The Goliath is an enemy type in Borderlands 2. They are first seen in Frostburn Canyon, and can be found in many other bandit encampments from then on.

Quick Answers

What type of enemy is Goliath in Borderlands 2?

In Borderlands 2, Goliath is a male human mutant enemy affiliated with the Bandits. Variants include the Badass Goliath, a muscular figure wielding a minigun, and the Gladiator Goliath, a massive unit with enhanced health, dual-wielding rocket launchers, and bullet-deflecting armor.

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Where is Goliath first seen in the game?

In the Borderlands series, Goliath's initial appearances vary. In Borderlands 2, they first appear in Frostburn Canyon. In Borderlands 3, they are initially encountered at the Synthcrete Jungle in Eschaton Row on Promethea, the Jakobs Manor on Eden-6, and The Splinterlands on Pandora.

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What is the purpose of Goliath's metallic helmet in Borderlands 2?

In Borderlands 2, Goliaths use a large metallic helmet to manage their rage. They usually fight with dual-wielded large assault rifles. If their helmet is shot off, the Goliath enters a rage state and regains all lost health.

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What weapons does a Badass Goliath typically wield?

In Borderlands 2, a Badass Goliath is a formidable enemy that typically wields a large minigun. This variant is more muscle-bound than the common Goliath, which dual-wields assault rifles. When their protective helmets are removed, they discard their weapons, entering a berserk state that fully restores their health and alters their attack strategy.

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What happens when Goliath's helmet is shot off in the game?

In the game, shooting off Goliath's helmet triggers a rage mode. He regenerates all lost health, discards his weapons, and charges enemies with melee attacks. His voice shifts from dopey to more violent and complex sentences. Initially, he is level-scaled to his area and can level up four times. As a 'Raging Goliath' after losing his helmet, he levels up with each kill, progressing through 'Badass Goliath', 'Super Badass Goliath', 'Ultimate Badass Goliath', to 'GOD-liath' after 10 kills. Defeating him in his GOD-liath form unlocks the 'Goliath, Meet David' achievement.

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Strategy

Goliaths wear a large metallic helmet that controls their rage and typically dual-wield large assault rifles in combat. However, Badass Goliaths typically wield a single large minigun, while Caustic Goliaths dual-wield melee weapons. The helmet can be shot off, at which point the goliath will go into a rage, regenerating all lost health (the rare shielded goliath will not have his shield restored), casting his weapons aside and charging his foes, attacking with powerful melee strikes. During a rage, the goliath will attack everything in his range, friend and foe alike. Goliaths that lose their helmets lose all of the dopiness in their voice and begin to speak in more violent, complex, and complete sentences. Goliaths start out level-scaled to their area and can level up four times from their starting level. Once their helmet is shot off they become a "Raging Goliath" (with some name variation depending on the Goliath in question's original type). When they kill one target they become a "Badass Goliath"; two more kills, a "Super Badass Goliath"; three more kills, an "Ultimate Badass Goliath". After four more kills, it levels to a "GOD-liath" (a grand total of 10 kills). Killing the goliath in its GOD-liath form will unlock the "Goliath, Meet David" achievement.

A goliath's exposed head is malformed and seems to blend into the top of their torsos. When one flies into a rage, his skull bursts up and out of his distended mouth as his spine reforms into a stalk above his body. The high critical hit damage accrued from shooting the skull is offset by the difficulty of hitting the small, waving target.

Upon leveling up, goliaths will recover all lost health and become physically stronger. While this makes them significant threats, a beneficial aspect of this is that goliaths will add triple the XP to their own values upon killing an enemy, and will also drop much better loot upon death. At the GOD-liath level, drops are greatly increased in value, to the point where he will almost always drop some Eridium along with random items of blue quality or higher.

Once a goliath rages, they gain three ways of attacking. The first and weakest is a series of quick punches that will knock back even very heavy enemies but deals a moderate amount of damage. The second type of attack is when a goliath leaps a considerable distance before landing on a target and dealing medium AoE damage. Goliaths also use this technique to get to unreachable locations or to engage slow air units and are capable of jumping ridiculous distances. The third and final attack is their slowest, but also their most dangerous, a goliath will raise his arms into the air before slamming the ground, dealing tremendous damage in a large radius. It is worth noting that the ground slam is easily read and slow to wind up but can put a Vault Hunter into Fight for Your Life in a single hit (barring health gating), especially once they get to Super Badass and above. A Caustic Goliath will rarely use melee hits, opting to use their short-ranged vomit attack, making them easier to deal with compared to the regular goliaths.

Goliaths can be used both as a distraction and as a way to save ammunition, so long as the proper weaponry is at hand to take care of a raging goliath. It is also vital to pay attention to where the goliath is at all times and start attempting to kill him once he reaches Super Badass. It is possible for a goliath to gain enough levels to gain a skull by their level and become a greater threat than any other enemy in the area, to the point where he is effectively unbeatable.

Types

• Goliath - The basic and most common type of Goliath. They dual-wield assault rifles and move at a slow pace, making them easy targets to hit despite their high health. Like most forms of goliaths, when their helmets are shot off they cast aside their weapons and go berserk, which fully heals them, slightly increases their overall health and completely changes their attack pattern.
• Caustic Goliath
• Loot Goon Goliath
• Loot Midget Goliath
• Badass Goliath
• One-Armed Bandit
• Goliath Digger
• Juggernaut
• Goliath Blaster
• Gladiator Goliath
• Midget Goliath

Level Progression

The names of the goliaths differ depending on their type. But they all follow a similar sequence:

• Lv.1 - Goliath
• Lv.2 - Raging Goliath
• Lv.3 - Badass Goliath
• Lv.4 - Super Badass Goliath
• Lv.5 - Ultimate Badass Goliath
• Lv.6 - GOD-liath

The actual possible outcomes are:

Source

Notes :

• Heavy Goliaths are replaced with Mega Goliaths in True Vault-Hunter Mode. According to the code, it can be assumed that Mega Goliaths are only possible encounters in True Vault-Hunter Mode, and they replace all Heavy Goliaths.
• Heavy and Mega Goliaths can be enraged, but not beyond Ultimate Badass.
• Caustic Goliaths are also noted for True Vault-Hunter Mode in the code but their names are not changed. They are likely simply more powerful versions of the Caustic Goliaths found in normal mode.
• One-Armed Bandits are considered a special enemy, much like Loot Midgets. They can spawn in areas where spawning is restricted such as Thousand Cuts during the first stage of Rocko's Modern Strife.
• In Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, the word "Legendary" is added to a Loot Midget Goliath's name, including the level up phases.
• Unmanned vehicles (eg. Bandit Technical) count as enemies, though an enraged goliath may not always target them.

Boss

• Smash Head

Quotes

Normal

• "How are you?"
• "You die now!"
• "Treat-time already?"
• "Why you here?"
• "Let's make face gravy!"
• "Time for kill!"
• "Time for squishing!"
• "I will crush!"
• "New present?"
• "New friend!"
• "Another winch?" ("Winch" is a shorthand insult, meaning someone who is weak and incapable of doing anything, like a broken winch)
• "Welcome to pain!"
• "Welcome to die!" (A reference to the infamous line in the X-Men arcade game)
• "Always kill!"
• "Satisfy me!"
• "Punch your skull into your tum-tum!"
• "Prepare for die!"
• "Hugs time!"
• "This the best!"
• "This fun!"
• "Death-tastic!"
• "I am great!"
• "You're so dumb!"
• "Get ready for hurt!"
• "Killing time!"
• "Dying time!"
• "Don't run!"
• "Stop fight so hard!"
• "Quit live so much!"
• "Squish you!"
• "Scream...screeeaaaam!"
• "Crunch with teeth!"

Throwing Grenade

• "Boom time!"
• "Play catch!"
• "Enjoy gift!"
• "Enjoy grenade!"
• "Throwing boom-rock!"
• "Explosion!"
• "Grenade throw!"

Attacked - Normal

• "Stop it! STOP IT! STOP! STOP! STOP!"
• "Why are you so mean?"

Hit with a critical - Normal

• "But they said to keep it on."
• "No! I keep brain there."
• "Get this stupid thing off!"
• "Yes! YES!"
• "Yes! Shoot there."
• "Take it off."
• "Ow! I kinda felt that!"
• "Blast it off! Good!"
• "Get rid of it!"
• "Keep it up!"
• "Do it! Take this thing off!"
• "Keep firing!"

At critical health - Normal

• "What is this feeling...?"
• "Not feeling good..."
• "It hurts..."
• "Owwwww..."

Losing shield

• "I miss shield!"
• "Losing shield!"
• "No shield!'
• "Shield gone!"
• "Shield worthless!"
• "Where's shield?"
• "Where shields go?"
• "Stupid shield!"
• "Why you hate shields?"
• "Why you murder a shield?"

Going into a rage

• "Gotta kill... GOTTA KILL... GOTTA KILL!"
• "Mistake! BIG GODDAMN MISTAKE!"
• "Gonna... FLOSS WITH YOUR SPINE!!!"
• "Angry! I'M SO GOD-DAMNED ANGRY!"
• "HATE-SPLOSION!"
• "Hate... HATE! HATE!!! HAATE!!! HAAATE!!!"
• "Playtime... IS OVER!"
• "Not a good idea... NOT A GOOD IDEA!"
• "Should not...YOU REALLY SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT!"
• "It's... OH, IT'S SERIOUS NOW!"

Raging

• "Get ready to feel my fingers in your eyeballs!"
• "YOU'RE GONNA BE SCREAMIN'!"
• "TRY BREATHING THROUGH CRUSHED LUNGS!"
• "I'LL CRACK YOUR SKULL OPEN WITH MY THUMBS!"
• "Get on your goddamn knees!"
• "EVER BEEN STRANGLED WITH YOUR OWN INTESTINES?!?!"
• "You better GODDAMN scream for me!"
• "I'M GONNA GOUGE YOUR GODDAMN EYES OUT!!!"
• "DIE FOR ME, BITCH!"
• "Sweet mother of GAAH!"
• "Murdering you is gonna feel so RIGHT!"
• "MOTHER-FUUUUUUAAAAHHHH!"

Raging - upon leveling up

• "POWER!"
• "YES!"
• "More DEATH!"
• "More Power! MORE!!!"

Raging - upon reaching Ultimate Badass

• "Fear your master, bitches!"
• "Don't run... I'm just gonna EAT YOU ALIVE!"
• "I AM UNSTOPPABLE!" (reference to Juggernaut's line from X-Men)
• "COME AND PLAY! COME ON!"
• "I CAN'T BE STOPPED!"
• "I AM A GOD!"
• "BOW TO YOUR NEW GOD!"

Hit with a Critical - Raging

• "That tickled a little!"
• "I'll kill you slower for that, bitch!"
• "Hahaha - Didn't even feel it!"
• "That helmet AIN'T going back on!"
• "You're not cutting MY playtime short!"
• "I can take it. I'LL TAKE IT ALL!"
• "You can't stop me! Nothing can stop me!"
• "I'll rip you apart! Piece by piece!"
• "Pathetic!"
• "I'll cut your eyelids off!"

Spotting Players Activating Action Skills - Normal

• (Sentry deployed) "What that?"
• (Sentry deployed) "Where that from?"
• (Sentry deployed) "Autogun? Classy."
• (Sentry deployed) "Cute turret."
• (Sentry deployed) "I not buy ticket to gun show!"
• (Sentry deployed) "What that gun?"
• (Sentry deployed) "Sir, you drop gun!"
• (Sentry deployed) "This toy turret is fun!"
• (Sentry deployed) "Turret is pain town!"
• (Sentry deployed) "I hate turret!"
• (Gunzerking) "Ooooh! Can I have one?"
• (Gunzerking) "Gunman has many guns!"
• (Gunzerking) "How guns in both hands?"
• (Gunzerking) "I love guns too!"
• (Gunzerking) "It gun time already?"
• (Gunzerking) "Oh, wow!"
• (Gunzerking) "Gunzerker man has double pleasuring!"
• (Gunzerking) "Too much gun!"
• (Gunzerking) "Many guns!"
• (Gunzerking) "Why so much guns?"
• (Phaselocked) "I believe I can fly!" (Reference to the song of the same name)
• (Phaselocked) "I... float?!"
• (Phaselocked) "Magic lady stop!"
• (Phaselocked) "Why I fly?!"
• (Phaselocked) "Freedom!"
• (Phaselocked) "Confuuused!"
• (Phaselocked) "Feel funny!"
• (Phaselocked) "Put down!"
• (Phaselocked) "Stupid blue bubble!"
• (Phaselocked) "Okay!"
• (Fooled by Deception) "where go?"
• (Fooled by Deception) "Goliath extremely confused!"
• (Fooled by Deception) "Tall man, fast move!"
• (Fooled by Deception) "Was there, now there! How?"
• (Fooled by Deception) "Where come from?"
• (Fooled by Deception) "Goliath was tricked!"
• (Fooled by Deception) "Assassin make head hurt!"
• (Fooled by Deception) "GHOST PERSON!"
• (Fooled by Deception) "What just happened to Assassin?"
• (Fooled by Deception) "How move so fast?"

Spotting Players Activating Action Skills - Raged

• (Sentry deployed) "I'LL SHOVE THAT SENTRY RIGHT UP YOU!"
• (Sentry deployed) "THAT'S A CUTE LITTLE POP-GUN!"
• (Sentry deployed) "YOU'RE A COWARD, COMMANDO!"
• (Sentry deployed) "I'll CRAM THAT DOWN YOUR THROAT!"
• (Sentry deployed) "THAT WON'T HELP, SCROTE-SUCKER!"
• (Sentry deployed) "YOU'RE GONNA NEED MORE THAN THAT, COMMANDO!"
• (Gunzerking) "THAT'S JUST TWO MORE THINGS FOR ME TO SHOVE UP YOUR ASS!"
• (Gunzerking) "I'LL TAKE YOUR BULLETS, BITCH!"
• (Gunzerking) "TWO GUNS WON'T BE ENOUGH!"
• (Gunzerking) "I'M GONNA RIP YOU A THIRD ASSHOLE!"
• (Phaselocked) "I'll make you scream!"
• (Phaselocked) "Die screaming!"
• (Phaselocked) "I'LL BREAK YOU IN HALF!"
• (Phaselocked) "I'll deal with you later!"
• (Fooled by Deception) "A decoy!? Pathetic!"
• (Fooled by Deception) "You're just delaying the inevitable!"
• (Fooled by Deception) "You BETTER hide from me!"
• (Fooled by Deception) "Avoid me all you want, bitch!"
• (Fooled by Deception) "I SEE you, asshole!"

Player retreating

• "Running away? Hah!"
• "Why so coward?"
• "Come back!"
• "Aww, come back!"
• "Stop running!"
• "No fair!"

Crippling a Player - Normal

• "I am disappoint."
• "Not yet!"
• "Don't go!"
• "Awwwww!"
• "Get up...!"
• "But fun not done yet."
• "Time for face love!"

Player dies - Normal

• "Don't go!"
• "Goodbye!"
• "Missing you already..."
• "Sorry!"
• "Time for corpse cuddle!"
• "Why stop moving?"
• "You lose!"

Player dies - Raged

• "You won't wanna be conscious for this next part!"
• "Oh, god! IT FEELS SO GOOD!"
• "Yes! YEEEES!"
• "Thanks for letting me loose, asshole!"

Spotting a grenade - Normal

• "A present?"
• "Boom-boom!"
• "Boom!?"
• "Gift for me?"
• "Thank you!"
• "What that rock?"
• "Grenade!"
• "Huh?!"
• "'naaaaade!"
• "What this?"

Ally killed - Normal

• "Where... friend?"
• "Why shoot friends?"
• "He die... okay."

Slagged - Normal

• "Please not switch gun!"
• "Pain made worse!"
• "Nobody slag goliath!"
• "Uh oh..."
• "This going to hurt..."
• "Slag? For shameful!"
• "More painful..."
• "Yes... YES!"
• "Make it hurt more!"
• "Hurt hurts more!"
• "Who slag?"

Fire/Corrosive - Normal

• "IT'S HEADING TO MY BRAIN."

Dying - Normal

• "Goodnight... sweet prince..." (A line from Shakespeare's Hamlet)
• "Now ladies say I hottie!" (When killed by fire damage)
• "If you can't take heat... make... kitchen!" (When killed by fire damage)
• "I hot to trot!" (When killed by fire damage)
• "I have... an electric... personality!" (When killed by shock damage)
• "It's so 'lectric!" (When killed by shock damage)
• "My life..."
• "I am... slain..."
• "Feels... different..."
• "Okay..."
• "Ouch..."
• "No..."
• "Time for go to bed..."
• "Why... hurt?"
• "Why can't stay?"
• "Not again..."

Dying - Raged

• "I'll... kill... you...!"
• "I'll... tear you apart...!"
• "I was so... close..."
• "I... feel... everything..."
• "That... won't... stop... ME!"
• "You... lucky... bastard..."
• "That... won't... stop... maaauuugghh!"

Gallery

Loot Goon Goliath

You wouldn't like him when he's angry

Giant Midget of Death!

Mask-less goliath

Ah, crap.

Fatal GOD-Liath (UVHM)

Loot Midget Goliath

Loot Midget Goliath's leveled up to GOD

Slab Clan Goliath

Frostburn Goliath

Sawtooth Goliath

Notes

• Vault Hunters can earn extremely high amounts of experience if they're able to keep multiple goliaths alive long enough for them to reach GOD-liath, then letting them kill each other before killing the final goliath.
• A raging goliath's jump can glitch to comical effect when pursuing a target on a much higher level or even outright airborne targets, as made evident by their ability to ascend Inferno tower in Sawtooth Cauldron from the ground. If the target is in an out of bounds area (I.E. Buzzards hovering over Sawtooth Cauldron), the goliath will simply die upon attempting to reach it.
• There is a glitch with Loot Goon Goliaths, where if a Vault Hunter is standing where the Goliath falls as it is killed, they will become stuck inside the chest on the Goliath's back. The chest can still be opened in this position and items can be taken from it, but the Vault Hunter will be unable to move, the only options being to quit and restart, or death/suicide so they can respawn away from it.
• Sometimes there is a glitch with one arm bandits that when slots are spun for some players in the game it will always spin 3 Marcus's instead of showing what it actually spun.
• One Armed Bandits, Smash-Head, and Juggernauts can't be enraged as they do not have a helmet to be shot off.
• Badass Midgets use the same lines as a non-raged Goliath, sounding like the midget version of one.
• Caustic Goliaths are very poor at leveling themselves up due to their long-duration corrosive attack which is resisted by most of the enemies they spawn in the vicinity of.
• Loot Goon Goliaths have high survivability and when raged can easily reach to God-Liath Goon levels due to a few reasons: (a) they tend to equip shields, (b) the treasure chest on their backs protects them from attacks and gunfire from behind them, and (c) they cannot be knocked back for their attacks to be interrupted.
• Badass Midgets can be sent into berserk mode by shooting them in the head. This will not cause any visible animations on the midget, however. Their voice deepens to that of a normal Raging Goliath, and they will begin attacking allies as well as the Vault Hunters, but they don't drop their weapons, they don't level up, and they don't gain experience.
• E-tech sniper rounds cannot knock off their helmets but will still deal critical hits. This is not advisable against all enemies, however, as all E-Tech weapons do reduced critical hit damage.
• If Axton deploys his sentry turret on an inaccessible location (more specifically with Mag-Lock), a nearby raging goliath will attempt to target it. However, since raging goliaths generally use melee attacks they will be unable to reach the turret - Instead, they will wander around aimlessly, completely ignoring the nearby Commando and can be easily killed.
• There are Loot-Midget Goliaths but as with all Loot Midgets, they are extremely rare. Entire playthroughs without meeting one are possible.
• Loot-Midget Goliath's evolution goes from: Raging Loot Midget, Badass Loot Midget, Super Badass Loot Midget, Ultimate Badass Loot Midget, Loot Midget God-Liath.
• When farming goliaths, Mount Molehill Mine in the northeast most area of Tundra Express provides a Digger that is guaranteed to reach GOD-liath stage if left to rampage freely; after he reaches GOD-Liath, he can be damaged easily by slagging him and setting off the gasoline tank. Alternatively, a goliath in the Bug Gulch area of The Dust among the spiderant nests can easily reach GOD-liath stage.
  • In Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, farming goliaths is easier as most non-boss enemies regenerate health slowly. As long as there are insufficient enemies around, raged Goliaths are unlikely to die without Vault Hunter intervention.

Trivia

• In the ECHO recording for the mission Note for Self-Person, Marcus talks to a goliath named Crank about giving a stash of guns to his brother, Smash-Head. Due to his short memory, Crank repeatedly asks Marcus to tell him again or he will "take his helmet off".
• Goliaths were named after the eponymous giant from the Bible, known for his strength and size but easily killed by the young Shepherd David. The Goliath, Meet David achievement is a reference to this.

References

• Goliath AI description
• Midgets can mount Goliaths
• Sly 3 Reference