Aura Battles game guide: rules, moves, sauce, fighters and bosses

How to play Aura Battles: one leads, one answers, the bigger move takes the pot. The ante, sauce, ties, effects, the tutorial, the unlock road, fighters and their abilities, bosses, daily goals and titles.

Aura Battles is the live version of the street format: two 3D fighters, one pot of aura between them, and a move performed every round in front of whoever scanned the code. It takes two rules to explain — the bigger move wins, and you can always pass — and this page is everything else. Want the street version instead? See how aura battles work.

Your first minute: the tutorial

The first time you open the game, a coach walks you through a short 4-round battle. There's no clock, the coach tells you which move to play, and you win it. Then your first real match starts against the bot.

How a round works

1. The ante drops into the pot. Both fighters pay it, and both gain 1 sauce (you can hold 4).
2. One fighter LEADS: plays a move everyone can see, or passes.
3. The other ANSWERS with the lead already showing: a bigger move, the same size, or a pass.
4. The bigger move takes the pot. A move beats a pass. Same size: a tie, both antes go back. Two passes: nobody wins, both antes go back. The pot never carries into the next round. Lead and answer swap every round.

Moves cost 1 to 4 sauce, and the cost is the size. Passing pays +1 sauce and a new move, so passing is how you load up for a bigger round. Your set is 8 moves; you start with 4 ready and can hold 5. Played moves go to the back of your set and come round again.

Both fighters start with 4,000 aura. The ante grows every round (up to 2,250), so the match runs itself into an ending: when you can't cover the ante you're out, and the other fighter takes everything on the table. A match is about 15 rounds, two and a half minutes, and always ends with a knockout. You can't win more than you put in: with 200 aura left, the most one pot pays you is 400.

The clock. The leader gets eight seconds at the start and the answer six, tightening to five and four as the match goes on. If time runs out with a move picked, that move plays. If nothing is picked, you pass. No penalty screen.

Every move has an effect

Each move carries one effect, one line long. Twelve in all:

• FLOW: wins → +1 sauce. FRESH: a new move. REFUND: loses → sauce back.
• HYPE: counts one bigger when you lead. CLUTCH: wins ties. GIANT SLAYER: beats a massive, once per match.
• DRAIN: wins → they lose 1 sauce. BLOCK: wins → next round they can't play that size or smaller.
• BOOMERANG: comes straight back to ready. YOINK: wins → take one of their ready moves.
• REMIX: everyone's ready moves swap for new ones, and you get one extra. LOAD UP: costs nothing and counts as a pass, but beats a plain pass.

The unlock road

You don't get all twelve at once. Match 1 hands you six moves with three effects (FLOW, FRESH, REFUND). Every match after that hands you one new move with one new effect, so all twelve are awake by match 10, and your set reaches its full 8 by match 3. BUILD YOUR SET and daily goals open after match 4, and bosses after match 5.

The road screen shows everything you unlock, in order, with one NEXT and roughly how many battles away it is. Nothing on it runs out or expires.

A match is always played at the lower unlock stage of the two fighters (EVEN PLAY): effects you haven't met yet play as basic moves for both sides, so nobody gets out-gunned by someone who has simply played longer.

Fighters and their abilities

There are 24 named 3D fighters, and every fighter has its own ability — a small edge with its own one-line rule, shown before you pick. Every fighter also performs the moves in its own style.

Spike and Buns are free. You unlock the others with aura you farm by playing: the first costs 10,000 aura, and each one after that costs 5,000 more than the last (15,000, then 20,000, and so on). Fighters are never sold for real money.

Looks never change who wins. Auras, aura effects, colours, hats, glasses and apparel are pure flex. Rarer is never stronger. Preview anything on your own fighter before you spend (👁 = try it on). A few mythic auras also need a long record, not just aura.

Bosses

Bosses are named fighters played by the bot with one openly unfair rule, shown before the fight:

Each one opens after the one before is down. Taking a boss down pays once (1,500 aura for the first two, 3,000 for Blaze, 6,000 for Superchad), and each boss has three stars that pay 300 the first time. Retries are free and instant. Boss fights don't count toward your rating.

What you farm

A win pays around 1,100 aura, a loss around 300: it depends on the pot you scooped, the biggest pot, rounds survived and pots taken. Two numbers live on your profile:

• aura to spend: your wallet, for fighters and looks.
• lifetime aura: everything you have ever farmed. It never decreases, for any reason.

Lifetime aura sets your level, so your level never drops either. Each level up gives you 250 aura, and some levels change the colour of your name plate.

Daily goals: three at a time, 700 aura each. An unfinished goal waits for you; nothing expires and nothing counts days in a row. You get one free swap a day.

Titles

Your record earns titles, shown next to your handle ("armando_99 · the Fighter"): win your first battle, play 10 battles, take 100 pots, take down every boss, reach level 20, farm 100K lifetime aura and more than 30 others. Your profile shows every title with a progress bar. You choose which one to wear.

FIGHT NOW, friends and the crowd

FIGHT NOW: your first five matches are against the bot, straight away. After that it looks for a live fighter at your level for 8 seconds, then puts you against the bot. Every opponent is marked LIVE or BOT.

Play a friend gives you a six-character code and a QR; full steps in aura battles online with friends. Anyone with the code can watch. Spectators and fighters only send canned reactions — there is no free text, in either direction — and nothing a spectator does changes who takes the pot.

After the match, the result shows it round by round and renders a picture you can post from your phone. AGAIN starts the next one. Tactics live in how to win an aura battle.

Play. Free, no account, 13+.

FAQ

Is Aura Battles free?

Yes. Aura is earned by playing, can't be bought, sold or cashed out, and has no cash value.

Do fighters change who wins?

A little: every fighter has its own ability, and you unlock fighters with aura you farm by playing. Spike and Buns are free; the next costs 10,000 aura. Nothing is sold for money, and cosmetics (auras, effects, apparel) never change who wins.

How long does a match take?

About 15 rounds, two and a half minutes. The leader gets eight seconds to start and the answer six, tightening to five and four.

What happens if I run out of time?

If you picked a move, it plays. If you didn't, you pass: you lose the ante you already paid and get the +1 sauce and the new move, exactly as if you'd chosen to pass.

When do bosses unlock?

The first boss, Brock, opens after 5 battles. The road screen shows when the next one opens.

Can I play on a laptop?

Yes. It's the same screen in any browser: click a move to play it, or PASS.

Do I need an account?

No. Your fighter lives on your device. You can add an email and password later if you want to keep it.

keep reading