Goliath (Long War)

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Goliath

MEC variant of the Gunner class. 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 Reduces most incoming damage to this unit, scaling up as damage increases. Specifically: reduces 40% of any damage taken after 2; after all other damage reduction has been applied.
	-1 Mobility.
Lance Corporal	Steadfast Never panic as a result of getting wounded, allies panicking, allies getting wounded or killed, or the intimidation ability.	Flush Fire a shot that may cause non-flying enemies to run to new cover. The shot is easy to hit with (+30 aim), but does reduced damage (-50% base weapon damage), and consumes extra ammo (2 ammo). Hunkered units will not relocate.	Automated Threat Assessment Confers 0.5 DR (50% chance to absorb one point of damage) at all times, and confers +15 defense when in overwatch until the unit takes an overwatch shot.
	+5 Will.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Corporal	Ranger Confers +1 damage with primary weapons, rocket launchers, MEC secondary weapons and sidearms. Negates the long-range accuracy penalty with sidearms when shooting beyond 14 meters.	Reactive Targeting Sensors Unit gets a free shot back at the first enemy who attacks the MEC each turn, provided there's enough ammo to do so.	Platform Stability Shots taken before any costly actions have +10 Aim and +10% critical chance. Also grants +10 aim for purposes of reducing scatter if the soldier has not moved this turn, and increases range of Blaster Launcher (which does not scatter).
	+2 Aim.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Sergeant	Resilience Confers immunity to critical hits.	Advanced Fire Control Shots from Overwatch no longer suffer any Aim penalty.	Bring 'Em On Confers 1-4 bonus damage during critical hits (which is then multiplied by 50% due to the critical hit). The damage is higher when more enemies are in view (including squad sight vision). This results in +1.5 dmg for 1-2 enemies, +3 dmg for 3-4 enemies, +4.5 dmg for 5-6 enemies, +6 dmg for 7 or more enemies.
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Tech Sergeant	Shock-Absorbent Armor Damage received from enemies within 4 tiles is reduced by 33%.	Vital Point Targeting Confers 2 bonus damage with primary guns, and +1 damage with sidearms, against humans and alien targets whose species have been autopsied.	HEAT Ammo Your primary weapon, not including shotguns, does an additional 50% of its base weapon damage to robotic enemies after any damage reduction is assessed.
	-1 Mobility.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Gunnery Sergeant	Repair Servos Repairs up to 50% of damage taken (max 2 per turn). Value on icon represents repairs remaining at 2 points per hp. Additional damage taken before repairs are complete reduces how much can be repaired from prior hits by 50%.	Collateral Damage Area of effect attack that destroys most cover and hits all eligible targets for 1/3rd damage. Unlike most abilities, damage increasing items and perks also only apply 1/3rd damage (note: HEAT and flak cannot be reduced below +2 damage though). This attack cannot critically hit. Shredder ammo and holo-targeting are NOT applied.	Ready for Anything If the unit fires without taking any other costly action, it automatically enters overwatch at the end of its turn.
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Master Sergeant	Packmaster Limited-use small items (including those from perks) receive 1 additional use.	Damage Control When this unit takes damage, all further damage will be reduced by 1 or 2 points (1.5 DR) for the next 2 turns.	Close Combat Specialist Confers a reaction shot against any enemy who closes to within 4 tiles. Does not require Overwatch. Warning: Will activate even if unit is concealed.
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.

Stat Progression

Rank	/level	total	/level	total	/level*	total*
Specialist	1	1	2	2	2(3)	2(-3)
Lance Corporal	1	2	1	3	2(3)	4(-6)
Corporal	1	3	2	5	2(3)	6(-9)
Sergeant	1	4	1	6	2(3)	8(-12)
Tech Sergeant	1	5	2	8	2(3)	10(-15)
Gunnery Sergeant	1	6	1	9	2(3)	12(-18)
Master Sergeant	1	7	2	11	2(3)	14(-21)

• Note that even without Hidden Potential switched on there is a Random (1) Will per level. This is properly shown in brackets. Psionic soldiers receive additional random will as well.

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 Body Shield, Shock- Absorbent Armor, Damage Control and Resilience it becomes nigh impossible 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, HEAT Ammo, Collateral Damage and Packmaster are prominent offensive and utility perks. Advanced Fire Control and Ready For Anything can let the Goliath lock down aliens with the threat of overwatch.

It should be noted that even with their high health, damage reducing and self repairing capabilities, they can still die quite easily during the later parts of the campaign. This is why it is a good idea to have an Engineer equipped with an Arc thrower and the Repair perk, to act as a... well Field Engineer, to increase the survivability of the MEC even more. Another good idea is to give it Alloy belts, which increases its maximum HP.

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.

See also

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