Goon

"Spike, what's going on? The whole goddamn district is down!"

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Goons are an uncommon Infected-type in Dying Light.

Overview

A physically large and strong infected that towers at roughly 8 feet tall, the goon carries a heavy rebar (typically a section of concrete with rebar acting as a handle) which it uses to smash into the ground and swing at the player.^[1]. It can also use its left arm to bat the survivors away, which works as a secondary attack. Goons are much stronger than regular infected, but are very slow-moving and lack the ability to climb objects at all.

The goon's swing with the rebar is slow, and he takes a while to gather his strength to swing again, leaving him open to attack or time for the player to get away. Like the demolisher, it can kill other infected and can be used to the player's advantage.^[1] but with every strike of the player, the goon is going to get more aggressive and start to attack quicker.

Goons come in 3 different ranks, which begin to appear as the player progresses through the game. The first Goon type wears an orange rubber industrial worker's uniform and is first encountered in the mission "First Assignment". The second type of Goon wears a black firefighter's outfit and is first encountered in the Volatile nest skyscraper in the mission Siblings. The third type of Goon is shirtless with black pants and is missing much of its skin, exposing its muscles. These Goons appear once the player reaches Old Town. Each successive rank of Goon has more health, and the shockwave from when they slam their rebar into the ground has a larger radius, with the Rank 3 Goon's shockwave having a radius of nearly 20 feet.

GameSpot Expert Reviews

Dying Light 2 Review: Look Before You Leap

02 February 2022

Dying Light: The Following Review

12 February 2016

Dying Light Review

30 January 2015

Freaks of Nature

There is one Goon the Freak of Nature in the Countryside:

Thor is the leader of Goons and a larger than the standard Goon located in the north east of The Countryside map at the end of a highway. An easy strategy to take him out is to use ranged weapons to avoid the large swing of the rebar.

Strategy

The first Goon encountered, as part of the mission "First Assignment", has about 500 health on Normal difficulty and requires about 20+ hits from the starting melee weapons to kill. He can also easily be killed by using the many explosive tanks scattered around the area where he is fought. Later Rank 1 Goons have a little over 900 health. By the end of the game, Rank 3 Goons will have roughly 2000 to 2300 health and will require higher-level melee weapons to kill.
Early in the game, the most effective melee weapon to use against Goons are their own heavy rebar clubs, which deal a little over 200 damage and will kill a Goon in about 5 hits.
Firearms, Bows/Crossbows, and throwing weapons such as throwing stars and knives can easily eliminate these infected as they can kill the goon from a distance instead of risking your life and weapon condition. For example, if you're on an elevated platform with a police rifle, an aimed shot to the head will almost always result in an instant kill. Although, a safer alternative is to just avoid the creature or give them the slip.
Hitting the goon with a flammable liquid, followed by a Molotov will also allow you to kill the goon safely from a distance. Also you can do the same, but with a fire weapon.
Bait the goon's initial overhead swing, then run in and hitting him a few times, before falling back from the second swing, repeat this several times, and he'll go down.
Use your drop kick to stun, rush in and strike a few times, and repeat until he goes down. **drop kick appears ineffective, but Tackle or upgraded (drop bomb) drop kick stuns for 2-3 swings of a fast weapon before he swipes with his arm.
Like any other large enemies, goons cannot be vaulted over, drop kicked to the ground, or killed with takedowns.
Like demolishers, their attack can knock you down for a considerable amount of time and leave you susceptible to other enemies' attack.
Immune to Freezing Throwing Stars, but are still vulnerable to Stasis Field Grenades.
Can be instantly killed with the melee throw ability with weapons supporting ~667 base damage or higher.
With a weapon at ~600 damage, a power attack can one-hit kill even the 3rd form of Goon.
Using the Grappling Hook, you can move in on them extremely fast just after an attack, allowing up to two attacks before they can react. This makes killing them extremely easy with high damage weapons, with little risk.
Another simpler and effective method for dealing with a Goon would be to throw Firecrackers towards the nearest explosive barrel or canister. As a Goon will take a swing at Firecrackers as it's popping, throwing some near an explosive canister would result in the Goon smashing it, and thus, causing an explosion at point-blank range, dealing significant damage.
Using Exploding throwing stars can easily weaken and can kill the Goon depending on the Goons level. Throwing 10 Exploding throwing stars and other explosives have a higher chance to kill the Goon.
On normal difficulty it is effective to throw heavy rebars at them. You can save them up to throw more than one rebar.
5-9 shots from the ranger revolver in the head can kill even the level 3 goon
If you time your jumps, you can completely avoid the shockwave of the over head swing. This is far more useful against level 3 goons, since their shockwave is much larger. This can help you keep close for follow up attacks.
The power attack skill and focus skill make quick work of the goons. All one handed power attacks make the goons flinch, giving you time to dodge away before they swing again.

Testimonials

Against "Level 1" (Orange Jumpsuit): Repeated success using Tackle when his arm isn't in a "blocking" position, stunning him for 2-3 swings of an 80+ handling weapon, then leap back, repeat. Can also, as mentioned above, simply throw a couple weapons at him (137 power 2H Axe + ~100 power Sickle) to drop him from afar. (~Riley, 3/24/15)
Against "Level 3" (Gray, shirtless, etc.): Many, many successes via letting him strike, hitting him about 2-4 times with an orange weapon (generally in the +2400 damage range) and backing away when he starts to strike again.
Against "Level 3" (Gray, shirtless, etc.): Repeated success using a Crossbow (upgraded or otherwise). A direct hit to the head around the eyes will kill him.

Trivia

Their attacks ignite oil, so avoid standing in it when fighting them.
When they attack, it will hit you regardless if you're above them, below or in front, so long as you're in range.
Goon's share similar aspects to Dead Island's thug, as both zombies are tall and muscular, and also the wrestler because both zombies can make shockwaves by slamming the ground. An interesting thing to note is that the words 'thug' and 'goon' mean the same thing.
Sometimes, killing a goon will cause him to change facial expressions from a saddened distressed look to an angry scowl
In early versions of Dying Light, they appear to wear green jumpsuits as seen in the Gamescom 2014 demo.
It is never stated or seen on how Goon's got their rebar. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but maybe the Goons at some point found these sculpted somewhere in Harran.
When shone on with a flashlight, they can sometimes groan in pain and cover their eyes with their free hand while looking away for a brief moment.
Goons might actually be smarter than most other infected, as they are the only infected in the game that appear to actually seek out and use weapons (While Biters probably just turned with a weapon in their hand) as opposed to using their hands, because every single Goon you encounter can be seen with their rebar.
If you play The Following and have acquired the Upgraded Crossbow, 2 shots to the head on a level 3 goon will kill it instantly.
The Goon's rebar may be a reference to the rebar club used in Fallout: New Vegas.