Boss Guide

Bosses Guide

Please Note: The Exp/Coins/Drop statistics at the bottom of each boss are what I receive after the battle. They may vary from person to person.

Chestbeaters

Strategies:
You don't have much to worry about these guys. The ape in the middle has more HP than the other two, so concentrate your attack on him. These guys are weak against Mars, but strong against Jupiter, so avoid all Jupiter summons/Psynergy.

These guys can heal themselves with herbs, which can be a nuissance, but not a threat. Just keep attacking them with your strongest Psynergy and your summons.

Prize:
Coins: 84
Exp: 120
Drop: Nut

King Scorpion

Strategies:
This battle can be tough, but you are only facing one opponent, so you won't have to spread your attack like you had to against the Chestbeaters. Instead, you can use one-hitter Psynergy, which is much stronger. Like the Chestbeaters, the King Scorpion is weak against Mars and strong against Jupiter.

Since at this point in the game, you do not have the ability to revive a felled party member, make sure your characters stay alive at all time. If their HP drops anywhere near 40, make sure Felix cures them immediately. Because once one of your members is down, he/she won't be coming back.

Constantly unleash/summon Djinn, because this will deal great damage. But always remember, you are weaker when your Djinn are on Standby, so again, watch your party's HP.

Prize:
Coins: 228
Exp: 440
Drop: Vial

Briggs and Sea Fighters

Strategies:
If you decide to fight this battle early in the game (if from Madra, you go straight to Yampi Desert, then straight to Alhafra) it is very tough. If you are up for a challenge, then go for it, if not, train a bit and visit other places like Air's Rock, Mikasalla and Garoh before attempting this battle.

Briggs has the ability to call in more of his buddies if his fellow Sea Fighters fall. This is extremely annoying, since the battle will never stop unless you defeat Briggs. So focus all your attack power on the purple tall guy.

The good side to all this is that these guys are weak to every element. It's not much of an advantage, but it's an advantage nevertheless. Keep in mind that their attack is very strong (especially "Echo Cut") so really watch your HP.

Because they are weak to every element, summons do a very big deal of damage on them. Make sure you unleash Djinn at all time in order to gain the awesome power of the summons.

Prize:
Coins: 1411
Exp: 689
Drop: Vial

Aqua Hydra

Strategies:

Well, I can't say this is the hardest of all bosses, but still, don't under-estimate the sea creature. It has a very strong resistance against Mercury, so avoid using water Psynergy/Summons. On the flip side, it has a weakness for Mars, and Meteor can inflict some huge damage onto Aqua Hydra. Make sure you unleash Mars Djinn to set yourself up for the summon.

As usual, make sure your HP doesn't get too low, especially if you are mass summoning. Since Piers' attacks won't be very strong on it, use him as a healer to Ply your damage away.

I think the most efficient strategy here is to go all out, suiacide style. Just summon his ass down, and when he's had enough of that, unleash and summon some more. Don't bother too much with curing, just go kamikaze. That's what I did, and I beat him in 5 rounds.

Prize:
Coins: 1612
Exp: 963
Drop: Vial

Serpent

Strategies:
Like the pirates, this boss' level of difficulty is relative to when you confront him. If, as soon as you get the Lemurian Ship, you head straight for Gaia Rock, he will be quite a challenge. If not, he may end up being a joke.

The hardest part about this boss is that it follows up after much PP wasting. Before the Serpent room, you must use Growth a lot, and Growth chomps down 4 of your PP per shot. This is a major PP waste, which is highly annoying and increases the difficulty of the battle.

The Serpent resists Venus, but is weak against Jupiter. Don't forget to take advantage of that. This Serpent has the ability to recover 30 HP every turn, so that can be a nuisance. Also note that this boss has pretty high Artificial Intelligence, as it will attack the party member with the less HP. So pay extra attention to your HP. Jenna's Aura and Healing Aura are key here.

This Serpent can also poison you, which is lethal. Carry extra antidotes to prevent this.

I followed through the battle using this strategy: Jenna was set with 4 Mars Djinn, giving me the ability to use Aura/Healing Aura. I used either one of the two every turn. Felix was given the ability to Revive, so extra attention was given to his HP. Felix was basically my backup, if anyone was to fall, he won't get them back up on their feet. I used him to attack sparingly, but most of all made sure he wasn't felled. Piers was mostly on Unleashing/Summoning Djinn, but I made him use Ply to help other party members stay alive when needed. Finally, Sheba was my all attack force. She summoned from the beginning, and Unleashed/Summoned to the end. Thor can do 1000+ damage, so make sure you get Thor as often as possible.

Prize:
Coins: 2989
Exp: 1995
Drop: None, but Felix learns Sand after the battle.

Avimander

Strategies:
With proper strategy, this guy can be finished off quite quickly (well, for a boss battle anyways). The Avimander doesn't have much agility, so you'll be attacking first most of the time. As a fire beast, the Avimander is weak against water and resists fire.

As fire won't do much damaged against the beast, Jenna is a perfect healer. Give only Mars Djinn to Jenna (there has to be at least 4), and unequip any class changing items. This will make her learn Aura and Healing Aura. Standby 4 of each other Djinn type.

For the first round, summon all your Djinn, and use Aura/Healing Aura. For each turn, make sure Jenna uses Aura/Healing, as you will be summoning, therefore putting Djinn on standby and weakening your stats. After the first round, simply unleash Djinn and summon them with everyone except Jenna. This will eventually finish off the fire beast.

Prize:
Coins: 1729
Exp: 2262
Drop: Potion

Poseidon

Strategies:
Poseidon is the infamous guardian of Lemuria. Beating him will give you access to the hidden land. At a high level, he can be defeated without much difficulty.

As a water monster, Poseidon is weak against Mars, but strong against Mercury. You must also remember to use the Trident on him at the beginning of the battle. If you forget to, you won't inflict any damage until you do so.

Here's the strategy I used to defeat him: First of all, I gave the Trident to Sheba. The reason being she has the most agility out of the gang, so she will take out Poseidon's forcefield before anyone else wastes their attack. Next, I took off all class changing items and gave all Djinn to their appropriate Adept (ex: Water Djinn to Piers, Fire Djinn to Jenna...). Once that is done, I traded all of Piers' Mercury Djinn with Sheba's Jupiter Djinn. This gave Sheba the ability to Wish/Wish Well. After putting 4 Djinn of each type, minus Mercury, on standby, I began the battle.

On the first round, I made Sheba use the Trident, and I made everyone else summon. For every round following, I made Sheba use Wish/Wish Well (depending on how badly the party was damaged) and I made all others unleash/summon Djinn. By the time I summoned my level 4 summons for the second time, Poseidon was a goner.

Prize:
Coins: 3762
Exp: 2930
Drop: Psy Crystal

Maopa & Crew

Strategies:
To start things off, make sure you prepare your Djinn before starting the race. This way, you won't waste time during the race. Make sure at least 4 Mars Djinn are set on Jenna, that way she can use Aura and Healing Aura. This boss fight's difficulty depends on how well you do in the race: you can loose up to 8 pieces of equipement.

The first time you go through the race, don't expect to win it. You can reset as many times as you want until you get first. I personally didn't really care, so I lost 8 pieces of equipement and I still beat them. The tactic I used is that I gave away all my weapons first. This made normal attacking and unleashing attack Djinn quite weak, so my main focus was Psynergy, Summons, and stat altering/healing type Djinn.

Make sure you use Jenna's Aura/Healing Aura when needed, and don't forget to use the Mercury Djinni Shade, as he is gold. Piers can use Psynergy and unleash/set Shade, as for Sheba/Felix, they can be the offense, summoning and unleashing Djinn at all time.

Prize:
Coins: 2870
Exp: 3340
Drop: None, but you get the Hover Jade after the battle.

Agatio & Karst

Strategies:
If you don't know how to handle them, Agatio and Karst can be lethal. But if you get past the rough beginning, they aren't much harder than Moapa and Crew. Just like Saturos and Merdani, these two are weak against water, but they resist fire.

You start off the battle with a two on two. If you try attacking and summoning right from the beginning, unless you are at a very high level, you will get beat up. What I recommend is basically doing everything you can to keep Felix and Piers alive until your other party members join you. After the first two turns, Jenna will join you. After the next two turns, Sheba will join you.

Once you have a full party, it's time to get serious. Since Jenna's fire attacks are weak against Karst and Agatio, let her heal the whole time. Make sure Felix doesn't die, as he has Revive, and Karst, like Merdani, has the Psynergy Death Scythe, which can kill you in one blow. For Piers and Sheba, mainly let them unleash and summon Djinn.

In this battle, you must always watch your HP. If you don't watch yourself, you will be down before you know it. Just take it slow and steady, and you won't have any problems fighting this battle.

Note: If Karst and Agatio do defeat you, the game will go on nevertheless. You will not need to restart from the nearest Sanctum. But if you beat them, you will be rewarded with some Dark Matter, as well as high coins/exp.

Prize:
Coins: 9020
Exp: 5813
Drop: Dark Matter

Star Magician

Strategies:
This guy isn't as hard as he is annoying. Around him are four balls: purple, blue, green and pink. If you destroy any of them, he has the power to summon them right back. Here's the balls power:
Purple Ball: Thunder Ball: Lightning attack
Blue Ball: Refresh Ball: Restores 1000+ HP to the magician
Red Ball: Angry Ball: Explosion attack
Green Ball: Guardian Ball: Creates a shield for the magician

Without a doubt, the Guardian Balls and the Refresh Balls are the most annoying. Take them out at all costs. When summoning, make sure the Guardian Ball is not present. If he's there, he'll simply create a shield for the magician and you'll be doing very small damage.

Make sure to heal a lot during this battle, as the multiple balls and the magician combined can inflict quite a bit of damage. The magician himself is weak against Mars, but strong against Mercury. The balls around him have different weaknesses/resistances depending on their color.

To defeat this guy, I came in the battle with my first party having only set Djinn, and my second party having only standy Djinn. During the first few turns, I unleashed my Djinn one by one, and as the balls died, the battle got easier, so I could handle having my stats lowered by the Djinn on standby. When I saw there was no Guardian Ball in sight, and I had enough Djinn on standy to summon, I blasted the Star Magician with everything I had. This did not kill him, yet. This is when the second party comes in.

The first summons I did was just to weaken the magician. The next ones are to finish him off. My first party uses Psynergy to kill off any Refresh or Guardian Ball around the magician. Their only goal is to take out the balls, and not the magician. Once there are no blue/green balls in sight, I pop in one of my other party members, and blast the hell out of the magician. If he survives, I pop in another summon party member and blast him out with him. If the magician puts out another ball, I put back my original party member in the scene and I finish off the balls. Once they are gone, in goes another member to summon him out. And so on

Prize:
Coins: 6984
Exp: 10954
Drop: Nothing, but you get the summon Azul after the battle.

Valukar

Strategies:
Valukar is the fire guard, and he'll do his best to make sure you don't touch the stone tablet that lets you summon Daedalus. Valukar is a fire monster, so he is weak against Mercury and resistant against Mars. He is a odd boss, as he has no Psynergy, but only a really annoying regular attack called Stun Jip, and the ability to put your Djinn on standby and summon them.

Try not to enter the battle with Djinn on standby, as he will summon them to you instead. Simply focus on Psynergy and attacking (if you have a good weapon), as he will put the Djinn on standby for you. Once he puts some of your Djinn on standby, summon them immediately, unless you want those same Djinn to be smacked in your face. Make Jenna use Aura/Healing Aura/Cool Aura when needed, and keep Felix alive in good health, as you need him incase of Reviving.

The Valukar has a very annoying attack called Stun Jip. Not only does this do quite a bit of damage to you, but it can also stun you. When I fought the Valukar, I never had more than 2 party members going, as at least two of them were always stunned. I had some extreme bad luck, but watch your back, it may happen to you.

So basically use Psynergy/attacking until he puts your Djinn on standby, then summon them to him. Using this strategy you should be able to beat him without too much trouble (unless he starts stunning all your members).

Prize:
Coins: 4980
Exp: 8702
Drop: Nothing, but you get the summon Daedalus after the battle.

Sentinel

Strategies:
If you want to summon Catastrophe, you'll have to face the mighty wind guard called Sentinel, the living armor. This guy won't go down easy. Most Psynergy has no effect on him, and because of his massive defense, regular attacks won't be very powerful. Summons are the way to go here. Putting Djinn on standby make you weaker, which is especially bad here, as the Sentinel attacks 3 times per turn. Watch your HP with extreme care.

If that's not enough, this guy heals 200 HP and recovers 30 PP at the end of every turn. He is also well armed with very strong Psynergy, which he can use three times in a row, as he attacks three times per turn. The Psynergy "Break" is part of his Psynergy list, so stat boosts won't last too long here. His weakness is Venus, and he is resistant to Mercury.

For this long battle, I basically kept unleashing and summoning my Djinn, as that's all I could do for damage. Both Piers and Jenna were loaded with healing moves (Wish/Aura), and I often had to use both in one turn to keep me from dying. After a whole bunch of unleashing/summoning I finally felled Sentinel.

Prize:
Coins: 6144
Exp: 10530
Drop: Nothing, but you get the summon Catastrophe after the battle.

Dullahan

Strategies:
Here is the mighty Dullahan. This guy is considered as "the hardest boss in Golden Sun: The Lost Age" for many Golden Sun gamers. I must admit that he is the hardest boss of Golden Sun, but if a certain strategy is used, he can be defeated without much effort.

Dullahan is resistant against Mercury, but weak against Jupiter. This makes Catastrophe very effective against him. The problem is you might not have the chance to use Catastrophe. Why? Because Dullahan is one tough SOB.

Dullahan is fully loaded with the power to recover 200 HP per turn as well as PP recovery. He also has the very annoying power to use Djinn Storm. This Psynergy is without a doubt the most annoying of his Psynergy inventory. Djinn Storm will bring all of your party's Djinn on recovery. This disables Jenna's Aura, Mia's Wish and Felix' Revive. That's right, no healing, no reviving. And if that wasn't enough, putting all your Djinn on recovery will not let you summon. That means that you can take many turns to carefully prepare a perfect summon strike and it can all go down the drain as he drains all of your Djinn.

Djinn Storm isn't all Dullahan is capable of doing. He is also fully equipped with some big guns. He has the power to summon Charon. He will not steal them from you as the Valukar does, but even worse, he will pop out the summon out of his ass. That means he can bring out Charon once a turn, anywhere, any time. As he attacks three times a turn, he can use Djinn Storm to lower your stats, and follow with up with a lethal Charon. Have fun recovering from a blow like that: don't forget you have lost the ability to Revive/Aura/Wish.

All this makes Dullahan a very formidable foe. Because of Djinn Storm, his ability to recover 200 HP per turn, and his power to summon Charon, this isn't a battle you can afford to spend a lot of time in. Instead, finish the battle in a few rounds using the following strategy.

Here is how I defeated Dullahan with level 40 Felix and Co. and level 30 Isaac and Co. I entered the battle with all Djinn on standby. That's right, every single Djinni was ready to burn up the battlefield. On the first round I summoned my big guns, including Charon and Catastrophe. Dullahan would of course retaliate. At this point, all of my members were about to fall, but none of them had died yet. I killed off my first party with a bang as I summoned everything else I could. That's when the second party came in. They summoned another wave of powerful summons. As they were only at level 30, a few of them survived Dullahan's response, but they finished him off with a final wave of summons.

This strategy requires luck. It took me 5 tries to get it done correctly. One of the problems was that Dullahan would just do Djinn Storm and mess everything up. In that case, I just reset my gameboy. My characters were also low levels, so if Dullahan summoned Charon during his retaliation, I was gone. So again, I reset my gameboy. But with a bit of luck, I manage to vanquish the mighty guardian of Iris.

Prize:
Coins: 6775
Exp: 15600
Drop: Nothing, but you get the summon Iris after the battle.

Flame Dragon

Strategies:
This battle definitely disappointed me. Really, it wasn't much of a challenge. I actually ended up beating it without using my second party, and with my first party at full health. As fire dragons, they resist fire, but are very weak against water.

As Jenna is weak against these dragons, you can use her to heal. Make her heal every turn, and let others unleash/summon. From the start, I put 4 of each Djinn type on standby and I summoned them all from the start. From then on, I simply unleashed and summoned again, except Jenna, who healed.

There basically isn't more to it. If a party member dies, don't bother reviving them: simply replace them with another party member. If keep going through this battle guns blazing, those two dragons will be dead way before your eight mighty party members are.

Prize:
Coins: 3393
Exp: 5004
Drop: Psy Crystal

Doom Dragon

Strategies:
Here he is, the final boss of the game. He isn't as tough as Dullahan, but he still won't be a walk in the park. The dragon has three heads: defeating the first head is quite easy, defeating the second head is much harder, and defeating the third head is much, much harder. It is a battle of endurance.

The Doom Dragon attacks three times a turn. He has a wide variety of Psynergy, but of a few of them really stand out. The first two heads have the ability to put all of one of your party member's Djinn on recover: the last head can put all of your party's Djinn on recover. Battling the Doom Dragon may result in throwing your Gameboy as far as you can in great frustration for those with anger management problems because of this attack. Picture this: you have taken the time to unleash a perfect number of Djinn, ready for a perfect summon, but you decide to use High Impact before releasing the blow to amplify it. During this turn, the Doom Dragon decides to use Djinn Storm. All the time you took to set yourself up has just gone out the window. That's not all. Djinn Storm will disable Felix' Revive, as well as Jenna's Aura. This means no reviving or healing. I was struggling to keep my anger under control.

Djinn Storm isn't the only trick he has up his sleeve. He also possesses an very powerful attack called Cruel Ruin, which he can cast once a turn. This will definitely puncture a hole through your defense. To wrap it all up, the Doom Dragon has the ability to use Guard Aura, which is the equivalent of the Djinni Flash. Again, imagine yourself preparing for a huge summon when he uses this before you attack: all your efforts will go right down the craphole.

The Doom Dragon does, of course, have a couple weaknesses. He is elementally weak against Jupiter, but he resists Venus. He also does not have the ability to use Break, so feel free to power up your stats like crazy (and don't forget: High Impact is your friend). Though he can heal, he heals quite rarely, and when he does, he doesn't recover more than 80 HP. Like I mentioned before, it's a battle of endurance.

There are many ways of beating him, so feel free to make your own strategy, based on the information stated above. Just don't forget: setting yourself up for summons is risky business, as it might all be worth nothing.