Gargoyle enemy line

The Gargoyle, Clay Gargoyle, and Ice Gargoyle are species of monsters randomly battled in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. These monsters, resembling demons in the classic image of gargoyles but in flesh-and-blood and holding small scimitars and ellipsoid shields with "three-eyed face" designs on them, are palette-swapped variants of each other that have differing levels of power and defense and are fought in different locations in the games.

Gargoyle
A Gargoyle is a light-blue-skinned variant with reddish eyes and a shield. Statistically, this monster has 176 HP, 21 PP, 181 Attack, 81 Defense, 59 Agility, and 7 Luck. In terms of resistance, it has a Jupiter Resistance rating of 127, Mercury and Mars Resistance ratings of 100 each, and a Venus Resistance rating of 48, and in regards to its abilities it uses its available Venus and Mercury-based attacks with power ratings of 100 each.

The Gargoyle uses these battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 4 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Guard: Used 2 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that buffs up either the user or another unit on its side of the field, increasing its current Defense by 25%. It consumes 3 of its user's PP.
 * Quake Sphere: Used 1 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that launches the entire party of Adepts into the air three times each, dealing a Venus-based attack with a power rating of 65 and a range of 7. This ability consumes 15 of its user's PP, meaning that it can only use Quake Sphere once in a battle.
 * Ice Breath: Used 1 out of 8 times, this Monster Skill has the monster generating a mass of air filled with pieces of ice at the party of Adepts, dealing a Mercury-based attack with a power rating of 50 and a range of 3 (the Adepts at either side of the specifically targeted Adept will only take 50% of the attack's force, instead of the normal 80%, however).

Felling a Gargoyle yields 84 Experience Points and 119 Coins, and there is a 1/32 chance that the monster will randomly drop a Sleep Bomb. If it is felled by the attack effect of an offensive Venus Djinni, its rewards increase to 109 EXP and 154 Coins, and the chance to drop its item becomes 1/8. In Golden Sun it is battled only throughout the optional Vault Cave location.

Making the Gargoyle notable among the other monsters in Vault Cave is the rather startling difference between its Defense rating and that of the other monsters it is fought alongside. It has almost literally twice as much defense as the Ravager's 47 Defense. Though the Gargoyle doesn't have quite the highest HP rating, it will take more physical hits to fell, but of course this could be considered incentive to only use offensive Psynergy against it to bypass the Defense.

Clay Gargoyle
A Clay Gargoyle is a beige-skinned variant with purplish eyes and a shield. Statistically, this monster has 209 HP, 24 PP, 210 Attack, 90 Defense, 84 Agility, and 7 Luck. In terms of resistance, it has a Jupiter Resistance rating of 127, Mercury and Mars Resistance ratings of 100 each, and a Venus Resistance rating of 48, and in regards to its abilities it uses its available Venus and Jupiter-based attacks with power ratings of 100 each.

The Clay Gargoyle uses these battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 2 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Guard: Used 2 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that buffs up either the user or another unit on its side of the field, increasing its current Defense by 25%. It consumes 3 of its user's PP.
 * Spire: Used 2 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that causes a large stalactite to fall down from above onto a targeted Adept and shatter, dealing a Venus-based attack with a power rating of 40. This ability consumes 5 of its user's PP.
 * Sonic Wave: Used 2 out of 8 times, this is a Monster Skill that launches rings of orange energy through a targeted Adept, dealing a Jupiter-based attack with a power rating of 45.

Felling a Clay Gargoyle yields 100 Experience Points and 147 Coins, and there is a 1/32 chance that the monster will randomly drop a Nut. If it is felled by the attack effect of an offensive Venus Djinni, its rewards increase to 130 EXP and 191 Coins, and the chance to drop its item becomes 1/8. In Golden Sun it is fought throughout Altmiller Cave. In The Lost Age it is fought throughout Gaia Rock, and subsequently in Izumo Ruins.

In Altmiller Cave, the Clay Gargoyle continues its highly defensive tradition, beating out the then recently introduced Armored Rat in defense and having much more HP than that rat. Compared even to its earlier predecessor, however, it is less of a damage-dealing threat, with a relatively strong Quake Sphere replaced with a weak single-target Spire attack. At Gaia Rock, particularly in the interior, the Clay Gargoyle ranks about average among the other monsters, but since equipment in that game is generally much more powerful than in the previous games, it is not considered as much as the Wood Walker.

Ice Gargoyle
A Ice Gargoyle is a light-purple-skinned variant with greenish eyes and a shield. Statistically, this monster has 304 HP, 21 PP, 319 Attack, 150 Defense, 100 Agility, and 7 Luck. In terms of resistance, it has a Jupiter Resistance rating of 127, Mercury and Mars Resistance ratings of 100 each, and a Venus Resistance rating of 48, and in regards to its abilities it uses its available Venus and Mercury-based attacks with power ratings of 100 each.

The Clay Gargoyle uses these battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 4 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Guard: Used 2 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that buffs up either the user or another unit on its side of the field, increasing its current Defense by 25%. It consumes 3 of its user's PP.
 * Mother Gaia: Used 1 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that strikes multiple Adepts with an eruption of earth-based energy and rocks from the ground, dealing a Venus-based attack with a power rating of 100 and a range of 5. This ability consumes 17 of its user's PP, meaning it can only use this ability once per battle.
 * Ice Breath: Used 1 out of 8 times, this Monster Skill has the monster generating a mass of air filled with pieces of ice at the party of Adepts, dealing a Mercury-based attack with a power rating of 90 and a range of 3 (the Adepts at either side of the specifically targeted Adept will only take 50% of the attack's force, instead of the normal 80%, however).

Felling an Ice Gargoyle yields 307 Experience Points and 170 Coins, and there is a 1/64 chance that the monster will randomly drop a Potion. If it is felled by the attack effect of an offensive Venus Djinni, its rewards increase to 399 EXP and 221 Coins, and the chance to drop its item becomes 1/16. In Golden Sun it is fought at Babi Lighthouse, and subsequently throughout Tunnel Ruins and the true "dungeon" portion of Venus Lighthouse.

The Ice Gargoyle technically has the highest Defense rating of all random monsters in the original Golden Sun. However, the second highest Defense Rating is held by the Grand Golem at an effectively identical 149 points, and that monster has much more HP and is much more powerful, and is fought alongside the Ice Gargoyle as well in Venus Lighthouse. So, it is only really worth paying special attention to the Ice Gargoyle when it is first fought in Babi Lighthouse, where compared among the earlier lesser monsters there it proves that it takes comparatively low damage from normal weapon attacks. Like the old Gargoyle, it should be felled with offensive Psynergy spells while normal physical attacks are used on the other monsters alongside it.