Vietnamese developer Sky Mavis gave birth to Axie infinity in 2018, a Pokémon-style game that recently hit 1 million daily active players.

This NFT game is now one of the hottest crypto games. It’s grabbing the attention of gamers due to the presence of customisable yet cute characters, Axies, and its native crypto tokens: AXS (Axie Infinity Shards)and SLP (Smooth Love Portion).

It’s a kind of PvP (Player-vs-Player) game with fascinating creatures, Axies, that gamers can collect as pets. Each pet possesses unique skills, abilities, cards and breed count that makes it special and different from another pet. In the universe of Axie Infinity, players can build, breed, battle, collect, raise kingdoms for their Axies.

And not only these pets; players can sell in-game (virtual) real estate, game attributes and accessories to earn money, receive and improve ranking. All these transactions of digital assets happen through an Axie marketplace in the shape of NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and a Ronin wallet is needed to perform a majority of transactions.

Axie Infinity’s play-to-earn features attract gamers from all around the globe, and by far, players have spent over 1M ETH (3B + USD) to progress in the game.

But many wonders, what do I need to play Axie Infinity? How much do I need to start playing Axie Infinity? How to earn in Axie Infinity?

With so much irrelevant information and resources, it could be hard to start Axie Infinity.

In this Axie Infinity beginner’s guide, we’ll break down all the important steps that a beginner needs to know before stepping into the Axie Infinity universe.

Contents

If you’re already familiar with the game basics, head over to Part 6 for advanced guides and tutorials.

Let’s begin with the basics of Axie Infinity gameplay:

Part 1: Axie Infinity Game Basics

Launched in March 2018, Axie Infinity is a play-to-earn game inspired by Pokemon Go, Hearthstone and Gacha games.

Axie Infinity universe is supported by a distributed ledger of Ethereum blockchain technology where users collect cute monster characters called Axies. By following the rules of the NFT game, players can earn cryptocurrency in the form of Smooth Love Portion (SLP) solely by collecting, breeding and battling Axie characters.

Sky Mavis Studio has also designed a digital wallet, Ronin, to store digital assets (Axies and ETH) or play other decentralized applications. The majority of in-game transactions take place over Ronin wallet as it offers low fees than the traditional ETH network.

Learn more about Ronin Wallet.

This blockchain-based game is different from traditional games due to its economic design that opens the potential to experience complex player-owned economies and reward gamers once they complete goals, milestones and reach higher levels.

On one side, Axie Infinity is filled with fun activities, and on the other side, It lets you earn crypto rewards that can be converted to fiat money.

Part 2: Axie Infinity Features

There are four main features of Axie Infinity gameplay:

Breed:

Just like real-world pets, you can reproduce Axie characters by breeding them. The new offspring can be used to play battle, breed other Axies and can be sold on the in-game marketplace. Unlike the real world, however, Axie infinity controls the population of new offspring through these requirements:

1. Each Axie NFT monster can only be bred up to 7 times, which means players can multiply creatures a maximum of 7 times.
2. Parents can’t be bred with their offspring.
3. Siblings can’t be bred with each other.
4. Players require both SLP and 1 AXS to breed Axies.
5. A gas fee is also required to breed Axies.
6. The estimated cost to breed two Axies can be determined by the breed count of both parents.

Similar to humans, Axies also have different body parts (Ears, Eyes, Mouth, Horn, Back and Tail), a total of 6. And each body part possesses 3 genes.

1. Dominant (D1): It has the highest probability (37.5%) of transmitting this gene to the offspring.
2. Recessive (R1): It has a moderate probability of transmitting this gene to the offspring. Only 9.375%.
3. Recessive (R2): It has the lowest probability of transmitting this gene to the offspring. Only 3.125%.

If you use this Breed calculator, you can determine the genes of any specific Axie creature.

How can I breed Axies?

Perform the following steps to breed Axies:

Step 1: Open the Axie Infinity marketplace and go to the ‘‘Inventory’’ tab.

Step 2: Select the first Axie you want to breed and hit the ‘‘Breed’’ button.

Step 3: Select the second Axie for breeding and click the ‘‘Let’s Breed’’ option.

Step 4: Click on the ‘‘Confirm’’ button to complete the transaction process.

Step 5: Once the breeding process completes, the ‘‘Axie Egg’’ will appear under the inventory tab.

Step 6: The Axie Egg needs exactly ‘‘5 days’’ to become offspring.

Step 7: After 5 days, choose the ‘‘Morph to Adult’’ option.

Battle:

Axie offers both single and player vs player modes where each player uses turn-based strategy to combat or battle. Each player must have 3 Axie characters to take turns while playing. By selecting the perfect starter team, a respondent can easily defeat his opponent. The selection of the team depends on the stats package of each Axie. Stats include Health, Speed, Skill and Morale. Apart from this, each Axie NFT belongs to a specific class. Classes are divided into 9 different categories. We’ll discuss classes later in this blog post.

Land:

The homeland of Axie is called Lunacia. It is divided into tokenized plots of land. There are 5 types of land (Savannah, Forest, Arctic, Mystic and Genesis)and the total supply of lots is 90,601, each is represented by an NFT ERC-721 token. Players can upgrade their plots by farming, crafting resources and ingredients that can be acquired while playing a game.

Marketplace:

Axie infinity marketplace brings everything to one place. You can buy, sell, trade Axie creatures, land, items and receive bundles of rewards through an in-game Marketplace.

Part 3: Classes of Axie

There are 9 classes in the Axie Infinity universe. Each Axie NFT belongs to a particular class, where each class hold strong and weak attributes versus the other class, enabling the players to choose wisely while selecting a team. Aquatic, Plant, Bird, Beast, and Reptile comes under the category of Regular class, but Mech, Dawn and Dust are the Secret classes of Axies.

Let’s discuss each of these classes one by one!

Plant

Among all the classes of Axies, the plant class has the highest amount of hit points (HP) and has the potential to face immense damage. They can gain energy on their own and have additional defence points.

Plants are tough against: Bird, Dawn, Aquatic

Plants are weak against: Mech, Beast, Bug

Reptile

After plant class, the reptile class has the highest HP with increased offensive damage. Reptiles also have more potential to reflect damage from competitors.

Reptiles are tough against: Bird, Dawn, Aquatic

Reptiles are weak against: Mech, Beast, Bug

Dusk (often known as Moon)

Although dusks are more expensive than both reptiles and plants, they have the highest speed point than both of the above classes. The high speed makes Dusk class a strong fighter during battles. Besides, it also possesses balanced stats for shooting damage and high life points than Reptiles.

Dusks are tough against: Bird, Dawn, Aquatic

Dusks are weak against: Dusk, Plant, Reptile

1. Aquatic

Aquatic’s damage is higher than average and it also sustains eminent life points. But this class has a limited chance of hitting a critical strike and has a low Morale point which makes Aquatic’s Last stand lower than other classes.

Aquatics are tough against: Mech, Beast, Bug

Aquatics are weak against: Dust, Reptile, Plant

Beast

The fearless face of Beasts denotes a high critical strike chance, which is exactly two times higher than the other classes of Axie. The potential of Beast enables players to experience high combo powers. Besides, players can increase critical strikes via using extra cards. Beasts also show vulnerability due to their limited health points.

Beasts are tough against: Reptile, Dusk, Plant

Beasts are weak against: Aquatic, Bird, Dawn

Bird

Compared to other classes of Axie, Bird possess exorbitant speed and excessive assault damage. However, the defence power of Birds is low, along with minimal health points.

Birds are tough against: Beast, Bug, Mech

Birds are weak against: Dusk, Reptile, Plant

Bug

Although damaging attacks, HP and the speed point of Bugs lie below average in contrast to other classes, they still help players to beat competitors due to the presence of a taunting nature. Thus, players can repeatedly reach their Last Stand when Bugs are present in the team.

Bugs are tough against: Dusk, Plant, Reptile

Bugs are weak against: Aquatic, Bird, Dawn

Dawn (often called Star)

Gamers and players often considered Dawn class as a Star Axie because it can deal with absurd harm during a combo attack. The major weakness of the Dawn class is its low-speed power than a few of the other classes.

Dawns are tough against: Beast, Bug, Mech

Dawns are weak against: Dusk, Plant, Reptile

Mech (often known as Nut)

Mech class is famous for its high-speed and destructive attacking potential. Besides, players can increase this power (2x) while acquiring combo damage. The weakness of the Mech class includes limited critical strike and minute Last Stand due to the presence of moderate Morale Point.

Mechs are tough against: Dusk, Reptile, Plant

Mechs are weak against: Bird, Dawn, Aquatic

Part 4: Modes of Game

Currently, Axie Infinity offers two modes where players can earn cryptocurrency tokens (SLP and AXS) and improve their ranking in the game. These two modes are:

Adventure Mode (Player-versus-Environment):

In Adventure mode, players battle against computer-controlled creatures. In PvE mode, gamers explore in-game stories to reach higher levels which are 36 in total. Each day, players can earn up to 50 SLP and gain experience points (EXP) in adventure mode.

Arena Mode (Player-versus-Player):

In Arena mode, players utilize their Axie team to combat each other. It is more suitable for expert gamers. AXS, SLP and EXP can be earned by fighting with smart Axies. Also, players can increase their ranks by defeating their opponents.

Part 5: Native Tokens of Axie Infinity Universe

The Axie Infinity features two different cryptocurrency native tokens:

AXS:

Axie Infinity Shard is an ERC 20 governance token, enabling the token holders to shape the future of the Axie Infinity gaming experience by voting to support the upgrades of the ecosystem. AXS owners can claim rewards by staking tokens, playing battles and participating in governance votes. AXS holders, therefore, will eventually execute usage of the Community Treasure. AXS is available on both Binance and Uniswap. Check out the current price of AXS. Learn more about AXS here.

SLP:

Smooth Love Potion is the in-game crypto token of the Axie Infinity universe required to breed Axies. Players can earn SLP by spending time in-game, fighting against monsters, completing quests and more. The more you play, the more SLP you can collect. Unlike AXS, SLP is an uncapped utility token, meaning the importance of potion tokens increases when more and more people join the Axie gaming universe.

Since now you’ve understood all the major concepts of Axie Infinity, it’s time to play with fascinating monsters.

Part 6: Set up Your Digital Wallet

We’ve been playing turn-based strategy games since our childhood. These turn-based strategies depend on rich stories, making them challenging, but at the same, they develop the interests of players.

The introduction of the Metaverse has given a new wave to the gaming world. Players can now experience, interact with others in a 3D virtual universe while choosing different avatars for themselves. Unlike traditional games, players can build, buy, sell items and earn rewards or real money just by defeating other players or playing against the environment, thanks to blockchain technology and non-fungible assets (NFT).

One of the most popular Play to Earn (P2E) cryptocurrency games is Axie Infinity. If you’re a true fan of turn-based strategy games, then pick Axie Infinity to increase your passive income. In this pokemon-styled game, gamers collect virtual creatures called Axies as pets. Players can battle, breed, grow and build realms for their virtual creatures. The Axie Infinity universe has a player-owned economy, allowing participants to own, purchase, sell or swap resources they receive by winning battles and making contributions to improve the ecosystem.

To begin with, you first need to buy at least 3 Axies from the Axie marketplace. However, make a wise decision while choosing fighters to increase your chances of winning combats. Here’s how to set yourself up for the Axie Infinity universe.

In order to play Axie Infinity, you need to download a digital (MetaMask) and side-chain wallet (Ronin Wallet). Follow these steps to install MetaMask:

Step 1: Go to MetaMask's official website and select the ‘‘Download’’ option.

Step 2: Select your desired browser and then click on the ‘‘Install MetaMask for Chrome’’ option.

Step 3: Click on the “Add to Chrome” option and select “Add Extension”. The download procedure will get started. After complete installation, a new window will appear. Click on the “Get Started” option.

Step 4: If you’re new to MetaMask, select the ‘‘Create Wallet’’ option. However, if you’re already the existing user of MetaMask, skip the former and import your seed phrase.

Step 5: Click on the ‘‘I Agree’’ option.

Step 6: Enter a strong password, click on ‘‘I Agree to terms and conditions’’ and hit the ‘‘Create’’ button.

Step 7: Click on the reveal your secret phrase option, copy this phrase and store it in a secure location.

Step 7: On the next window, confirm your secret recovery phrase.

Step 8: Click on the ‘‘All Done’’ option and a new will appear showing you account details.

Step 9: Now, click on the ‘‘Buy’’ option to deposit a few ETH into your account.

Part 7: Create A Ronin Wallet Account

Sky Mavis deployed Ronin wallet to limit the transaction gas fees compared to a traditional digital wallet. Besides, players also need to install Ronin wallet to purchase Axies, land plots and items. The installation procedure of the Ronin wallet is similar to MetaMask.

Step 1: Open the Ronin wallet official website and select the ‘‘Install Ronin Wallet for Chrome’’ option.

Step 2: Click on the ‘‘Add to Chrome’’ option and select the ‘‘Add Extension’’ on the pop-up window.

Step 3: Now, move your cursor to the chrome extension and click over the Ronin wallet icon. Select the ‘‘Get Started’’ option.

Step 4: Select the ‘‘I’m new, let’s get set up!’’ option.

Step 5: Enter the strong password and then select the ‘‘Confirm’’ button.

Step 6: Click on ‘‘Reveal Secret Phrase’’, store in a secure location and confirm the phrase to set up your Ronin wallet.

Step 7: Confirm your secret phrase.

Step 8: Once confirmed, you’ll get a notification that the Ronin wallet account has been created.

Step 9: Click over the Ronin icon to check account and wallet details.

Part 8: Select A Starter Team (minimum 3 Axies)

To select a starter team, you first need to create an Axie Infinity account.

Step 1: Go to Axie Infinity Marketplace and head over to the ‘‘Login’’ button.

Step 2: Select the type of login method.

Step 3: We’ve selected the ‘‘Login with Ronin Wallet’’ option. A dialogue box will appear in front of your screen. Hit the ‘‘Confirm’’ button.

Step 4: The following window will appear

Step 5: Go to the ‘‘Marketplace’’ tab. Select the class of Axie, search parts, abilities and breed count you want in your Axie.

How much does it cost to purchase the first 3 Axies?

The cost required to purchase the first 3 Axies (starter team) starts from 0.18 ETH ($500) to 0.21 ETH ($600). A simple rule to calculate initial investment is first to determine which Axie has the lowest price and then multiply this price by 3. For instance, as of this piece of writing, the lowest price of Axie listed on the marketplace is 0.008 ETH ($21), the initial investment will be 0.024 ETH ($63). But gamers and expert players recommend Axies with good stats and abilities that are usually expensive and enable you to progress more in-game.

Part 9: Let’s Play-to-Earn

Once you’ve purchased your Axie, install a game on your desktop or smartphone. Enter login details and sync your bought Axies. Choose your desired mode and experience fun by fighting against monsters.