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Gunslinger buy

Cortex Pond build order · Supreme Isthmus

Pond buys Gunslingers from Tech from around 4:40, paying heavily for them, sending the skirmish bots to fight in the middle and later building its own Bot Lab for Ticks and Blitz.

#push #team support · 82 distinct matches · 14 players · 11% of Cortex Pond games · team won 59% of 82 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • GunslingerGunslinger from Tech arrives 4:38 · 10% of role by thenTech makes it and hands it over.
  • Bot LabBot Lab in 43%15% of all Pond games by then

Paid for by sending allies about 820 metal and 20,000 energy by 5:00; standard pond sends 110 metal and 9,250 energy.

Where those units first fight, in 81 games with kill data: in the middle 94%, on their own side 6%.

Those units destroy a typical 2,454 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into tick (18% of army), blitz (11% of army), Armageddon (11% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Gunslinger handed over by 4:44

  1. Build heavy tidal and wind eco before any lab of your own.
  2. Take Gunslinger skirmish bots handed over by Tech.
  3. Send Gunslingers to the middle as skirmish support for front.
  4. Send Tech metal and energy, 872 metal and 20345 energy, to pay for it.
  5. Put up your own bot lab late for the Tick/Grunt transition.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 82 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD POND
  1. 1
  2. 2
PLAY THE OPENING

Follow the example game's first 6:00 step by step: what to build now, what comes next, and where it goes. At 1× it keeps pace with your own game.

  1. 1

    Up to 5:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor4Mex
    • Wind Turbine9Wind
    • Tidal Generator8Tidalfor allies
    • Tidal Generator2Tidal
    • Energy Converter1Converter
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage

    Some games also: con turret (45%)

    By 5:00 in all: 4 mex · 9 wind · 2 tidal · 1 converter · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 4 steps
    1. Tidal ×8for Front
    2. Tidal ×4
    3. Mex ×4
    4. Mexfor Suicide front
  2. 2

    5:00 to Bot Lab

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine3Wind+3 vs standard
    Order
    1. Bot LabBot Lab after 4 mex, 14 wind, 3 converterdone ~10:24, middle half 9:16–11:41

    Some games also: con turret (48%) · wind (48%) · Thistle (43%) · Guard (37%)

    The standard build makes here, this one skips: 17 wind · 4 converter

    By 10:07 in all: 4 mex · 13 wind (standard 25) · 8 wind (standard 0) · 2 tidal · 1 converter (standard 6) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 28 steps
    1. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 9:11 · typical 9:16
    2. Tidal
    3. Wind ×6
    4. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    5. Wind ×2
    6. Bot LabBot Labdone 10:58 · typical 10:24
    7. Mex
    8. LazarusLazarus ×6
    9. GruntGrunt
    10. Wind
    11. GruntGrunt
    12. LazarusLazarus
    13. GlaucusGlaucus
    14. Wind
    15. BlitzBlitz
    16. LazarusLazarus
    17. Wind
    18. Mex
    19. BlitzBlitz
    20. Wind
    21. LazarusLazarus
    22. Wind
    23. BlitzBlitz
    24. GlaucusGlaucus
    25. LazarusLazarus
    26. GlaucusGlaucus
    27. Wind
    28. BlitzBlitz

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is GoldReasons's (32 OS, 19/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Tidal Generator8 Tidal to Suicide front or Frontfirst at 0:19 · in 99% of games

You get

  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Geo or Tech or Suicide frontfirst at 2:32 · in 52% of games
  • Hercules1 Light transport from Air or Techfirst at 4:24 · in 38% of games
  • Gunslinger1 Gunslinger from Techfirst at 4:38 · in 100% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 7:49 · in 99% of games

How it plays out

Typical game of this build against the role’s standard build, running totals by minute

  • This build
  • Standard pond

Metal produced

010k20k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

02k4k6k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

02k4k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Metal sent to allies

01k2k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Energy sent to allies

050k100k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

82 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildMetal produced: Standard pondEnemy metal destroyed: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: Standard pondOwn metal lost: This buildOwn metal lost: Standard pondMetal sent to allies: This buildMetal sent to allies: Standard pondEnergy sent to allies: This buildEnergy sent to allies: Standard pond
1:001151150000001760995
2:0027725900000037422293
3:008157370000110061034418
4:001495140900005720114756407
5:00218021300000823113195719254
6:002884294920900011163962762611850
7:00366838291080021014374393511913906
8:00443849051668542648616464504763817174
9:0053376290225022065018917274535641521198
10:0066917724272135073864018184536345522545
11:0083959878301371498783618814686947825778
12:001032612181368011401269103218974827317927224
13:001256414534379415711960166119464827788032595
14:001493916881475617972609199519625298246637744
15:001686219361557226323292296819625329490341136
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won slightly more often than the standard build with the highest kill-to-loss gap of the three buys by 15:00.

  • + Own metal lost stayed low, 779 by 10:00 vs 755 standard, tightest of the three.
  • + Destroyed 4935 enemy metal by 15:00 vs 3127 for the standard build.
  • − Still a rare line: only 9% of role games buy this early by 4:37.
  • − Metal produced by 15:00 trailed standard, 15981 vs 19066.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

GoldReasons

31.9 OS · 19/09/2026

Open source match ↗

6 received units · includes a constructor
119 metal received · 9943 energy received

Allied construction assistance is unknown. Timings are observations, not a promise of solo reproducibility.

Typical milestones

Advanced Metal Extractor9:16Middle 50%: 8:30–10:07 · n=78
Bot Lab10:24Middle 50%: 9:16–11:41 · n=41

Played most by

Boozha39games of this buildDeathkebab28games of this buildDontStreamSnipeMeBro3games of this buildGoldReasons2games of this build[NWP]Kadafi9231game of this build