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Pond / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

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 · 89 distinct matches · 14 players · 12% of Cortex Pond games · team won 58% of 89 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • GunslingerGunslinger from Tech arrives 4:41 · 11% of role by thenTech makes it and hands it over.
  • Bot LabBot Lab in 45%15% of all Pond games by then

Paid for by sending allies about 830 metal and 19,000 energy by 5:00; standard pond sends 110 metal and 9,250 energy.

Where those units first fight, in 88 games with kill data: in the middle 92%, on their own side 7%.

Those units destroy a typical 2,162 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into tick (19% of army), blitz (11% of army), Armageddon (10% 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 89 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 Turbine10Wind+3 vs standard
    • Tidal Generator8Tidalfor allies
    • Tidal Generator2Tidal
    • Energy Converter1Converter
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage

    Some games also: con turret (43%)

    By 5:00 in all: 4 mex · 10 wind (standard 7) · 2 tidal · 1 converter · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 7 steps
    1. Tidal ×8for Front
    2. Tidal ×2
    3. Mex ×4
    4. Wind ×8
    5. Energy storage
    6. Converter ×4
    7. Wind ×5
  2. 2

    5:00 to Bot Lab

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine1Wind−17 vs standard
    Order
    1. Bot LabBot Lab after 4 mex, 18 wind, 3 converterdone ~10:13, middle half 9:07–11:11

    Some games also: wind (47%) · con turret (44%) · Thistle (38%) · Guard (33%)

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

    By 10:02 in all: 4 mex · 14 wind (standard 25) · 2 tidal · 1 converter (standard 6) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 169 steps
    1. Wind ×19
    2. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 7:56 · typical 9:16
    3. Wind ×9
    4. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    5. Converter
    6. Bot LabBot Labnot finished by 15:00 · typical 10:13
    7. Converter ×2
    8. Bot LabBot Labdone 8:58
    9. Converter ×2
    10. Construction BotCon bot
    11. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    12. Converter
    13. Construction BotCon bot
    14. Converter ×2
    15. Construction BotCon bot
    16. Con turret
    17. TickTick ×2
    18. Tidal
    19. TickTick
    20. Tidal
    21. TickTick
    22. Con turret
    23. TickTick
    24. Tidal
    25. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    26. TickTick
    27. Tidal
    28. TickTick ×3
    29. Tidal
    30. TickTick ×4
    31. Tidal
    32. TickTick ×3
    33. Wind
    34. TickTick ×3
    35. Wind
    36. TickTick
    37. Tidal
    38. TickTick ×3
    39. Wind
    40. TickTick
    41. Tidal
    42. TickTick ×3
    43. Wind
    44. TickTick
    45. Tidal
    46. TickTick ×2
    47. Wind
    48. TickTick ×2
    49. Tidal
    50. TickTick
    51. Wind
    52. TickTick ×4
    53. Tidal
    54. Wind
    55. TickTick ×2
    56. T2 converter
    57. TickTick ×2
    58. Tidal
    59. Wind
    60. TickTick
    61. Construction BotCon bot
    62. Tidal
    63. Wind
    64. TickTick
    65. Tidal
    66. TickTick
    67. Wind
    68. Con turret
    69. Twin GuardTwin Guard
    70. TickTick
    71. Wind
    72. Tidal
    73. TickTick
    74. Con turret
    75. TickTick
    76. Wind
    77. Tidal
    78. TickTick ×2
    79. Con turret
    80. Tidal
    81. Wind
    82. TickTick
    83. Twin GuardTwin Guard
    84. TickTick
    85. Tidal
    86. TickTick
    87. Wind
    88. Con turret
    89. TickTick
    90. Tidal
    91. TickTick
    92. Wind
    93. TickTick
    94. Advanced Bot LabAdvanced Bot Labdone 13:09
    95. TickTick
    96. Tidal
    97. Wind
    98. TickTick
    99. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    100. TickTick
    101. Wind
    102. Tidal
    103. Twin GuardTwin Guard
    104. TickTick
    105. Wind
    106. Tidal
    107. TickTick
    108. SmugglerJammer bot
    109. TickTick
    110. Wind
    111. CompassRadar bot
    112. TickTick
    113. Tidal
    114. SmugglerJammer bot
    115. TickTick
    116. Wind
    117. TickTick
    118. SharpshooterSniper botfor Suicide frontdone 13:37
    119. TickTick
    120. Wind
    121. Twin GuardTwin Guard
    122. TickTick ×2
    123. Wind
    124. Tidal
    125. SharpshooterSniper botfor Suicide front
    126. TickTick ×2
    127. Wind
    128. Tidal
    129. Twin GuardTwin Guard
    130. TickTick
    131. Wind
    132. SharpshooterSniper botfor Suicide front
    133. Tidal
    134. TickTick
    135. Wind
    136. Tidal
    137. TickTick
    138. Wind
    139. TickTick
    140. Tidal
    141. SharpshooterSniper bot
    142. Advanced Construction BotT2 con bot
    143. TickTick
    144. Wind
    145. Con turret
    146. TickTick
    147. Tidal
    148. Wind
    149. Con turret
    150. TickTick
    151. Con turret
    152. TickTick
    153. Tidal
    154. Wind
    155. SharpshooterSniper bot
    156. TickTick ×2
    157. Wind
    158. Tidal
    159. TickTick
    160. Wind
    161. TickTick
    162. SharpshooterSniper bot
    163. Tidal
    164. TickTick
    165. Wind
    166. TickTick
    167. Tidal
    168. WelderWelder
    169. TickTick

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Deathkebab's (36 OS, 14/10/2026); 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 Techfirst at 2:32 · in 51% of games
  • Hercules1 Light transport from Air or Techfirst at 4:24 · in 39% of games
  • Gunslinger1 Gunslinger from Techfirst at 4:42 · in 100% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 7:48 · 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

01k2k3k
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

89 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
1:001151150000001631981
2:0027825900000036462395
3:008147440000106060534662
4:001494141100005670114456407
5:00218121300000829109185869254
6:002883294919000011293822816811852
7:003669383096000014894333733313906
8:00445649201486512576017214454982816635
9:0053436389197215965017217874505963619564
10:0066997777263431271850918714536545321978
11:0084429920285471490777419024687216425064
12:001047312520366011401175103219134827349227158
13:001271415014371315711773161219514827940130468
14:001522417131460518142246199519734848277036354
15:001734619909594226142788296819735299826341129
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

Deathkebab

35.5 OS · 14/10/2026

Open source match ↗

49 received units · includes a constructor
49 metal received · 203454 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Advanced Metal Extractor9:16Middle 50%: 8:28–10:07 · n=86
Bot Lab10:13Middle 50%: 9:07–11:11 · n=45

Played most by

Boozha39games of this buildDeathkebab33games of this buildDontStreamSnipeMeBro3games of this buildLing_long3games of this buildGoldReasons2games of this build