Axie Infinity has gained a lot of hype with its governance token and one of its native tokens Axie Infinity (AXS) having an extremely bullish trend, still continuing the trend by retaining first in the top 24-hour gainers for the top 100 cryptocurrencies according to market cap. The high hype has brought a high demand for Axies, little Pokémon-like creatures which are needed to play the game, and as such, brought great difficulty in those looking to begin playing Axie Infinity. It is likely that many newbies will consider buying the 'floor' Axies (i.e. the cheapest Axies on the marketplace), but can in fact be a straining decision and slow the journey in becoming a successful Axie Infinity player. This is a guide in looking to buy Axies amidst a high demand for them aimed towards beginners. It will not go into detail with strategies, traits, abilities, etc. that are more complex, but the basic features to ensure a viable decision.
Freak's Axie Extension
Before going into the guide of buying Axies, it is first advised to get 'Freak's Axie Extension' via the chrome web store. This is an extremely useful extension and will greatly help in choosing which Axie's to choose. It will be detailed in the following sections where it becomes of use. To download Freak's Axie Extension, visit here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/freaks-axie-extension/copjnifcecdedocejpaapepagaodgpbh?hl=en.
When downloaded, ensure that Freak's Axie Extension is enabled by selecting the extension and ticking the 'Enable' box. It would be noticed that underneath the box is a 'More Tools' link. This provides more useful applications to help make correct decisions within Axie Infinity, though are likely not to be used by Axie Infinity beginners. Tools include 'Breeding Calculator', Breeding assistant (currently for purebreds) and 'View your land and compare with other accounts.'
Factors In Buying Axies
The main factors in buying an Axie are:
Price
Stats, including class
Purity
Breed count
Abilities (for more experienced players, though best for all)
Price
Obviously, price is a significant factor in choosing an Axie to purchase, especially for a beginner who likely is on a strict budget. A beginner would not buy an Axie for 1 Etherum (ETH) when it could buy a whole team for 1 ETH or even less, though it depends on the player's preferences and budget. If you have enough for a high-budget team, then it would be acceptable to do so because it likely means that the result will be acquiring high quality. The more spent, the more you would expect to have a better quality Axie.
Stats
Stats is what defines an Axie and it is important to keep in mind each of the statistics mentioned because having some extremely low is likely to make the Axie a poor one to use in-game. The stats for Axies are:
HP (Health Points) - This is the same with every other game. It indicates how 'buff' the Axie is and resistant to damage. Higher health would be better for tanks Axies (Axies that sponge all damage from the opponent) while health can be sacrificed for damage with other Axies.
Speed - This determines the turn order of Axies with the highest speed Axies going first. Higher speed also reduces chances for critical hits when it is the opponent's turn. Having low-speed Axies means that they will likely go last and have a higher chance of having critical hits upon them, which is why this stat should be checked before going into an Axie.
Skill - Adds bonus damage to combo attacks (doing multiple moves for one Axie in one round)
Morale - Increases critical hit chance and last stand turns (when an Axie dies, they enter the Last Stand that allows them to do a few more card moves before finally being removed from the round)
Personally, the two big stats to look at for a beginner would be HP and speed. Skill and morale would also play a role, but having them being low would not drastically reduce Axie's value, though would go the other way with HP and speed.
Along with stats are classes of Axies, which is similar to the classes in Pokémon (e.g. Fire, Water, Electric, Mystic, etc.). One class would have a weakness from another while being a strength over another. The classes are:
Aquatic
Beast
Bird
Bug
Plant
Reptile
Dawn
Dusk
Mech
Below is the flow chart of how classes interact with each other.
Below are the base stats for each class. Notice that each adds up to 140.
Purity
Purity is another significant factor for Axies. It tells you how 'pure' (i.e. closely related to its class) an Axie is. When buying an Axie, it is best to look for getting the highest purity Axie. High purity ensures that the Axie is 'being what it is.' Having low purity means that the Axie would not be doing what its class defines it as, its stats and abilities becoming mixed up. It also makes breeding less valuable, the next Axies being jumbled up as their parent, though can be more/less depending on the parents. Below is a low purity Axie I found within the marketplace.
Notice that all the body parts and genes are mixed up. This is not what you want. With this Axie being a Reptile, you would want as many pink genes as possible. Try to get the best genes, though it is not needed to get 100% to have a good Axie. If on budget, being a bit unpure is fine, though depends on whether you are planning to breed in the future or just using the Axie for battle. Also notice that the genes are broken up into D, R1 and R2. The gene classes are similar to DNA in real life, simplified into Axie Infinity:
D (Dominant) - 37.5% to pass this gene to offspring
Recessive (R1) - 9.375% to pass this gene to offspring
Minor Recessive (R2) - 3.125% to pass this gene to offspring
Purity is where Freak's Axie Extension becomes useful. A percentage (P: X%) would give the purity of the Axie with 0% the lowest and 100% the highest. Hoving over an Axie or its Stats that I have done earlier would also give each gene of the Axie.
Breed Count
This ties with purity. It essentially is that the higher the breed count, the more children that Axie had. Each breed becomes more expensive to prevent Axie inflation, and so breed count is really just a decision of whether or not you would want to breed the Axie in the future. Breeding costs SLP (Smooth Love Potion) with the rates of each breed count below. When breeding an Axie, it costs 4 AXS plus the SLP.
Abilities
This is quite complicated and will be gone in more depth with the next post. Here it is essentially checking if the abilities match the Axie and whether or not they sound useful for the desired Axie. The sword depicts the amount of damage of the move while the shield to amount of added health at the beginning of the round. This health is added before the round and is removed when it finishes.
Final Words
There are so many more factors to consider with Axies, though these are what I think to be the most significant. If you tick all or most of the boxes for each factor I made, then congratulations! You have found yourself a worthy Axie! For prices, I do think that they are absurd, but are likely due to the hype. I am looking for Axies as well with waiting is the only option I have. Remember not to let only the price fool you in an Axie, because it can cost much more in-game.
Disclaimer: The information above is not financial advice and is for educational and entertaining purposes. All information is of my personal opinion and is based on the research I have made. Any information on this article should not be mistaken as fact, and any decision with crypto means you need to DYOR (Do Your Own Research)
Thumbnail Source: https://axieinfinity.medium.com/axie-infinity-collectors-guide-ff3ec14c6b9c
