The long-awaited Axie Infinity Season 19 update has just hit the live servers, and everyone in Lunacia is gearing up for an intense month and a half of competition. Just released today, November 10th, the season will run until December 21st, 4pm GMT+7. This update comes on the tail of months of anticipation and is shaping up to be a meta-shattering patch for Axie Infinity.
Season 19 Arena Rewards
Season 19's PVP rewards are the most massive rewards pool ever given out to date. With 3,000 AXS tokens to be distributed to the Top 1000 Arena players at the end of the season, competition will be at an all-time high—much like the number of Daily Active Users that Axie Infinity boasts. Along with the increase in AXS rewards, developer SkyMavis also promises “boosted SLP drops,” but what that means is yet to be discovered.
At the start of every season, all players have their MMR reset to the starting value of 1,200 MMR points. Whether you were soaring above the crowd in the 2,000+ MMR range, or slumming it without SLP rewards in a range lower than 800 MMR, you have a chance to have a fresh start this season. For the first few days, competition will be incredibly stiff, as everyone starts out the ladder climb, so expect to be facing some high-tier builds when you play Arena in the next few days.
However, if you're a little bit irritated that your MMR has been brought low, don't worry. The rank reset is only seasonal, and whatever MMR you had in the off-season before Season 19 will be restored once it ends and we transition to the off-season once again.
Axie Infinity Season 19 Balance Changes
With every new patch comes some changes to the balancing of the game. This season, SkyMavis definitely took quite a lot of feedback from the community, nerfing a myriad of cards that were widely considered to be a pain to deal with. You can find a complete list of changes in this document that SkyMavis provided.
The Terminator build was hit quite hard by nerfs, with 3 out of its 4 cards eating dirt. Lagging (Mystic Rush) took the hardest hit of the nerf hammer for the Termi build, with a 25% reduction in damage, from 40 damage to 30. Poison build users also shed a lot of tears, as their main poison debuff applicator Grass Snake (Venom Spray) took a massive hit in its effectiveness, applying only one stack of poison instead of the previous two.
A myriad of Aqua cards were also taken down a notch, with Risky Fish(Fish Hook), Shoal Star(Star Shuriken), Goldfish(Swift Escape), Nimo(Tail Slap), and both Anemone(Aquaponics) and Anemone(Aqua Vitality) taking some significant hits. Bird card users aren't too happy either, as some of their strongest cards took the nerf hammer to the knees as well; namely Doubletalk(Soothing Song), Post Flight(All-Out Shot), and Cuckoo(Cockadoodledoo).
In some miscellaneous nerfs, we also have a very specific yet high-tier build being taken down a peg, with Cute Bunny(Terror Chomp), Antenna(Bug Signal), and Gravel Ant(Numbing Lecretion) getting some much-needed nerfs. Finally, Dual Blade(Sinister Strike) and Yam(Gas Unleash) eat some damage reduction.
While that list of nerfs hit the top-tier cards pretty hard, a bunch of less-played cards saw some significant buffs to their usability. Notably, the Ronin(Single Combat) and Imp(Ivory Stab) combo saw an increase in damage, likely to compensate for the changes in the critical hit system that were also implemented this season. Cactus(Prickly Trap) and Fish Snack(Anesthetic Bait) were already seeing some play but were more absent in the top levels.
Other lesser-seen cards like Cottontail(Luna Absorb), Strawberry Shortcake(Sweet Party), and Jaguar(Nitro Leap) found some buffs that could increase usability, especially at higher levels of play. how this balance patch shapes up the meta going into Season 19 is anyone's guess, but if there's one thing for certain, the “problem builds” that have been dominating the meta for the off-season have been brought down a peg, giving some more Axie parts their time in the sun.
Crit Formula And Skill Stat Changes
Before Season 19, the critical hit rate in Axie Infinity was frankly ridiculous. Aqua, Reptile, and Dusk crits were a sore spot for much of the community, but that could change with the new crit formula introduced in the latest season. SkyMavis believes that “this will also balance high speed/high hp Axies which were becoming a bit too powerful in the meta.”
According to SkyMavis, much of the complaints were because the community felt that “critical strikes were too random and too often decided the course of games.” To remedy this, they've changed how critical strikes happen, and what happens when they do. Now, the Morale stat is much more important, deciding both the frequency and severity of the crits being dished out. Expect to see less, weaker Aqua crits, and more, stronger Beast crits. As all things should be.
Another axie stat that wasn't getting too much attention was Skill, which ostensibly increased the damage of your combos. SkyMavis has changed the formula for Skill and combo damage, making it more attractive as a stat to chase after. Hopefully this means that high Skill axies will see some high-tier play in the coming season.
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