The Goliath is the first playable Monster in Evolve. One of the largest and most brutish monsters, the Goliath is an extremely strong and violent predator that uses an array of close-quarter attacks and gap-closing abilities, relying on hurled rocks for ranged damage. While mobile enough to get around, the Goliath excels in close-quarters combat and is at its strongest when it is in a direct fight with the hunters.
Biology
Goliath's Stages 1, 2 and 3
Goliath woke up on the wrong side of angry this morning. Little is known about this Monster because scientists studying the beast wind up getting torn in half. Proving just how unfair natural selection can be, Goliath can not only punch through the hull of a starship, it can also breathe fire. Did I forget to mention he can throw rocks too.[1]
The Goliath is a large saurian/humanoid monster with a thick hide, covered in spikes and barbs that increase in size with each successive evolution. It is bipedal and stands on its hind legs when fighting, but is capable of running at great speed on all fours.
The Goliath's head is rounded and well armored. It possesses two eyes that are set far into the skull for protection. The skull is connected to the rest of the body at the back of the neck instead of at the base of the skull, allowing it full range of visibility. The mouth of the Goliath possesses a long thin tongue and a large pair of mandibles on the lower jaw that are visible when the creature roars. The eyes and mouth of a Goliath glow a bright red color as if there is a fire burning deep within its body, starting at the neck and travelling all the way down to the chest area. The glow increases with evolution and when the Goliath has armor. Its neck has several overlapping scale-like plates of armor that resemble glowing red gills.
The Goliath has a muscular frame and possesses tremendous strength, made evident by its ability to leap large distances and rip and hurl boulders from the ground. The Goliath has a tail, tipped with a cluster of spikes.
The Goliath's feet possess four toes: two in the center, a smaller toe on the outside and one additional toe that juts backwards, making a distinctive footprint.
Like all monsters, Goliaths are genderless, although characters refer to it as "he" and "it". While the eggs in Nest hatch Goliaths, it is unclear how the eggs are produced.
Lore
Goliath's are the main forces of the monsters driving the humans off of Shear, they amass in hordes to overwhelm their enemies and its implied that a Stage 3 Goliath was leading the charge during the battle to help the survivors escape Shear and fought alongside an army of monsters, they have been captured before however some have managed to escape before with one instance being a captured Goliath in the Refueling Tower region.
Abilities
The Goliath's abilities, though primarily offensive, can fulfill a variety of functions depending on individual play style.
Fire Breath
The Goliath spits a jet of flame that damages and ignites targets, dealing additional damage over time. Like the rest of Goliaths' kit, Flame Breath is a strong attack for dealing damage to hunters that group up too close and can be punishing if the hunters are hit for extended periods of time. It is a reliable damage tool for both hunting and fighting. Fire Breath will reveal cloaked hunters and will leave them visible as long as they are on fire.
- Damage: 66/66/72 per hit
- 6 hits over 1.05 seconds (tested on a Sloth and it showed only 5 ticks, someone confirm?)
- Range 16.5/21/25
- Angle 12/15/18
- Burn dps 40/41/44 (over 3 seconds)
- Cooldown: 8 seconds
Leap Smash
The Goliath leaps through the air towards his target location and slams into the ground, greatly damaging those it hits while simultaneously knocking them back. Leap Smash can be used both offensively as well as defensively as a way to initiate combat or a way to escape opponents.
- Damage: 437/437/485
- Radius: 4.6/5.8/7.6
- Maximum Distance: 16/16/17
- Speed: 24/26/28
- Knockback: 18
- Cooldown (in combat): 9/8/7 seconds
- Cooldown (out of combat): 22/20/18 seconds
Charge
The Goliath charges forward in a straight line. A powerful attack that allows the Goliath to rush forward and close the gap between itself and its target, damaging and knocking aside all in its path. It doubles as a traversal tool.
- Damage: 403/403/444
- Speed: 16/17/18
- Radius: 2.7/3.4/4.4
- Duration: 1.4/1.75/2.3s
- Knockback: 17/19/21
- Cooldown (in combat): 10 seconds
- Cooldown (out of combat): 22 seconds
Rock Throw
The Goliath rips a massive chunk of rock out of the ground and hurls it at its target. If hit, the target takes massive damage and is knocked backwards. This ability splashes, doing weaker damage the further from the epicenter it hits. Rock throw can be very effective when used against Hunters that are playing too defensively and can be used as a good ranged initiation to start a fight.
- Damage: 100 (Direct) + 578/578/621 (Splash)
- deals half damage when rock does not hit directly
- Knockback: 24/26/28
- Radius: 5/5/8m
- Speed: 26/33/43
- Cooldown: 8 seconds
Basic Attacks
- Heavy: 225 damage in a forward motion, hitting all hunters in front of the Goliath. Resets every 3 seconds.
- Light: 90 damage
- Versus incapacitated hunters: 112 damage
- Pounce: 70/90/110 per tick
Traversal (Leap)
The goliath hurls himself into the air, travelling immense distances in a single bound. The direction and distance of the goliath's jump is based on the reticle. If the Goliath jumps while holding the climb key, he can grab hold of ledges and cliffs and haul himself up, ending the jump. The goliath can leap from any surface he can stand on, even narrow pillars that he would quickly fall off of if he jumps fast enough.
- Traversals: 3
- Recharge: 17 seconds
- Leap Gravity: 20
- Leap Distance: 16
Progression
| Lvl | Reward | Lvl | Reward | Lvl | Reward | Lvl | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Start | 11 | Badge | 21 | 50 Keys | 31 | 50 Keys |
| 2 | Badge | 12 | Feral instincts - Major | 22 | Unkillable - Superior | 32 | Badge |
| 3 | Hunger - Minor | 13 | 50 Keys | 23 | Badge | 33 | 50 Keys |
| 4 | 50 Keys | 14 | Badge | 24 | 50 Keys | 34 | 125 Keys |
| 5 | 125 Keys | 15 | Scale Armor - Major | 25 | 125 Keys | 35 | Elite Skin |
| 6 | Fast Climber - Minor | 16 | 125 Keys | 26 | 50 Keys | 36 | 125 Keys |
| 7 | Badge | 17 | Badge | 27 | Badge | 37 | 125 Keys |
| 8 | 125 Keys | 18 | Crippling Attack - Major | 28 | Evolved Haste - Superior | 38 | Badge |
| 9 | Brawler - Minor | 19 | 50 Keys | 29 | 50 Keys | 39 | 125 Keys |
| 10 | 50 Keys | 20 | 125 Keys | 30 | 125 Keys | 40 | Prime Skin |
Rewards for perks that are already at level 3 are replaced with a 200 keys reward.
Tactics
The Goliath is a powerful juggernaut who specializes in up-close and personal combat.
- Use Charge and Leap Smash in conjunction with your traversals to get into or out of combat quickly. While harpoons will halve the range of these abilities, other slowing effects will not alter their range or speed.
- Use Fire Breath on enemies who cloak. The flames will reveal their position.
- Always keep your armor up. Goliath's high armor means that it is very hard for the hunters to do any HP damage to you unless you engage them, so force the fight on your terms, not on theirs.
- Your leap ability arguably gives you the best method of traversal, and is absolutely crucial to your survival if you are domed early. When trying to mitigate rather than fight, never stay in one spot - continue to jump around the arena, putting cover between you and your pursuers, until the dome goes down, or until you can incapacitate the Trapper.
- Goliath has strong combos built into his abilities. Use the momentary stun from leap smash to score a quick pounce or charge, then follow it up with a rock throw as the hunter tries to get away.
- You can use Leap Smash, Charge and Rock Throw to knock hunters away from advantageous positions and scatter their formations.
- Leap Smash gives you a way to not only get back to an incapped target, but to deal damage as you do. Bait the hunters into going to help downed allies when they think you're distracted, and then leap back to smash both the downed hunter and their would-be rescuer. It's a good way to surprise a Lazarus before he gets his glove off!
- Don't underestimate Fire Breath's range; it is very useful for cutting off a fleeing hunter and forcing them to the ground where you can easily catch them.
- Surprise the hunters by leaping into battle and breathing fire as soon as you land. This is effective against grouped hunters.
Weaknesses
Although Goliath boasts in brute strength, power, armor and health. Goliath's huge size makes him an easy target to hit, and his agility and speed is reduced after each evolve, making it more easy for the hunters to dodge Goliath and do almost maximum damage with their primary weapons.
- Goliath needs to move to do damage. As a trapper, do what you can to keep it pinned in the dome.
- Experienced Goliath players will often try to isolate a hunter and use Goliath's strength and power to quickly incap or kill him/her. Do not let this happen. Always stay with your team.
- Interrupting a Goliaths traversal is a huge detriment to its escape pattern. Try to set harpoons to interrupt it when it jumps as Maggie or Griffin.
- Goliath rocks are easily blocked by terrain elements. Keep a cliff or tree available to dodge behind when the rock comes out.
- As the medic, you always want your healing item trained on the hunter that is under attack by Goliath. If Goliath is focused on killing you, RUN! Survive as long as possible while your fellow hunters do damage to Goliath.
- As the Assault, you want to be right next to the hunter who is under attack by Goliath. The more time Goliath spends attacking your teammate, the more damage you give to Goliath. Use whatever means neccesary to protect your fellow hunter.
- Talented Assaults can save wounded hunters from rocks by leaping in front of them. Soaking the rock damage may mean the difference between life and death for a comrade!
Photo Gallery
Gameplay Images
Official Artworks
Videos
Trivia
Concept art for Goliath as Scorpid
- The Goliath was the first monster revealed for Evolve. It also serves as somewhat of a mascot for the game; its foot print adorns the front cover of the game's case. It is also the only (currently known) Monster to appear as an AI controlled monster, appearing as minions in Nest and Defend modes and as a victory perk in Evacuation. This is no longer true, with the addition of bots to the game. However, it is rare in multiplayer, since the monster has to leave for an AI monster to take over. Therefore, all monsters can be AI controlled.
- Goliath is the most common monster in Evolve as it appears as:
- A playable and fightable boss Monster.
- The Monster used in the Demo Levels.
- used as a perk upon winning a Evacuation round in Refueling Tower.
- Used as the minions in both the Nest and Defend modes.
- Pre-ordering the game will get you the Monster Expansion Pack which contains a "Savage Goliath" skin.[2]
- In development, Goliath was called 'Scorpid' and was a giant crab-scorpion that could burrow. Turtle Rock wanted to make the monster more "relatable", so tweaked Goliath using Godzilla, King Kong and an ugly theropod as inspiration to make the monster seen today.
- A Goliath statue can be bought from TriForce Sales[3] for around $200 dollars.
- It was speculated that Goliath was capable of speech at one point, as one forum member mentioned that leaving Goliath as idle for long enough would cause the Monster to speak. However, this has since been proven false as the audio files for Goliath contain no decipherable words.