Summary
Similar to the idle genre, it’s somewhat surprising that people would be into auto battlers, and other similar genres that have automated mechanics for that matter. Who would’ve guessed that gamers would fall in love with games that, at least in part, play the game for them?
But hey, there must be something to this relatively new formula, since games as AFK as Cookie Clicker, or big titles with a mix of strategy and automation, like Teamfight Tactics, prove that through player retention, sales, and positive reviews. If you’re trying out auto battlers for the first time, or you’re looking for something new to play casually, you’re in the right place.
Traditionally, the elements of an auto battler are associated with rules and mechanics you’d find in Teamfight Tactics or Dota Auto Chess.
This article adopts a slightly looser definition of the auto battler genre, so you’ll see some games that have automated elements to them, but aren’texactlylike the aforementioned, traditional titles.
Updated on Jul 03, 2025, By Christopher Padilla:Easy to pick up, difficult to master, and even harder to put down; is it any wonder why new auto-battler games keep coming out? We’ve added some new entries, some of which fit the auto-battler mold and others that stretch the definition of one. We’ve also included a classic we missed the first time around.
Available Platforms
PC
Path of Achra is a roguelike in a swords-and-sandals world where you flee from rising tides as you fight increasingly difficult enemies. Amongtrue roguelikes (not roguelites), this game has the lowest barrier to entry. Simply pick a race, class, and god and then you’re off!
A self-proclaimed “broken build sandbox,” Path gives you the above options plus powers and randomly dropped gear and tasks you with picking combinations that devastate the battlefield. Though this sounds like a lot, most builds amount to holding down Tab (the attack-move button) and watching your synergies come to fruition. Or watch them fall apart and die, either way, restarting is quick and easy on the Path of Achra. Stopping, however, is its own ordeal.
PC, Android, iOS
Hearthstone Battlegrounds is Blizzard’s answer to Valve’s Dota Chess and Riot Games’ Team Fight Tactics is a part of Hearthstone, though it plays much differently from the rest of the game. Battlegrounds treads familiar ground: pick units (cards) from a semi-random poolfor maximum synergyand to combine copies into even badder versions.
The game differs from its contemporaries in an important way, however. At the beginning of a match, all players are assigned a random hero card with their own unique passive or active abilities, all of which can end up defining the way you play.
We’re stretching the definition of ‘auto-battler’ here, since Crop Rotation is a card-drafting farming game and there isn’t any ‘battle’ unless you count the battle against the debt on your newly-acquired farm machine. Nevertheless, the gameplay still has the hallmarks of the genre.
To play, you simply draft crops, place them in your inventory, and then start up your planting machine. After which crops are planted in available farm plots automatically. Much like other games in the genre, each crop has a unique ability and keywords. As you play unique crops with shared keywords, they give increasing bonuses.
2019
A fan-made project, Pokemon Auto Chess is an auto-battler in the same vein as Dota Auto Chess and TFT and plays quite similarly as the latter. If you’ve played any auto chess game, you get the idea: pick your units, match up synergies, combine duplicates into a stronger unit– but with a Pokemon twist.
For example, if you get three copies of a Pokemon,they actually evolveinto their next stage. Though the theming is strong throughout the game, it’s largely a similar experience save for the effects of the items and synergies being more unique. As a fan-project, the game isfree to play, and as such is a no-frills experience with plenty of heart.
Riot Games went out on a bit of a limb trying out this interesting auto battler mode built directly into the League of Legends client, but boy did that payoff. Countless updates and content additions later, and this game is still kicking; maybe it helps to ‘de-tilt’ the MOBA playerbase?
If you’re pretty new to TFT, it might just look like buying champions, placing them on the battlefield, grabbing items on the way, and leaving fate to whether you win or lose, but there’s more to it than that.
If you’re curious, you can check out ourcomplete beginners guide to TFT, orhow to level up your champions optimally.
Super Auto Pets is a relatively simple game, both in graphics and gameplay, but there’s plenty of nuance and strategy to be found as you build your own roster from a wide variety of animals, each with their own unique mechanics, strengths, and weaknesses, and pit them against another player.
The basic gameplay loop involves a shop scene where you can buy items and animals, upgrade animals by combining them if they’re the same type, and change the positioning of your roster. After that, you and another player watch in anticipation to see who has the better setup. Aside from that, you play until you run out of health, or win ten battles total.
Just King is more of a mix of the auto battler and roguelike genres, but rest assured, you don’t have to do much battling, just moving; you play as a king that hires heroes to protect him, which shoot projectiles and fight for you when enemies are close enough.
You can hire up to four heroes to protect you, picking from an impressive pool of 33 heroes total. As you play, you’ll be able to upgrade your heroes with loot you find or buy, and discover powerful synergies between two or more of them to help you get farther in future runs.
PC, Android, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Despot’s Game is a neat combination of the RPG and auto-battler genres, tasking you with taking a group of humans that start with absolutely nothing, augmenting them with perks and gear, and discovering the most effective playstyles, strategies, and unit compositions.
From wizards and cultists, to stale pretzel throwers, there are plenty of classes and compositions to play around with, some goofier than others. Perhaps the coolest part of this game is that, if you end up surviving the randomly generated, PvE labyrinth, you’ll be pitted against another player’s winning team.
Despite the cute name, Buggos can be an intense game with auto battler, colony simulation, and city builder elements. Heck, it even has a mutation tree that feels somewhat similar, in terms of scale, to Path of Exile’s massive passive skills tree, offering over 100 ways to evolve your bug swarm.
Buggos has a campaign offering 54 missions, which get gradually harder, a survival mode where you fight against humans until you get overwhelmed, and an in-game level editor, which allows you to share levels with the community, test out strategies, or challenge your friends.
June 03, 2025
PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
Warpips' gameplay is centered around macro mechanics that are easy to learn, but hard to master. Whether in campaign or skirmish mode, the game plops you onto a horizontal battlefield where you summon infantry, vehicles, aircraft, or tactical strikes against an enemy AI.
Battles can last anywhere from ten to 20 minutes, and thanks to dynamic AI, unit synergies, a fully unlockable upgrade tree, and plenty of other factors, every battle feels a bit different. If this game seems like it’s worth a try, you can usually grab it for just a few bucks during a sale.
