Great Axe

A Great Axe is an Axe-class weapon available throughout the Golden Sun series.

Basic Description by Game
A Great Axe increases the wielder's base Attack by 80 points. As a common item, it can be bought repeatedly from Vendors for 5200 coins each and sold for 3900 coins each.

In Golden Sun, it is sold in weapon vendors at Kalay, Tolbi, Lunpa, and Lalivero, and can be equipped by Isaac and Garet. In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, it is sold in Contigo, and can be equipped by Felix and Piers. Since it is a common item, it does not have an Unleash.

In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, it is sold in Belinsk, Port Rago, Yamata, Champa Camp, and Tonfon, and can be equipped by Matthew, Tyrell, and Eoleo. Due to changes in the Unleash system, the Great Axe gains three Unleashes: Power Charge, Critical Strike, and Berserk Rush. Power Charge is a Mars-based Unleash that multiples damage by 1.4 and may drop target's defense by 25%. Critical Strike and Berserk Rush are non-elemental Unleashes that multiply damage by 1.5 and 1.6 respectively.

Analysis
In Golden Sun, Great Axes can be first bought at Kalay, where it is the strongest common weapon that can be bought there. If one of your Adepts still has the Arctic Blade equipped, a Great Axe would be a very worthy replacement weapon for that Adept. It would not be a good replacement at all for an Adept who has the axe Artifact Vulcan Axe, however, because even though the Vulcan Axe has a few base Attack points less, it is ultimately better in battle than the Great Axe because it at least has an Unleash effect.

In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, the way the Great Axe is handled is borderline baffling: It is only sold as a common weapon at the vendor in Contigo, making it first available long, long after you can acquire far superior weapons for everyone (a prime example being the Mighty Axe, an artifact you can get multiple copies of in the Lemurian version of the Lucky Medal Fountain and has a base Attack rating of 142, along with an Unleash effect). It is clearly not a weapon anyone would buy in the second game. If this game is being played without any data transfer or with a Password that's either Bronze or Silver-level, when Isaac's party joins Felix's Garet will be equipped with a Great Axe, which is of course far inferior to the Mighty Axes and other equipment Felix's party will surely have amassed by that point.

In Dark Dawn, the Great Axe is given an overall improvement in the form of three fairly solid Unleashes. Despite this improvement, it is outclassed by the Artifacts that the player can gain, such as the Vulcan Axe, which despite being slightly weaker, is a Mars-based pure-element weapon, and the Sword of Dusk, which is much stronger. In addition, the player can gain the stronger Giant Axe in the Phantasmal Bog. The player does have the option of getting the Great Axe as a temporary placeholder, but that is entirely up to player discretion.