Douse Psynergy series

Douse, Drench, and Deluge are a series of Mercury-based offensive Psynergies featured in all Golden Sun games. The first stage, Douse, is also an important Utility Psynergy throughout the series. Douse's Encyclopedia entry reads as follows:


 * "This water-based Psynergy conjures a small storm cloud that can extinguish fires and fill small cavities with water."

Basic Description
Douse, Drench, and Deluge are ranged Psynergies. The total damage inflicted is determined by comparing the caster's Mercury Power to the target's Mercury Resistance and using this number to modify the base power of the particular Psynergy in use.

In Golden Sun and The Lost Age, each stage of the Douse series resembles an array of watery spheres crashing down onto the enemy. The number of spheres increases for each successive stage of the series. In Dark Dawn, the visual effects are slightly revamped. While each stage still shows the crashing of watery spheres, the series also features successively larger splashes of water gushing up from the impact of each sphere.

Damage Calculations
Elemental Power attacks such as the Douse series use a set base power as the base damage to be modified. For example, the base power of Deluge is 120. Thus, an unmodified Deluge would do around 120 points of damage.

Attacks from each stage of the Douse series takes this base damage value and uses it in the following equation:


 * final damage = (base damage) * (1 + (User's Mercury Power - Enemy's Mercury Resistance) / 200)

To word this in prose, The Douse series takes the base damage of the particular attack, and then modifies this by how much higher or lower the user's Mercury Power is than the target's Mercury Resistance. The difference between the user's Mercury Power and the user's Mercury Resistance is then divided by 200, then 1 is added to this, resulting in what can be called the "elemental damage multiplier". This number is what the Psynergies' damage is multiplied by.

For example, if an Adept with a Mercury Power of 150 casts Deluge on a monster with a Mercury Resistance of 50:
 * damage = (base damage) * (1 + (Power - Resistance) / 200)
 * damage = (120) * (1 + (150 - 50) / 200)
 * damage = * (1 +  / 200)
 * damage = (120) * (1 + )
 * damage = 120 *
 * damage = 180

Therefore, a Deluge cast under these circumstances would deal 180 points of damage to the targeted enemy. Since Deluge is a ranged Psynergy, adjacent targets take a percentage of the total damage, with the percentage decreasing as distance from the main target increases.

As a Utility Psynergy
Douse can be used outside of battle to cause a little rainfall, which can fill up some puddles in certain areas and put out certain fires. It is also used in the Suhalla Desert to stop the whirlwinds caused by the Tornado Lizards. This Psynergy is integral to solving many puzzles in both games. In fact, you get a Utility Psynergy Item containing Douse (the Douse Drop) in response to defeating the Killer Ape Boss of Mogall Forest in Golden Sun, so you can always have access to this Psynergy regardless of your classes. In The Lost Age, casting Douse on various stones located in and around Aqua Rock causes a variety of water-related effects.

In Dark Dawn, Douse's utility function is described in game as the ability to "Summon a downpour that extinguishes fires." This is demonstrated in game via a cutscene in Harapa, where Rief uses Douse to extinguish a fire started by Tyrell. In game, Douse can be aimed in any direction within a 360 degree radius, producing a cloud that travels in a straight line for a short distance, with the maximum distance being about 6 squares away. This means that the player does not have to be standing right next to the target in order to solve a puzzle. In addition to filling puddles and putting out fires, Douse can be used to fill small bowls that allow the player to manipulate the water level of the area. In Belinsk Ruins, Douse is used in several puzzles as the embodiment of Mercury Psynergy.

In a minor easter egg, in the first two Golden Sun games, Douse will generate a cloud that drops slowly falling snowflakes instead of large water drops when cast in a wintry exterior area: The town of Imil, the location in E Tundaria Islet, the front entrance and exterior peak of Tundaria Tower, the location in Kalt Island, and the town of Prox.

Availability
The availability of the Douse series changes slightly from the GBA games to Dark Dawn. The series is available to the water-based Pilgrim class series and the Ranger Class series in all games. In Dark Dawn, the series is made available to the Water Seer class series, replacing the Frost Psynergy series, as well as the Aqua Squire class series. Hence, all Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter Adepts can use this series of Psynergy, though non-Mercury Adepts need varying amounts of Mercury Djinn in order to gain access to it. Douse is learned at Level 1 for the Pilgrim and Aqua Squire classes, and at Level 2 for the Ranger and Water Seer classes. All classes learn Drench at Level 12 and Deluge at Level 30.

Douse, by itself, can also be learned by means of the Douse Drop, while Piers knows it no matter the class, though in both cases the user won't acquire either of the other two Psynergy spells. In Dark Dawn, Rief and Amiti will retain access to Douse regardless of their classes, but will only possess the other two stages if in a class with access to them.

Analysis
General: During the early portions of the game, the Douse series is outperformed in both games by the Cool and Ice Psynergy series which come with the player's resident Mercury adept by default. However, it serves as a potent mid-game Psynergy, being a placeholder for more powerful, but later learned Psynergies. The series may serve as a placeholder for the Prism Psynergy series if the player decides to use the Pilgrim class series. As for the Ranger class series, Deluge is the most powerful Mercury-based Psynergy the class holds, though the Jupiter-based Slash Psynergy series is generally equivalent.

By Game
Golden Sun: In the original Golden Sun, when facing Saturos and Menardi at the Venus Lighthouse, Deluge will do pretty good damage to them, freeing up a Hermit or White Mage to heal or use Mercury Summons (if Ivan is set to a Ranger).

Golden Sun: The Lost Age: Given Piers's more physical capabilities, his own Cool and Diamond Dust series are likely to see more use than the Douse series he can gain in another class. Possible usage of the Douse series would likely come against the Fire Adepts Karst and Agatio, where the player may choose to change the class of Jenna in order to have more Mercury-capable Adepts.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn:The Douse series replaces the Frost series in the Water Seer's Psynergy lineup. While the series is still outclassed as a whole by the Ice series, Deluge has the advantage of being able to hit more enemies than any of the Ice series Psynergies. Also, the Douse series, in general, is learned at earlier levels than the Ice series and thus serves as a decent placeholder for the stronger attacks, especially since the Water Seer has few offensive Psynergies to start with. The Douse series holds a similar position in the Aqua Squire class series, but will see less use as the series also has access to the strong Diamond Dust and Diamond Berg Psynergies.

Trivia

 * When Deluge is learned at Level 30, the Water Seer and Aqua Squire classes also learn Break at the same time. This makes one of the few times where two Psynergies are learned at the same Level by the same Adept.