Herculean Axe

The Herculean Axe is an Axe in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn and it is the most powerful in the game, and by extension the series. It is forged from Orihalcon by Obaba (the game's blacksmith and Briggs' grandmother) with a 10% chance of being forged, the same as the Excalibur which is forged by the same material. It can be equipped on Matthew, Tyrell and Eoleo.

Unlike the Stellar Axe from The Lost Age, the Herculean Axe competes with the Excalibur as the second best weapon in the game, with the possible exception of the Vajra Mace and the Bloody Claw. The Excalibur is the same as it was in The Lost Age; it raised the attack power of the wielder by 180, and its Unleash, Legend, added 73 extra points of damage to the final calculation. Then there is a 60% chance of multiplying the total damage it does by 3 while converting it all to Jupiter damage, and raising or lowering the total damage by how the wielder's Jupiter power compared to the target's Jupiter resistance.

The Herculean Axe on the other hand raises the Attack power of the wielder by 186, 6 points more than the Excalibur, and its Unleash, Olympus Rage, adds 76 extra damage to the total damage, 3 more points than Legend does, then it doubles the total damage. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage for it, because while this means that it does less damage than Excalibur, it is much more consistent in its high damage as it always doubles its Unleash's damage, akin to how the Sol Blade always triples Meggido's damage. It then converts all the damage into Mars damage, and raises or lowers the total damage based on how the wielder's Mars power compares to the targets Mars resistance. This is an advantage for the Herculean Axe, as there are no Jupiter Adepts that can use the Excalibur to full effect, while the Herculean Axe can be wieled by Eoleo and Tyrell, who are both Mars Adepts. Olympus Rage can also instantly kill the opponent, which is an extremely powerful side effect. In the end whichever weapon you choose is upon your personal preference: if you want very high bursts of damage from time to time, pick Excalibur. If you prefer consistently high damage, choose the Herculean Axe.

The Herculean Axe is the most powerful weapon Eoleo can wield: it's high attack and Unleash power, along with its affiliation with Mars, makes it a perfect fit on him. Due to this, Eoleo will most likely have this equipped by the end of the game, while Tyrell has the Excalibur (Eoleo can't equip Long Swords) and Matthew obviously has the Sol Blade. No matter who has it, the Herculean Axe is almost certainly going to be in your inventory by the end of the game and post-story.