Liberator

"Liberation is at hand."

- Liberator The liberator is a terran air unit introduced in StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void.

Overview
The liberator was developed to ensure terran air superiority on the battlefield and was based off of the designs of the United Earth Directorate valkyrie. An aerial counterpart to the siege tank, the liberator is a versatile, medium-sized gunship, armed with twin missile launchers to strike at clusters of aerial threats and can also deploy an anti-ground cannon after transforming into a stationary air platform. This cannon is strong enough to pierce even the armor of the Thor.

The Dominion Special Forces used advanced neosteel research to improve their liberators, giving them a more complex plating system that augmented their transformation process. These liberators are the pride of the Dominion Fleet.

Game Unit
The liberator is introduced in Legacy of the Void. The liberator attacks in two mutually exclusive combat modes, switching from one to another and back is not instant (roughly 1 second). Each liberator in the selection is ordered to target an area (liberation zone) independently. Ordering them back to anti-air mode affects all selected liberators. Liberators cannot attack buildings.

In anti-air mode, the craft is mobile, and can only deliver multi-targeting anti-air splash attacks.
 * Anti-air mode

In anti-ground mode, a 5(9) diameter circle area on the ground is selected (not directly beneath the craft, but anywhere within 5(9) range); once an area is selected, the liberator is immobile and can only attack units within that circle, dealing very high single-target damage (enough to kill most ground targets in one to three shots). The circle can only be repositioned by switching back to anti-air mode, and then again to anti-ground.
 * Anti-surface mode

Co-op Missions
In Co-op Missions, liberators can be utilized by Amon's Forces in some missions. Raid liberators are available to Nova, while infested liberators are available for Stukov.

Nova Covert Ops
In Nova Covert Ops, the player gains the ability to construct liberators in the mission "Night Terrors."

Quotations

 * See: StarCraft II Liberator Quotations

Development
The liberator's AG mode originally required a tech lab attached to a starport.

In an upcoming patch, the liberator's defensive mode will be changed. It won't gain a flat buff to its vision, but rather gain increased vision within the target area. This is designed to make it easier for enemies to sneak around its vision and/or attack from alternate angles.

Known Variants

 * Infested liberator
 * Raid liberator

Trivia

 * The portrait of the pilot strikingly resembles Captain Lola Beck from Starship Troopers III: Marauder.


 * Lexington and Concord were the sites of battles early in the American Revolution.