Whiplash

Whiplash (ウィップラッシュ) is a Jupiter Psynergy featured in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. It is notable for being the only offensive Psynergy available to all stages of the class.

Basic description
Whiplash is an offensive, single-target Psynergy that is Attack-dependent, meaning characters with higher Attack ratings will deal more damage with these attacks. In addition, the caster's Jupiter Power and the target's Defense and Jupiter Resistance all factor into the damage dealt.

Visually, Whiplash features the caster wielding a purple energy whip, which lashes out at the target.

Damage Calculation
As previously stated, there are several factors determining the damage dealt by Psynergies like Whiplash. The exact damage calculation formula for these attacks can be represented with the following two equations:


 * base damage = (User's Attack - Enemy's Defense) / 2

This formula is identical to the formula used to determine the damage dealt by standard physical attacks. In other words, base damage is half of the difference between the caster's Attack and the target's Defense. If this number falls below zero, it is automatically reset to zero.

This is the base damage. Whiplash then uses this value for another equation:


 * Final damage output = (base damage) * (1 + (Jupiter Power - Jupiter Resistance) / 400) * 1.4

Power and Resistance are used to determine the multiplier applied to this new base damage. The target's Resistance is subtracted from the caster's Power, the difference is divided by 100, and the result is added to 1 before being multiplied by the base damage. As a result, the final damage dealt by these attacks can, theoretically, vary from roughly 50% to 150% of a normal physical attack.

For example, if an Adept with an Attack rating of 600 and a Jupiter Power of 150 casts Whiplash on a monster with a defense of 200 and a Jupiter Resistance of 50:
 * damage = ((Attack- Defense) / 2) * (1 + (Power - Resistance) / 400) * 1.4
 * damage = ((600 - 200) / 2) * (1 + (150 - 50) / 400) * 1.4
 * damage = ( / 2) * (1 +  / 400) * 1.4
 * damage =  * (1 + ) * 1.4
 * damage = *  * 1.4
 * damage = 350

Therefore, a Whiplash cast under these circumstances would deal 350 points of damage.

Availability
Whiplash is unique to the Tamer class series, an Item-dependent class accessed by equipping the Trainer's Whip to an appropriate Adept. Since the Trainer's Whip is only found in The Lost Age, Whiplash is limited to the eight playable Adepts in that game. Whiplash is learned at level 10.

Analysis
General: Whiplash is the only Psynergy available to the Tamer with a damage multiplier rather than a set amount of added damage. However, the lower damage multiplier means that early on, the Tamer's other Attack-based moves, will do more damage. Though Whiplash will grow stronger as Attack rises, it will become severely outclassed by Ghost Soldier, which adds a whopping 170 points of damage and can ignore half of the target's Defense. Whiplash's main benefits are its low PP cost, a boon considering the Tamer's abysmal PP pool, as well as its availability. Since Whiplash is the only offensive Psynergy available to all stages of the Tamer class, it can be a reliable move in a situation where changes between class stages is expected.