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![[image loading]](http://cdn.blizzardwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/starcraft-terran-liberator-unit-header.jpg)
A thematic overview:
The liberator is an expensive terran air unit that can be built on a naked starport. It has 'siege' mode similar to a tank but you must target a region. That region gets a circle painted on it. When using multiple liberators, any sieged liberator can fire at any circle within range (15) from any other friendly liberator. The cast range for the circle is about 9, which means 1 or liberators can form the frontline and paint the most forward circles while the rest back off and support a bit farther away. The upgrade for the air to ground siege mode ability requires an armory and a hefty 200/200 investment meaning that liberators out of the gate don't see much use. Generally liberators are most effective at the 2 or 3 base mark and beyond as at that point you have enough extra resources to afford the upgrade.
By the numbers:
Because LoTV uses real time instead of weird blizzard time, all time related numbers are slightly off from expected values and cannot be compared directly to HoTS values. Movement speed and weapon speed are affected.
cost: 150/150
HP 180
Armor 0
Movement Speed 4.72 (faster than a banshee, slower than a phoenix.)
Damage vs Air 7x2 damage per volley (splash), 1.29 period, 5 range. Damage feels a bit lower than that of a phoenix for single target, but does AoE.
Damage vs Ground 85 per shot, 1.14 period, 15 range
vs. Ground mode only enabled via 200/200 upgrade that requires an armory.
TvZ
The liberator's most common use in TvZ is to fight against mutalisks. They slightly out range mutalisks but not by enough to easily fire and get away without taking damage. Their air to ground attack is largely useless against ling/bling due to their high movement speed and low hitpoints per unit. The air to ground attack sees a lot of use vs ultralisk, roach, hydras, lurkers, and ravagers as those units are slow enough that you can re-position as needed and have enough health to justify the incredible single target damage output of the liberator. Late game, the liberator count should remain relatively low due to the threat of vipers. The viper's new AoE air only spell tends to deal well with liberators.
These screenshots illustrate how the liberator can be used to keep medivacs alive and secure a retreat against mutalisks.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Qx2qFZM.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wXgALEJ.jpg)
In the links below are some gifs showing the liberators in action killing puny zerg.
Click for some action shots
More action shots
TvT
The liberator sees the least amount of use in this matchup and virtually no use in bio tank vs bio tank. This may be due to a lack of creativity on terrans' part, but marine tank vs marine tank has been such an aggressive and punishing matchup since HoTS that there is rarely room to transition to anything else. There appear to be opportunities to use the liberator against mech as part of timings or as mech as an additional zoning mechanism against your opponent. The main issue with liberators in this matchup come from vikings which outrange them easily and can kite them without much trouble. If air control can be reliably established then liberators may see a place here. If not, then it's unlikely to see much use in this matchup.
Liberator in Action
TvP
The liberator has the most obvious use in TvP as protoss has a lot of high hitpoint, slow moving units. By using widow mines and bio medivac to zone the liberators can set up and take a strong position. Once the liberators are in position, bio medivac can take care of other objectives are simply assist in the defense. As mentioned previously, liberators, despite their strength, will not see much use until full 2 base saturation or even 3 base due to their heavy gas investment in the upgrade and armory. They need a large investment to get running, but similar to colossus of old and other 'power' units, just 1 or 2 can make a huge difference in the fight.
The screenshots below show how the liberator can be used as an effective zoning mechanism. As a flying unit with massive range it can fire with relative impunity against your enemy so long as they stay within a circle.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/QlMioBN.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/l2dznuP.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/827IdjU.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/elLwrO2.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/E7zol6M.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Z0TaJRa.jpg)
This final screenshot shows how I use the liberators to control my opponent's ramp while I bust in with my bio to take down the nexus.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OZAlZm5.jpg)
*** I'm experimenting with formatting here between gifs and imgs (dno how to embed gifs, didn't work when I tried).
 
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So.... When are you going to bring back your nuke rush?
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Thanks for the review ! Quick questions : when you used the Liberator in actual play did it feel hard to estimate the zone to activate ? When I used it in defensive situations mainly they seem to be useless because unless I targeted something specific like a ramp they didn't zone enough...
Second question : as far as build order go how do you integrate your liberator ?
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do you feel the power of initial positioning is too overemphasized with this unit outside of tvt and too difficult to overcome with control alone?
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On June 04 2015 11:03 qxc wrote:
When using multiple liberators, any sieged liberator can fire at any circle within range (15) from any other friendly liberator.
You should probably mention that this is a bug.
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On June 04 2015 11:03 qxc wrote:
*** I'm experimenting with formatting here between gifs and imgs (dno how to embed gifs, didn't work when I tried).
Just use the img tag but use the .gif extension for the image at imgur
If you are Curious, here is an example
+ Show Spoiler +
Or, one of your own:
+ Show Spoiler +
What's your overall feel with the unit? Do you like it? It seems useful enough 
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Interesting read. These pink circles are soooo ugly.
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Does anybody else think the liberator feels to heavy? As in acceleration, turning speed etc? I think it is important for it to be very agile so you can quickly turn turn turn and defend vs the fast mutas that run around them and pick off stuff.
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On June 04 2015 15:52 dust7 wrote:Show nested quote +On June 04 2015 11:03 qxc wrote:
When using multiple liberators, any sieged liberator can fire at any circle within range (15) from any other friendly liberator. You should probably mention that this is a bug.
Wtf? How could this be a bug? Liberators deploys at range 7 maximum so what is the point in having 15 attack range in the first place if it can't shoot into other circles?
The mechanic of the liberator is one of the most interesting unit blizz have ever made and now they claim it's a bug and want to "fix" it? Come on... this must be a joke.
Now the unit is going to be butchered and i'm sad
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I was not aware the targeting thing was a bug.
The liberator is an interesting unit that fulfills a new role in the team arsenal arsenal with a unique mechanic without being excessively difficult to use. The liberator requires your brain more than your hands.
When youre at full two base saturation you can start transitioning to liberator sign a second port.
Overall the unit zones well but needs support to ensure that the units don't just go around. Although now that I know that being able to target units in other circles is a bug it will be interesting to see how effective it is after the fix.
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Well I just think it's really OP with the current bug, might be a nice unit when that's fixed thogh. You can still control chokes really well with them, but not entire big areas.
If i's too weak afterwards, they could make it a bit more agile imo. Faster turn and accelartion speed.
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United Kingdom20301 Posts
Wtf? How could this be a bug? Liberators deploys at range 7 maximum so what is the point in having 15 attack range in the first place if it can't shoot into other circles?
I was not aware the targeting thing was a bug.
Yea, that sounds silly. Why would they put it at range 15 but not allow you to shoot further than ~9 range under any circumstance?
Faster turn and accelartion speed.
sc2 units don't have a turn speed, that's only one of the acceleration numbers AFAIK
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I really wish that blizzard would get this MOBA bullshit out of my starcraft game. The Liberator, Ravager, and Disruptor all have abilities that feel like they would fit better as DotA hero skills than they do in a competitive RTS game.
Just add more simple units that, when used in the right hands, become something amazing. The Adept is a step in the right direction, and the lurker (with correct numbers) has that potential, too. The liberator just doesn't feel that way to me.
Starcraft is a beautiful game; it doesn't need flashy skills or gimmicky unit design to hinder that beauty.
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Am I the only one to think that the indicator is ugly and overloads the screen far too much ?
First the cyclone, now that... A mech player will have more indicators than units on his screen.
On June 04 2015 22:23 Jonas wrote:I really wish that blizzard would get this MOBA bullshit out of my starcraft game. The Liberator, Ravager, and Disruptor all have abilities that feel like they would fit better as DotA hero skills than they do in a competitive RTS game. Just add more simple units that, when used in the right hands, become something amazing. The Adept is a step in the right direction, and the lurker (with correct numbers) has that potential, too. The liberator just doesn't feel that way to me. Starcraft is a beautiful game; it doesn't need flashy skills or gimmicky unit design to hinder that beauty.
Too late. HotS was a solid game, stale and flawed in some ways but solid. LotV will be gimmicky, coinflippy, hectic, just to please the spectators and add flashy things that will make casuals eyes bulge in awe -bullshit, utter bullshit. I'll just enjoy the last months of HotS and make up my mind when LotV will be nearing release, but in its current state LotV release will probably be the time for me to stop video games for some time (I can't stand MOBAs).
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All these idiots spouting "dernt merk it a moba ermergerd" should also have to post their sc2 account. We know your silver, bro. Your feedback doesn't matter.
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ty for the informative review but it's too short :p i want more to understand this weird unit.
[PkF] Wire, come play broodwar :p
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My biggest complaint is the indicator spam. SC2 has more than enough UI clutter. =\
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On June 05 2015 01:18 purakushi wrote:
My biggest complaint is the indicator spam. SC2 has more than enough UI clutter. =\
If people can stand the crappy UI's in many MOBAS, I'm sure they can deal with new indicators. Although, maybe toning down the thickness of the lines used in the targeting circle would be a good idea.
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On June 04 2015 22:24 [PkF] Wire wrote:Am I the only one to think that the indicator is ugly and overloads the screen far too much ? First the cyclone, now that... A mech player will have more indicators than units on his screen. Show nested quote +On June 04 2015 22:23 Jonas wrote:I really wish that blizzard would get this MOBA bullshit out of my starcraft game. The Liberator, Ravager, and Disruptor all have abilities that feel like they would fit better as DotA hero skills than they do in a competitive RTS game. Just add more simple units that, when used in the right hands, become something amazing. The Adept is a step in the right direction, and the lurker (with correct numbers) has that potential, too. The liberator just doesn't feel that way to me. Starcraft is a beautiful game; it doesn't need flashy skills or gimmicky unit design to hinder that beauty. Too late. HotS was a solid game, stale and flawed in some ways but solid. LotV will be gimmicky, coinflippy, hectic, just to please the spectators and add flashy things that will make casuals eyes bulge in awe -bullshit, utter bullshit. I'll just enjoy the last months of HotS and make up my mind when LotV will be nearing release, but in its current state LotV release will probably be the time for me to stop video games for some time (I can't stand MOBAs).
100% agree. LotV in its current state is so incredibly bad. It blows my mind that blizzard wants to change starcraft into that shit.
I will probably continue playing HotS. I just like sc to much to leave it completely but not being able to watch pro starcraft anymore will be sad.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XE1Di.gif)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ubtlicl.gif)
