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

Whirlwind bomber rush

Skips the usual transport-first routine to build Whirlwind bombers from an Aircraft Plant as early as 5 minutes, sending them to hit the enemy base and middle well before the front stabilizes, before easing back into the normal…

#rush #raid #air · 19 distinct matches · 12 players · 3% of Cortex Air games · team won 63% of 19 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • WhirlwindT1 air bombers from 5:04 · 7% of role by thenFrom the Aircraft Plant. Only 7% of Air games have it by then; others who build it get it around 10:48
  • Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant in 47%10% of all Air games by then
  • WhirlwindWhirlwind in 47%3% of all Air games by then
  • HerculesLight transport in 42%18% of all Air games by then

Where those units first fight, in 19 games with kill data: in the middle 58%, in the enemy base 42%.

Those units destroy a typical 480 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into valiant (35% of army), fighter (10% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Whirlwind bombers from 5:13

  1. Open aircraft plant immediately instead of the usual delay.
  2. Stack wind turbines heavily to fund the air push.
  3. Commit to T1 bombers led by Whirlwind far earlier than norm.
  4. Send bombers into the enemy base or contest the middle.
  5. Transition into fusion reactor and standard air composition.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 19 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD AIR
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
PLAY THE OPENING

Follow the example game's first 6:05 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 ~1:27, middle half 1:14–1:32

    Some games also: energy storage (47%)

    By 1:09 in all: 3 mex · 4 wind

    The example game in this phase · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×4
    3. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:13 · typical 1:27
  2. 2

    Aircraft Plant to T1 air bombers

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor1Mex
    • Wind Turbine7Wind
    • Wind Turbine4Wind
    Order
    1. WhirlwindT1 air bombers after 3 mex, 11 wind, 4 wind
    Builders
    • Construction Turret2 Con turret
    • Construction Aircraft1 Con aircraft
    Army
    • Valiant4 Valiant
    • Finch2 Finch for allies
    • Hercules2 Light transport for allies
    • Finch1 Finch
    • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport for allies

    Some games also: converter (42%) · shuriken (37%) · energy storage (32%)

    By 4:55 in all: 3 mex · 1 mex · 11 wind · 4 wind · 1 energy storage · 2 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 6 steps
    1. Wind
    2. FinchFinch
    3. Wind ×2
    4. FinchFinch ×2for Beach sea
    5. Wind ×2
    6. WhirlwindWhirlwinddone 2:07
  3. 3

    T1 air bombers to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine20Wind
    • Wind Turbine1Wind−4 vs standard
    • Energy Converter1Converter−6 vs standard
    Builders
    • Construction Turret1 Con turret −3 vs standard
    Army
    • Valiant5 Valiant −4 vs standard
    • Whirlwind5 Whirlwind +5 vs standard

    Some games also: con turret (47%) · light transport for allies (42%)

    By 10:00 in all: 3 mex · 1 mex · 24 wind · 14 wind (standard 20) · 6 converter (standard 8) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 295 steps
    1. Wind ×2
    2. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    3. Wind
    4. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Beach sea
    5. Wind ×2
    6. HerculesLight transport ×2for Geo sea
    7. Mex
    8. ShurikenShuriken ×4
    9. Construction AircraftCon aircraft ×2
    10. ValiantValiant
    11. ThistleThistle ×2
    12. ValiantValiant
    13. Con turret
    14. ValiantValiant
    15. Wind
    16. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    17. Wind ×2
    18. Wind
    19. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    20. Wind ×3
    21. Wind
    22. HerculesLight transportfor Pond
    23. Con turret
    24. HerculesLight transport
    25. Construction AircraftCon aircraft ×2
    26. Wind
    27. Wind
    28. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    29. Wind
    30. HerculesLight transport
    31. Wind
    32. Wind
    33. Wind
    34. Con turret
    35. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    36. Wind
    37. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 6:24 · typical 7:23
    38. Wind
    39. Wind
    40. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    41. Wind
    42. Wind
    43. Wind ×2
    44. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    45. Wind
    46. Converter
    47. Wind
    48. Wind
    49. Wind
    50. Converter
    51. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    52. Wind
    53. Wind
    54. Wind
    55. Converter
    56. Con turret ×2
    57. Wind
    58. Wind
    59. Wind ×4
    60. Wind
    61. Wind ×3
    62. Wind
    63. Wind ×2
    64. Converter
    65. Wind
    66. Wind ×2
    67. Converter
    68. Wind
    69. Wind ×2
    70. Converter
    71. Energy storage
    72. Wind
    73. Bot LabBot Labnot finished by 15:00
    74. Wind
    75. Converter
    76. Wind
    77. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 8:58
    78. Converter ×2
    79. Wind
    80. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    81. Wind
    82. Con turret
    83. Converter
    84. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    85. Con turret ×2
    86. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    87. Con turret
    88. Wind
    89. ValiantValiant
    90. Converter
    91. ValiantValiant ×3
    92. Wind
    93. ValiantValiant
    94. Converter
    95. Wind
    96. ValiantValiant ×2
    97. Converter
    98. Wind
    99. ValiantValiant
    100. Wind ×2
    101. ValiantValiant
    102. Wind
    103. Wind
    104. ValiantValiant
    105. Wind
    106. Converter
    107. Wind
    108. ValiantValiant
    109. Wind
    110. FinchFinch
    111. Wind
    112. FinchFinch
    113. Wind
    114. Converter
    115. FinchFinch
    116. Wind ×2
    117. FinchFinch
    118. ValiantValiant
    119. Wind
    120. Converter
    121. Wind
    122. ValiantValiant
    123. Wind
    124. ValiantValiant
    125. Wind
    126. Con turret
    127. Converter
    128. ValiantValiant
    129. Wind ×2
    130. ValiantValiant
    131. Converter
    132. ValiantValiant
    133. Converter
    134. Wind
    135. ValiantValiant
    136. Wind
    137. Wind
    138. Converter
    139. ValiantValiant
    140. Wind
    141. Wind
    142. ValiantValiant
    143. Wind ×2
    144. Converter
    145. ValiantValiant
    146. Wind
    147. Wind
    148. ValiantValiant
    149. Wind
    150. Wind
    151. ValiantValiant
    152. Wind ×2
    153. ValiantValiant
    154. Wind
    155. Wind
    156. ValiantValiant
    157. Wind
    158. Wind
    159. ValiantValiant
    160. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    161. Wind ×2
    162. Wind
    163. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    164. Wind
    165. Wind ×2
    166. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    167. Wind
    168. Wind
    169. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    170. Wind ×2
    171. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    172. Wind
    173. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    174. Wind
    175. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    176. Wind
    177. Wind
    178. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    179. Wind
    180. Wind
    181. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    182. Wind
    183. Wind
    184. Converter
    185. Wind
    186. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    187. Wind
    188. Wind ×2
    189. Wind
    190. Converter
    191. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    192. Wind
    193. Wind
    194. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    195. Converter
    196. Wind
    197. Wind
    198. Wind ×3
    199. Wind
    200. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    201. Converter
    202. Wind ×2
    203. Wind
    204. Wind
    205. Converter
    206. Wind
    207. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    208. Wind
    209. Wind ×2
    210. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    211. Converter
    212. Wind
    213. Wind ×2
    214. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    215. ValiantValiant
    216. Wind ×2
    217. ValiantValiant
    218. Wind ×2
    219. ValiantValiant
    220. Converter
    221. ValiantValiant
    222. Wind
    223. Con turret
    224. ValiantValiant
    225. Converter
    226. Wind
    227. Wind
    228. ValiantValiant
    229. Con turret
    230. Wind
    231. Wind
    232. Converter
    233. ValiantValiant
    234. Wind
    235. ValiantValiant
    236. Wind
    237. Wind
    238. Converter
    239. Wind
    240. ValiantValiant
    241. Wind
    242. Wind
    243. Wind
    244. ValiantValiant
    245. Converter
    246. Wind
    247. ValiantValiant
    248. Wind
    249. Wind
    250. ValiantValiant
    251. Converter
    252. Wind
    253. Wind
    254. ValiantValiant
    255. Wind
    256. Wind
    257. Converter
    258. ValiantValiant
    259. Wind
    260. ValiantValiant
    261. Wind
    262. Converter
    263. Wind
    264. ValiantValiant
    265. Wind
    266. Converter
    267. ValiantValiant
    268. Wind
    269. Wind
    270. ValiantValiant
    271. Con turret
    272. Converter
    273. ValiantValiant
    274. Converter
    275. ValiantValiant
    276. Wind
    277. Con turret
    278. ValiantValiant
    279. Converter
    280. Wind
    281. ValiantValiant
    282. Wind ×3
    283. Converter
    284. Wind
    285. Hardened Energy Storage
    286. Metal storage
    287. Wind
    288. Converter
    289. Wind
    290. Converter
    291. Wind ×2
    292. Converter
    293. Wind ×14
    294. Fusion ReactorFusionnot finished by 15:00 · typical 11:01
    295. Wind ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is UsurpeR's (49 OS, 02/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Finch2 Finch to Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 1:58 · in 95% of games
  • Hercules3 Light transport to Tech or Geo sea or Pondfirst at 2:18 · in 100% of games
  • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport to Beach sea or Techfirst at 2:33 · in 74% of games

You get

  • Wind Turbine16 Wind from Beach sea or Tech or Frontfirst at 1:28 · in 32% of games
  • Wind Turbine3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo seafirst at 1:42 · in 79% of games
  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Tech or Frontfirst at 2:11 · in 100% of games
  • Advanced Metal Extractor1 T2 mex from Tech or Beach seafirst at 6:00 · in 42% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 6:20 · in 100% of games

How it plays out

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

  • This build
  • Standard air

Metal produced

010k20k30k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

02k4k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

02k4k6k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

19 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildMetal produced: Standard airEnemy metal destroyed: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: Standard airOwn metal lost: This buildOwn metal lost: Standard air
1:003933930000
2:009219240000
3:00145514570000
4:0020582052005151
5:002793276507374102
6:0036803779125124182147
7:0050065128221176240219
8:0064507036279220413281
9:0083239352298250541341
10:0010965118414653141162464
11:00131741439510734391963635
12:00157621710910976052207955
13:001831619932162890724011256
14:0021897226191933139132201819
15:0025456254893836205940462748
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won more often than the standard build and destroyed noticeably more enemy metal by 15:00.

  • + Enemy metal destroyed more than doubles standard by 15:00.
  • + Team win rate well above the role's standard build.
  • − Own metal lost roughly doubles the standard build by 10:00.
  • − Very rare timing, only 7% of role games this fast.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

UsurpeR

49.2 OS · 02/09/2026

Open source match ↗

6 received units · includes a constructor
140 metal received · 14752 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Aircraft Plant1:27Middle 50%: 1:14–1:32 · n=19
Advanced Metal Extractor7:23Middle 50%: 6:12–7:57 · n=19
Fusion Reactor11:01Middle 50%: 10:08–12:19 · n=11

Played most by

haaven4games of this buildkrtf4games of this buildMischievousDragonGF2games of this buildGeeGee1game of this buildImmort1game of this build