Goliath (LWR)

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  Goliath

MEC variant of the Gunner and Rocketeer classes. A Goliath is designed to be a human tank. They have the best HP progression of any class in the game and an unsurpassed selection of defensive perks. They have reasonable aim progression, but their selection of offensive perks is a bit lacking.

Primary Weapon: MEC Primary Weapons

Secondary Weapon: MEC Secondary Weapon Systems

Class-Limited items: MEC Equipment items

Abilities

Rank	Ability
Specialist	Absorption Fields Advanced shielding grants +30% DR. Shots from beam weapons (laser/pulse/drone/cyberdisc) lose half of their penetration when targeting this unit.
Lance Corporal	Reactive Targeting Sensors Once per turn, if this unit is attacked: Attempt to return fire with a +40 aim reaction shot. If this unit did return fire, enter One For All (if able). [Basic reaction shots bypass half of cover DR/def, cannot crit, and require hit chance >30] Opportunist Reaction shots gain +15 aim and can critically hit.		Fragmentation Explosives critically hit exposed targets, dealing 150% damage.		Penetrator The primary weapon gains +2 penetration.
Corporal	Grenadier Using a destructive grenade deals +1 damage and costs only 1 AP. Equipped destructive grenades receive an additional use. Grants 1.3 mobility.		Fortified Grants immunity to critical hits. Injury and fatigue times are reduced by 30%. Steadfast Provides immunity to panic (except from flame/psi attacks) and reduces injury time by 50%.		Light 'Em Up Standard shots cost only 1 AP and gain both +5 aim and +1 damage for each instance of damage their target took this turn.
Sergeant	Grit Grants +3 armor HP and %DR equal to half of the %HP lost.		First Aid Grants 2 medikits.		Critical System Targeting Shots against autopsied mechanical units deal +50% damage and gain +2 penetration. Does not work with the Arc Rifle or Arc Pistol.
Tech Sergeant	Repair Servos Repairs damage sustained in battle: When damaged, gain servos equal to 35% of the damage sustained. Each servo can heal 1 HP. At end of turn, use half the servos available (minimum 1, if available).
Gunnery Sergeant	Danger Zone Suppression affects (with half suppressive fire damage) targets in a 2.5 tile radius around the primary target.		Mayhem Suppression has 1 turn less cooldown and deals suppressive fire damage immediately.		Lock N' Load Reloading any weapon costs only 1 AP. Dashing automatically reloads the active weapon.
Master Sergeant	Tandem Warheads Explosives employed by this soldier do full damage at the extent of their area of effect (instead of 50%).			Extra Conditioning Grants +3 armor HP, +0.6 mobility, 10% throw range, and a 10% chance for all end-in-idle actions to cost 0 AP.

Tactical Advice

Intended Role: "Tank"

With the highest HP progession and plethora of defensive perks, the Goliath acts as the frontline bullet sponge for the rest of the team. It is the one unit that you would want to take fire from the heavy hitting alien units. With the Absorption Fields perk as the first perk to be available, The Goliath is able to heavily reduce any damage that it receives.

With perks like Fortified, Extra Conditioning it becomes slightly more difficult for aliens to severely hurt the MEC and even if they manage to heavily damage it, the Repair Servos perk can give it even more survivability, by making it able to repair itself during longer missions.

The Goliath MEC is the only unit that XCOM has available that can reliably be called a tanking unit, as such it can act as a recon unit for the rest of the team, even though it is hampered by its less than stellar mobility. This is why it is good to use it in conjunction with Scouts and Assaults. Use the Scouts to do recon and the Goliath to have the enemies (hopefully) shoot at it, while the assault can go around for a flank.

Sadly the enemy isn't actually obliged to shoot at the Goliath, making its tanking role somewhat situational as enemy units can forego shooting at the MEC that is standing right in front of them, and instead shoot at a soldier in low cover behind the MEC. In this case, equipping short range, high damage weapons such as Kinetic Strike and/or Flamethrowers can make them regret letting your Goliath run free. You will probably want to strike a balance when building your Goliath between defense and offense/utility, since a purely defensively built Goliath will have little to contribute in the event that the aliens don't decide to attack it. Flush, Grenadier, Light 'Em Up and First Aid are prominent offensive and utility perks.

It should be noted that even with their high health, damage reducing and self repairing capabilities, a lone Goliath can still die quite easily during the later parts of the campaign. The most serious threats come from Sectoid swarms, which will deal many small hits that bypass absorption fields, and HEAT loaded bosses, which will hit WAY too hard to tank. It is never a good idea to place the Goliath under a full pod's worth of fire without any assistance.

MECs can be healed by Medikits, so in longer missions a Medic should top off the Goliath between enemy pods.

The biggest drawback of the Goliath is its rather narrow usability; it has one role which it does extremely well, but it is not as versatile as other MEC classes. Unless you are going to use it for its specific purpose, you might not want to get a Goliath.

¹ If time is willing, wait until AFTER repair servos finishes its effect before healing the Goliath. Healing before then will also consume repair servo charges.

See also

Long War Rebalance: Soldiers
	Soldiers Assault Infantry Rocketeer Gunner Sniper Scout Medic Engineer
	MEC Troopers Marauder Goliath Jaeger Shogun
	Officers Psionics Gene Mods S.H.I.V.s