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Lasher skirmishers

Cortex Front build order · Supreme Isthmus

Vehicle Plant from the start leads into early T1 vehicle raid and riot, then Lasher skirmishers pushed to middle from around 2:09, well ahead of the role norm, fighting forward in the middle rather than reacting at home.

#raid #artillery #push · 45 distinct matches · 20 players · 6% of Cortex Front games · team won 53% of 45 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • LasherT1 vehicle skirmishers from 2:09 · 8% of role by thenFrom the Vehicle Plant. Only 8% of Front games have it by then; others who build it get it around 2:30
  • Vehicle PlantVehicle Plant in 100%20% of all Front games by then
  • RascalRascal in 100%20% of all Front games by then
  • PounderPounder in 71%13% of all Front games by then
  • LasherLasher in 69%5% of all Front games by then

Where those units first fight, in 45 games with kill data: in the middle 96%.

Those units destroy a typical 2,393 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into incisor (11% of army), brute (10% of army), pounder (10% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Lasher by 5:55

  1. Rush Vehicle Plant almost immediately off the opening mex.
  2. Send Incisor raiders out well ahead of the usual role timing.
  3. Add Pounder riot to back the raiders in the middle.
  4. Commit to Lasher skirmishers pushing into middle, not holding.
  5. Transition to Advanced Metal Extractor once the push stabilizes.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 45 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD FRONT
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
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 the Vehicle Plant

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor2Mex
    Order
    1. Vehicle PlantVehicle Plant after 2 mexdone ~0:45, middle half 0:29–0:50

    Some games also: wind (40%)

    By 0:23 in all: 2 mex

    The example game in this phase · 2 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Vehicle PlantVehicle Plantdone 0:28 · typical 0:45
  2. 2

    Vehicle Plant to T1 vehicle skirmishers

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor3Mex
    • Wind Turbine2Wind
    Order
    1. LasherT1 vehicle skirmishers after 4 mex, 2 wind
    Builders
    • Construction Vehicle2 Con vehicle +2 vs standard
    Army
    • Rascal4 Rascal +4 vs standard
    • Pounder1 Pounder

    Some games also: incisor (42%)

    The standard build makes here, this one skips: 2 con bot · 3 grunt · 2 thug

    By 2:09 in all: 4 mex · 2 wind

    The example game in this phase · 13 steps
    1. Mex
    2. RascalRascal
    3. Wind
    4. RascalRascal
    5. Mex
    6. Construction VehicleCon vehicle
    7. Mex
    8. Construction VehicleCon vehicle
    9. Mex
    10. PounderPounder
    11. Mex
    12. Construction VehicleCon vehicle
    13. LasherLasherdone 2:24
  3. 3

    T1 vehicle skirmishers to 5:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor2Mex
    • Wind Turbine1Wind
    Army
    • Guard2 Guard
    • Lasher8 Lasher +8 vs standard

    Some games also: con turret (44%) · wolverine (38%) · con vehicle (36%)

    The standard build makes here, this one skips: 6 thug · 5 aggravator

    By 5:00 in all: 6 mex · 4 wind

    The example game in this phase · 22 steps
    1. Mex
    2. LasherLasher
    3. GuardGuard
    4. Wind
    5. LasherLasher
    6. Wind
    7. LasherLasher ×2
    8. Wind
    9. PounderPounder
    10. Wind
    11. WolverineWolverine
    12. GuardGuard
    13. WolverineWolverine
    14. Wind
    15. WolverineWolverine
    16. Wind
    17. WolverineWolverine
    18. Wind
    19. WolverineWolverine
    20. LasherLasher
    21. Wind
    22. LasherLasher
  4. 4

    5:00 to 10:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor1Mex
    • Wind Turbine16Wind
    Builders
    • Construction Turret2 Con turret
    • Construction Vehicle2 Con vehicle +2 vs standard
    Army
    • Guard2 Guard
    • Lasher5 Lasher +5 vs standard
    Other
    • Radar Tower1 Radar Tower

    Some games also: energy storage (44%) · pounder (42%) · incisor (40%) · brute (33%) · wolverine (31%)

    The standard build makes here, this one skips: 2 Graverobber · 8 grunt · 4 thug

    By 10:00 in all: 7 mex · 19 wind · 3 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 78 steps
    1. Wind
    2. GuardGuard
    3. LasherLasher
    4. GuardGuard
    5. LasherLasher
    6. Wind
    7. LasherLasher ×2
    8. Wind
    9. LasherLasher
    10. Wind
    11. LasherLasher ×3
    12. PounderPounder
    13. Mex
    14. PounderPounder
    15. GuardGuard
    16. Construction VehicleCon vehicle ×2
    17. BruteBrute ×3
    18. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 10:09 · typical 9:32
    19. BruteBrute
    20. Wind ×2
    21. BruteBrute
    22. Wind ×3
    23. BruteBrute
    24. Wind
    25. GuardGuard
    26. Wind
    27. BruteBrute
    28. Wind
    29. GuardGuard
    30. Wind ×2
    31. GuardGuard
    32. Wind
    33. BruteBrute
    34. Wind
    35. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    36. Wind ×2
    37. BruteBrute
    38. Wind ×3
    39. BruteBrute
    40. Wind ×4
    41. BruteBrute
    42. GuardGuard
    43. BruteBrute ×5
    44. PounderPounder
    45. GuardGuard
    46. PounderPounder
    47. Wind
    48. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    49. Wind
    50. PounderPounder
    51. Wind
    52. PounderPounder
    53. Wind ×3
    54. PounderPounder
    55. Con turret
    56. Wind ×3
    57. PounderPounder
    58. Metal storage
    59. Wind ×2
    60. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    61. Wind
    62. PounderPounder
    63. Energy storage
    64. Wind
    65. PounderPounder
    66. Wind ×3
    67. PounderPounder
    68. Wind ×3
    69. PounderPounder
    70. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    71. Wind
    72. PounderPounder
    73. Wind ×2
    74. PounderPounder
    75. Wind
    76. PounderPounder
    77. Construction VehicleCon vehicle
    78. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is XuunnY's (34 OS, 16/08/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

Nothing regular.

You get

  • Tidal Generator4 Tidal from Pondfirst at 0:15 · in 78% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Geo or Techfirst at 7:23 · in 60% of games

How it plays out

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

  • This build
  • Standard front

Metal produced

010k20k30k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

02.5k5k7.5k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

05k10k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

45 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildMetal produced: Standard frontEnemy metal destroyed: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: Standard frontOwn metal lost: This buildOwn metal lost: Standard front
1:003313310000
2:0084985821000
3:0015781627931067886
4:0026312707292387284341
5:0037153860743929513840
6:0047365109119115858711559
7:00582363892088236514132468
8:00695677262593311020753376
9:00819791513602380624534310
10:009753108074190450033005086
11:0011510126424751518843825987
12:0013395145085047567752436895
13:0016096168145189616762847614
14:0019057189695546664873208539
15:0022084206326964724683549349
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won clearly more often than the standard build while losing far less metal by every checkpoint.

  • + Own metal lost is roughly half the standard build's at 5:00 and 10:00.
  • + Metal produced by 15:00 is higher than standard despite the rush.
  • − Enemy metal destroyed is slightly lower than standard at every checkpoint.
  • − Commits to Vehicle Plant by 0:29 in 100% of games, leaving little flexibility.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

XuunnY

33.6 OS · 16/08/2026

Open source match ↗

8 received units · includes a constructor
792 metal received · 17683 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Vehicle Plant0:45Middle 50%: 0:29–0:50 · n=45
Advanced Metal Extractor9:32Middle 50%: 8:29–10:24 · n=38

Played most by

XuunnY8games of this buildTheGeneraI6games of this buildErilium5games of this build_X_4games of this buildMischievousDragonGF3games of this build