Best Auto Battler Games

The auto battler genre has seen many clones, offshoots, and hybrids since the original launch of the Dota 2 custom game, Auto Chess. Although Auto Chess may not have been the first game to use the mechanics synonymous with auto battlers, it's arguably responsible for inspiring the abundance of games to follow in its footsteps.

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For those uninitiated, the gameplay of an auto battler is commonly divided into two phases: a shop phase, during which players craft and modify their team (often while managing their economy), and an action phase, during which the game's combat takes place automatically. These two phases are repeatedly played out until the player either loses or wins. In the case of PvP auto battlers, the gameplay usually remains the same, but often includes an interesting twist, such as Teamfight Tactics augments. In the case of PvE auto battlers, however, games often include a form of progression.

Updated December 12, 2024, by Harry Ted Sprinks: The auto battler genre has continued to be expanded and iterated upon, with smaller developers consistently producing high-quality, polished titles that innovate on the genre and carry it further from its PvP origins and deeper into the world of singleplayer games. Fresh auto battler experiences like Hadean Tactics (PvE) and Mechabellum (PvP) have kept the genre alive through clever twists and designs, becoming the new standard rather than a carbon copy of what came before. Even smaller games, such as Necroking and the upcoming He Is Coming give players unique auto battler experiences, years after the genre's popularity peaked.

17 Special Mention - He Is Coming (Demo)

A Simple But Satisfying Loop With An Elegant Design

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2025
• Developer(s): Chronocle

Already featuring a variety of bosses and items even in its current state as a public demo, He Is Coming is a promising indie auto battler with a minimalist art-style and an elegant design. The game tasks players with navigating a grid-based map similar to a traditional roguelike, exploring in order to discover valuable items.

Every three days, a new boss arrives and attempts to kill the player. However, He Is Coming is able to combat frustration by telegraphing which boss is on its way, allowing players to prepare themselves appropriately.

16 Automon

Auto-Battling Pokemon

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2022
• Developer(s): Gral Games

Using a combination of charming pixel art graphics and idle combat, Automon distills the mechanics of the auto battler to create a fast-paced game that focuses more on the strategic decisions of building and managing a team rather than trying to add depth to the decisions made in combat.

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Automon riffs on and parodies Pokemon to fantastic effect, capturing the spirit of building a team of strange creatures and combining that with the synergy system present in most auto-battlers to create a unique, addictive blend.

15 Team Fight Tactics

An Auto Chess-Inspired PvP Auto Battler

Likely one of the most played auto battlers due to its position as a game mode of the popular game, League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics follows the suit of Auto Chess with its focus on strategizing over a team's formation and building up synergies to achieve game-changing effects.

An aspect that could be attributed to TFT's success is its ability to freshen the game mode with every new season; changing augments, adding mechanics, and switching around classes and characters. While Auto Chess does this, too, it could be argued that TFT's creativity in its updates has helped to maintain its higher player base.

14 Gladiator Guild Manager

Auto Battler Action Meets Gladiator Management

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2021
• Developer(s): Entertainment Forge

This gladiator management game takes place in a fantasy setting and features a cartoon aesthetic. Gladiator Guild Manager tasks players with running a team of gladiators and leveling them up to take on bigger, tougher tournaments.

Gladiator Guild Manager combines auto-battling action with management game mechanics, tasking players with managing their finances and resources outside of combat, as well as managing their team's equipment. Gladiator Guild Manager can get a little repetitive, but it manages to be a distinctive auto-battler experience.

13 Backpack Battles

An Inventory-Management Auto-Battler

This inventive auto-battler combines elements of games such as Super Auto Pets and Backpack Hero, offering a unique experience that makes the shopping section of the game even more strategic. Furthermore, the game features a crafting element that adds a layer of depth to the gameplay and encourages players to experiment to find new recipes.

Backpack Battles is all about inventory management, trying to make room for as many items as possible in a limited amount of space. Often, the game plays like classic inventory-Tetris, but players are also able to expand their inventory and even rotate new inventory slots to make more room for themselves. Adding extra replay value is the variety of classes, each of which brings its unique strengths to the table.

12 Tales & Tactics

An RPG-Style Auto Battler

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2023
• Developer(s): Table 9 Studio

Combining auto-battling gameplay with RPG elements, Tales & Tactics stands out with its colorful NPCs and fun interactions, as well as its lack of grinding through meta-progression. Rather than having players increase their stats over time, Tales & Tactics has players unlock new possibilities for future runs, much like in games such as The Binding Of Isaac and Slay The Spire.

Although Tales & Tactics features similar gameplay to games like The Last Flame, which combines Teamfight Tactics with the roguelike genre, Tales & Tactics' skill-based meta-progression and unique charms help to distinguish it from its contemporaries.

11 Despot's Game

An Army-Building Auto Battler Dungeon Crawl

Despot's Game is an auto battler rogue-like that sees players build not a squad, but an army of "puny humans," and lead them through procedural dungeons. Throughout a run, players can transform their basic units into several different classes; wizards, cultists, ninjas, and even pretzel throwers.

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The game also includes a class-combo system that works much like the synergy system in games like Teamfight Tactics, as well as a perk system that adds an extra layer of strategy and adds to the game's replay value.

10 The Last Flame

Teamfight Tactics With A Roguelike Twist

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2024
• Developer(s): Hotloop

This game plays very similarly to Teamfight Tactics but is designed as a single-player game. The Last Flame is structured like a modern-day roguelike, with a Slay The Spire style map for players to progress through, fighting various enemies and mini-bosses until they reach and defeat the boss.

The Last Flame is currently in Early Access, but it's still receiving regular updates and, at the time of writing, maintains a "Very Positive" user rating on Steam. Although the visuals are highly reminiscent of Teamfight Tactics, the game has a handful of unique mechanics up its sleeve that help to distinguish it from the crowd.

9 Mechanibot

Tower Defense Meets Auto Battler

This game takes the strategic choices of the auto-battler genre, combines them with those of the tower defense genre, and mixes all of that with light micromanagement to create action-packed, chaotic gameplay that manages to remain strategic through its shops and the decisions players make within.

Mechanibot puts players in control of a character and allows them to move around the map and pick up and move their auto-battling towers, adding an extra layer of interactivity that is lacking in certain auto-battler games by turning tactical unit positioning into a challenge.

8 Necroking

An Accessible But Tactical Auto Battler With Deck-Building Elements

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2024
• Developer(s): KORO GAMES

Necroking is a simple and easy-to-learn auto battler with a dark, rich atmosphere and crunchy pixel-art. The game's visual style and accessible gameplay are easily among its greatest strengths, allowing players to pick up and play with relative ease.

However, it's far from a shallow experience. In the game, players build a deck of minions and strategically place them in one of four areas in battle. These battles are broken up by tile-based exploration, and the game even features boss fights that inject some much-needed variety.