The Biplane is the universal starting aircraft in Skyraid.io. Every pilot who joins a match begins in one, regardless of skill level or how many rounds they have played. It is deliberately the weakest aircraft in the game — a humble training plane that exists to teach you the controls and force you to earn your evolution into something deadlier.
Biplanes were the dominant aircraft of the First World War and the early interwar period, characterized by their two stacked wings connected with struts and wires. By the time the Second World War began in 1939 they were already obsolete in front-line combat — but they continued to serve as trainers, observation planes, and torpedo bombers throughout the war. The Fairey Swordfish, an open-cockpit British biplane that looked twenty years out of date, famously crippled the Bismarck in 1941 by flying so slowly that the German battleship's anti-aircraft fire-control computers could not solve a firing solution. The Skyraid Biplane is a generic stand-in for that whole family of fabric-and-wood trainers that taught a generation of pilots to fly.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Tier | 0 (Starter) |
| Max HP | 110 |
| Speed | 3.0 |
| Gun Damage | 8 |
| Fire Rate | 250 ms |
| Magazine | 10 rounds |
| Reload | 1.5 s |
| Armor | 0 |
| Rockets | None |
| XP to evolve | 500 |
The Biplane has the worst combat statistics in the game, but it makes up for that with the smallest hitbox and a reasonable turn rate for its tier. The cardinal rule of flying a Biplane is simple: do not pick fights with anything that has evolved. A single Tier 1 plane can usually destroy a Biplane in two short bursts, and a Tier 2 plane will erase you almost instantly with rockets. Your job is to stay alive long enough to collect 500 XP and choose your evolution path.
The fastest source of XP for a fresh Biplane is the network of ground targets scattered across the map. Each one is worth 150 XP and goes down in just a few seconds of sustained fire, so destroying three of them is enough to evolve. Avoid the airbases until you are at least Tier 1 — their auto-turrets will shred a Biplane before you make a dent in their health bar. XP orbs from kills and clusters are the second best source: keep an eye out for the rare and epic orbs (purple and gold) which can give you a third of your evolution requirement in a single pickup.
If you do get into a dogfight, fly defensively. Hold your sprint until an opponent commits to a chase, then use the burst to break line of sight and reset the fight. The Biplane's tiny hitbox gives you more dodging room than you think — a competent Biplane pilot can survive a one-on-one with a careless Fighter long enough to escape.
At 500 XP you choose between three Tier 1 paths:
See the strategy guide for a deeper breakdown of which path to pick based on your playstyle and the current state of the lobby.
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