The Liberator
By exxo(Serg), xvmurdacb(Will)
Special thanks to marvel

The Hammer/charge combo is probably the most dangerous hybrid build known to LLD. With two high damage primary attacks, high life, ability to easily stack resistances, holy shield for retarded block rate/increased block ability, and the horribly overpowered ability to desynch, a liberator can perfectly mix playing offensive and defensive. In the hands of a skilled player a libby is one of the few builds who has no real hard counters. So while a lightning sentry trapper get shut down by anything with a bow and that godly bowzon gets 5-0'ed by your local fireball sorc the libby scoffs and duels on.

The types of Libbys(in general):


125% fcr(More hammer based)
-Faster frame hammering
-Better base resistances
-Better hammer damage
-Better foh damage(if you happen to use it)
-Slightly higher attack rating


75% fcr(More charge based)
-More life
-More charge damage
-More mana

Gear choices:

The beauty in this build is that it allows you to use multiple combinations of items based on your play style. You can make him more hammer/charge/res/whatever based. There are plenty of options, but the main point to consider when gearing is to make sure your libby hits either 75% fcr or 125% fcr. Below are a few example setups, obviously you will want to make sure you hit 75% resist all so charm/gear choices could vary

75% fcr with good hammer damage
Pcrown w/ Max/Resist Jewel
Vmagi w/ Max/Resist Jewel
Hammer/Conc Divine Honor
Ed/Ar Crown Spirit Shield
Belts Vary
Sanders Boots
Frostburns
2Pcombat/10fcr/Life/Rep/Mana Ammy
2x Soj's
25x Life/Mana Scs
15x Max/AR/Life Scs
wep switch: divine honor with medi

75%fcr with good charge damage
Rare 20fcr circlet w/Max damage jewel(s)
80life armor w/Max damage jewels
Hammer/Conc Divine Honor
Ed/Ar Crown Spirit Shield
Belts Vary
Sanders Boots
Frostburns
2Pcombat/10fcr/Life/Rep/Mana Ammy
1x Soj
1x rare 10fcr/str/life/mana/ar ring
20x Max/AR/Life Scs
20x Life/Mana Scs
wep switch: divine honor with medi

125% fcr Libby:
Rare 20fcr circlet w/Max damage jewel(s)
Vmagi w/ Max/Resist Jewel
Hammer/Conc Divine Honor
Ed/Ar Crown Spirit Shield
Belts Vary
Sanders Boots
Mage fists
2Pcombat/10fcr/Life/Rep/Mana Ammy
1x Soj
1x rare 10fcr/str/life/mana/ar ring
~40x Life/Mana Scs
wep switch: divine honor with medi

Stats/Skill placement

Stat points(this will look familiar)

Str: Enough for gear
Dex: Enough for max block
Vita: Rest
Energy: None

Skill placement
1 conc
1 holy shield
13 Vigor
13 Hammers
8 pre-reqs
You will have, after a hell rush, 5 left over skill point which you can play around with
your options
Conc: more hammer/charge dmg
BA: More AR/hammer dmg
Charge: More AR/Charge dmg


Strategies.

First of all, any paladin that uses hammers has to stay in constant motion to attain desynch/clag. Hammers are an incredibly small range of attack, smaller than a druid's tornado. If hammerdins didn't have desynch they would be incredibly unfeasable due to any opponent able to outwalk them.
A hammerdins main way of killing is not merely to chase down the opponent and outrun them, but to trap their opponents so they have no choice but to run through hammers. Hammerdin's rely more on their minimap and trapping strategies than anything else. Becuase of their incredible speed they can use walls, ponds, corners, buildings, bushes, and everything in between to force their opponent into a tight area and then laying hammers down in all exits. A big plus to libbys is that, most opponents, cant risk running due to a heavy charge. Setting these hammer fields around them is alot easier when they walk.

Basic moment strategy(aka desynch):
This is the type of moment you should almost always be in. Charge the farthest distance possible for each charge. The farther your charges the more distance you gain from your desynched self. The further you are from your desynched self the more time you have to attack without synch catching up.
For basics I stick to a rule of no more than 2 hammers in between charges. If you want to synch extremely hard I would say to do 1 hammer and then charge, rinse and repeat. For charge a basic rule of thumb is to charge into them, then GTFO in order to go back into your "desynch mode" again.

Some more info on desynch



Puddle desynch: .

This is a very powerful type of desynch. Unlike the normal way we move when the server is just a bit behind us, this type of desynch will make us "invisible" on our opponents map and hence dosent allow them even a guess on where we will be.



Basic charge strategy: Charge ONE time and then gtfo. This of course can be modified to whom you're opponent is but for a rule of thumb I stick to this strategy. Charge is not your main attack, no matter how fun it is, so don't try and lay the D on them. If you see an opponent run, CHARGE. If you see that they have a 2 hander/insight out, CHARGE.

Vs Character Strategies:

Vs. Hammerdins:
Hammer strat: Hammerdin duels are what they are. Synch hard, outsmart your opponent, and let the clock tick. Remember, you want to stay underneath where you think the other hammer player will be
Charge strat: Not recommended unless you are good at catching them when they charge away(and so have zero def).
String of Ears, Foh Switch

Vs. Nado Druids
Hammer strat: These guys are mainly slow, so I like to use the "triangle of doom" techique. But sometimes they are fast, and thats where you have to trap them into corners or outpace them and force them into your hammers. I will rarely hammer right on a nado druid since they have such strong close range attacks.. It becomes a bit more complicated when a druid is using a tele stick(see charge strat)
Charge strat: UP CHARGE is your friend, basically if anybody tries to tele stomp you while you are charging north you will bypass the summons and go right to the caster. This is essential to dueling a tele druid since if they try to be offensive, they will tele stomp...with 0 block. Charge if you see them getting ready to tele.
Deaths Belt, HS switch.

Vs. Bow Zons
Hammer strat: High avoid/dodge/evade skills make it extremely hard to hit them, they will be synching slightly less hard as you, and most people who play zons are smart in the sense that they know how to stay random. Random movement is the most confusing to a hammerdin. A smart zon will shoot once in between a few throws, making it hard for to choose when to charge, and if you do charge at the right time, you have to get their name locked without anything inbetween you two. When I see them switch from bow to jav, I know that the zon will most likely assume that i'm not coming in for a charge for a while. So I assume that they will pull bow out asap. Thats when I charge and hopefully while I'm mid charge their bow will get pulled out and I'll get a solid charge in. Once you get your charge go immediately back to hammering in a circle around them at close proximity.
Charge strat: Like mentioned above, charge if you can predict a bow switch. Once they switch back to jav/shield go back to setting hammer fields.
String of Ears, HS switch

Vs. Trap Assassins
Hammer strat: The name of the game here is SNEAK ATTACK. Seriously, you need to be good at synch and knowing where you are while synching and avoiding traps, all in one, to be good vs these guys. Trapsins are the ultimate defensive character and are extremely strong. Get a STRONG synch on them and drop in 1-2 hammers at most and then BACK OUT immediately. Otherwise your synch will catch up with you and they'll be able to see you and MB you til the traps eat you alive.
Charge strat: If the sin is c/c you have a good shot of being able to land multiple charges without much problem. This threat either makes them become c/c with a max block switch(so very defensive) or
just use a max block to lay traps. If they are very defensive and stay in trap field do the above strat, I would recommend using puddle desynch so they cant get a MB NL. If they RUN though due to being in your hammer field, charge them.
Life/Rep/Mana Belt, Insight Switch

Vs. WW Barbs
Hammer strat: These are tough opponents becuase when they get a hit on you it definately hurts. That and you almost have to go to them, In this situation they have a strong hand. Just synch circles around them and try to psych them out with the direction your going to head, then immediately go a different direction.
Charge strat: Dont be retarded. Unless you are sure they are out of mana or someshit+they are duel weilding dont bother charging towards a ww barb.
Strong of Ears, Hs Switch

Vs.Necro
Hammer strat: It is NECESSARY that you use your synch as hard as you can. Try to do "sweeps" towards the necro instead of desynching straight at him. Make sure to avoid the bonewalls, if you get stuck on a wall, stop charging and walk away(otherwise you will havealot of fun attacking a bonewall and eating BS trains).
Charge strat: Almost useless, with max block and a bonearmor which can usually eat even a very powerful charge the only time that it might be worth it is when they are running/or on insight.
Life/Rep/Mana belt, Insight.

Vs. Sorc
Hammer Strat: Tough match. Desynch + Hammer fields sporadically, thats about it. Hope you have luck, and hopefully outlast them with your mana pool over theirs. You can try to set hammer fields and "bait" them to tele stomp you with FoH
Charge strat: Get some charges in if you get close enough to her, but make sure to charge out very quickly. Missing a charge + eating fireball isnt fun
Cold Sorc: Deaths Belt, High Resist spirit, Insight Switch
Fire/Light Sorc: Life/Rep/Mana Belt, Insight Switch

ck boots >

i drop mbs where i think the paladin is going to hammer on my sin

slams desynch

nn cry

Very nice guide

yea if u want mdr bug and less ar

vn1 guide m8

This post was edited by Jawn16 on May 16 2010 10:11pm

vouch, the strategy section is solid. well, at least the section vs trappers is. i know i really get owned if i try a c/c build by charge, so thats definitely a good strategy to employ. i just use c/s vs liberators lol. having a shield on switch is a really bad idea because you can really get owned by desynch

This post was edited by MiKTeX on May 16 2010 10:14pm

haha, will was a huge help in the strats section
im horribad dueler just getting into mediocre range so i needed help

nn
huhuhu






haha, Will was a huge help in the strats section
im horribad dueler just getting into mediocre range so i needed help





This post was edited by exxo on May 16 2010 10:14pm

side note: dragon flight is basically suicide vs a charger on a trapper cuz of up charge T_T

100ar on sanders is awesome for a libby