Rhododendron micranthum
Spike rosebay (Rhododendron micranthum) is a shrub that plays as a native-only buffer in Supplant.
Spike rosebay (Rhododendron micranthum, Ericaceae) is a shrub in Supplant's battle system. It is native to East Asia and invasive nowhere on record, so it is a native-only card: a buffer, never an attacker. As a shrub it sits in the middle armor band — firmer than a weed, softer than a tree.
Berry (starter, unlocks at Lv 1, 2 Sun) — A measured strike. It hits for about 27.
Frugivore Pact (ability, Lv 25, free once per battle) — Trades fruit for carriage: +3 ATK, and the foe's whole bench sickens. An ability deals no damage; it is pure utility.
Sucker Punch (advanced attack, Lv 40, 6 Sun) — Comes up from the roots before the foe sees it. It hits for about 33.
Sucker Punch carries the initiative rider. In a wild encounter that gives it hard priority — it strikes first regardless of the tempo stats (if both sides bring a rider, they cancel and normal order decides). In the arena the rider does something different: it does not grant first strike, but if the strike itself lands a killing blow, the card seizes the turn and acts again. Never read it as plain "goes first" in both places.
The numbers above are read at Lv 40, the level its whole kit is unlocked; a card you catch far below that has only the moves whose levels it has reached.
This card keeps two always-on traits, drawn from its category pool and locked in for good — the rest of the pool was dropped. They arrive on the level risers, one at a time, so for most of a card's life it is playing with just the first.
From Lv 10: Sclerophylly — tough, hard leaves worth flat damage reduction on every hit.
From Lv 68: Drupe mast — when a knockout lands, a mast drop heals its own bench a little.
Read these off the card's own trait schedule; the category pool lists more, but this plant carries only these two. Learn more at Abilities.
No Moss Pole here — that fits only climbers (vines and epiphytes), and this is a shrub. A Calcium/Magnesium soil amendment adds flat DEF, which suits a card that already wants to hold ground. A Cloche wards off Poison if you expect a toxic opponent. See Field gear for the full kit.
At Lv 40 this card reads 121 HP and 19 ATK, with 11 DEF and a 14-Sun retreat. It has no invasive range, so there is no attacker split to show — it plays as a native buffer only.
Its opening tempo (28) sits above its sustained tempo (26): it is a quick starter that fades — likely to land the first hit on turn 1, then get out-paced from turn 2 on. Play it to open, not to grind. Both tempo stats fall as the card levels.
Benched as a native, it projects an HP overshield bar onto your active, sized by its rarity.
See Stats and the overshield for how these bars work.
By Lv 100 HP reaches 233 and ATK 34, while DEF firms to 21 — a shrub's middle band, harder than a weed but no tree. Retreat rises to 27 Sun and the tempo stats have fallen to their floor, so a grown card is slow whatever its opening. Maturing buys bulk and a firmer guard, not speed.
Roughly USDA zone 2a — it should come through winters that bottom out near -45 °C. Colder than that and it wants shelter, a wall, or a winter indoors. Its measured climate envelope runs from a cold edge near -11.5 °C to a warm edge near 25.7 °C — a Boreal · wide-ranging band. Treat the zone as a rough guide rather than a promise: it comes from a regression whose error runs a little over one full zone, which is why the reading says "roughly."
On a card you will see one of four climate chips, read for wherever you are standing (so it shifts as you travel). Thrives here means your winter low and summer heat both sit inside its range, and it earns x2 battle XP. In range means it survives but sits near an edge, for x1.25 XP. Colder than its range or Hotter than its range means your winters or summers run past what it tolerates, for no bonus — and "colder than its range" is usually just a fact about the winter outside, not a verdict on the plant. Climate changes battle XP and nothing else: not damage, stats, growth speed or the economy.
As a shrub it belongs to the Competitor succession group. It hits the Ruderal categories — grasses, annual forbs, aquatics and bulbs — for ×1.5 and shrugs their blows down to ×0.667. The Specialists reverse that: succulents, conifers, ferns and epiphytes strike it for ×1.5 while resisting what it deals. Against other Competitors, and against the off-wheel Weird categories (carrion-aroids, carnivores, mycotrophs and parasites), the exchange is even. See Succession & weaknesses.
A mid-armor shrub. Native, it holds the bench and shields your active; it lacks the HP of a tree but sits firmer than any weed.
It is a serviceable mid-tier card: firmer than a weed, softer than a tree, and a reliable coin-earner and collection piece.
It is not eaten in-game, so any fertilizer you feed it banks ×1.25 XP rather than coins.
One framing note: it fights as a fast skirmisher until about Lv 12, after which its rising bulk and attack take over from its falling tempo. That is about which edge dominates, not about being stronger young — a card is always stronger in raw HP, ATK and DEF at higher levels, so level it up. The Total power gallery below the article shows the crossover and the fully grown card.
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.