What Is Axie Infinity and How Does It Work? A 2026 Guide

Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based game developed by Sky Mavis, a studio with roots in Vietnam, and first released in 2018. Players collect creatures called Axies, form teams of three, and battle other players or computer-controlled opponents. Each Axie is a non-fungible token (NFT), so ownership is recorded on a blockchain and not held only in the developer's database.

The game drew heavily on creature-collecting and trading-card ideas. Axies have different body parts, stats and cards, and those combinations decide how they fight. Because Axies are NFTs, they can be bought and sold on a marketplace, and in principle moved between wallets.

Axie Infinity became the best-known example of play-to-earn, a model in which players can earn tokens with real market value through gameplay. That attention peaked in 2021 and was followed by a sharp reset in token prices and player numbers. The game has been reworked several times since, so older articles and videos can describe rules that no longer apply.

In short, it combines three things: a collectible NFT ecosystem, a competitive battler, and a token-based economy. The rest of this guide takes each in turn.

An Axie is a creature NFT with a class, body parts and stats. The details below are stable features of the design, though balance changes have altered how strong individual pieces are.

• Classes: The core classes are Beast, Aquatic, Plant, Bird, Bug and Reptile, with additional classes added later. Class affects stats and gives bonuses in a rock-paper-scissors style advantage system.
• Body parts: Each Axie has parts such as eyes, ears, back, mouth, horn and tail. Four of these parts, such as mouth, horn, back and tail, typically grant a battle card.
• Stats: Health, speed, skill and morale shape how an Axie performs in combat.
• Rarity and genes: Parts have dominant and recessive genes, which matters for breeding. Some parts and body shapes are rarer than others.

Because a card comes from a body part, the same Axie always brings the same set of cards. Building a team therefore means choosing Axies whose cards work together, much like building a deck.

Axies are held in a crypto wallet. Ownership and trading happen through the official marketplace, using the game's supported network and tokens.

Battles in the main game are turn-based and card-driven. Each side fields a team of three Axies. Every round, players receive energy and draw cards, play cards that cost energy, and the Axies then act in order of speed.

A few core ideas carry across versions:

1. Energy: Each card costs energy, so you must choose which cards to play. Unused energy may carry over in some modes.
2. Card combos: Cards drawn from your team's parts can chain together for extra damage or effects.
3. Class advantage: Attacks from a class with an advantage over the target's class do more damage.
4. Win condition: You win by defeating all enemy Axies.

The original game, now often called Classic, was reworked into a newer version commonly called Origin, which changed the card system and rewards. Sky Mavis has also released other modes and related titles. Which ones are active, and how they reward players, can change, so check the official site and announcements before you buy anything.

Skill matters as well as team strength. Knowing which cards counter which, and when to save energy, can decide a close match.

Axie Infinity uses two main tokens with different jobs.

AXS (Axie Infinity Shards) is the governance token. Holders can stake it, and it is used in some game costs such as breeding and certain purchases. It is traded on major crypto exchanges.

SLP (Smooth Love Potion) was introduced as the in-game utility token. Players earned it through gameplay, and it was spent alongside AXS to breed new Axies. Because SLP could be earned in large amounts, its supply and value became central to the game's economic problems after 2021. Sky Mavis has since adjusted token mechanics, so check current documentation for how SLP and any newer rewards work.

Other assets include Land NFTs, plots in the game's virtual world called Lumia, which are tied to additional features, and items or accessories tied to them.

Never rely on a fixed figure you saw in an old article for token supply, rewards or cost. Prices, emission rules and breeding costs change. For current numbers, check a market-data site for prices and the official Axie Infinity documentation for how tokens are issued and spent.

Breeding lets two Axies produce a new Axie, which is a way for the Axie supply to grow. The key points are stable even where the exact costs are not.

• Parents: You need two Axies you own. They pass on body parts, with dominant genes more likely to appear than recessive ones.
• Cost: Breeding has required spending AXS and SLP, with costs rising as an Axie is bred more times.
• Limits: Each Axie has a maximum breed count, so breeding cannot go on forever.
• Outcome: The result is a new NFT whose parts and rarity are partly random. It may be worth more or less than the cost of producing it.

Breeding is a gamble as well as a production step. Many early profits came from breeding during the rapid growth period, when demand was rising. When demand fell, some new Axies sold for less than they cost to make.

If you consider breeding, work out the total cost in tokens, compare it with current marketplace prices for similar Axies, and remember that prices can fall before you sell.

Axie Infinity runs on Ronin, a blockchain network created by Sky Mavis. It was designed to give cheaper, faster transactions than Ethereum mainnet, which mattered because the game involves many small actions. Ronin is compatible with Ethereum-style tools, and the Ronin Wallet is the standard wallet for holding Axies and tokens and using the marketplace.

Moving assets between Ronin and other networks relies on a bridge. In March 2022 the Ronin bridge suffered one of the largest hacks in crypto history, with hundreds of millions of dollars in assets taken. Sky Mavis later reimbursed users and made security changes. The lesson is general: bridges are high-value targets, so use only official ones.

Wallet safety basics for any Axie player:

• Keep your seed phrase offline and never share it with anyone, including people claiming to be support.
• Check that you are on the official site before connecting a wallet.
• Be suspicious of free Axie or token giveaways, and of direct messages offering help.
• Review and revoke token approvals you no longer need.

Network plans and architecture have evolved, so check official Ronin documentation for the current setup.

The scholarship system let an Axie owner lend a team to another player, the scholar, in exchange for a share of the tokens earned. Guilds organised this at scale. It became widely known in 2021, particularly in the Philippines, where some players earned more than local wages at the time. It worked because the cost of starting, at the time three Axies, was high relative to income in many countries.

This model also shows the weakness of play-to-earn. Earnings came from token rewards, and those rewards held value only while enough new players and spending flowed into the economy. When growth slowed, SLP lost much of its value and many scholars' income fell sharply.

Sky Mavis has since changed the game's rewards, and the economy no longer looks like it did in 2021. Anyone considering a scholarship or guild arrangement should read the terms carefully, check what the revenue split is, and confirm how earnings are paid.

A useful rule: if a plan depends on token prices staying high, it is a speculative bet, not a wage.

Before putting money into Axie Infinity, check the following.

Financial risk

• NFT and token prices can fall sharply, and there is no guarantee you can resell an Axie.
• Rewards and mechanics are set by the developer and can change.
• Do not spend money you cannot afford to lose, and do not borrow to buy assets.

Security risk

• Phishing, fake marketplaces and fake giveaways are common around popular NFT games.
• Use a dedicated wallet for gaming, and consider a hardware wallet for valuable assets.

Where to check current facts

• The official Axie Infinity website and documentation for active game modes, token rules and what a new player needs.
• The official Sky Mavis and Ronin announcements for network and policy changes.
• A market-data site for token and NFT prices.

Tax and legal rules vary by country, and earning or trading tokens may be taxable where you live. Age and local rules can also apply to games with real-money assets, so check what applies to you.

Axie Infinity is best approached as a game first, with any financial upside treated as uncertain.