BAR / BUILD ATLAS
← All builds
Air / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Standard air

Cortex Air build order · Supreme Isthmus

The role's baseline: Aircraft Plant immediately, transports and scouts for the team first, Advanced Metal Extractor and Fusion Reactor on a normal timeline, transitioning into Valiant fighter coverage over the game.

Usually transports first (71%)

#eco #team support #air · 631 distinct matches · 123 players · 79% of Cortex Air games · team won 48% of 705 · Recently observed

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Aircraft Plant by 1:24

  1. Take 3 mex and open wind before committing to aircraft plant.
  2. Finish aircraft plant to start churning scouts and transports.
  3. Send Hercules, Finch and Hephaestus to allies as they ask.
  4. Get your advanced metal extractor up to fund fighter spam.
  5. Bring fusion online and shift into Valiant fighter coverage.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 631 GAMES
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
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 Aircraft Plant

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor3Mex
    • Wind Turbine4Wind
    Order
    1. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant after 3 mex, 4 winddone ~1:22, middle half 1:13–1:35

    Some games also: energy storage (38%)

    By 1:03 in all: 3 mex · 4 wind

    The example game in this phase · 7 steps
    1. Mex ×2
    2. Wind ×2
    3. Mex
    4. Wind ×2
    5. Energy storage
    6. Wind ×2
    7. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:41 · typical 1:22
  2. 2

    Aircraft Plant to 5:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor1Mex
    • Wind Turbine9Wind
    • Wind Turbine3Wind
    Builders
    • Construction Turret2 Con turret
    • Construction Aircraft1 Con aircraft
    Army
    • Valiant5 Valiant
    • Finch2 Finch for allies
    • Hercules2 Light transport for allies
    • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport for allies
    • Shuriken1 Shuriken

    Some games also: energy storage (46%) · light transport (44%) · converter (40%) · con turret (33%)

    By 5:00 in all: 3 mex · 1 mex · 13 wind · 3 wind · 1 energy storage · 2 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 25 steps
    1. ValiantValiant ×2
    2. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Beach sea
    3. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    5. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    6. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    7. ValiantValiant
    8. Energy storage
    9. Con turret
    10. ValiantValiant
    11. Mex
    12. Construction AircraftCon aircraftfor Tech
    13. Wind ×3
    14. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    15. Wind
    16. Converter ×2
    17. Wind
    18. Converter
    19. Wind
    20. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    21. Converter
    22. Wind
    23. Converter
    24. ValiantValiant
    25. Converter ×2
  3. 3

    5:00 to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine20Wind
    • Wind Turbine4Wind
    • Energy Converter6Converter
    Order
    1. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plant
    2. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant after 17 wind, 17 wind, 6 converterin 58% of games
    Builders
    • Construction Turret4 Con turret
    Army
    • Valiant9 Valiant

    Some games also: shuriken (50%) · fusion (36%) · con aircraft (35%) · light transport (31%)

    By 10:00 in all: 3 mex · 1 mex · 24 wind · 19 wind · 8 converter · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 104 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Con turret
    3. ValiantValiant
    4. Converter
    5. Wind
    6. Converter
    7. Con turret
    8. ValiantValiant
    9. Converter
    10. Wind ×2
    11. Converter
    12. ValiantValiant
    13. Wind
    14. ValiantValiant
    15. Wind ×2
    16. ValiantValiant
    17. Wind
    18. ValiantValiant
    19. Wind
    20. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 7:10 · typical 6:50
    21. ValiantValiant
    22. Converter
    23. Wind ×5
    24. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    25. Wind ×2
    26. Converter
    27. Wind ×5
    28. ValiantValiant
    29. Wind
    30. ValiantValiant
    31. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    32. ValiantValiant
    33. Converter
    34. Wind
    35. HerculesLight transportfor Suicide front
    36. ValiantValiant
    37. Wind
    38. ValiantValiant
    39. Wind
    40. ValiantValiant ×2
    41. Wind
    42. ValiantValiant
    43. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    44. Wind
    45. ValiantValiant ×2
    46. Wind
    47. Converter
    48. Wind
    49. ValiantValiant
    50. Wind
    51. ValiantValiant
    52. Wind
    53. ValiantValiant
    54. Wind
    55. ValiantValiant
    56. Wind
    57. ValiantValiant
    58. Converter
    59. Wind
    60. ValiantValiant ×2
    61. Wind
    62. Con turret
    63. Wind ×2
    64. Con turret
    65. ValiantValiant
    66. Wind ×2
    67. Con turret
    68. Wind
    69. ValiantValiant
    70. Wind
    71. ValiantValiant ×2
    72. Wind
    73. ValiantValiant ×2
    74. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 11:33 · typical 10:52
    75. Wind ×2
    76. Converter
    77. Wind ×4
    78. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    79. Wind ×5
    80. Converter
    81. Wind ×4
    82. T2 converter
    83. Wind ×4
    84. Con turret
    85. Wind
    86. Con turret
    87. Wind
    88. Fusion ReactorFusion
    89. Wind
    90. Con turret ×2
    91. Wind ×7
    92. T2 converter
    93. Advanced Aircraft PlantAdvanced Aircraft Plantdone 14:10
    94. Wind ×10
    95. NighthawkNighthawk
    96. Wind
    97. NighthawkNighthawk
    98. WaspWasp
    99. Wind ×2
    100. NighthawkNighthawk
    101. Wind ×3
    102. TracerTracer
    103. NighthawkNighthawk
    104. Wind ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Buckyo's (36 OS, 08/10/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Finch2 Finch to Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 1:51 · in 96% of games
  • Hercules3 Light transport to Tech or Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 2:06 · in 99% of games
  • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport to Beach sea or Pond or Techfirst at 2:26 · in 74% of games

You get

  • Wind Turbine3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo seafirst at 1:38 · in 65% of games
  • Wind Turbine3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo sea or Pondfirst at 1:44 · in 48% of games
  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Techfirst at 2:20 · in 85% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 6:03 · in 95% of games

How it plays out

Typical game of this build, running totals by minute

Metal produced

010k20k30k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

01k2k3k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

01k2k3k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

705 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0039300
2:0092500
3:00145900
4:002057051
5:00276873116
6:003751125167
7:005146190225
8:007013240292
9:009307263344
10:0011805338474
11:0014399440641
12:0017093605949
13:00199139491278
14:002269914651852
15:002558321392789
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Standard air sits below average team win rate at 48%, reflecting the role's support nature rather than kills.

  • + Aircraft plant lands fast at 1:24, enabling early transport and scout support.
  • − Own metal lost still reaches 2705 by 15:00 despite a support-first role.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

Buckyo

36.2 OS · 08/10/2026

Open source match ↗

7 received units · includes a constructor
38 metal received · 39351 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Aircraft Plant1:22Middle 50%: 1:13–1:35 · n=705
Advanced Metal Extractor6:50Middle 50%: 6:24–7:25 · n=679
Fusion Reactor10:52Middle 50%: 9:53–12:08 · n=440

Played most by

DRM43games of this buildAdeus36games of this buildTheGeneraI32games of this buildImmort29games of this buildNutzz29games of this build