Chaos Hound

The Chaos Hound is a boss fought at the end of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. It is a twisted, burly werewolf-like creature that Blados and Chalis control like a pet, and all three fight the party in the first of the two final boss battles.

Background and Story
The Chaos Hound first appears seemingly out of nowhere at Apollo Sanctum, where it blocks the ladder leading up to the platform of the Apollo Lens. Though it moves to attack, it mysteriously halts after noticing Sveta. While the Adepts are confused, Sveta makes an attempt to help the creature fight whatever influence is controlling it. Before the Chaos Hound is completely successful, Blados and Chalis reappear and use their Dark Psynergy to enrage the creature. The trio then attack Matthew's party of Adepts.

Depending on whether he Chaos Hound or both Blados and Chalis are defeated, one of two events occur. Blados and Chalis are either absorbed into the Chaos Hound due to an overflow of Darkness, or they decide to use a power called Dark Binding and initiate fusion themselves. Regardless of the case, a multi-armed monstrosity is formed, and the creature attacks the Adepts. After the party defeats it, the Chaos Chimera separates into its componments, including the Chaos Hound. At this time, Sveta discovers that the Chaos Hound is the twisted body of her brother, Volechek, who Tuaparang captured and "improved" after Volechek turned against them at the start of the Grave Eclipse. The Tuaparang commanders reveal that as a creature of darkness, Volechek will not be able to exist in the normal light-filled world, and thus will die once the Grave Eclipse ends. They also note that they had intended to sacrifice him anyway, by using him to fire the Apollo Lens (the vast amounts of light that hit the firing platform are stated to be deadly). When Sveta makes an attempt to sacrifice herself to fire the Apollo Lens, Volechek's consciousness awakens and he regains his senses long enough to fire the Apollo Lens in her place.

As a Boss
In-battle, the Chaos Hound has access to the following battle commands:
 * Attack: Used 3 out of 8 times, this is this monster's standard physical attack.
 * Dark Blow: Used 2 out of 8 times, the monster to deliver a powerful uppercut to a single Adept, dealing a non-elemental attack equal to its normal physical attack with an additional 108 damage points.
 * Deadly Gas: Used 2 out of 8 times, the monster exhales a stream of dark smoke onto multiple Adepts, dealing a Venus-based attack with a power rating of 30 and a range of 3 (the Adepts on either side of the targeted Adept will only take 50% of the attack's force, instead of the normal 80%, however); this attack also has a chance of inflicting Venom on each target. The Chaos Hound has a Venus Power rating of 85 to work with this attack.
 * Wicked Howl: Used 1 out of 8 times, the monster screams at a single Adept, dealing a Jupiter-based attack with a power rating of 60. The targeted Adept is also Paralyzed for one turn. The Chaos Hound has a Jupiter Power rating of 100 to work with this attack.

The nature of the first battle is such that the player can not defeat all three enemies. Instead the battle will automatically end once the player defeats the Chaos Hound, or the team of Blados and Chalis. The following cutscene will play out slightly different depending on which enemies are defeated. However, the cutscene will always lead into the second half of the final battle, against the Chaos Chimera.

Strategy
Given that the final battle is essentially two battles in one, focusing damage on the Chaos Hound may help to end the battle more quickly, thereby saving your Adepts for the much more difficult battle against the Chaos Chimera. Also it is easier to take advantage of elemental weaknesses, as Blados and Chalis each possess weaknesses to different elements. Attacking the Chaos Hound with Venus-aligned summons and attacks will help to make short work of the beast. It is also useful to have an Adept on hand who can either use Cure Poison or possesses Antidotes, given Deadly Gas's ability to inflict Venom.

Once the battle has ended, the player will have an opportunity to heal and/or rearrange their party for the final part of the battle.