Skeleton enemy line

The Skeleton, Bone Fighter, and Skull Warrior are species of monsters found in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. These monsters, resembling animate human skeletons wearing gloves, boots, and loincloths and holding short swords, are palette swaps of each other that have differing levels of power and defense and are fought in different locations in the games. This monster line reappears in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, introducing two new variants, the Dark Soldier and the Cursed Soldier.

Skeleton
A Skeleton is a variant with typical bone color. Statistically, this monster has 60 HP, 46 Attack, 14 Defense, 18 Agility, and 1 Luck. In terms of resistance, it has a Mercury Resistance rating of 127, a Mars Resistance rating of 72, a Jupiter Resistance rating of 48, and a Venus Resistance rating of 25 and in regards to its abilities it uses its Venus-based attacks with a Venus power rating of 100.

A Skeleton can use the following battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 6 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Bone Charge: Used 2 out of 8 times, this monster skill suffuses itself with an aura of blue energy and charges a single Adept, dealing a Venus-based attack equal to its normal physical attack multiplied by 1.7.

Felling a Skeleton yields 10 EXP, 11 coins, and there is a 1/16 chance the monster will randomly drop an Herb. If felled by the effect of an offensive Venus Djinni, its rewards increase to 13 EXP and 14 Coins, and the chance it will randomly drop its item becomes 1/4. Skeletons are first battled in Goma Cave, and subsequently in the overworld region of Angara encompassing Bilibin, Kolima, and Kolima Forest, as well as within Kolima Forest itself. Most interestingly, it is even fought in Fuchin Falls Cave, right alongside its stronger counterpart below, the Bone Fighter. In The Lost Age, Skeletons are fought in Dehkan Plateau and the south half of Indra's overworld region.

When they first appear in Goma Cave in the first game, they are the strongest monsters both offensively and defensively, but gradually become easier as stronger monsters are introduced to correspond to your building levels and equipment. The appearance of the Skeleton in a dungeon as late as Fuchin Falls Cave, where the Bone Fighter is fought, is bizarre; literally every one of its statistics are far outperformed at that point by literally every other monster in the location. In the second game, it is not quite as statistically high as the Rat Soldier and the Mini-Goblin.

Bone Fighter
A Bone Fighter is a variant with blue bone color. Statistically, this monster has 122 HP, 131 Attack, 35 Defense, 52 Agility, and 3 Luck. In terms of resistance, it has a Mercury Resistance rating of 127, a Mars Resistance rating of 72, a Jupiter Resistance rating of 48, and a Venus Resistance rating of 25 and in regards to its abilities it uses its Venus-based attacks with a Venus power rating of 100.

A Bone Fighter can use the following battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 6 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Undead Sword: Used 2 out of 8 times, this monster skill causes a holographic orange sword blade with symbols on it spear out of the ground to impale an Adept, dealing a Venus-based attack equal to its normal physical attack with an additional 15 damage points.

Felling a Bone Fighter yields 51 EXP, 63 coins, and there is a 1/32 chance the monster will randomly drop a Sleep Bomb. If felled by the effect of an offensive Venus Djinni, its rewards increase to 66 EXP and 81 Coins, and the chance it will randomly drop its item becomes 1/8. Bone Fighters are ideally first battled in Fuchin Falls Cave, and subsequently throughout Mogall Forest, the region of Angara's overworld encompassing the exit to Mogall Forest and the entrance to Lamakan Desert, and the second and third basement levels of Altin Peak. In The Lost Age, Bone Fighters are fought in the lower area of Gondowan's overworld region, as well as both Gabomba Statue and Gabomba Catacombs.

In Fuchin Falls Cave, the Bone Fighter is the "main" monster to focus on in battle, because it has the highest of all statistics when compared to almost all the other monsters, with only the Dirge slightly outspeeding it. With strong offensive and defenses, it is about the toughest random monster fought throughout Mogall Forest as well, ignoring the scripted but optional battles with single Apes. In The Lost Age it is roughly as strong and sturdy as the other monsters it is fought alongside, but quite a bit slower.

Skull Warrior
A Skull Warrior is a variant with violet bone color. The Skull Warrior has 283 HP, 16 PP (the PP meter is new to the Skull Warrior), 322 Attack, 112 Defense, 130 Agility, and 5 Luck. In terms of resistance, it has a Mercury Resistance rating of 127, a Mars Resistance rating of 72, a Jupiter Resistance rating of 48, and a Venus Resistance rating of 25 and in regards to its abilities it uses its Venus-based attacks with a Venus power rating of 100.

A Skull Warrior can use the following battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 4 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Bone Charge: Used 2 out of 8 times, this monster skill suffuses itself with an aura of blue energy and charges a single Adept, dealing a Venus-based attack equal to its normal physical attack multiplied by 1.7.
 * Dull: Used 2 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that attempts to lower a single Adept's Attack rating by 25%. It consumes 6 of its user's PP.

Felling a Skull Warrior yields 301 EXP, 188 coins, and there is a 1/32 chance the monster will randomly drop a Vial. If felled by the effect of an offensive Venus Djinni, its rewards increase to 391 EXP and 244 Coins, and the chance it will randomly drop its item becomes 1/8. Skull Warriors are battled in the road to Babi Lighthouse, Tunnel Ruins, and the later portion of Venus Lighthouse - essentially the first game's endgame, which accounts for its power.

While pretty powerful if it uses its Bone Charge relatively often, other enemies outperform it in all statistics from the start, including the Chimera Mage.

Skeleton
The Skeleton is a variant with typical bone color.

A Skeleton can use the following battle commands:
 * Attack: this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Bone Charge: this monster skill causes the top half of the users body to seperate and charge into a single target, dealing enhanced damage.

Skeletons are fought in Konpa Ruins.

Dark Soldier
The Dark Soldier is a black variant with a blue sword. They are encountered in the overworld regions affected by the Grave Eclipse.

Cursed Soldier
The Cursed Soldier is a black variant with a red sword. They are encountered on the Endless Wall.