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Thug bot assault

Cortex Pond build order · Supreme Isthmus

Pond adds Thugs from its Bot Lab around 5:13 for an early bot push, fighting mostly on its own side at first before moving to the middle.

#push · 24 distinct matches · 16 players · 3% of Cortex Pond games · team won 54% of 24 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • ThugT1 bot assault from 4:11 · 3% of role by thenFrom the Bot Lab. Only 3% of Pond games have it by then; others who build it get it around 5:58
  • ThugThug in 79%2% of all Pond games by then
  • GruntGrunt in 46%9% of all Pond games by then

Where those units first fight, in 24 games with kill data: in the middle 88%, on their own side 13%.

Those units destroy a typical 1,875 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into grunt (13% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Thug push by 3:58

  1. Open tidal-heavy economy, then Bot Lab by 3:15.
  2. Push Thugs out of Bot Lab toward the middle.
  3. Keep Thug numbers up as the main front-line unit.
  4. Eat the old Bot Lab for metal once replaced.
  5. Mix in Grunt and transition toward T2 constructor.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 24 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD POND
  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 Bot Lab

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor4Mex
    • Tidal Generator6Tidalfor allies−2 vs standard
    • Wind Turbine3Wind
    • Tidal Generator1Tidal
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage
    Order
    1. Bot LabBot Lab after 4 mex, 3 wind, 1 tidaldone ~3:32, middle half 2:41–3:56

    By 3:17 in all: 4 mex · 3 wind · 1 tidal · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 6 steps
    1. Tidal ×8for Front
    2. Tidal
    3. Tidal ×3for Tech
    4. Energy storagefor Tech
    5. Mex ×4
    6. Bot LabBot Labfor Techdone 3:26 · typical 3:32
  2. 2

    Bot Lab to T1 bot assault

    Order
    1. ThugT1 bot assault after 4 mex, 7 wind, 1 energy storage
    Builders
    • Construction Bot1 Con bot

    Some games also: wind (46%) · con turret (42%) · Graverobber (38%)

    By 4:08 in all: 4 mex · 7 wind (standard 4) · 1 tidal · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 1 step
    1. ThugThugdone 3:38
  3. 3

    T1 bot assault to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine12Wind−7 vs standard
    • Energy Converter2Converter−2 vs standard
    Order
    1. Bot LabEat Bot Lab in 67% of games
    Builders
    • Construction Turret1 Con turret
    • Graverobber2 Graverobber +2 vs standard
    Army
    • Thug13 Thug +13 vs standard

    Some games also: Radar Tower (50%) · con bot (46%) · Guard (42%) · mex (38%) · grunt (38%)

    By 10:00 in all: 4 mex · 21 wind · 2 tidal · 3 converter (standard 6) · 1 energy storage · 2 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 26 steps
    1. ThugThug ×2
    2. Converter
    3. ThugThug
    4. Converter
    5. ThugThug ×4
    6. GruntGrunt ×12
    7. ThugThug ×3
    8. AggravatorAggravator ×5
    9. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexfor Techdone 8:57 · typical 9:05
    10. AggravatorAggravator ×2
    11. ThugThug ×3
    12. GraverobberGraverobber ×2
    13. AggravatorAggravator ×2
    14. GraverobberGraverobber
    15. GruntGrunt
    16. Mexfor Tech
    17. GruntGrunt ×3
    18. Mexfor Tech
    19. GruntGrunt ×2
    20. Mexfor Tech
    21. GruntGrunt ×28
    22. GruntGruntfor Tech
    23. GruntGrunt ×3
    24. GruntGruntfor Tech
    25. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexfor Tech
    26. Wind ×2for Tech

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is FrontLiner69er's (33 OS, 09/10/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Tidal Generator8 Tidal to Suicide front or Frontfirst at 0:09 · in 54% of games

You get

  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Tech or Geofirst at 7:26 · in 83% 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

02k4k6k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

24 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 pond
1:001151150000
2:003582590000
3:009137370000
4:00158514090000
5:00237721300000
6:0032572949253000
7:004213382942704100
8:005384487496654101586
9:007045625714402201650189
10:008492766117793502040640
11:0010409985922847662287836
12:0011991120922618119633811075
13:0014080145343769157845531661
14:0015917168813863181445991995
15:0016396193614234263247142964
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Slightly outperformed the standard build's win rate while destroying more enemy metal by 15:00.

  • + Destroys 4346 enemy metal by 15:00 vs 3127 standard.
  • + Team win rate 54% vs standard's 46%.
  • − Own metal lost by 10:00 is 2511 vs 755 for standard.
  • − Metal produced by 15:00 trails standard, 15858 vs 19066.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

FrontLiner69er

33.3 OS · 09/10/2026

Open source match ↗

1 received units · includes a constructor
303 metal received · 25147 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Bot Lab3:32Middle 50%: 2:41–3:56 · n=24
Advanced Metal Extractor9:05Middle 50%: 7:54–10:25 · n=19

Played most by

FrontLiner69er4games of this buildRysica4games of this buildspieriz2games of this buildYogaBoy1584972games of this build[AFUS]Trotski1game of this build