If you’ve played strategy games before Axie Infinity, you may be familiar with the terms buff and debuff.
Essentially, they are a game mechanic where you can provide a temporary boost to yourself through buffs, or take away any advantage your opponent might have by using debuffs.
In any case, both are extremely useful. In this guide, we’ll be discussing how buffs and debuffs in the game work, as well as how they could be used in combat.
Buffs
Buffs are any effect that grants you a temporary boost to your stats. They can be used both offensively and defensively.
Currently, there are only 3 buffs present in the game: Attack Up, Morale Up, and Speed Up, and most of them belong to the Aqua and Beast classes.
| Icon | Name | Effect |
 | Attack Up/Attack+ | Increases the damage of the next attack by 20%. |
 | Morale Up/Morale+ | Increases Morale by 20% for the next round. |
 | Speed Up/Speed+ | Increases Speed by 20% for the next round. |
It’s important to note that all buffs are stackable, meaning that the effects are multiplied by the number of buffs.
For example, an Axie with 2 Attack+ buffs will enjoy a 40% damage boost to its next attack, while an Axie with 5 stacks of Speed+ will gain a whopping 100% boost to its Speed stat until the next round (assuming all 5 stacks were gained in the same round).
Debuffs
Debuffs are the effects that take away enemy advantages and inflict status effects. Unlike buffs, debuffs are present in every class. Debuffs currently present in the game are:
| Icon | Name | Effect |
 | Attack Down/Attack- | Decreases the damage of the next attack by 20%. |
 | Morale Down/Morale- | Decreases Morale by 20% for the next round. Stackable |
 | Speed Down/Speed- | Decreases speed by 20% for the next round.Stackable |
 | Aroma | The affected Axie is prioritized until the end of the round. |
 | Chill | Affected Axie will not be able to enter Last Stand. |
 | Fear | Affected Axie’s next Attack will miss. |
 | Fragile | Shields take double damage on the next attack. |
 | Jinx | Affected Axie cannot deal critical strikes until effects wear off. |
 | Lethal | The next attack on the affected Axie is a guaranteed critical hit. |
 | Poison | Affected Axie loses 2 HP after every action. Stackable |
 | Sleep | The attack that inflicts this debuff, as well as the next, will ignore Shields. |
 | Stench | Affected Axie will be ignored by attackers until the effect wears off. |
 | Stun | Either the affected Axie’s Attack misses, or the incoming Attack ignores Shields. |
When it comes to debuffs, there are many situations where each one shines. There are debuffs that usually rely on other cards to be more effective because they may not be as strong on their own.
- Fragile, Lethal, and Stench are only effective when followed up with another move.
- Poison, Sleep, and Stun are already effective on their own or require minimal follow-up.
- Effects like Chill and Jinx are situational debuffs whose effects vary from each Axie they are inflicted on, so results are not always guaranteed.
Pro Tips:
- Debuffs and Buffs cancel out if their effects are related (e.g. Attack+ vs Attack-)
- Speed+ is arguably the strongest buff because it directly affects play order
- One should be careful when using the card Eggbomb because self-inflicted Aroma could easily spell the undoing of your Axie when used at the wrong time
- Use Morale-, Chill, and Jinx against Axies with high Morale
- Use Fragile, Lethal, Sleep, and Stun against Axies that are hard to take down
- Poison is a great debuff to have on defensive team compositions that can stall the enemy
- Stench is useful in order to avoid frontline Axies
- Effective use of buffs and debuffs can determine who wins the match
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