A shrike in a woven nest guards the Great Egg as dusk falls over the Shellfall
A Field Guide to Welkin
Free beta · Windows & macOS
BIRNEST
EN
Third-person MOBA · Free beta

BIRNEST: The third-person MOBA where every hero is a bird, and flight is a budget you spend.

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Section 01How a match works

Terms used
in this guide

25–30 min matches
5v5 & 3v3 · with bots
Clutchn. — a team
Two Clutches meet in Welkin: Sunfeather, the day side in gold, and Duskwing, the night side in violet.
Flywayn. — a lane
The routes your side pushes along toward the enemy Nest.
Fledglingn. — a creep
The woven straw birds each Clutch sends down the Flyways in waves.
Great Eggn. — the objective
Every Nest guards one. Break the enemy Nest's Great Egg to win.
Seeds, Moltsn. — your growth
Earn Seeds, spend them at the Magpie Market on Trinkets, and grow through 25 Molts.
Fig. 1b — In-game footageBirnest, beta
Watch trailer
Section 02Four pillars

How it plays

Over-the-shoulder
WASD · mouse aim

Flight is a budget.

Lift drains while you're airborne. Every bird is a Flyer, a Glider or a Hopper, and each one spends the sky differently.

FlyersGlidersHoppers
A bird flies down a Flyway between forest and cliffs

Aim is the skill.

Over-the-shoulder camera, WASD movement and mouse-aimed skillshots. Nothing lands unless you land it.

Third-personSkillshots
A five-bird teamfight lit by gold, violet and teal ability effects

Read the sky.

Height is vision: climb higher to see further. A day and night cycle runs through every match.

Height = visionDay & night
The same Flyway at night under a blue moonlit sky

Built for half-hour matches.

Earn Seeds, spend them at the Magpie Market on Trinkets, and grow through 25 Molts. Done in 25–30 minutes.

SeedsTrinkets25 Molts
Ultimates collide in a storm of pink, white and green light
Section 03Two Clutches

One sky.
Two Clutches.

Every match is Sunfeather against Duskwing, day against night. Pick a side and fly for it.

Sunfeather

The day side · gold · Plates 01–05

  • Thornback
  • Bellhorn
  • Firstlight
  • Plungebright
  • Rouser

Duskwing

The night side · violet · Plates 06–10

  • Velvetclaw
  • Dreadcasque
  • Huddlewarm
  • Nightpinion
  • Evensong
Section 04Plates 01–10

The birds
of Welkin

Hover a plate
to ink it

Every bird in the beta is a real species, with real behaviour behind its kit. Ten are playable now, five for each Clutch.

PL. 01Sunfeather
Thornback, Shrike

Thornback

the Larder-Keeper

Species
Shrike
Role
Striker
Flight
Flyer
PL. 02Sunfeather
Bellhorn, Southern Ground Hornbill

Bellhorn

the Ground-Shaker

Species
Southern Ground Hornbill
Role
Warden
Flight
Hopper
PL. 03Sunfeather
Firstlight, Skylark

Firstlight

the Chorister

Species
Skylark
Role
Tender
Flight
Flyer
PL. 04Sunfeather
Plungebright, Common Kingfisher

Plungebright

the River-Spear

Species
Common Kingfisher
Role
Striker
Flight
Flyer
PL. 05Sunfeather
Rouser, Laughing Kookaburra

Rouser

the Laughing Bell

Species
Laughing Kookaburra
Role
Caster
Flight
Glider
PL. 06Duskwing
Velvetclaw, Eurasian Eagle-owl

Velvetclaw

the Unheard

Species
Eurasian Eagle-owl
Role
Striker
Flight
Flyer
PL. 07Duskwing
Dreadcasque, Southern Cassowary

Dreadcasque

the Blue Throat

Species
Southern Cassowary
Role
Bruiser
Flight
Hopper
PL. 08Duskwing
Huddlewarm, Emperor Penguin

Huddlewarm

the Long Night

Species
Emperor Penguin
Role
Tender
Flight
Hopper
PL. 09Duskwing
Nightpinion, Black Swan

Nightpinion

the Black Tide

Species
Black Swan
Role
Warden
Flight
Glider
PL. 10Duskwing
Evensong, Common Nightingale

Evensong

the Lullaby

Species
Common Nightingale
Role
Tender
Flight
Glider

The neutral boss

One creature in Welkin has no feathers at all. It sleeps until somebody wakes it.

Notice to both Clutches

WANTED

Wake at your own risk
The Stillstorm, a dark storm cat with glowing eyes

The Stillstorm

Storm cat. The only mammal in Welkin.

  1. 01Wake it
  2. 02Survive the Pounce
  3. 03Carry its Stolen Feather back into the fight
RewardThe Stolen Feather

The Pounce

Survive it, take the Stolen Feather, and carry it back into the fight before the other Clutch takes it from you.

Download
free.

Free beta · build Windows 10 or 11 · 64-bit · .zip, 170 MB Windows
beta 10 Free beta · build macOS 11+ · Apple silicon · .zip, 152 MB Still beta 8: bots and practice only. Online play returns with the December Mac build. macOS
beta 8

Team playtest every Saturday at 19:00 UTC on Discord. Bring a Clutch, or fill the gaps with bots in 5v5 and 3v3.

Join our Discord Watch trailer

Version 0.1.0-beta.10 · Changelog · Report a bug. The beta isn't code-signed yet: on Windows click More info then Run anyway; on a Mac (Intel Macs untested), open it once, then allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. By downloading you agree to the beta terms.

Appendix A · QuestionsQ.01–Q.09

Before you hatch

Q.01Is Birnest free?

Yes. The beta is free to play. Online matches connect to our servers at no cost.

Q.02How do I get the beta?

Download it from the download section above. It's free and needs no account: unzip it and press Play. What changed in each build is in the changelog.

Q.03What do I need to run it?

Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) with a 4-core CPU, 8 GB of RAM and a Vulkan 1.2 graphics card with 2 GB (GTX 960 or RX 470 class). On a Mac, macOS 11 or later on Apple silicon. These are early estimates.

Q.04Which languages does it support?

English, German, Russian, Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), French, Polish, Turkish, Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Pick one in Settings. Most translations are machine-drafted for now; corrections are very welcome.

Q.05How do updates work?

Install the game once. After that, the main menu offers each new build: click Update now and the game downloads it, checks it and restarts. On a Mac, keep Birnest.app in Applications so it can update itself.

Q.06Can I play solo?

Yes. Start with First flight, a guided 10-minute match, then practice against bots on Easy, Normal or Hard. In unranked Find match, bots fill any empty seats.

Q.07Is Birnest on Steam?

Not yet. For now the beta is downloaded from birnest.com. Steam friends can already invite each other into lobbies.

Q.08Where do I report a bug?

Use the bug report form or email support@birnest.com. A screenshot and what you were doing help a lot.

Q.09Is it related to another MOBA?

No. Birnest is an original game. The genre's ideas (lanes, last hits, items, a neutral boss) are familiar, but every bird, item, map and story is our own.

Appendix B · Write to usB.1–B.6

Get in touch

Pick the right door and you'll hear back faster.

We're a small team and read every message. Email replies can take a few days, so for anything quick, Discord is faster.

Fig. 6 — Trailer, 0:32