Dullahan

Dullahan is an optional superboss in Golden Sun: The Lost Age and is considered the most powerful enemy in the series. He is located at the end of the optional Anemos Sanctum dungeon. He must be defeated to gain access to the Iris Summon sequence. He resembles a headless suit of blue armor.

At the end of the Anemos Inner Sanctum, arrange six blocks to form a bird pattern, then cast the Hover Psynergy while standing on it to be automatically transported to the Dullahan battle. Dullahan stands in front of Iris' Summon Tablet, and he will make his challenge:


 * “I am the shadow, the keeper of light. If you want the sun’s power, show me your own.”

Battle stats
Dullahan possesses 16,000 Hit Points which regenerate 200 HP per turn, 300 PP which regenerate 100 PP per turn (effectively giving him unlimited PP), 676 Attack, 269 Defense, 241 Agility, 59 Luck, and acts three times per turn. This gives him the award for largest HP, Attack, Defense, Luck, and average stat values of all monsters. He is most resistant to Mercury attacks and his other resistances in decreasing order are to Venus, Mars, then Jupiter. When felled, he yields 15600 Experience and 6775 coins, and you can obtain the Iris summon sequence.

Arsenal
As well as being able to attack physically, Dullahan has many powerful abilities;

Summon Sequences

 * Charon - The second most powerful summon sequence in the game, normally reserved for the player. Dullahan can freely summon this in any of his turns. It should be noted that, it appears that if the player has not collected Charon, Dullahan will not summon it as frequently against the party.

Psynergy
Dullahan has a large amount of PP at his disposal and can use each of these Psynergies many times.


 * Bind - Prevents one of your party members from using Psynergy
 * Break - Removes all the bonuses and buffs from your current four Adepts.
 * Haunt - Has a chance of causing the target to become Haunted.
 * Curse - Has a chance of inflicting the target with a Death Cursed (they will be downed in eight rounds if this is not healed). This is perhaps the least dangerous technique in Dullahan's arsenal, as he will most likely down the afflicted party member before the Curse can take full effect.
 * Condemn - Has a chance of instantly downing the target.
 * Djinn Storm - Puts all of the current party's Djinn into recovery. Arguably Dullahan's most powerful ability, especially to players whose strategy revolves around Summons.

Monster Skills
Dullahan has many powerful Monster Skills which he can use to damage or weaken your party.


 * Formina Sage (supposed to be Fulminous Edge)- Large purple lightning sword which does high wind damage, often downing an ally.
 * Element Swap - Changes his elemental affinity, and therefore his resistances and weaknesses.
 * True Collide - Dark energy does moderate damage to several party members, then adds that to Dullahan's HP.

Battle strategy
Going up against Dullahan with a party of anything below Lv. 50-60 characters is generally the same as suicide. At those levels and below, Dullahan may kill your characters before they have a chance to attack. Even at that level, Dullahan will still have his way with them. Many players wait until they reach Lv. 70-80 to fight him. Regardless of the level of the fighters, Dullahan is almost unbeatable if the player relies solely on Psynergy and weapon unleashes, and only when the characters approach Lv. 85-90 do Djinn become truly effective.

The brute strength method generally involves leveling up the party to the higher levels so that the inevitable Djinn Storm doesn't automatically doom your characters. You can combine your higher stats with Critical Hit% increasing items and use continual Unleashes of Megiddo and Legend to do enough damage over time to fell Dullahan. However; this method requires extremely high levels, an ample supply of Potions, and Waters of Life, and will result in a long drawn out battle. Many players who do not level their parties to levels that high generally tend to go all out on him with summons, hoping that he will not use Djinni Storm until the big summons (like Catastrophe and Charon) are fired already, and that the said summons can finish him off. It's a risky strategy, depending on what Dullahan uses, but for most people who don't have a level high enough to simply outslug him can probably have greater chance of success this way.

A defensive strategy to combat Dullahan can involve alternating the use of the Mars Djinni Flash, which reduces damage to the party by 90% for one turn and the Mercury Djinni Shade which reduces all damage to the party that turn by 60%. Granite can also be used, though he only reduces damage by 50%. This strategy will nullify much of Dullahan's impressive firepower, but puts the party at risk from the all-too-common Djinn Storm.

For the patient player, the Djinn Rime (Mercury) and Luff (Jupiter) can seal Dullahan's psynergy for two turns, making him unable to use djinn storm. If one party member alternatively unleashes and sets one of those Djinn while another heals the party and two others wield the Sol Blade and Excalibur, Dullahan will fall. It will take time and won't be a very interesting battle, but it's the safest and easiest way to beat him.

- In another more direct and easier solution to beating Dullahan, first put the Mars and Venus people on the front line. Have all of their Djinn set to standby, and have them unleash Daedalus. After one turn of physically attacking him, or using powers, your choice, he will be hit by the missiles. Let your first line die, then bring up the second party. Have them all unleash Eclipse, (if I remember correctly), and it should kill him right away. If he isn't dead, best of luck to you.

Cultural references
The dullahan is an unseelie faerie from Irish lore, and is essentially the Irish version of the Grim Reaper (its name means "dark man"). It takes the form of a horseman who carries his head under his shoulder. This head has tiny, constantly flitting black eyes, a face-wide, hideous grin, and flesh the color and texture of moldy cheese. Often, the horse itself is headless, and the dullahan may drive a coach pulled by several such headless horses. Gates cannot stop the dullahan's journey—they just unbar automatically as it approaches. Once the dullahan stops riding, it calls out a name. The mortal who is named dies, and the dullahan drags his/her soul to the afterlife. Curiously, dullahans are terrified of gold—even a gold pin can drive them away from their task.

The fact that dullahans are so closely associated with death is probably the reason why the Necromage can call upon one to fight on his/her behalf, and why the boss can call on Charon so readily.