Axie Infinity is a fun, tactical, turn-based, card game, where players get to earn cryptocurrency by battling their magical fantasy pets called Axies. To earn more, become a more competitive player and rank higher on the leaderboard, you'll have a lot of learning to do before scoring your first victory and earning your first Smooth Love Potion. The learning curve is quite steep and the game will seem very complicated at first glance. To some, it might even seem impossible to memorize everything we'll about to share but we assure you that it's not and that the effort put into learning how to properly play the game will pay off significantly!
This guide has you covered from start to finish.
Ultimate Axie Infinity guide is where you'll be able to get all the information needed to kickstart your Axie Infinity journey and learn some tips and tricks. It's designed to take any new player and equip him with enough knowledge to make him a very challenging opponent to face in the Arena. We will start off with account creation and learning the basics of the game like stats, buffs, debuffs, class differences, etc. then progress to battle mechanics, breeding, tips for picking your first team, and finally finish off with two advanced skills that will catapult your earnings and ranking to the stratosphere.
If mastered, these skills have the potential of minting new top 100 players that compete for honor, glory, and season rewards in $AXS!
Additionally, at the end of this guide, we'll share a few examples of great starter teams which will be very competitive in both the PvP and PvE, making them a great choice for anyone that wants to excel at both aspects of the game.
Let's begin.
Account setup guide
1) To begin with, you'll need two wallets, MetaMask and Ronin.
Tutorials on how to set them up can be found here:
2) Now that you've got your wallets all set up, it's time to fund them with some ETH because to start playing, you'll need to buy your first team consisting of three Axies.
You can buy ETH on your favorite crypto exchange and then transfer it to MetaMask.
3) Once you've got some ETH on MetaMask, it needs to be transferred over to Ronin.
This can be done effortlessly through Axies custom ETH <> Ronin bridge.
4) Install MavisHub by visiting Axie Infinity and clicking "Play now".
5) Finally, it's just a matter of visiting the marketplace and buying your first three Axies and you're good to go!
6) Decide which device you want to play on and start playing!
For a more detailed overview of the onboarding process visit this article.
GAMEPLAY GUIDE
We will start off with the basics.
We'll move on from there by following up with some more advanced information and finally finish off with two techniques that can turn any ordinary player into a pro! By mastering this guide, you will have an overwhelming advantage over other players. You'll have more fun playing the game, and you'll be able to earn more SLP.
What's an Axie?
Axies are fantasy collectible digital creatures that can battle, breed, and earn cryptocurrency!
Each Axie is a non-fungible token (NFT) making it unique, sought after, collectible, and tradeable both on the ethereum blockchain and Axies custom (feeless) ethereum-linked sidechain, Ronin.
Axies have different traits such as stats, body parts, classes, genetics, and abilities. These stats determine, how well they will do in battle, how much damage they can deal, how many incoming attacks they can withstand, how good they will be for breeding, as well as their overall usability in the game.
While picking Axies, players must know what they are looking to get, which stats and abilities they want their Axies to have, and exactly which genetics they want for breeding. Failing to understand and apply this knowledge will lead to buying bad Axies that will do poorly in battle, take a lot more time to finish the daily quest, and have bad genetics which results in genetically mixed up offspring.
So, not to make these costly mistakes that will cause you a great deal of headaches and lost matches/time/money, let's look into everything that makes up an Axie.
### Classes Each Axie is of a certain class which is very similar to Pokemon types. There are a total of 9 different classes Plant, Reptile, Dusk, Bird, Dawn, Aqua, Mech, Bug, and Beast. Each class is simultaneously weak and strong against certain other classes, just like the childhood favorite rock-paper-scissor game.
This is how it works.
We'll start off at the top of the triangle.
Plant, Reptile, and Dusk Axies have an advantage over Bird, Dawn, and Aqua, dealing 15% more damage while taking 15% less damage from incoming attacks of mentioned classes. Bird, Dawn, and Aqua have the same advantage over Beast, Bug, and Mech classes, while Beast, Bug, and Mech have an advantage over Plant, Reptile, and Dusk.
When calculating damage bonuses, the card (ability) class of the attacking Axie is compared to the Axie class of the targeted enemy Axie. This means that when a Reptile card is used to attack an Aqua, Bird, or Dawn enemy, it will deal 15% additional damage while also taking 15% less damage from attacks of said classes.
Additionally, when an Axie of a certain class uses a card of its class, it gets a 10% attack/shield bonus. For example, a Plant Axie playing a plant card will receive 10% extra attack/shield.
NOTE: These bonuses stack. So a Reptile Axie using a Reptile card against an Aqua target will do 25% more damage (10% + 15%).
Picking a good team might imply carefully combining Axies from other classes in order to be able to counter more enemy teams. For example, double Aqua build is very popular in the current meta so a lot of players decided to use Reptiles to counter them.
#### Stats
1) Stats 2) Cards (abilities) 3) Body parts
Axies have 4 stats: Health, Skill, Morale, and Speed
These stats are derived from Axie's class and its body parts.
HP - represents the amount of damage an Axie can take before being knocked out. If an Axie has a high enough morale stat and the attack only barely "kills" the Axie, it enters a stance known as the last stand where it can only survive for a couple of turns.
Morale - increases critical strike chance, makes entering last stand more likely and adds more last stand “ticks” - the number of turns an Axie can survive in last stand.
Skill - adds damage when an Axie plays multiple cards at once (combo). The extra damage can be calculated using this formula:
(card attack * skill )/ 500
Speed - determines which Axie strikes first. A faster Axie will always have a turn advantage by being the first to strike, making fast Axies very desirable. If two Axies have the same speed, the attack order is determined in this order:
High speed > Low HP > High Skill > High Morale > Low Fighter ID
Meaning, that if Axies have the same speed, the first that attacks is the one with lower HP, if their HP is the same, an Axie that has higher skill will attack first. If their HP is the same, then the Axie with higher morale gets the advantage, and finally, if even that's the same, then the Axie with a lower fighter ID will have the turn advantage.
Body Parts
Axies have 6 body parts: eye, ear, horn, mouth, back, and tail
Horns, Mouths, Backs, and Tails determine which cards an Axie can use in battle while Eyes and Ears just add stats to the Axie. Each card comes from a body part — Mouth, Back, Tail, and Horn. Each Axie can have a maximum of 4 potential cards in total.
Every body part adds certain stats to the Axie depending on the class of the part:
- Plant: 3 HP + 1 Morale
- Beast: 3 Morale + 1 Speed
- Aqua: 3 Speed + 1 HP
- Bug: 3 Morale + 1 HP
- Reptile: 3 HP + 1 Speed
To see the full breakdown of all cards and their respective body parts visit this tweet:
https://twitter.com/jenzlady23/status/1414467543469748224
Understanding the in-game interface
- Battling Axies / round counter
- Energy count
- Number of undealt cards
- Number of cards played this match
- Number of cards your opponent has in his hand
- The cards you've been dealt with
- Ready button
Understanding cards
Cards contain the following information.
- Energy cost
- Attack power
- Shield
- Special effect
The Energy cost is the Energy required to use a specific card. Energy is charged each turn and the card is used as long as it does not exceed the Energy that has been accumulated. Players can use a maximum of 4 cards maximum per Axie per turn.
Attack power is expected damage to be dealt to the enemy (before increases such as combo and class advantage apply). The more attack power a card has, the more damage it will deal to an enemy Axie.
Shield reduces the amount of damage received from incoming attacks. When you select a card with a shield value, the damage reduction is applied to the Axie at the beginning of the turn. Stacking a few cards that grant a shield can increase your chances of surviving incoming attacks.
Effects are special effects that apply after using the card. Special effects can be a wide variety of things from stuns, buffs, heals, damage increases etc. It's always a good idea to consider the special effects of the cards you're about to play before you press the end turn button because they can dramatically change the outcome and make the difference between winning or losing.
A FULL LIST OF ALL CARDS IN AXIE INFINITY CAN BE FOUND HERE.
Energy explained
Players have two types of energy in Axie Infinity. They are both called "Energy" but they are used for two completely different purposes. One is used to enter battles, and the other is used in the actual battle.
The amount of energy used to enter a game that players get per day is based on the number of Axies they hold in their wallet. Starting at 20 energy per day for 3 Axies, up to 60 per day for 20 Axies. Players can enter both mods of the game with or without energy but spending energy results in bonus rewards.
In Adventure mode (PvE) players earn SLP (up to 100 per day) with or without expending energy but if they use it, apart from SLP, they earn XP.
Entering the Arena (PvP) without energy will only yield a change in ranking while by using energy to enter the Arena, players earn additional SLP rewards.
The in-game energy starts at 3 and replenishes 2 energy per turn.
Battle mechanics
The Axie battle system is a turn-based card game where to score a victory, players must eliminate all enemy Axies. Each turn, players must think carefully to strategically play the right cards in the right order to maximize their chance of victory. As you enter a match, you'll be greeted with a draw of 6 cards to chose from. Carefully read and select the right cards, place them in the right order to get combos/chain effects, and when you're ready, click the "End turn" button to see your Axies battle.
Take a look at these two infographics to get a better understanding of battle mechanics
Chains, Combos, and Effects are extremely useful tools players have at their disposal. Learn and apply this knowledge to successfully beat more enemies.
Axies have a chance to score "Critical Strikes" (2x damage), "Misses" (fail to hit an enemy character) when stunned or feared, and after using certain abilities Axies get to score "Counter Strikes" which return damage to the attacking enemy Axie.
For a video explanation of gameplay basics and battle mechanics check out this video.
Advanced Mechanics
To preserve the length of this article, please check this guide for a detailed overview of the math that goes into calculating the damage and shield your Axies will gain after using their abilities.
Buffs and debuffs
Have a significant influence on the game as they can make Axies miss their next attack, add more damage, reduce enemy damage, put enemies to sleep, apply poison, etc; So learning all the buffs and debuffs and applying this knowledge is a very important element of the game.
Buffs
Debuffs
Study and memorize this list before entering your first matchup, or have it saved somewhere for future reference, because not knowing what certain buffs and debuffs do, can result in lost games and a lot of frustration as it will cause you to lose in certain situations when you think you've already got the win in the bag.
NOTE:
- Some abilities like Refresh, have the ability to clear your teammates of debuffs
- Stun can be lethal as it not only makes your Axie miss the first strike of the next turn but also makes the next enemy attack ignore shield. Take great caution while playing against Axies that have stun abilities.
- Stuns can be removed by any 0 attack ability such as:
To remove a stun effect, play any 0 attack card at the beginning of the turn. This will clear the stun and allow you to attack an enemy without missing your first blow.
### Picking the right Axies
First, we'll start off with a “defender” Axie:
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Is great at absorbing damage
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Has high HP stat (50+)
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Has at least 2 high shield cards (70+)
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Heals and energy steals/gains are very useful cards to have on defender Axies
### These are examples of Axies that make for great tanks:
Dusk
A great mix of damage and utility with Dual Grip to rip through enemy Axies that have a shield up, Carrot to shield and regain energy, Slippery Shield for a massive boost in defense and finally Forest Spirit for a health recovering ability. This tank will match up well against many teams, and can even be used as a second tank, aka support.
Plant
Very popular tank in the recent meta. It is slower than most other tanks which gives him the advantage while stealing energy with Vegetal Bite. He has another energy recovering ability Disguise, which is very useful as it gains 1 energy. This tank also has Shroom's Grace for a little shield and a big 120 HP heal, and to finish off it has Spicy Surprise, quite a useful card to deal additional damage while disabling opponents' mouth cards next turn.
Tips
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Almost all plant class cards are good tank cards but that doesn't mean other classes can't be good tanks as well.
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Reptiles can also be quite tanky if bred specifically for this purpose (Snake Jar, Snail Shell).
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Self-healing cards such as Shiitake can make a tank more resilient, making it last more turns which can make a big difference in whether you lose or win a certain matchup.
Next, we'll show you some powerful, high damage, attacker Axies:
Beast
This beast is an absolute unit! An all-time favorite of many competitive players, this beast has a lot of utility with energy recovery while dealing insane amounts of damage. Ivory Stab combined with Single Combat regain 1 energy per critical strike so if you get to combine two of Ivory Stabs with two Single Combats, you'll rip through the enemy Axie with the guaranteed critical strikes while recovering a minimum of 4 energy.
Bird
The classic backdoor bird is another popular choice. It has the ability to apply debuffs to enemy Axies and even redirect attacks to itself in case of emergency. This bird allows players to Dark Swoop around the tank and to go straight for the fastest enemy Axie. Backdoors are a very powerful, tactical advantage players can get while using certain abilities. While the backdoor capability is extremely useful to have, because it deals only 25 damage, this bird won't be able to score a kill in a single turn. Not even while attacking an unshielded enemy.
Reptile
Our current favorite tanky, damage-dealing Axie and the inspiration for our logo, is the backdoor reptile. It has Chomp to apply a stun, Jar Barrage to save you from incoming damage and Surprise Invasion to deal bonus damage to faster Axies. With this combination of abilities, this reptile is a perfect counter for faster Axies such as Birds, Dusk, Mech, Aqua. While dealing a lot of damage, because of the Jar Barrage this Axie is incredibly tanky and can survive a lot of attacks, making it a perfect midliner.
It can also circumvent enemy Axies with Tri Spikes which all