I like to run him with Mei Feng, especially into ressers (which is my most common match up). Mei can take Sparks which can give the golem fast on a 6 pretty much every turn and I normally run imbued energies since you are already throwing him down your opponent's throat you may as well get some cards out of it. Kang also does him wonders against undead and constructs with the + to attack and damage.
One of my favorite activations out of the golem was beating 5 stones out of Nekima before leaving her crippled, couldn't finish her off but my opponent lost nearly all his stones keeping her alive. Though it has been said already you will have games where you just don't get your returns, I had the golem flail about trying to hit a corphyee duet and only connect a single hit, so do be careful about sending it against evasive targets. The Something else that comes to mind against gremlins it is important to note that defense triggers happen first so if a gremlin squeals away if you take the knock aside trigger you can bring it back into beating range.