Goliath Missile

Fires a slow, large-area explosive missile.

Basically a mini Aurora Nuke. Slow moving straight firing projectile which is difficult to use. Very limited turret popping ability since the impact damage is very small. Generally good for concentrated areas of Ravens and Sparrows.

The details of this skill are listed as follows:

Level	1	2	3	4	5	Ultimate
Impact Damage	10	~	~	~	~	~
Blast Damage	20	21	22	23	24	24
Counters	2	3	3	4	4	4

• Ultimate: Increases the blast radius to 115% of the original radius.
• Score: 6.36 / 10
• Useful Levels: Ult
• Priority Level: 6 / 8
• Illustration:

Comments

• Editor: Envy it, you trade it for speed.
• ☀🐕: The ult-upgrade on GM is quite perfunctory. I reckon it’s a sensible idea to make it do BEMP on the ult-upgrade to match that of the VL, in order to make it more viable across different mission types. Disintegrator Warhead Apex therefore grants GM extended BEMP range. To make things worse, the AOE damage is kind of awkward because it’s below 30 which is like the standard amount of AOE damage in this game, for instance, MB, High Damage REMP and TP Explosive Arrival. Please buff it to 30.
• Hank: Believe me, it’s really fun to play it under specific missions.

Usage

A level 1 GM is pretty much useless since the blast radius is small which makes it very prone to RNG and very difficult to aim properly to affect a reasonable number of invaders. Coupled with the fact that it takes 2 GMs to kill a Raven, having only 2 GMs at hand is pretty much only useful for eliminating that small cluster of 1-3 Ravens. And then you are stuck with eliminating the rest of the crowd yourself.

GM only becomes usable at its ult level where the blast damage is increased and the radius is bigger. Now you are able to catch more Ravens and deal considerable damage to larger invaders.

As GMs are very slow moving, they must be pre-empted. This means that they must be fired when the last invader of the previous wave has been destroyed, unless the wave has a frontline Vulture or frontline Condor. This is particularly true for light waves as it is very easy for invaders to simply dodge your GMs. It is also true for dense waves as a pre-fired GM can penetrate deep into the invader lines and explode in the mid lines, causing the blast damage to be dealt to both the most upfield invaders and the frontline invaders. As GM is offensive, all its counters (since 4 isn't terribly a lot) should be exhausted. It is recommended to fire 2 on each side. Generally because you want to quickly sweep from left to right to cover both sides, the 2 GMs on each side are slightly spaced apart horizontally. On a light wave however, generally only 2 should be used to conserve for a dense and/or heavy wave. If you are getting replenishment stocks of GMs midwave, if it is a dense wave, you may opt to fire more GMs to speed up the clearing process.

Unfortunately, since GMs are very slow moving, they are very prone to missing, or otherwise, very prone to be intercepted by Sparrows. This can be incredibly annoying since the impact damage would be wasted on these little invaders that would be severely overkilled. In fact, it would be nice if you could aim GMs at Herons and above since 2 GM blasts will take out a Raven, but generally it's fine to allow it to hit Ravens. Firing GMs early would minimize the chances of frontline Sparrows intercepting the GMs. In pure Sparrow waves, firing 1 or 2 GMs is also a good idea, particularly in higher ranks where dart streamer Sparrows become incredibly annoying. Just hope and pray for these waves as there is a chance all these Sparrows would just dodge the GM you fire...sigh...

APEX 1: Disintergrator Warhead

• Game Description: Destroys enemy bullets caught in the blast.
• Numeric Interpretation: Clears all the bullets within the blast radius of about 150.
• Score: 3.82 / 5
• Ships with the APEX: Banshee (Phi), Claymore (Lambda), Mistral (Tau)

Editor: The art of explosion lies in exploiting all value before clearing everything away.

This apex clears all bullets in the blast radius of GM.

Because of the rather huge range of GM's blast damage, the amount of bullets you can clear is extremely significant. In fact, It makes a huge difference for many GM ships that have no other defences, as GM can now backup as a BEMP when there is excess of particles, particularly when transiting from a crowd heavy wave to a bulky wave (one with predominantly larger invaders such as Eagles and above). Just remember to not rely on it like BEMP, but use it as a pre-emptive BEMP where if you think you are going to get trapped, launch it. Particularly, it is extremely useful against MIRVs as an entire cluster of them can be eliminated straight away. GM travels quite slowly and thus it takes time for it to actually clear bullets.

The way you use GM with Disintegrator Warhead also changes compared to normal GMs. For heavy waves, particularly those that have invaders with MIRV turrets, you can fire a GM predictively such that before it reaches there, the MIRVs will fire and they would be instantly deleted. For high tier spread and spinner turrets, you can slowly fire a GM one by one to create a nice breathing space for yourself later. Note that in dense waves, you should still use GM per usual.

APEX 2: Tungsten Warhead

• Game Description: The Tungsten Goliath Missile pierces armor and deals more damage.
• Numeric Interpretation: The missiles ignore 30% damage reduction of armors.
• Score: 3.82 / 5
• Ships with the APEX: Centurion (Tau)

Editor: Whether it can eliminate ravens in one shot is the standard for measuring the effectiveness of area damage.

The bonus of this APEX brings about a qualitative change because in armored stages, the health of ravens is 24, and the area damage of the Goliath Missile happens to be 24. In other words, one missile can clear out an area of armored ravens. This also makes speedrun possible because the release of the Goliath Missile can be considered instantaneous, and skipping a few ravens can save a lot of time.

APEX 3: High Capacity

• Game Description: Allows the ship to store an additional Goliath Missile.
• Numeric Interpretation: The max volume increases from 4 to 5.
• Score: 2.27 / 5
• Ships with the APEX: Starless (Epsilon)

Editor: Once again, holding back from shooting, you've got a bit of a problem.

Similar to the high-capacity APEX for Vorpal Lances, the demand for the Goliath missile for this APEX is not very high either. As a skill with area damage, the principle is to use it immediately when necessary. Holding onto missiles means your time will be wasted only using the main cannon and Zen against invaders. The only scenario where it might be useful is when facing four eagles appearing together or a group of heavier enemies, where you can unleash all the missiles at once for a burst of damage. But most of the time, four missiles are sufficient.

APEX 4: Proximity Detonator

• Game Description: Detonates when an Invader is nearby.
• Numeric Interpretation: The missile will explode when it is within 50 units of an Invader.
• Score: 1.55 / 5
• Ships with the APEX: Monsoon (Gamma)

Editor: I don't know why, but I'm reminded of certain Makeinu female characters who explode with just a little touch.

The bonus of this APEX is somewhat redundant. As a player of Goliath Missile, aiming accurately at the position is crucial, and sometimes even the slightest deviation is unacceptable. It can be said that hitting the missile accurately is a basic skill requirement. While this APEX ostensibly increases the margin of error, it also prevents more precise targeting. More precise targeting can be achieved through muscle memory training, which means your money can be saved to purchase more cost-effective APEXs.