it faints.
White Pine can carry up to three move slots: a starter attack (unlocks L1, 2 Sun), a free once-per-battle ability (L10, 0 Sun), and an advanced attack (L18, 6 Sun). Damage is round(dmg×ATK) − enemy DEF, minimum 1, and it drains the target's overshield before base HP.
Native, its damage stays modest — you're not here to trade blows, you're here to outlast. Invasive, that ×1.75 turns the same moves into real threats, but remember the advanced attack's 6-Sun cost fights against your own Photosynthesis timing, and every hit chips a benched ally. If this plant is toxic in your region, its attacks carry a poison rider — note that poison bypasses the overshield entirely.
Two Specialist passives define it:
Native, both run clean — free healing and a Sun cushion with no strings. Invasive, they still fire, but you're racing your own recoil: the heal offsets the Faustian tax, yet the tax targets a benched ally, not the pine itself.
White Pine's signature is arena dependence. In sun it's a self-repairing, Sun-generating engine; in shade it's a plain tanky conifer. Its retreat costs a steep 30 Sun — far more than the 10 most categories pay — so plan swaps early. It's Mulch-eligible: a network cluster gets ×1.25, amplifying that gold Sun bar.
| Stat | Role in its kit |
|---|---|
| HP | ×1.15 when native — the multiplier at the core of its buffer identity |
| ATK | Unbuffed when native; ×1.75 (or ×1.4 toxic) when invasive |
| DEF | Flat cut off incoming damage — pairs with the overshield |
| SPD | Sets initiative order |
| Sun | Cap 120; regen only out of battle (~+1/15min) |
See stats for the full model.
The succession chart is the only type chart. As a Specialist:
This holds whether the pine is native or invasive — nativity changes your multipliers, not the chart.
Native, bench it behind a frailer active and let its green overshield and (in sun) Photosynthesis keep the team standing while it walls Competitors. Pair with field gear: Ca-Mg adds +2 DEF and ×1.25 Photosynthesis; Mulch boosts its Network Sun. Invasive, lead with it in a sunny arena to bully Competitors with ×1.75 hits — just keep an expendable, healthy benchmate to absorb the Faustian tax, and expect to gift prizes if it drops. Against Ruderals in either role, it's outmatched — rotate out.