Skull enemy line

The Curse Skull, Haunt Skull, Shield Skull, Dark Skull, and Whisper Skull are species of monsters battled in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. These monsters, resembling skulls cloaked in a glowing aura, are palette swaps of each other that have differing levels of power and defense and are fought in different locations in the games. The first three variants in this monster line appear during the boss battle with Sludge in Phantasmal Bog, while the other two are one of the many monsters spawned by the Grave Eclipse.

Sludge's Skulls
The Curse Skull, Haunt Skull, and Shield Skull are monsters that support Sludge in the Phantasmal Bog and are not encountered anywhere else in Dark Dawn. Sludge begins its battle with both a Shield Skull and a Haunt Skull. Even if players destroy the skulls, Sludge can simply summon more with its Call Skull monster skill, although only three skulls can acompany Sludge at any one time.

Curse Skull
A Curse Skull is a variant cloaked in a purple aura. It can use the following battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 4 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Condemn: Used 2 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that projects an image of the Grim Reaper that approaches a targeted Adept and slashes once with its scythe, and the targeted Adept may be instantly downed. This ability consumes 8 of its user's PP.
 * Curse: Used 2 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that briefly generates a candle icon at the target Adept's position, and the target has a chance to get inflicted with a 7-turn Death Curse status ailment. This ability consumes 6 of the monster's PP.

Haunt Skull
A Haunt Skull is a variant cloaked in a red aura. It can use the following battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 4 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Witchlight: Used 4 out of 8 times, this is a Monster Skill that summons an array of glowing red wispy skull-faced spirit energy that converge on a single Adept, dealing a Mars-based attack with a power rating of 30. The attack also has a chance of inflicting Haunt on the affected targets. The Haunt Skull has a Mars Power rating of 95 to work with this attack.

Shield Skull
A Shield Skull is a variant cloaked in a blue aura. It can use the following battle commands:
 * Sludge Shield: Used 5 out of 8 times, this is a Monster Skill that summons an array of glowing blue wispy skull-faced spirit energy that form a protective aura around Sludge, reducing all damage done to it during that turn. This effect has the "strikes first" property, meaning it will be the first performed action in a given turn regardless of agility rating.
 * Attack: Used 3 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.

Dark Skull
A Dark Skull is a blue variant. It can use the following battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 6 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Condemn: Used 1 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that projects an image of the Grim Reaper that approaches a targeted Adept and slashes once with its scythe, and the targeted Adept may be instantly downed. This ability consumes 8 of its user's PP.
 * Curse: Used 1 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that briefly generates a candle icon at the target Adept's position, and the target has a chance to get inflicted with a 7-turn Death Curse status ailment. This ability consumes 6 of the monster's PP. Hardly dangerous at all to the party considering how few turns random battles usually last.

Dark Skulls are encountered in Kaocho and the surrounding overworld area.

Whisper Skull
A Whisper Skull is a black variant cloaked in a red aura. It can use the following battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 6 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Condemn: Used 1 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that projects an image of the Grim Reaper that approaches a targeted Adept and slashes once with its scythe, and the targeted Adept may be instantly downed. This ability consumes 8 of its user's PP.
 * Curse: Used 1 out of 8 times, this is a Psynergy spell that briefly generates a candle icon at the target Adept's position, and the target has a chance to get inflicted with a 7-turn Death Curse status ailment. This ability consumes 6 of the monster's PP. Hardly dangerous at all to the party considering how few turns random battles usually last.

Whisper Skulls are encountered in the Endless Wall and the surrounding overworld area, as well as the Lost Ship.