For my first (non-society) 2E game, I have decided that I would like to make an Anadi Liberator character to play as an allegory (and a little fantasy wish-fulfillment) on an aspect of my early-life experiences: surviving residential-school genocide (and hopefully thriving afterward).
My idea: An Anadi - who is just starting to be more aware of and knowledgeable about her ancestry and heritage (including spider form) - decides to take up the Cause as a Liberator.
If anyone would like to suggest Heritage, Archetypes, Feats (and trees), I am open to ideas, since I am trying to absorb a lot of information within the next 2 weeks.
For Heritage, I am currently considering between Snaring and Spindly, and the Hybrid Form racial feat is looking pretty tasty, even if only thematically. Ward as a Background is virtually a must.
Anadi and Champion should work together well enough. Anadi has a flaw in CON, which isn't great - but boosts DEX which compensates for it. You will likely want a +1 or +2 in DEX by the end of ABC anyway. Ward background lets you recover CON with the non-free boost. So your options for initial stats should be good to go.
Champion is the tankiest of the classes. So hitting CON is a good plan. STR for increasing accuracy with melee weapons. You can go with a ranged build, but the champion reaction is always short range. So focusing entirely on ranged attacks doesn't mesh as well. DEX is good for ranged attacks and getting the most out of armor that isn't heavy armor with a +0 max DEX - good but can be shorted if needed. WIS is a good stat generally for Will saves and perception. It also helps your spellcasting if you are going for focus spells. And CHA for demoralize or diplomacy. (Being a liberator champion you probably won't be looking to take training in intimidation other than for demoralize. Coercion is anathema.) INT is good for crafting skill for rebuilding your shield or getting more trained skills, but it is far from necessary.
The tactical use of Liberating Step is to 1) cripple the incoming damage that your ally is taking, and 2) allow the ally to move out of range of any follow-up attack from that enemy. A typical melee enemy attack routine of Stride; Strike; Strike doesn't really work any more. Instead they can Stride; Strike (with limited damage); and then...? Your ally that they were attacking is now out of melee range.
And with that as your core character, you should be good to go. The rest is just preference choices.
For the decision between Snaring and Spindly, I would go with Spindly. The speed increase will offset the speed penalty of heavy armor. Grapple attacks probably don't cause problems with anathema for a Liberator champion. It would be a questionable GM decision to say that it does. But the tone of grappling attacks doesn't really fit well with the theme of the character.