Crusader class series

The Crusader class series, previously known as the Swordsman (Venus) class series, is a class series available to the Venus Adepts, and to a lesser extent, the Mercury Adepts. Both kinds of Adepts require Mercury and Venus Djinn in order to attain this class, though with an emphasis on Mercury for the Venus Adepts and Venus for the Mercury Adepts.

This class is very similar to the Swordsman (Mars) class series, with which it shares the names of two classes, Defender and Cavalier, as well as the statistical shifts. In Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age, the classes also shared the name of the first stage; both were known as the Swordsman class. The two class series differ slightly in Psynergy.

The class series, when at its highest stage of Protector and compared to the other series at their highest respective stages, has high HP, good Attack, and stronger Defense, but below average Agility and PP - the Radiant of the Swordsman (Mars) class series is the same in all of these areas. Both series' luck ratings are high. Noteworthy Psynergy from an endgame perspective includes Revive (contrast this with the Mars variation's Guard/Protect), Plume Edge, Pure Wish, Pure Ply, Cure Poison, Break, and Avoid, and the heaviest area-of-effect Psynergy it has is Nettle (contrast with the Mars variation's Fiery Blast). Average stats from an endgame perspective are 145% (150% if you don't factor in Luck).

Analysis
The Crusader class series, is essentially the Venus version of the Water Seer class series. Despite possessing beefed up statistics in comparison to the Water Seer, the Crusader's Psynergy lineup is even weaker; the only offensive Psynergies available are the Cutting Edge duo and the Thorn Psynergy series. As a healer, the class leaves much to be desired. Despite possessing the Wish series, the PP pool is too low for the Crusader to be an effective healer. One major advantage the Venus variant has over the Mars variant is the Revive spell. Prior to The Lost Age, only the Venus Swordsman could learn Revive with fewer than four Djinn, requiring only a single Djinni.

However, the class can see situational use, despite its weaknesses. In Golden Sun, Cutting Edge makes short work of Saturos at Mercury Lighthouse. In The Lost Age, the Swordsman class is an excellent early-game class, partly due to the unbalanced Djinn distribution. The class provides an early source of healing while also helping to make up for having no Mercury Adept yet. In Dark Dawn, the main use of the class would likely come against the Mars-based Sand Prince, as Cutting Edge can help drastically shorten the battle. In all three cases, however, the class quickly loses its power, and is quite unimpressive against Mercury aligned monsters. If you like the Crusader and Swordsman classes, you'll probably be better off bumping the Adept(s) in question into the Dragoon series as quickly as possible.

The series gains a new role in Dark Dawn as Himi's version of the Mercury adepts' Seer series. Being a mage, Himi does not suffer nearly as much from the low PP pool, and the ability to access a class with both Wish and Revive is a great benefit to her potential. Additionally, due to Sveta being more suited to a warrior role, there are many setups where putting Himi in this series enables the player to avoid putting a Mercury adept into the lackluster Water Seer or Aqua Squire series.