Axie battles are full of excitement and thrills, thanks to RNG or randomly generated mechanics such as critical attacks. In a close match, luck may play a huge role in deciding who will be victorious.
One such mechanic is Last Stand, which allows a dying Axie to perform a few more moves before actually collapsing.
In this guide, we’ll discuss in detail how it works and how you can use this knowledge to your advantage and prevent enemy Axies from entering Last Stand.
What is Last Stand in Axie Infinity?
When an Axie receives a fatal blow (i.e. an attack that reduces its HP to 0), it has a chance to enter Last Stand.
When an Axie enters Last Stand, it will have a chance to perform a few more card moves before it finally dies and gets removed from the match.
Last Stand is indicated by a red burning flame effect around the Axie. The Axie will also have 1-3 red bars above it, indicating how many Last Stand ticks it has.
Here’s an example of a very tight match where Axies on both teams took turns in entering Last Stand.
When does an Axie enter Last Stand?
To determine if an Axie will enter Last Stand, the game uses the following formulas:
- Excess Damage = Damage of fatal attack – Axie’s remaining HP
- Morale Modifier = (Axie’s remaining HP * Morale) / 100
If Morale Modifier is greater than Excess Damage on the finishing blow, then the Axie will enter Last Stand.
Basically, the Last Stand formula tells us three things:
- The higher Morale an Axie has, the higher its chance to enter Last Stand
- When receiving a finishing blow, the closer the Axie’s HP is to zero, the lesser its chances to enter Last Stand
- The higher the damage of the finishing attack, the lesser the chance for the dying target to enter Last Stand
Here’s a sample exercise. Will your Axie enter Last Stand or not?
- Your Beast Axie has 61 Morale and 110 remaining HP
- The Enemy Axie attacks your Beast Axie with a fatal blow of 160 Damage
Let’s use the formula to see if your Axie survives for a Last Stand round:
- Excess Damage = 160 – 100 = 60
- Morale Modifier = (100 * 61) / 100 = 61
Since Morale Modifier is higher than Excess Damage for 1 point, then that is just enough for your Beast Axie to enter Last Stand.
How to increase the chances for an Axie to enter Last Stand
The higher the Morale stat of an Axie is, the higher its chances to enter Last Stand before it dies.
(Related Guide: What is Morale in Axie Infinity?)
In the example scenario above, if your Beast Axie only had 57 Morale instead of 61, he wouldn’t have entered Last Stand after taking the final damage.
This is a good example of how a few points in a stat attribute matters, and why purer Axies are generally better and more valuable.
Beast and Bug type Axies tend to have higher Morale, as their base stats start with high Morale.
Their body parts also give out +3 Morale, so the purer they are, the more chances they have of entering Last Stand.
How to prevent enemies from entering Last Stand
The formula for Last Stand above should now give us an idea how to prevent enemies from entering it and secure a victory.
To prevent enemies from entering Last Stand, try to put your enemy’s target as close to zero (0) as possible before landing your finishing blow.
Also, do your best to order your cards correctly so that the finishing blow will deal a huge amount of damage.
This will reduce the chances of the enemy Axie to enter Last Stand, especially if it is an Axie class with high Morale such as Beasts or Bugs.
Another method is to use cards with effects that prevent an enemy from entering Last Stand. More on this on the next section!
Cards that have Last Stand effects
Here are the list of all card abilities in Axie Infinity that affects Last Stand:
- Hero’s Bane — End target’s Last Stand
- Star Shuriken — Target cannot enter Last Stand if this card brings its HP to zero
- Scale Dart — Draw a card if target is in Last Stand
- Revenge Arrow — Deal 150% damage if this Axie is in Last Stand
- Nitro Leap — Always strike first if this Axie is in last Stand
- Rampant Howl — Apply Morale+ to your team for 2 rounds if this Axie attacks while in Last Stand
- Puffy Smack — Skip targets that are in Last Stand
- Grub Explode — Deal 200% damage when attacking in Last Stand. Axie’s Last Stand ends after it attacks
