Everything You Need to Know About Leveling Up In Axie Infinity
Despite a major decline in players and a significant fall in the game’s native AXS token, Axie Infinity has remained one of the most popular blockchain-based games on the market today. As of November 2022, the game had nearly 700,000 active monthly players, making it quite popular, but not nearly as popular as it once was; the game peaked in January 2022 with more than 2.7 million active monthly players). The game, partially inspired by Pokemon, is focused on battling and leveling up creatures called Axies, each of which is an individual NFT that can be purchased and sold on the open market.
Axie Infinity has become especially popular in the Philippines, where thousands of individuals have quit their full-time jobs in order to play the game professionally, though this trend seems to be reversing with the decreasing popularity of the game and the lackluster performance of the AXS token. In addition, many have recently criticized the game for being boring and monotonous, so, while Axie Infinity remains popular, its long-term future and sustainability are certainly in question.
Adventure Mode vs. Arena Mode in Axie Infinity
There are two game modes in Axie Infinity, Player Versus Environment (PVE) and Player Versus Player (PVP). In the Player vs. Environment mode, also known as Adventure Mode, players use their Axies to fight against monsters to gain experience (EXP) and level up.
Adventure Mode currently has 36 stages. Winning in each stage will allow players to level up their Axies and earn Smooth Love Potion (SLP), Axie Infinity’s in-game cryptocurrency. The higher level a player’s Axies are, the more EXP they will be rewarded with per battle. Both Smooth Love Potion (SLP) and the game’s other token, Axie Infinity (AXS) can be traded on the open market and swapped for other cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies.
Axie comes in seasons, and in each new season, new rules and guidelines are issued regarding how the game is played. Currently, players can only earn 50 SLP per day in Adventure Mode. Fortunately, energy is not needed when farming SLP in Adventure Mode.
While Adventure Mode allows players to fight monsters to level up their Axies and earn SLP, Arena Mode is focused on battling other players. As of recent changes to the game, Arena mode now offers three separate sub-modes; Practice Mode, Ranked Mode, and Tournament Mode. Tournament Mode is yet to be launched, so we don’t know much about it yet.
Axie Infinity Arena Mode.
Practice Mode allows players to practice without losing stars or demoting their rank. In essence, this allows players to test different Axies, combos, and runes/charms without the pressure of needing to win to maintain their standing.
Ranked Mode uses the same battle system as Practice Mode, however, it uses a ranking system to measure each player’s skill. As players win, they can achieve various ranks. There are currently eight ranks with four tiers for each rank.
When a player wins a battle in Ranked Mode, they can earn Victory Stars, a certain amount of which they will need to reach the next tier.
The current Ranked Mode ranking system tiers are:
| Rank | Stars Per Tier | Bonus |
| Egg | 3 | 0 |
| Chick | 3 | 1 |
| Hare | 4 | 2 |
| Boar | 4 | 3 |
| Wolf | 5 | 4 |
| Bear | 5 | 5 |
| Tiger | 6 | 6 |
| Dragon | 6 | 7 |
| Challenger | – | 8 |
If a player reaches the rank of Dragon I or higher, they will be entered into the Challenger Sphere. At this point, the player’s name will appear on the game’s leaderboards, allowing them to battle against other higher-ranking players.
In the Challenger Sphere, players are not organized into Tiers. Instead, they are ranked by the number of Victory Stars they collect in the Challenger Sphere.
How Stages and Enemies Work in Axie Adventure Mode
Each adventure has a specific number of stages that a player must complete before winning. When a player starts an adventure, they can see the name of the ruin that they are playing and a bar below it. The dots on the bar represent the number of stages a player will need to complete.
On the lower left side of the screen, the game interface shows the types of enemies a player will fight. On the right side of the energy types, the display shows the number of enemies a player will need to fight before finishing the level.
How Axie Infinity’s One-Time SLP Rewards Work
In addition to fighting traditional enemies, Axie Infinity’s adventure mode does have two specific ruins which allow players to fight special boss monsters that provide one-time SLP rewards. These currently include Ruin 21, which provides a 200 SLP reward, and Ruin 36, which provides a 300 SLP reward.
What is Energy in Axie Infinity?
When playing Axie Infinity, players need energy to battle in both Adventure and Arena modes. One battle consumes one energy. Players start with a maximum pool of 20 energy, which is replenished at a rate of five energy per each six-hour period. Entering an Adventure Battle currently requires 1 energy.
If they don’t have energy, a player cannot battle, so they won’t be able to earn experience in Adventure mode or SLP in Arena mode, conversely, the more energy a player has, the more they can battle to earn and level up their Axies.
Since a player can only devote so much time to the game, they’ll want to earn as much experience as possible in as little time as possible. However, this isn’t always easy, as players generally have to guess as to which levels provide the most experience. Players will lose energy on lost rounds, so it’s also important for players to attempt only to play levels that they are unlikely to lose.
While we mentioned that players start with 20 energy and replenish it at a rate of five energy per each six-hour period, players get more energy and a faster recharge rate the more Axies they own.
- 3-9 Axies: 20 energy/day; 5 energy refills every 6 hours.
- 10-19 Axies: 40 energy/day; 5 energy refills every 3 hours.
- 20 Axies+: 60 energy/day; 5 energy refills every 2 hours.
Starting With Adventure Mode or Arena Mode and EXP Farming
Many players may wonder whether it’s best to start leveling up their Axies in Adventure Mode, or whether it might be better to directly start battling other players in Arena Mode.
While there are benefits to both options, many experienced players would suggest that it’s far better to use Adventure Mode to level up a player’s Axies in their initial few weeks of play. This methodical way of gaining experience is referred to as EXP farming.
By starting in Adventure Mode, players can be more competitive and rank higher when they start battling other players in Arena Mode. This is also because the lower levels of Adventure Mode only provide a little SLP, so by leveling up, a player can earn faster.
Here are the SLP rewards you get from Adventure Mode for each level bracket:
| Axie Level | SLP Reward Per Win |
| Level 1 – 4 | 1 |
| Level 5 – 9 | 2 |
| Level 10 – 14 | 4 |
| Level 15 – 16 | 6 |
| Level 17 – 20 | 5-10 |
| Level 21 – 36 | 10-20 |
Once a player reaches the level where they can earn 10-20 SLP per win, they can typically earn at least 50 SLP per hour. Boss Level rewards can also provide bonuses that players can achieve while leveling up.
Experience Gained Per Adventure Mode Level
Below, we show the experience (EXP) you can gain on each level. While some think that higher levels are better for quickly increasing a player’s experience, this isn’t always the case, and lower levels may actually be more effective. There are currently 36 levels, each of which is more difficult than the next. As previously mentioned, players can currently only gain 50 SLP per day in Adventure Mode.
| Axie Infinity Level | SLP Gained | EXP Gained |
| Level 1 | 1 SLP | 51 EXP |
| Level 2 | 1 SLP | 59 EXP |
| Level 3 | 1 SLP | 111 EXP |
| Level 4 | 1 SLP | 118 EXP |
| Level 5 | 2 SLP | 141 EXP |
| Level 6 | 2 SLP | 199 EXP |
| Level 7 | 2 SLP | 256 EXP |
| Level 8 | 2 SLP | 237 EXP |
| Level 9 | 2 SLP | 282 EXP |
| Level 10 | 4 SLP | 300 EXP |
| Level 11 | 4 SLP | 344 EXP |
| Level 12 | 4 SLP | 429 EXP |
| Level 13 | 4 SLP | 378 EXP |
| Level 14 | 4 SLP | 347 EXP |
| Level 15 | 5-15 SLP | 358 EXP |
| Level 16 | 5-15 SLP | 402 EXP |
| Level 17 | 5-15 SLP | 367 EXP |
| Level 18 | 5-15 SLP | 446 EXP |
| Level 19 | 5-15 SLP | 434 EXP |
| Level 20 | 5-20 SLP | 401 EXP |
| Level 21 | 5-20 SLP | 644 EXP |
| Level 22 | 5-20 SLP | 449 EXP |
| Level 23 | 5-20 SLP | 618 EXP |
| Level 24 | 5-20 SLP | 582 EXP |
| Level 25 | 5-20 SLP | 618 EXP |
| Level 26 | 5-20 SLP | 797 EXP |
| Level 27 | 5-20 SLP | 735 EXP |
| Level 28 | 5-20 SLP | 759 EXP |
| Level 29 | 5-20 SLP | 800 EXP |
| Level 30 | 5-20 SLP | 1209 EXP |
| Level 31 | 5-20 SLP | 810 EXP |
| Level 32 | 5-20 SLP | 724 EXP |
| Level 33 | 5-20 SLP | 891 EXP |
| Level 34 | 5-20 SLP | Unknown |
| Level 35 | 5-20 SLP | 805 EXP |
| Level 36 | 5-20 SLP | 820 EXP |
In Conclusion: Axie Adventure Mode Is Great For Beginners
As previously mentioned, starting your Axie Infinity adventure with Adventure Mode can be extremely advantageous if you want to use your finite energy supply to farm the most EXP and get the most Smooth Love Potion (SLP). As you gain EXP, battling in Arena Mode will be more profitable (and perhaps more fun). Things often change in Axie Infinity as they release new updates, so continue to do your research as you determine your ultimate Axie strategy.
References:
- (Oct. 2022) Axie Infinity: Axie Infinity Live Player Count and Statistics. Active Player.
- (Feb. 2022) Axie Infinity: Axie Infinity Adventure Guide: SLP & EXP Rewards. GameWith.
- Adventure Mode (PVE) EXP Leveling Guide. Axie Edge.
- Sahid, O. (Jul. 2022) Axie Infinity Adventure SLP Guide. P2EDiary/Play to Earn Diary.
