Commander Mode in Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road looks like a dream feature on paper: flip a switch and let matches play out automatically while you watch “like a real manager.” In practice, many players discover that the AI struggles to score, mismanages Tension, and can even lose to teams far below their own level.
The system is still worth understanding and using, especially for grinding XP and Bond Stars. It just behaves very differently from a human-controlled team and is tuned around specific design goals.
What Commander Mode actually does
Commander Mode is described in the game’s Competition Mode overview as a way to let matches “play out automatically” while you watch from broadcast-style camera angles. Under the hood, the game AI takes over:
| Area | What Commander Mode Controls | What You Still Control |
|---|---|---|
| On‑ball actions | Movement, passes, dribbles, shots, Focus Battle choices | Nothing in full-auto; in hybrid use, you can take back manual control |
| Off‑ball behavior | Positioning, pressing, retreating, marking decisions | Pre‑match formation and roles |
| Tension & Special Moves | When to spend Tension on Special Moves in Focus, Zone, and Keeper actions | Indirectly, via team build and Tension-generation passives |
| Keeper Power | Which catch or block to use in Zones, when to commit the goalkeeper | Keeper’s techniques, passives, and equipment you set beforehand |
| Match pacing | When to push up, when to sit deep, when to stall | Whether to call Commander Mode on or off mid‑match |
In Competition Mode, you toggle Commander Mode with the input shown near the bottom left of the screen during a match. In online Ranked, this can be used as a semi-AFK option: once enabled, the AI plays, and you only need to tap through halftime and post‑match screens.
Why Commander Mode feels so weak
The most common complaints are consistent:
- AI defenders back away from the ball instead of pressing.
- The team loses most Focus Battles and Tension duels.
- Even heavily overleveled squads barely score against weak opposition.
- Story and Chronicle matches that are trivial in manual control become coin flips or outright losses.
That behaviour is not a bug in the conventional sense; it is how the mode is tuned. Several design choices come together to make Commander Mode conservative and inefficient.
| Design Choice | Effect on Commander Mode |
|---|---|
| Emphasis on “you still have to play” | AI is not meant to win hard matches on its own, even with higher levels. |
| Safety‑first defensive logic | AI often drops off instead of pressing, which looks like “backing away.” |
| Simple Focus heuristics | AI does not exploit nuanced AT/DF matchups, so it loses winnable duels. |
| Tension spending rules | AI either hoards Tension or spends it on low‑impact moves, weakening offense. |
| Equalizing logic vs. CPU difficulty | Story/Chronicle CPU teams are tuned to be beatable by humans, not by passive AI-on-AI. |
In practice, that means a human player who can win 5–0 by halftime will often see Commander Mode struggle to score even once with the same lineup. This gap persists even when your team is far above the opponent in level.
Where Commander Mode actually works well
Despite its poor reputation, Commander Mode is useful in a few clear scenarios.
XP and Bond Star farming in Ranked
Online Ranked matches are the most efficient source of XP in the game. Each match:
- Grants large amounts of XP to all participating players.
- Gives a flat number of Bond Stars regardless of win, loss, or draw.
- Applies an XP bonus when you face higher-level opponents.
During Ranked matches, you can activate Commander Mode and let the AI handle most of the play. A common pattern is:
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | From the main menu, enter Competition Mode and then Compete Online (Ranked Match). |
| 2 | Start the match and immediately toggle Commander Mode once the game allows it. |
| 3 | Optionally intervene in key Focus Battles or Zones if you want to secure a win. |
| 4 | At halftime, press the button prompts to proceed; then step away again. |
| 5 | Collect XP, Bond Stars, and Spirits at full time. |
Because XP does not depend on you being in manual control, Commander Mode becomes a semi-AFK grinder. You will lose more often than if you played manually, but the rewards still arrive, and wins are not required for Bond Stars at all.
Commander Mode in Chronicle and Story
In Story and Chronicle Modes, Commander Mode is present, but the incentives are different.
- Story’s key matches and Friendly Matches are designed to be played manually. Auto-running them is possible but unreliable, even when you drastically outlevel the opposition.
- Chronicle’s long grind of matches can be made more tolerable by letting Commander Mode handle weaker matches or early halves while you step away.
A hybrid approach is far safer than full automation:
- Play the first 10–15 in‑game minutes manually, aim to secure a two-goal lead.
- Switch to Commander Mode for the rest of the half or match.
- If your AI lets the opponent come back, take over again late in the second half.
Players who follow that pattern often treat Commander Mode less as a way to win and more as a way to skip dead time in blowouts or low-risk matches.
How team building affects Commander Mode
Commander Mode’s behaviour is fixed, but the tools you hand it are not. The AI performs noticeably better when the squad is built with clear roles and simple, high-value options.
| Build Area | What Helps the AI | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Player stats | High Defense on defenders, high Attack on forwards, strong Stamina. | AI relies on raw AT/DF checks in Focus Battles; stat advantage compensates for poor choices. |
| Hissatsu selection | Few but strong techniques that match the player’s position (blocks on defenders, shots on strikers). | Reduces the chance the AI chooses weak or inappropriate moves. |
| Hyper Power-Ups | Keshin, Armourfy, Miximax, Totem, Bond Transform, Awakening that directly improve duels or shots. | Commander Mode can trigger these; strong forms raise the floor of its decisions. |
| Abilearn Board | Paths that raise core combat stats and unlock reliable techniques early on each tree. | Makes every Focus interaction more forgiving for the AI. |
| Team Passives | Passives that increase Tension gain, Focus performance, or Keeper Power management. | AI mishandles resources less when the underlying numbers are skewed in its favor. |
Players report that some characters “click” better with the AI than others, often because their default Abilearn paths and technique slots are straightforward. In contrast, experimental builds—goalkeepers turned into forwards, or defenders without block slots—tend to leave Commander Mode flailing.
Using Commander Mode to farm Custom Passives
At higher levels, Custom Passives become one of the most valuable long-term rewards, and Commander Mode can help there, too.
- Once a character reaches Level 50, their Abilearn Board unlocks a final node: the Custom Passive Slot.
- Custom Passives themselves drop from winning Free Matches on Legendary Hero difficulty in Competition Mode.
- Legendary Hero teams are built entirely from Legendary characters at level 70+, so they are much tougher than regular opponents.
To farm Custom Passives:
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | From the main menu, open Competition Mode. |
| 2 | Select Free Match. |
| 3 | Choose an opponent and set the difficulty to Legendary Hero. |
| 4 | Play and win the match to receive a random bundle of Custom Passives. |
Commander Mode has a limited role here. Skilled players can beat Legendary Hero teams manually even below level 70, but the AI generally cannot. If you want to use Commander Mode in these matches, your team needs to be close in level and heavily optimized; otherwise, stick to manual control and reserve Commander Mode for lower difficulties and Ranked farming.
Once earned, Custom Passives are slotted like this:
- Go to the Team Dock in Chronicle or Competition Mode.
- Select a Level 50+ character and open their Abilearn Board.
- Navigate to the final node (Custom Passive Slot) and equip one of your unlocked Custom Passives.
Custom Passives can be swapped freely with no loss, so you can reconfigure builds as your team evolves.
Why Commander Mode is limited even offline
One recurring question is why Commander Mode remains intentionally weak in single-player modes, where player advantage would not harm anyone else’s experience.
Two factors drive that restraint:
- Retention of match tension. Story and Chronicle Mode revolve around dramatic matches and player-controlled comebacks. An auto-win button, even offline, would undercut that structure.
- Shared logic across modes. Commander Mode logic is shared between offline and online competitions. If it were strong enough to steamroll Chronicle, it would also trivialize many online matchups unless separate rules were maintained.
The result is an AI that is deliberately incapable of carrying you through tough fixtures. It is a tool for automation and grinding, not a replacement for learning the match system.
Used with realistic expectations, Commander Mode still has a place in Victory Road: offloading routine grinding, padding out match quotas while you focus on team building, and occasionally running lower-stakes matches in Chronicle. It will not win your hardest games, and it will often look clueless, but once you build around its limitations and keep a finger on the manual override, it becomes another layer of the game’s long-term loop rather than a shortcut that never quite works.
