Emu Psynergy set


 * Minotaur redirects here. For the monster, see Minotaurus.

The Emu Psynergy set is a set of Jupiter and Venus Psynergies introduced in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. In basic function, it is somewhat similar to the Call Psynergy series, as both series of Psynergies call in enemies to do the fighting for the caster.

Basic Description
Emu, Harpy, Gryphon, and Minotaur are offensive, single-target Psynergies that are Attack-dependent, meaning characters with higher Attack ratings will deal more damage with these attacks. In addition, the caster's Venus Power and the target's Defense and Venus Resistance all factor into the damage dealt.

Visually, each Psynergy features the caster summoning a monster to attack the targets. The specific monster being summoned changes with each variation, with the summoned monster matching the name of the Psynergy being used.

Damage Calculations
Elemental physical attacks such as Emu, Harpy, Gryphon, and Minotaur use the damage dealt by the attacker's standard physical attack as the base damage to be later modified. The total amount of damage dealt by a normal physical attack is half the difference between the attacker's Attack statistic and the target's Defense statistic, as this equation shows:


 * base damage = (User's Attack - Enemy's Defense) / 2

Minotaur's attack takes this base damage value and uses it in the following equation:


 * final damage = (base damage + bonus damage) * (1 + (User's Venus Power - Enemy's Venus Resistance) / 400)

To word this in prose, Minotaur takes the base damage of the user's normal physical attack, add a set amount of bonus damage to that, and then this result is modified by how much higher or lower the user's Venus Power is than the target's Venus Resistance. The difference between the user's Venus Power and the target's Venus Resistance is divided by 400, 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. Emu, Gryphon, and Harpy are calculated similarly, but take the user's Jupiter Power and the target's Jupiter Resistance in place of Venus.

For example, if an Adept with an Attack rating of 300 and a Venus Power of 150 casts Minotaur on a monster with a defense of 100 and a Venus Resistance of 50:
 * damage = ((Attack - Defense) / 2 + bonus damage) * (1 + (Power - Resistance) / 400)
 * damage = ((300 - 100) / 2 + 90) * (1 + (150 - 50) / 400)
 * damage = ( / 2 + 90) * (1 + / 400)
 * damage = ( + 90) * (1 + )
 * damage = *
 * damage = 237

Therefore, a Minotaur cast under these circumstances would deal 237 points of damage.

Availability
Emu, Harpy, Gryphon, and Minotaur are unique to the Tamer class series, an Item-dependent class available to any Adept that has equipped the Trainer's Whip. Currently, the Trainer's Whip is only found in The Lost Age, and thus the Emu set is limited to playable Adepts found in that game.

Emu, Harpy, Gryphon, and Minotaur are all learned at level 20. However, only Emu is available at first: Many Psynergies are only available to the more advanced versions of a class, and Harpy, Gryphon, and Minotaur are no exception. What separates Emu, Harpy, Gryphon, and Minotaur from most Psynergies is that each successive Psynergy replaces the former. To access the other three Psynergies, the appropriate Adept must progress along the Tamer Class. Each stage requires an increasing number of Djinn of the three elements other than the Adept's own, equally split between the three elements. Harpy will be learned by the Trainer, Gryphon by the Beastkeeper, and Minotaur by the Beast Lord.

Analysis
General: When learned, Emu is fairly efficient, being stronger than Ragnarok, with a lower Psynergy cost. Since the series retains the same PP cost with each stronger variation, the series can become very efficient, excellent considering the Tamer's low PP pool. When first learned, the Emu series will likely be used alongside the Whiplash Psynergy. In some early cases, the Emu series will outpower Whiplash due to the damage multiplication being less useful at lower Attack-amounts. In most cases, however, the series will be outpowered by Whiplash by the end of the game. The exception to this is Gryphon; its chance of doubling damage makes it one of the most powerful Psynergies for its level and possibly in the game, and an excellent choice for the Jupiter-weak final boss and Dullahan. The series can be a good alternative to the Roc set, which, despite having much higher added damage, can be prohibitively expensive in longer battles.