Pre-Season 20 Balance Changes

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Pre-Season 20 Balance Changes

So, your Axies got nerfed again huh? I know how you feel…

However, the show must go on! Fortunately, these preseason balance changes are still tentative and the developers are still in the process of play-testing whether these changes will push through once Season 20 starts.

Sky Mavis also announced that the changes were inspired by community inputs and suggestions, which means that they were made with the players in mind.

Here is the link to the complete table of balance changes:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LSp84cHJY9IccgFu9e326W7x1PY5wDbCITF1a6OmeQY/edit?usp=sharing

Jump to:

Nerfs

A huge wave of Axies and builds got nerfed.

via Giphy https://media.giphy.com/media/QoZunxgU0Z1i8/giphy.gif

Bugs, particularly the discard variant, dominated the leaderboards after the buffs they received back in Season 19. Unfortunately, they were deemed too strong and needed to be toned down to keep the game fair and balanced.

Another indirect nerf to Bug teams was made on Sugar Rush. While it is a Beast card, its effect greatly benefits from Bug allies, which made it a candidate for nerfing.

Another dominant team composition was the Bird-Mech-Plant (BMP). The sheer speed and damage of the Bird and Mech combined made it extremely hard for the opponent to keep up.

Staple Bird cards such as Eggbomb and Dark Swoop, as well as the Mech’s Hare Dagger and Heroic Reward, got nerfed to keep things competitive in the arena.

The Anemone Aqua and Backdoor Bird Combination also made it hell to climb the leaderboards for everyone, including myself. Both Anemone cards received the nerf treatment on top of the nerfs last season.

Some buffs from last season also got reverted as it was deemed too broken if they were to continue. We’re looking at you, Prickly Trap.

Finally, a new type of Axie that emerged from the flames of Season 19 known as the “God Mech,” was slightly nerfed. It’s a Mech build that centers around Juggling Balls and Twin Needles to deal insane amounts of damage.

Twin Needle got nerfed to keep the God Mech from being too godly.

Here’s a complete table of the nerfs done for the preseason:

	Old Values		New Values
Part/Card Name	Class	Damage	Shields	Changes Made	Damage	Shields	Change to Description
Anemone – Aquaponics/Aqua Vitality	Aqua	80	35	Reduced Damage and Shields	75	30	N/A
Oranda – Hero’s Bane	Aqua	120	30	Reduced Shields	120	20	N/A
Shrimp – Chitin Jump	Aqua	30	30	Reduced Damage	25	30	N/A
Hare – Hare Dagger	Beast	120	30	Reduced Damage and Shields	115	20	N/A
Hero – Heroic Reward	Beast	60	0	Reduced Damage	55	0	N/A
Pocky – Sugar Rush	Beast	125	20	Reduced Damage	120	20	N/A
Eggshell – Eggbomb	Bird	120	0	Reduced Damage	110	0	N/A
Little Owl – Dark Swoop	Bird	25	0	Reduced Damage	20	0	N/A
Wing Horn – Smart Shot	Bird	50	10	Reduced Damage; Increased Shields	40	20	N/A
Fish Snack – Anesthetic Bait	Bug	60	90	Reduced Shields	60	80	N/A
Gravel Ant – Numbing Lecretion	Bug	30	30	Effect needs to be played in a combo	30	30	Disable target’s melee cards when comboed with another card
Parasite – Third Glance	Bug	90	50	Reduced Damage; Effect needs to be played in a combo	80	50	Randomly discard 1 card from your enemy’s hand when comboed with another card
Pincer – Sunder Claw	Bug	20	0	Effect needs to be played in a combo	20	0	Randomly discard 1 card from your enemy’s hand when comboed with another card
Pupae – Grub Explode	Bug	70	0	Reduced Damage	65	0	N/A
Twin Tail – Twin Needle	Bug	40	0	Reduced Damage	35	0	N/A
Bidens – Cleanse Scent	Plant	0	50	Reduced Damage	0	45	N/A
Cactus – Prickly Trap	Plant	115	20	Reduced Damage	110	20	N/A
Hot Butt – Spicy Surprise	Plant	90	50	Reduced Damage	80	50	N/A
Zigzag – Drain Bite	Plant	60	60	Reduced Damage and Shields	55	55	N/A
Bone Sail – Ivory Chop	Reptile	80	80	Reduced Damage and Shields; Bugfix	70	70	Fixed a bug where playing 2 bone sails and having shield broken only resulted in drawing one card
Cerastes – Surprise Invasion	Reptile	90	60	Reduced Damage	85	60	N/A
Grass Snake – Venom Spray	Reptile	20	30	Reduced Damage	20	20	N/A
Toothless – Sneaky Raid	Reptile	20	40	Reduced Shields	20	30	N/A

Buffs

As with any balance changes, buffs to cards that were a bit lacking during the season were expected.

via Giphy https://media.giphy.com/media/5JCEYvy4M3HEY/giphy.gif

Good news to Aqua players out there, a few nerfs were slightly reverted from last season, namely nerfs to Risky Fish’s shield and Shoal Star going back to its values before the Season 19 nerfs.

Underrated Beast and Bird cards were also given some long overdue buffs. Puffy Smack, Insectivore, Ivory Stab, and Night Steal are to name a few.

Mystic Rush also received some love after getting crushed by nerfs last season. Grub Surprise also received significant buffs to both damage and shields.

Lastly, unpopular Plant and Reptile cards also got buffed in order to make them more appealing to players.

Here’s a complete table of the buffs done for the preseason:

		Old Values		New Values
Part/Card Name	Class	Damage	Shields	Changes Made	Damage	Shields	Change to Description
Catfish – Swallow	Aqua	80	30	Increased Damage	90	30	N/A
Hermit – Shelter	Aqua	0	115	Increased Shields	0	120	N/A
Risky Fish – Fish Hook	Aqua	105	20	Increased Shields	105	25	N/A
Shoal Star – Star Shuriken	Aqua	110	10	Increased Damage and Shields	115	15	N/A
Confident – Self Rally	Beast	0	30	Increased Shields	0	40	N/A
Gerbil – Gerbil Jump	Beast	40	20	Increased Damage	50	20	N/A
Imp – Ivory Stab	Beast	80	30	Increased Damage	90	30	N/A
Rice – Night Steal	Beast	80	10	Increased Shields	80	20	N/A
Timber – Woodman Power	Beast	80	80	Increased Shields	80	90	N/A
Cloud – Puffy Smack	Bird	100	50	Increased Damage; Reduced Shields	110	40	N/A
Cuckoo – Cockadoodledoo	Bird	0	30	Increased Shields	0	35	N/A
Cupid – Heart Break	Bird	120	20	Increased Shields	120	30	N/A
Feather Fan – Sunder Armor	Bird	40	90	Increased Damage; Reduced Shields	80	50	N/A
Hungry Bird – Insectivore	Bird	110	40	Increased Damage; Reduced Shields	120	30	N/A
Raven – Ill-omened	Bird	110	30	Increased Damage	120	30	N/A
Trump – Air Force One	Bird	120	30	Increased Damage	125	30	N/A
Caterpillars – Grub Surprise	Bug	100	50	Increased Damage	110	50	N/A
Lagging – Mystic Rush	Bug	30	0	Increased Damage	35	0	N/A
Bamboo Shoot – Bamboo Clan	Plant	80	70	Increased Shields	80	80	N/A
Carrot	Plant	70	40	Increased Damage	80	40	N/A
Potato Leaf – Aqua Deflect	Plant	70	80	Increased Damage	80	80	N/A
Silence Whisper – Forest Spirit	Plant	0	40	Effect Changed	0	40	Heals front teammate for 120 HP. If there are no teammates, heal this Axie instead
Gila – Neuro Toxin	Reptile	100	55	Increased Shields	100	60	N/A
Tiny Dino – Tiny Swing	Reptile	80	40	Increased Damage	85	40	N/A

Mechanic Fixes

There were also a few fixes made to cards that previously didn’t work as intended.

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via Giphy https://media.giphy.com/media/AvMJCeu1EMmhG/giphy.gif

Aqua’s Shipwreck was given significant buffs to both damage and shields, and its description was changed to reflect its effect better.

Beast’s Acrobatic and Little Branch also received some changes. Acrobatic now requires it to be comboed, while Little Branch’s description was changed to accurately depict its actual in-game effect.

Finally, Scarab Curse is now treated as a real debuff, meaning that it can be transferred/cleansed with Black Mail and Refresh/Cleanse Scent respectively. This is fortunate news for healing + Bidens plants that struggle against Bugs.

Other News

Like I’ve said previously, these balance changes were made with the input of the community, and would likely remain tentative until Season 20 arrives. Nothing is set in stone as of yet!

The article was posted on January 17, 2022, and they announced that Season 20 will arrive in 2 weeks. It’s safe to say that it will probably arrive come February.

Do you agree with these changes? Comment down below what changes you liked or would love to see in the future!

Updated On : Jan 01, 2022 Written By : Dale Mercurio

Dale is a student by day, writer by night, but an all-day gamer since birth. He is extremely passionate about video games and started playing before he could even read. His favorite games include: TES5: Skyrim, God of War, the Monster Hunter Franchise, and recently, Axie Infinity.