Energy is an integral part of Axie Infinity. It enables you to attack, defend, and to gain EXP and SLP. Axie Infinity is a strategy game similar to previous titles such as Hearthstone, Legend of Runeterra, and various other card games. 

Knowing how energy works and how to use it efficiently is integral to ensuring that you get your investment back and start earning profits as soon as possible.

Types of Energy

There are two types of energy in the game: 

1. Energy that is used when you enter a ruin in adventure mode or fight in the arena, and 
2. Energy that is used in battles 

We can dub them “Daily Energy” and “Battle Energy,” respectively. 

Daily Energy

This type of energy is responsible for gaining EXP in ruins on adventure mode, as well as SLP in the arena. One point of energy is consumed every time you enter a ruin or a match. 

Note that you can still play even if you run out of energy, although you forfeit the EXP gains in adventure, and SLP gains in the arena. 

If you do run out of Daily Energy, there are still a few things you can do. 

You can still gain SLP in adventure mode if you haven’t reached the cap, and increase your Matchmaking Rating (MMR) in the arena. 

Wins in the arena, despite not giving SLP, is still beneficial since increasing your MMR into the following brackets influences the amount of SLP you gain:

• 1000-1099 = 3 SLP
• 1100-1299 = 6 SLP
• 1300-1499 = 9 SLP
• 1500-1799 = 12 SLP
• 1800-1999 = 15 SLP
• 2000-2199 = 18 SLP
• 2200+ = 21 SLP

Owning a lot of Axies in one account increases this energy pool. Holding 10 Axies will give you an energy pool of 40, while 20 Axies will give you 60. However, due to the cost of Axies, this is an expensive way to increase earnings.

You can read more about adventure mode and arena mode in these articles:

A Player’s Guide To Adventure

A Comprehensive Guide To Battles And PVP

Battle Energy

Battle Energy is the energy needed to use cards in battles. You can see it on the lower left of your screen during matches. 

You use this energy to either attack the enemy team or defend yourself from theirs. This type of energy is EXTREMELY important, especially in the Arena. 

Proper and efficient usage of energy usually dictates the flow of the battle and can tilt the scale of the match in one’s favor. 

Energy Management in the Game

Managing energy is key to efficient gameplay. Whether you’re leveling up your Axies in the ruins of adventure mode, winning fights in the arena to earn SLP, or choosing what strategy to employ in battles, proper energy management is crucial.

Energy management, in terms of Daily Energy, usually revolves around choosing how much energy you spend in one game mode, or playing one over the other altogether; it all depends on your priorities. 

Arena > Adventure

If you want to play Axie Infinity short-term and don’t mind grinding a little bit harder, you can prioritize arena over adventure. 

In this setup, you can spend all your energy in the arena, and play Adventure afterward. This gets you 50 SLP, as well as 25 SLP for the daily quest (assuming you win at least 5 games in Arena). It also enables you to gain 100-150 SLP per day, maybe even upwards of 200 if you’re extremely good or lucky.

Arena < Adventure

One drawback of the previous method is that you will be forced to have low-level axies in Adventure and will be forced to grind longer hours because only a small amount of SLP is granted in lower ruins. 

I suggest that you level your Axies up first in order to drastically reduce the time you spend grinding in adventure, as well as claim the bonus SLP in high-level ruins, such as Ruin 21 (200 SLP) and Ruin 36 (300 SLP). 

 That way you focus all your energy on adventure mode in order to level up your Axies as quickly as possible, enabling you to reach higher level ruins. 

You only play arena after you spend all your energy in order to accomplish the daily quests. Unfortunately, using this method, you only get the minimum amount of SLP per day (75). This is only viable if you plan to play long-term and don’t mind bare-minimum earnings for the first few weeks. 

Split Arena and Adventure

There is another method where you split your energy between arena and adventure. This method allows you to get the best of both worlds, albeit at a much slower pace. 

You can gain slightly above the minimum SLP in the arena while getting a fair bit of EXP in adventure. This will slowly but surely level up your Axies.

I recommend trying these methods and figuring out which setup works best for you.  

Energy Management in Battles

When it comes to battles, knowing the best way to use your energy at a given time is highly important. Using energy at the most opportune time and counting your opponent’s available energy are just a few examples of energy management in matches. Here are a few ways you can effectively manage the energy you (as well as your opponents) use.

Basic Energy Saving

In battles:

• you start with 4 energy and gain 3 after every round in adventure mode 
• you start with 3 and gain 2 every round in arena mode 

The concept behind saving energy is that you sometimes skip some turns or use minimal cards in order to gather large amounts of energy that you can use when you have the right cards in your hand. 

This technique ensures that you have the appropriate amount of energy for the strategy you want to employ in a given turn. 

A popular strategy is to skip the first round in order to have a total of 5 energy in the next, giving you enough wiggle room to decide how to go about the match. However, this is not always ideal since your opponent might have energy stealing/destroying moves and take your conserved energy away from you.

You can also use 1-2 cards per turn as long as you think they’re worth the energy they cost. For example, using a single defensive card against an enemy low in energy might be the difference between a dead and a useful axie. 

A good rule of thumb is to avoid wasting energy on an Axie that is sure to face certain death, and instead use that energy to retaliate.

Using Cards

In Axie Infinity, there are cards that enable you to gain/steal/destroy energy. 

Gain means you get energy, steal means you take energy from your opponent, and destroy, you guessed it, destroys your opponent’s energy. 

Cards like Luna Absorb, Vegetal Bite, and Piercing Sound are respective examples of these. Each card has an ideal use case. 

For example, Vegetal Bite should only be used if you combo it with another card and if the enemy has energy. Luna Absorb can be used any time since it costs 0 energy. 

On the other hand, Carrot Hammer will only give you energy if your Axie’s shield breaks, so you should be mindful of how you use your cards and whether they are relevant at the time.

Energy Counting

Keeping count of your opponent’s energy is the difference between a noob and a serious Axie player. Does your opponent have a lot of energy? Calculate how much damage they’ll be able to dish out and choose whether to build an immovable object with your shields, or an unstoppable force with your damage.

Personally, I find it easier to keep track of how much energy my opponent has available using my fingers, and I make my decisions based on that (I call it the kindergarten method). 

It’s also a good idea to predict how much energy you and your opponent may need in the following rounds to get a clearer picture of the possible things that happen. 

You may also ask for help from a program, such as this Axie counter that I use:

https://axie-energy-counter.com/

It’s keyboard-handy and easy to use. Stuff like these lessens the burden from every player’s head.

Pro Tips

• Daily energy always resets at 12 am UTC
• Always keep track of your opponent’s energy
• Save enough energy for your combos
• Use the most appropriate amount of energy every round, don’t be lavish, but also don’t be greedy
• Predict when your enemy will try to conserve energy and try to punish them when they get greedy
• Don’t panic when you hit 0 energy, you can always gain more