Goliath (Long War)
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.
Abilities
| Rank | Ability | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Specialist |
Absorption Fields Reduces most incoming damage to this unit, scaling up as the damage increases. | |||
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 Lance Corporal |
 The nearest visible enemy suffers -20 aim and cannot critically hit this unit |
 Fire a shot that causes enemies to run out of cover. The shot is easy to hit with, but does reduced damage |
 Confers +15 Defense during first attack in owerwatch, and a half point of damage reduction(meaning one point of damage in a successful attack has a 50% chance of being avoided) | |
| Aim: 0 Will: 2 Mob: 0 | Aim: 0 Will: 0 Mob: 0 | Aim: 0 Will: 0 Mob: 0 | ||
 Corporal |
 Primary weapon does one additional damage. |
 Unit gets a free shot back at the first enemy who attacks the MEC each turn, provided there's enough ammo to do so. |
 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. | |
| Aim: 0 Will: 1 Mob: 0 | Aim: 0 Will: 0 Mob: 0 | Aim: 2 Will: 2 Mob: 0 | ||
 Sergeant |
 Damage received from enemies within 4 tiles is reduced by 33%. |
 Any shots taken without moving have +10 Aim and +10% critical chance. |
 Your primary weapon does extra damage to robotic enemies. | |
| Aim: 0 Will: 2 Mob: 0 | Aim: 0 Will: 0 Mob: 0 | Aim: 0 Will: 0 Mob: 0 | ||
 Tech Sergeant |
 Confers immunity to critical hits. |
 Shots from Overwatch no longer suffer any Aim penalty. |
 Area of effect attack that destroys most cover and hits all eligible targets for 34% damage. This attack cannot cause critical hits. | |
| Aim: 0 Will: 2 Mob: 0 | Aim: 2 Will: 0 Mob: 0 | Aim: 0 Will: 0 Mob: 0 | ||
 Gunnery Sergeant |
 Repairs up to 50% of damage taken (max 2 per turn). Additional damage taken before repairs are complete reduces how much can be repaired. |
 Adds 1 damage on critical hits for each enemy the squad can see (up to 5). |
If the unit fires without moving, it automatically enters overwatch. | |
| Aim: 0 Will: 2 Mob: 0 | Aim: 2 Will: 2 Mob: 0 | Aim: 0 Will: 0 Mob: 0 | ||
 Master Sergeant |
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Tactical Advice
Intended Role: "Tank"
With the highest HP progession and plethora of defensive perks, the Goliath acts as the frontline bulletsponge 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 Absorbtion Fields perk as the first perk to be available, The Goliath is able to heavily reduce any damage that it receives. Also with perks likeBody Shield Shock- Absorbent Armor and Resilience It becomes neigh 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.
And it can still shoot back at enemies or use Grenade Launchers, Kinetic Strike moduels, etc.
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 there is no perk which forces the enemy for shoot at the Goliath, making its Tanking role somewhat situational as enemy units can forego shooting at the MEC that is standing right infront of them and instead shoot at a soldier in low cover, behind the MEC.
When creating a Goliath, it is a good idea to look for Gunners with high health, high will and somewhat high mobility. Having high starting stats on at least two of the three stats mentioned, will help the MEC trooper in the long run.
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 it maxmimum 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 gonna use it for its specific purpose, you might not want to get a Goliath.
Stat Progression
| Rank | HP at level | Total HP | Aim at level | Total Aim |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specialist | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Lance Corporal | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Corporal | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| Sergeant | 1 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| Tech Sergeant | 1 | 5 | 3 | 15 |
| Gunnery Sergeant | 1 | 6 | 3 | 18 |
| Master Sergeant | 1 | 7 | 3 | 21 |