Goliaths appear in StarCraft II. For all intents and purposes, goliaths have been replaced by the thor and viking in the game's multiplayer, as all three units function as superior anti-air fighters and armored support vehicles.
Compared to the viking, the goliath costs one more supply and is less maneuverable in exchange for being lower on the tech tree and very slight advantages in cost and build time. Its ground attack has higher base damage than the viking, but due to a slower rate of fire has ultimately the same DPS. The goliath's anti-air attack deals slightly better damage than the viking against armored units, and has a better rate of fire, but this comes at a cost of range. Its role as a support walker is enhanced greatly by the Multi-Lock Weapons System upgrade, allowing it to target and attack ground and air units simultaneously and greatly boosting its effectiveness when facing a varied enemy force. Once the viking is acquired the goliath's usefulness decreases greatly, as the viking's upgrades also allow it the advantage of splash damage against air units.
Using the Viking as an air superiority fighter and the Goliath to support ground forces works quite well. It synergises well with marines and siege tanks providing longer ranged air defence than what a gunline of marines provides and simutaneously adds to the weight of firepower of the whole force. Without the concern of enemy air defence or air to air units targeting them. Such a combined infantry and mechanised force can be used as a bastion of firepower that grinds forwards from which to move aircraft and specialised troops can sally to chip away at key enemy infastructure, defences, or to call down nuclear weapons.
Vikings add another layer of defence to such a strategy, a small squadron is reccomended as their longer range missiles are not often required unless the enemy employs many Void Rays or Broodlords. But such a gunline works perfectly to protect Battlecruisers from swarming flyers and they are perfectly capable of dealing with longer ranged enemy flyers, especially when employing the Yamato Cannon.
Thors are made superfluous by this strategy as the player has both Battlecruisers and Siege Tanks to call on for heavy fire, and Goliaths, Marines, Battlecruisers and Vikings to call upon for air defence. The Thor is simply not worth it's cost to deploy in this strategy. It also displaces much more space than a goliath meaning the gunline which is meant to be condensed firepower ceases to work effectively.
Attack upgrades improve attack cooldown of affected units by 5% per level.
These self-replicating ultra capacitors reduce the reload time of weapons and systems. Now each of the weapon upgrades at the armory and engineering bay increases attack speed by 5% in addition to increasing damage.
Armor upgrades increase health of affected units by 5% per level.[1]
We have created a new lightweight alloy called vanadium. Vanadium diffuses weapon impacts much more efficiently than traditional armor plating, and it better preserves the life of our units. Now each of the armor upgrades in the armory and engineering bay increases unit life by 5% in addition to increasing armor.
Allows goliaths to attack air and ground units simultaneously.
This improved version of the goliath allows the missile launcher and autocannons to acquire separate targets and fire simultaneously. This upgrade is ideal when fighting ground targets with heavy air support.[2]
Goliaths gain +3 missile range and +1 cannon range.
This advanced targeting system lets the goliath's missiles locate and lock on to more distant targets. The targeting system also features an AI that can better predict the paths of moving targets, letting the goliath's autocannons hit ground targets from a greater distance.[2]
Damaged mechanical units recover hit points when out of combat, at a rate of 0.6015 each second.[3]
Our ship and vehicle hulls are now made from a material called Regenerative Bio-Steel. This material uses internal nanobots to slowly repair any damage the hull sustains. While this regeneration process is much slower than conventional SCV repairs, it can be the difference between life and death if no SCVs are available.
Goliaths are exclusive to Rory Swann in Co-op Missions. They no longer require a tech lab to build, making them compatible with the reactor. Nova gains access to the strike goliath, with enhanced life, damage and abilities.
Upgrades and Abilities
Ares-Class Targeting System
Increases Goliaths air attack range by 3 and ground attack range by 1.
