Goliath Review

HMS Goliath is a Tier 10 Royal Navy heavy cruiser. She has developed a reputation within the community for being rather bad, on account of low general performance in most relevant areas. Goliath shares much of her gamestyle with the earlier British CAs, with an over-reliance on RNG for damage, and a reliance on evasion to survive. High-risk, low reward is the name of the game, making her one of the most challenging ships at her tier.

DIFFICULTY: Hard
How hard is it to stay afloat and perform decently well in this ship?

EFFORT REQUIREMENT: Moderate
How much screen-tapping and situational awareness is needed to perform decently well?

POTENTIAL INFLUENCE/OUTPUT: Low
In skilled hands, how much damage output or game influence can this ship exert?

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SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT:

Slot one: Dispersion (-7%)

Slot two: Acceleration (+20%)

Slot three: Concealment (+10%)

Bonus: Cruiser Modernisation.

Goliath's slow reload means she doesn't suffer much from her slow turrets. Take cruiser modernisation for the extra HP pool.

As for the equipment, it's a standard build. Concealment in particular is a must for Goliath- her huge profile and short range make her a vulnerable ship, so controlling when you're spotted is key to survival.

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Poor scores in the firepower and protection department hurt a lot, and mediocre evasion compounds the matter. Goliath will need a lot of skill to achieve what other cruisers can score by default.

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FIREPOWER:

Goliath's gimmick is a high fire chance on her HE shells, and all other gunnery stats suffered to "compensate" for it. She has one of the longest reload times for cruisers in this game, slower than several supercruisers. However, her gun range and shell penetration are both reminiscent of light cruisers. Low penetration in particular hurts a lot, as Goliath will usually see her damage output halved on any given salvo.

Goliath's uninspiring damage output is further hampered by some of the worst penetration for heavy cruisers at T10.

On account of her very poor damage output, Goliath counts on fire damage to pad her numbers. As an HE slinger, Goliath performs alright, but still suffers from a few key stats that drag her performance. The long reload time is a rather large damper on her fire-starting potential, meaning her effective fires-per-minute is still surpassed by all light cruisers (minus Minotaur of course), as well as several heavy cruisers. A 14 second reload also isn't ideal for exploiting damage control- if the enemy uses DCP on a fire, Goliath reloads just fast enough that her next salvo will land before the cooldown expires. After burning an enemy DCP, Goliath must hold her follow-up salvo for an additional several seconds for a chance to exploit the enemy's cooldown.

Making the most out of Goliath's gunnery means paying good attention to your enemies, and switching shell types appropriately. Against battleships and heavy cruisers at range, HE shells are the weapon of choice. Attempt to hit as many different targets as possible, and watch for ships that use damage control. Ideally, you'll be switching your fire between 2-3 enemies, setting permanent fires as their DCP gets used up. At closer ranges, switch to AP shells and target weakpoints for maximum damage. Goliath's raw alpha strike is fairly good, and close range will negate her low penetration.

When firing at a battleship, these are your aim points. Use HE at range, but switch to AP up close and hit the bow for serious chunks of damage.

This ship's gunnery becomes more interesting when targeting destroyers. Goliath's low penetration allows her to consistently fullpen destroyers with AP shells at ranges above 6km. If you see an opportunity to hit a destroyer, take it! A good AP salvo will chunk a DD for close to half of it's health. At ranges below 6km, switch to HE shells to avoid overpens. Goliath will still deal large chunks of damage to a destroyer, but make sure to kite away and avoid being rushed. This ship doesn't reload fast enough to kill a rushing destroyer.

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PROTECTION:

Goliath boasts a large HP pool, and can carry four repair kits into battle. This makes her potential HP one of the largest for a T10 cruiser. Unfortunately, this is essentially where the upsides end. As is the norm for British cruisers, Goliath has low resistance values, low damage reduction, very weak deck armour, and a vulnerable belt. She takes very heavy damage from large calibre shells, and is easily melted by small, quick-firing guns. While her HP is high, she loses it very easily and very quickly.

Goliath's enormous hitboxes don't help her survivability. This ship is a shell trap, catching and eating heavy damage from all angles.

Poor protection makes this ship exceptionally challenging for newer players. Caught out of position, this ship will lose the majority of her health to one or two salvos. Battleships in particular are very dangerous with their large alpha strike, but be wary of cruisers too. Goliath loses to almost all cruisers on damage output, relying entirely on HP to trade with them. Try to avoid fighting anything one-on-one, unless you start the engagement with an inherent advantage (better positioning, much more HP, etc).

Playing around Goliath's weak armour requires much caution and good use of evasion. Assess when to push forward, and when to fall back and heal. Buying time to use your heals is the best way to increase overall survivability, so do your best to control engagements and avoid being deleted outright.

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EVASION:

Goliath is deceptively agile for a ship of her size, but overall mediocre by the standards of T10 cruisers. Her turning circle and acceleration are both okay. Her speed is on the low end but passable. Concealment is in the better half of the tier. This is all let down by her size. Goliath is the length and height of a battleship (comparable to HMS Nelson in size). Due to her massive profile and enormous hitboxes, this ship is a substantially easier target than most of the cruisers at her tier, catching shells that would have gone clean over her counterparts. Because of this, I cannot give her evasion any better than a "meh" rating.

Fortunately, Goliath has access to a smoke generator. She has two charges of smoke generator 1, not ideal, but valuable nonetheless. Due to her size, Goliath does not camp in smoke very well. Her tall profile makes her a very easy target for enemy blind-fire, and her long reload prevents her from firing many salvos while concealed. Smoke is best used to divert attention from yourself. Use it to avoid being highlighted as a primary target, making your (detected) allies more appealing targets.

Use of concealment and smoke to divert attention defines Goliath's playstyle. Stay hidden until enemy ships have picked their targets, then open fire once you're in position. When you start attracting unwanted attention, kite away while firing, and go unspotted when out of range. As previously stated, avoid getting caught in fights you cannot win (which is most of them). Control your engagements and keep your guns floating. With a reliance on DOT [damage over time], keeping your ship alive to buy time to deal damage is the best way to achieve decent results.

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ANTI-AIR:

Range, damage, and high-level DFAA are necessary to prevent airstrikes. Goliath boasts good damage and DFAA, but her range is grossly inadequate to prevent strikes on herself.

Goliath's AA damage output is reminiscent of Des Moines. Her base damage output is relatively high, and she can temporarily double it with the use of DFAA II. Aircraft overflying this ship will be shot down in numbers, making Goliath a ship for CVs to be wary of when flying their usual strikes.

Unfortunately, low AA range prevents Goliath from being a truly good AA ship. In the team support role, Goliath's AA bubble is small and easy for a CV to bypass. In the self-defence role, she suffers more. Enemy squadrons will enter her small AA bubble too quickly, getting to drop their ordinance before taking losses. Clustered squadrons further negate Goliath's AA damage, allowing even weaker aircraft to get full drops on this ship. In essence, Goliath pays for plane kills with HP. She will easily shoot down large numbers of aircraft, but cannot and WILL NOT prevent strikes on herself.

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FINAL REMARKS:

Goliath is a challenge, because she is quite bad. Her upsides are spread too thin, and are too often negated by piles of accompanying weaknesses. This leaves her in a very awkward spot; what is this ship supposed to do?

The obvious answer is that she is designed to harass enemy ships with HE. Burn through damage controls, and help her teammates set permanent fires while keeping the attention off herself. While this answer is correct, there's one crucial question to ask: "Why bring a Goliath, when I can field something else? "

- In the firestarting role, Goliath is outperformed by all the CLs and several CAs. Faster-reloading ships enjoy higher consistency in firestarting, and these other cruisers also have better raw damage output, and better survivability thanks to evasion.

- In a DD slapping role, Goliath is outperformed by several CLs and CAs. The light cruisers can proactively hunt destroyers thanks to evasion, and her heavy contemporaries boast higher raw damage output and aren't plagued by such poor reload.

- In an AA support role, she just doesn't have the range to be viable. There are simply better options available.

She is a ship without true purpose. Outperformed in her own gimmick, and outright bad in most regards. If you acknowledge this and seek a true challenging experience, consider grinding this ship. If you are seeking a ship that is competitive in any way, look elsewhere.