Triple aqua is a proven viable team build archetype for Axie Infinity Classic. Aremzy in particular has made a name for himself by hitting the top 10 using a triple aqua team.
Triple Aqua Regularly in the Top 400
After tracking top team results via axielabs.io for the last month or so, I can say with confidence that triple aqua is commonly seen at the highest ranks. It doesn't usually go all the way to rank 1, but it is always in the mix.
If I search on Axie Labs right now there are three players in the top 400 running a triple aqua build. One of them, "BLUELOTUS" is running triple aqua with lunge which is wild.
After seeing so much triple aqua I wanted to break down the style. Here's a few things I have noticed so far by analyzing the top triple aqua players.
Strategy for Building Triple Aqua
There are many variations, but most triple aqua builds use three types of aqua axies.
(1) Timber Fish With Nimo
Timber or Woodman Power is not a move you see on most builds but it is seen often in triple aqua teams. Here's an example of the type of Timber Fish that Aremzy has used on his teams.
Woodman power has amazing stats with 90 attack and 80 shield, exactly what this kind of aqua needs. On top of that it generates extra shield when attacking plants which can make the Axie close to invincible after it generates that kind of defense.
The attack power is amazing with the combination of Sinister Strike and Crimson Water. This is a very strong Axie.
(2) Standard Aqua Beast
This is a build that has existed for a while, at least since the end of season 19 if I'm not mistaken, and is commonly used in place of a beast in team comps.
It would be even better if it had Pirhana or Angry Lam on the mouth. This is the aqua beast I've been using for the last season or so. With Acrobatic it can speed up and go first on key turns, while generating a great combo of high attack power and solid defense.
Another important part of this Axie is Scarab's ability to shut down heals. If you don't have a Scarab on your team, it is easy to get stuck in lost endgames against "immortal" style Axies.
(3) Backline Cuckoo Fish
Most top triple aqua builds run a cuckoo fish that looks like this:
With strong attack power, decent defense, and the ability to speed up, this is a great endgame Axie. While it will struggle against strong plants and reptiles, it usually is able to close out endgames against just about anything else.
Budget Options
What about building on a budget? We all know that budget team building is a challenge in any game, but there are some good options.
Personally I have been using sticky goo fish in place of the Timber fish with good results. Timber fish are quite expensive and hard to come by, but there are a lot of sticky goo builds out there at reasonable prices.
Here's an example of my first sticky goo fish which I picked up for 0.014 ETH a week ago.
The attack power is a bit low, but it has great defense and outplay potential, energy generation, and speed-up power with Arco. I really like this Axie.
Testing Some Triple Aqua
So far in the offseason I have been floating between Top 5k and Top 100k rank depending on if I'm in a winning streak or having a bad session.
Top 5000 is pretty good with an off-meta build but I am still aiming higher, I would like to try and push this archetype to top 1000 at least before the next season if I can figure it out.
I have more thoughts on this team, but the post is getting a bit long. Let's wrap up with some games!
Triple Aqua Gameplay Session With Commentary
Here's a miniature session featuring some live gameplay with commentary. I go over my thought process on how to play Triple Aqua and explain the early, mid, and late game situations as we encounter them.
I hope this all helps you to understand the Triple Aqua playstyle. I'm planning on doing 1-2 more posts on this archetype before moving on to something else, and we will see if I can get that top 1000 rank.
This blog post is exclusive to Hive. Hope you enjoy. Let me know what kinds of teams you want me to explain for future posts in the comments -- I'm open to ideas, especially for unusual teams that haven't been explained by the biggest channels yet.