Salamander Rod

A Salamander Rod is a Staff-class Artifact weapon found in Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

Basic Description
The Salamander Rod increases the wielder's base Attack rating by 156 points. It can be bought for 14300 coins and sold for 10725 coins.

The Salamander Rod is obtained by bringing a Salamander Tail forgeable item to Sunshine the blacksmith in Yallam, where he will randomly forge it into either that or several other items. After forging the Rod, the player must then buy it from him. Being a Staff, it can be equipped by Ivan, Mia, Jenna, and Sheba.

Its Unleash effect is Fire Dance, which is effectively a standard physical attack that adds 51 damage points and then modifies the resulting damage based on the user's Mars power and the target's Mars resistance. It may also lower the target's Attack rating by 25%. Fire Dance resembles the user projecting a billowing plume of fire at the target; it is the same graphic as the Fire Dance monster skill held by the Phoenix monster line.

Analysis
When considered as a weapon for the mage-style Mars Adept Jenna to hold, Salamander Rod is a very similar weapon to the Burning Sword both in power level, Unleash effect, and the fact they're both forged out of Salamander Tails. The only differences are that the Salamander Rod is very slightly less sharp, its normal hits are not considered Mars-aligned attacks themselves, and it may lower the target's Attack rather than its Defense. Whether you would want to lower the enemy's physical damage against you or raise your party's physical damage against it is a matter of personal preference. Also, like the Burning Sword, it is strong as a late-game weapon, but should only be considered a placeholder for a far more powerful weapon like Tisiphone Edge.