Sol Blade

The Sol Blade is a Long Sword-class weapon Artifact available in both Golden Sun: The Lost Age and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, and is the best weapon in the series. It is found in a treasure chest deep in Mars Lighthouse, as a rather easy reward for solving a platform-based ice puzzle shortly before a boss battle with the Flame Dragons, and in Dark Dawn it is found near the end of the final dungeon, the Apollo Sanctum, where it is actually required to progress towards the final boss and some of the other super dungeons in the game. This Long Sword-class weapon is unique in that only Isaac and Felix can wield it in The Lost Age, while only Matthew can wield it in Dark Dawn. Its buy value is 31200 coins and its sell value is 23400.

The Sol Blade increases the wielder's base Attack rating by 200 points. Its Unleash effect is Megiddo (the location of Armageddon), with the standard base activation rate of 35%, which is a physical attack whose resulting damage is either increased or decreased based on how the user's Venus power measures against the target's Venus resistance, and then the resulting damage there is multiplied by three, an extremely powerful and consistent effect. Possibly the most visually elaborate of all Unleash effects, the user leaps high into the air, the sword glowing bright red over his head. He then slams the blade of the sword into a great sphere of burning plasma that is summoned off the top of the screen (this could be said to represent a star such as the Sun itself), and slings the searing object onto the target. This is the same in Dark Dawn: however, like almost all the most powerful Artifacts in the game, the Sol Blade gets three additional Unleashes (Centurion, Radiant Fire and Purgatory).

The Sol Blade is verifiably the best weapon in the game. Its 200 Attack is only beaten out by a Darksword's 210 Attack, but as that weapon's Venus-based Unleash doesn't multiply damage it does not compare to the Sol Blade in the long run. Its only competition among other weapons are the Masamune, Excalibur and Tisiphone Edge, all weapons that have Unleash effects that have the potential to multiply the damage done; while Excalibur and Tisiphone Edge may triple the damage done, the Sol Blade's Megiddo always scores triple damage, so it will always end up being in the player's inventory by the game's end because of its extreme power. A less significant advantage the Sol Blade has is that it is found in a chest, rather than as a random drop or forge, making it much more available over Excalibur or Tisiphone Edge.

To maximize the weapon's power, you can equip on an Adept a specific weapon setup that will increase the chance the weapon will Unleash Megiddo whenever its wielder launches a physical attack: The Sol Blade itself Unleashes Megiddo with a base rate of 35%. The Venus Adept can equip the Valkyrie Mail to add 20% to the Unleash rate to make it 55%. Then he can equip Riot Gloves to increase it by 20% more (as well as increase attack power somewhat), then equip a Mythril Helm to increase it by 12% more, and finally Hyper Boots to increase it by 12% more to make for an Adept that has a 99% chance of Unleashing Megiddo every time he attacks. This character becomes a complete powerhouse warrior that will help the party defeat the Doom Dragon final boss much quicker than otherwise and can fell most common enemies in one hit. It is also worth noting that the Mythril Helm could be replaced with the Warrior's Helm due to its similar effect and increase in Venus power, complementing Megiddo's affinity, but should be noted that the Warrior's Helm possesses a noticeably smaller Defense rating than the Mythril Helm, as well as a marginally smaller 10% Critical increase. The Venus power increase is only a mere 10 points as well, so the player might want to think quite carefully before deciding whether or not they may desire to replace the Mythril Helm with the Warrior's Helm.

In the code for the original Golden Sun there exists the Sol Blade, including its item icon and its status as a Long Sword-class weapon artifact. During development the Sol Blade was apparently originally planned to be the game's "ultimate weapon", but was reserved for an appearance in the sequel and remains normally inaccessible to players of the first game without a hacking device that either grants the weapon directly or grants access to the game's Debug Room, where it can also be acquired. The Sol Blade in this incarnation has "???" as its item description and has no Unleash coded for it; it is merely a weapon artifact that increases base attack by 138, which is technically the highest attack rating increase in the original Golden Sun more than the "proper" recipient of that honor, the Gaia Blade's 135 Attack power. If this version of the Sol Blade is present in the party's inventory when the Golden Sun game file is saved as a Clear Data file, and the file data is transferred over to The Lost Age, the Sol Blade becomes its properly working, full-powered, Megiddo-unleashing self.

In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
The Sol Blade returns in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn still being the best weapon in the series. Beside its unique Unleash, Megiddo, the Sol Blade has three additional Unleashes -called Centurion, Radiant Fire and Purgatory- that are "shared" with other weapons (for instance, they are the main Unleashes of the Phaeton's Blade, the Levatine and the Fire Brand, respectively, and the Levatine has also the Centurion Unleash).

The party obtains this weapon after solving a puzzle in Apollo Sanctum. The weapon also acts as a key that can be inserted in specially marked doors. This key function is first used at the last stage of the game before the final two boss fights, and then in several optional locations, such as Otka Island and the inner part of the Burning Island Cave.

Matthew can equip the Warrior's Helm, Valkyrie Mail, Aegis Shield, Ninja Sandals, and Lord Sun's Ring to ensure a nearly 100% unleash rate. However, due to the revisions to the unleash system, the unleash can be any of the Sol Blade's four unleashes. Since 2 of the other 3 unleashes are Mars-based, players can consider putting Matthew into the Chaos Lord class to maximize their power.