Zhang Liao
Zhang Liao 张辽
General of the Vanguard 前将军 

Raid 突袭
During Zhang Liao's drawing phase, he can choose to forego drawing two cards from the deck and instead select up to two characters with hand cards. Zhang Liao takes one hand card from each character and places them in his hand. 
Clarification:
  • Zhang Liao cannot take two cards from the same person via "Raid." 
  • Zhang Liao cannot mix "Raid" with drawing from the deck. For example, he cannot take one hand card from an enemy and draw one card from the deck. 
  • Zhang Liao can choose to select only one character when activating "Raid" and only gain one card in the process.
  • Only hand cards can be taken by "Raid." Equipment and delay tool cards cannot be removed.
Strengths Weaknesses 
  • Zhang Liao specializes in card destruction. "Raid" provides Zhang Liao with nearly the same advantages as one has when drawing from the deck, but he gets an added benefit that the cards he acquires are cards that opponents lose from their hands. The characters that Zhang Liao targets with "Raid" will be more susceptible to taking damage during and outside Zhang Liao's turn.
  • Zhang Liao's enemies often fear for their sheltered hand cards.  The opposing team cannot be hiding a Peach for their friend without it being in danger of Zhang Liao acquiring it via "Raid." 
  • On Zhang Liao's first turn, he can activate "Raid" on characters who have not taken their first turn yet (i.e. characters to Zhang Liao's right and the king's left). Zhang Liao may have a chance at getting tool and equipment cards that he does not normally get when he uses this ability. 
  • Since Zhang Liao takes from other players' hands with "Raid," he does not usually draw tool cards like Barbarians or equipment. He mainly acquires basic cards like Attack, Escape, and Peach and occasionally Negate. 
  • Zhang Liao can be somewhat of a high profile character. Enemies will grow tired of Zhang Liao stealing their hand cards and may work toward eliminating him more aggressively than they would for other characters.
  • "Raid" becomes significantly weaker when Zhang Liao only has one enemy remaining. As such, he is quite weak in one-on-one situations. 

Notable Combinations:
  • Gan Ning - Like Zhang Liao, Gan Ning specializes in card destruction. These two can work together to greatly weaken their enemies and leaven them vulnerable. 
  • Deng Ai - Deng Ai's "Military Farm" activates whenever he loses cards outside of his turn. As a result, Deng Ai can gain farms that can be used as Steals when Zhang Liao targets him with "Raid." This makes Deng Ai a powerful enemy of Zhang Liao.
  • Lu Xun/Zhang Chun Hua - These characters have abilities that dictate a certain number of cards in their hands at all times and therefore are robust against Zhang Liao's "Raid."
  • Zhuge Liang - Zhuge Liang's "Empty City" activates when he runs out of hand cards. As a result, Zhang Liao does not pose much of a threat to him when he activates targets him with "Raid."
 King Zhang Liao can be a good king choice, but he must have very good loyalists. Zhang Liao will rarely acquire equipment, so the loyalists will have most of the burden of pursuing rebels. 
 Loyalist
Zhang Liao is a decent loyalist. "Raid" can be used to weaken rebels and leave them open for an assault by the king or other loyalists. 
 RebelZhang Liao is a good rebel. He can target the king and his loyalists with "Raid" to weaken them and leave them more open to the other rebels. 
 SpyZhang Liao is a mediocre spy.  While he can effectively keep the game balanced with "Raid," he will have a difficult time defeating the king in a one-on-one battle. Also, he is a very high-profile character and the other players will not take kindly to Zhang Liao constantly stealing their cards.

Final Remarks:
Any team is happy to have Zhang Liao on their side. Thankfully, Zhang He did not make him obsolete when he was released as part of the Mountain expansion pack. "Raid" is a simple yet very effective ability that can cause major problems for Zhang Liao's enemies. When using Zhang Liao, be sure to communicate with your teammates and pay attention to who they want to kill first. Activating "Raid" on weaker enemies can help your teammates finish them off and gain a large advantage.

Alternate Appearances:
Zhang Liao 2
Zhang Lao 5
Zhang Liao 4
Zhang Liao 6
Zhang Liao 3

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