Terminator Librarian Overview

Strategy and L2P topics.
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Forestradio
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Terminator Librarian Overview

Postby Forestradio » Sat 20 Sep, 2014 5:31 pm

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*ahem*

Note: I’ll be using TL (Terminator Librarian) and GK libby interchangeably throughout this whole thing.

http://www.dawnofwar.info/index.php?pag ... _librarian

This link will give you all the specific stats and cooldowns and whatnot, but I’ll give a overview of the TL’s capabilities right now.

Cost/build time/upkeep: Fairly low req cost vs fairly high power cost, very short build time. Lower upkeep than other t2 subs.

HP/damage/speed/general stuff: Pretty high hp, nice blend of both melee and ranged damage (power_melee, piercing pvp with standard weapon range). Two different special attacks, just like the BC, one of them is the standard “wave of energy” special that most psychic units have, the other is a forward sweep with his sword (similar to the Chaos Lord Blood Maul special). Since GK have better stock options than SM, he wears terminator armor (immunity to knockback unless it’s ability knockback and suppression immunity and speed 4.5 instead of 5).

Abilities:

Smite: Pretty self-explanatory, AoE damage ability that does plasma damage.

Sanctuary: Makes a big grey bubble (same size as the sorc’s demon shield, big enough to fit a predator/other tank inside) that does ability knockback to enemies inside the bubble and enemies that tries to enter the bubble (but doesn’t work on retreating units). Longish cooldown and fairly high energy cost, so be careful when you use this. Don’t use it to force off capping sluggas when there are nobz around, etc etc

Shrouding: Damage buff and infiltration to a single allied unit. Lasts a pretty long time. The upgrade to get Shrouding increases the TL’s energy and energy regen.

Might of Titan: Channeled (with no cooldown) AoE buff. Damage resistance and melee skill buff. It costs more energy to activate than it does to keep channeling, so don’t keep switching it on and off. The upgrade to get MoT increases the TL’s hp and hp regen.

Actual Tactics, when to buy the TL, random thoughts:

Like most subcommanders, the TL does not form the backbone of the rest of the army: he only augments and supports it. For this reason, the best times to purchase him are a) first thing in t2 if you already did an extensive t1 (probably rhino+purgs/inties) b) after your first t2 purchase in t2 and c) after your first terminator variant in t3.

In t2, you keep the TL with your main army to dish out his buffs, in t3 treat him as sort of a squad leader for your terminators/paladins, their power grows exponentially when the TL is nearby and shooting them down or fighting them in melee is way harder due to damage resistance and knockdown and increased damage.

Shrouding is basically an auto-buy, the energy regen+increase in base energy are very important in keeping the TL ready to use his abilities, not only that, but the damage buff+infiltration are really good on basically anything that isn’t an IST squad, even a SS or BC with upgraded weapon will put on lots more hurt with this buff on. Using this on psycannon purgation to sneak around a vehicle and unload into its rear armor is also very effective.

Might of Titan should only really be purchased after Shrouding is, unless you have a SS justicar/puries to restore energy constantly you simply won’t get the maximum potential from MoT and be able to Smite/Sanctuary as well. The health+hp regen from this upgrade is nice, but not really necessary and definitely not as good as the extra energy and energy regen.

Some Sanctuary notes: Keep the bubble between your forces and enemy units, do not immediately cast this on jump units/units that have a passive charge leap as they have knockback immunity for a short time after landing, use this in late game fights vs nobz and enemy terminators as it completely tilts those fights in your favor, terminators of all kinds get screwed by knockback and stuns and the ability to do this on demand in a big AoE is invaluable.

Purifiers+GK libby is the classic libby combo, if puries were your first choice in t2 and your opponent didn’t respond with a vehicle, then go for it all the way, the two synergize extremely well with each other, throw in a teleporting BC and there’s little the opponent can do about it, puries+libby tear most things (exceptions here being genestealers and some commander specific compositions like grav blade) to pieces in close quarters, while the BC goes ahead after using WATH (keep his energy full with the puries) and teleporting around to wreck setups and tie up the ranged dps squads.

Team Game Specific Advice:
VA+GK libby is very strong here, combine it with something beefy to counter-initiate and soak up hits from your ally.
Also, BUFF YOUR ALLIES. Shees with increased damage+infiltration are terrifying, same thing with increased melee skill+resistance, do this on basically any melee squad in combination with WATH on them as well and you’ll get some downright terrifying cross-race synergy. Might of Titan is also good when stacked up with healing effects like med bunkers, nurgle worship, apo, etc.

If someone technical minded could give specifics on how exactly the knockback with Sanctuary works, that would be greatly appreciated :)
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PhatE
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Re: Terminator Librarian Overview

Postby PhatE » Sun 21 Sep, 2014 12:30 pm

This was a nice read.

May have missed it but with the GK Librarian + Mind Blades on the VA really does some hurt to Transports (1 shot rear armour) and Walkers.
Stream - http://www.twitch.tv/phatness_

Since everyone forgets, my timezone is AEST (UTC/GMT) +10 hours. AEDT is (UTC/GMT) +11 hours. Hopefully no-one tells me what time any tournament is on.
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Forestradio
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Re: Terminator Librarian Overview

Postby Forestradio » Sun 21 Sep, 2014 7:41 pm

Yeah that combo is really strong especially in larger game modes where your VA can be hiding behind a big wall of other stuff and where anything that tries to get near to him will get shot down. Have the VA go manticore/whirlwind(jk, leave the whirlwind alone as it takes up pop and costs upkeep) for extra lulz.

In 1v1, well, it's iffy. If you're already holding most of the map it definitely can be good to get both of your subcommanders out and use them to harass (vs IG, chaos, SM, eldar to some extent) but it's relatively micro intensive and your army really won't have a lot of real backbone to it: you can do lots of damage but not really tank through things.

Also, a couple things to note about smite
1. It's bad on retreat. Like pretty bad. But it _can_ wipe units that are just barely getting away (although your storm bolters should take of that) so if you want to save it to inflict some extra damage while your opponent is running away you can do that. I'd still advise against it tho.

2. Hit high-value targets. Given the choice between hormagaunts and warriors, hit the warriors. Given a choice between Dire Avengers and Dark Reapers, hit the reapers. You want to maximize the damage here by using it vs a) squads that your opponent needs on the field (the warriors) and b) targets that take lots of damage from plasma things (the reapers). Against chaos I'd generally prefer smiting the tics, unless your opponent has 2 csm and is blobbing them up nicely. Don't smite things with high hp regen like plague marines or sluggas under a painboy heal: it doesn't really do a lot at all.
Atlas

Re: Terminator Librarian Overview

Postby Atlas » Sun 05 Oct, 2014 9:04 pm

If you got Canticle, you might actually want to go Might of Titan first for all those sweet AoE buffs without worrying about energy. It's a pretty niche thing imo, but it could be helpful.
cowboy_the17
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Re: Terminator Librarian Overview

Postby cowboy_the17 » Mon 06 Oct, 2014 3:44 pm

Does WATH and MoT's Damage reduction stack? Or for that matter do damage reduction effects stack in general. Also, does the order you apply the reductions matter?

For Example: if you throw WATH on top of a unit in Melee with Melee Res. Aura does the 40% kick off first, then WATH blocks 15% of the remaining 60% damage or do they stack to a total of 55%?

This could make the order you apply buffs matter a lot if the reduction is figured the first way (WATH blocking 15% of the remaining damage)

Hope that made sense.
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Forestradio
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Re: Terminator Librarian Overview

Postby Forestradio » Wed 08 Oct, 2014 12:17 am

Atlas wrote:If you got Canticle, you might actually want to go Might of Titan first for all those sweet AoE buffs without worrying about energy. It's a pretty niche thing imo, but it could be helpful.
The thing is, there is no reason to not get Shrouding. Damage buff+infiltration is an excellent complement to your army. Canticle's first and best use has always been to combo with interceptors.

cowboy_the17 wrote:Does WATH and MoT's Damage reduction stack?
They do stack I'm pretty sure, but exactly how all the math is applied I'm iffy on.

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