Axie Infinity is an arguably amazing game with a great range of features that make it appealing to a wide range of audiences. Perhaps the most attractive feature of Axie Infinity is its 'play-to-earn' mechanism, one that has recently broken the gaming industry where the majority of popular games require players to pay to play, rather than the other way around in this revolutionary mechanism. For most beginners within Axie Infinity, income would come in the form of the in-game token of Axie Infinity Smooth Love Potion (SLP) that maintains the game's ecosystem. They would play to game with its according rules, battling either in adventure or arena mode to earn SLP for every win, additional SLP earned by completing the daily quests. However, there is a potentially more yielding option for earning on Axie Infinity: breeding. Breeding is a complex feature within Axie Infinity, though one strategy does appear to stand out in producing the most with three Axies: the ABC method.
The ABC Method
The ABC method can be summarised as follows: 'breed with uncles/aunts and grandparents but not siblings and parents.' This essentially means that the breeding loop created by breeding with three Axies is formed by having each breeding pair breed twice with the new generation created breeding with unrelated breeding partners. It is better shown with a diagram, an example of one shown below.
The method begins by choosing three Axies for breeding. It is recommended that high purity Axies are chosen for this breeding method, especially since the following generations with be used to form the loop. The ABC method best works with pure Axies and If the following generations have a poor purity, then the loop breaks and the ABC method no longer becomes effective for ongoing losses. Note that 100% pure Axies are unnecessary since there is little difference in the results between such Axies and slightly less pure Axies, additional savings are also associated with going less unpure.
The beginning Axies also need to have their breed count recognised since high breed counts will have high breeding prices that may be unprofitable, particularly in the time where AXS is in the midst of a bullish run. With AXS going for around $50 at the time of writing and breeding costing 4 AXS, breeding one Axie equates to around $200, not considering the SLP price as well which would play a significant part as well. The breeding count prices in SLP is shown below. This would only be for one Axie, the breeding count SLP prices combining for two Axies and stacking at every count.
Once the three Axies have been decided for breeding within the ABC method, it is a good idea to create a flow diagram of the Axies demonstrating how the breeding farm will work. Since the ABC method is relatively sophisticated, it may lead to making the wrong breeding decisions that can break up the breeding cycle. Naming Axies to their generation and generation number would be a good idea in keeping track of what is going on within the breeding farm that can also become recorded within the flow diagram created.
The ABC method breeding loop then starts as follows:
1 . The first generation will have two Axies breed with each other twice for two children. Note that the egg hatching time is 5 days.
2 . Once the eggs have hatched, the third Axie of the first generation will breed with one of the children to produce another two Axies.
3 . Once those two new Axie eggs have hatched, one of those will breed with the second generation Axie that was left out, creating another two Axies.
4 . Repeat steps 2-3 for the breeding loop to occur.
Note that grandparents can be bred, which was not mentioned within the step procedure. However, this can result in complicating the loop and creating issues within the chain.
The Weakness Of The ABC Method: Genetics
Theoretically speaking, the ABC method would arguably be the best breeding farm method for Axie Infinity, printing Axies forever. However, there is one significant factor that is prevently this infinite loop: genetics.
For every breed between two Axies, genes are mixed up between the two. That means that the Axie children will become determined by their parents from the genes that they contain. Such genes come in the form of dominant (D), recessive (R1) and minor recessive (R2) with respective chances to pass that gene to the offspring as 37.5%, 9.375% and 3.125%. The chance of carrying genes from one Axie to the next becomes more and more likely to be negative towards the Axie as time goes since each generation will have more and more chances of carrying 'bad genes.' There is also the chance for mutations for each breed, making random genes for a breed, which is why purebred Axies will never consisting give purebred Axie children. The chance for mutations of genes are as follows:
- 0 mutations - 28.24%
- 1 mutation - 37.66%
- 2 mutations - 23.01%
- 3 mutations - 8.523%
- 4 mutations - 2.131%
- 5 mutations - 0.379%
- 6 mutations - 0.049%
One good method to produce the potential Axies bred for a pair of Axies can be found within AxieZone's breeding simulator. It also presents the odds of producing certain parts for the children Axies, which is useful in considering the chances of having what moves for the children Axie. An example is shown below and the simulator can be visited here: https://axie.zone/breeding-simulator.
Eventually, the breeding loop may have its genetics too mixed up for profitable generations, and at this time it would be best if all the Axies were sold and a clean, new generation was begun. This can be called a 'full-house' sell, the whole house of the ABC method Axies leaving for room of a new set of pure-bred ones.