Guard class series

The Guard class series is the default class series for the Mars Adept Garet and his son, Tyrell. They are considered members of this class series if they either have no Djinn or only Mars Djinn set to themselves. This class series is unique to Garet in the GBA games; the other Mars Adept, Jenna, is a mage rather than a warrior and has her own default class set, the Flame User class series. The second Mars Adept in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Eoleo, also has his own default class series, the Pirate class series.

The class series, when at its highest stage of Hero and compared to the other series at their highest respective stages, features high HP, stronger Defense, and average Attack, but very low PP (shared only with the Slayer, Chaos Lord, and Acrobat and surpassing only the Beast Lord) and the single lowest Agility rating of all final-stage classes. This series' Luck rating is at the standard (which only the Squire class series and the two variations on Seer class series are also at). Noteworthy Psynergy from an endgame perspective includes Liquifier and Guard/Protect, and the heaviest area-of-effect Psynergy it has is Pyroclasm. Average stats from an endgame perspective are 135% (142% if you don't factor in Luck).

Notes on Class Names

 * Hover your cursor over class names for alt-text of series' Japanese names.

Analysis
The Guard class, exclusive to Garet and Tyrell, is the more defensive of the Mars-based mono-elemental classes. The class has the highest Defense multiplier of the mono-elemental classes, and also boasts a high HP multiplier. Thus, the Guard can take quite the beating from physical attacks. The high Defense can be further increased by the Guard Psynergy that the class learns. While the class has only average Attack, Garet and Tyrell's ability to equip Long Swords can help remedy this. The class possesses a good array of offensive Psynergies; Inferno/Supernova, Heat Wave/Liquifier, and Pyroclasm will enable the Guard to deal out some decent damage.

The main drawback to the class is that the Guard possesses the lowest Agility multiplier of any class. The Guard's low agility stat is even more glaring in Dark Dawn as Tyrell will often be taking his turn last, which can make it difficult for him to master weapons. In Dark Dawn, at least, there are several Agility multiplying equipment pieces, but otherwise, the Guard will always be the last to move in the turn. Another major drawback is the low PP multiplier. The low PP pool will limit the Guard's ability to use their more powerful Psynergies, particularly Liquifier, Pyroclasm, and Supernova.

Origin
This class series seems to be based upon classical interpretation of soldiers, particularly ones that can rise in the ranks to become feudal lords (Japanese class name Baron) and great heroes (Hero class and it's Japanese name Phalanx, representing a warrior who can fight like an entire regiment of soldiers). The class series includes Psynergy that protects allies and debilitates foes, while using firepower to cause havoc throughout enemy formations. Of interest, the Japanese word for Soldier, Senshi, is very similar to the Japanese word for Swordsman, Kenshi, which is the Japanese name of the first class in the Squire class series, showing a relationship between these two classes. Similarly, we see the Page being a Magic Soldier (Mahou Senshi) and the Apprentice being a Magic Swordsman (Mahou Kenshi), while the Swordsman is the Spirit Soldier (Sei Senshi) and the Crusader is the Spirit Swordsman (Sei Kenshi). The class series for Mars and Venus adepts, save understandably Himi's Curse Mage series, thus seem deeply related to the Guard and Squire series, when looking from an original Japanese language version perspective.