Granite

Granite (グラニト) is a Venus Djinni found in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age, and makes a cameo appearance in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. Numerically, it is the second of the Venus Djinn introduced in Golden Sun, while in Dark Dawn it is not part of the game's official Venus Djinn list and is used only temporarily during the game's beginning segments.

=In Golden Sun and The Lost Age= "Create a mighty earthen barrier."

Location
Granite is visible in the town of Kolima, fenced in a small enclosure next to one of the tree-houses, and you cannot reach it from the outside. To reach it, go behind the tree-house and walk down, so that you enter a secret back door into a small room. Following the ladder and the resultant underground cave trail (complete with random battles) leads you into the enclosed area with the Djinni, ready for grabbing.

As it is the second numbered Venus Djinni, if no Password data transfer is used, then when Isaac's party joins Felix's late in  The Lost Age Granite will be one of the five Venus Djinn in their  possession.

Description
When Set, it increases base HP by 9, base Defense by 2, base Agility by 2, and base Luck by 1.

When Granite's battle effect is used, all currently active and alive Adepts are buffed for until the end of the turn with a protective effect that decreases all damage done to them from enemy attacks by 50%. This effect has the "strikes first" property, meaning it will be the first performed action in a given turn regardless of the agility rating of the user and any other unit in battle. Djinn with the same type of effect include in the same game the Mars Djinni Flash, which decreases damage done by 90%, in The Lost Age the Mercury Djinni Shade, which decreases damage done by 60%, and in Dark Dawn the Venus Djinn Bark and Chasm, which decrease damage done by 50% and 90%, respectively. Bark and Chasm can be seen as replacements for Granite and Flash, which in Dark Dawn are only available in the game's prologue.

Ability analysis
In Golden Sun, Granite is extremely useful from the moment it is collected all the way up to the end of the game, because of a very reliable damage-reduction effect. It is typically used in boss encounters, and can give your party a much needed cushion against enemy damage while other Adepts of your party focus on healing dangerously low-health party members. Much later in the game, the Mars Djinni Flash provides a much stronger version of the same effect, but even then Granite is not necessarily considered "obsoleted to uselessness", as both Djinn can be used and alternated between.

In The Lost Age, when Isaac's party joins Felix's party along with their returning Djinn, Granite tends to get more ignored because of the presence of Mercury Djinni Shade, which is essentially a slightly stronger Granite to better complement Flash. If the game is being played with the Adepts in their respective mono-elemental classes, then a Venus Adept using Granite essentially limits his "proper" role as a damage dealer, while Shade is somewhat of a better fit on Mercury Adepts, which are somewhat more oriented toward healing.

=In Dark Dawn= "Create a mighty earthen barrier."

Granite is one of the Venus and Mars Djinn that are not part of the main collection of Djinn that the party can amass throughout the game, but has an entry in the Djinn Guide because it is briefly available in the early stages of the game prior to the start of the main quest. Its Djinn Guide entry reads as follows:


 * "This spirit of very hard stone is one of Isaac's frinds. In battle, Granite's tough wall-like body can defend allies."

Granite is one of the six Djinn that Isaac and Garet loan Matthew and Karis while in Tanglewood, meaning that the player may use it while exploring Tanglewood, the Abandoned Mine beyond that, and the Tangle Bloom boss fight at the end. After this, Granite and the other Djinn are permanently returned to Isaac and Garet for the rest of the game. While in your possession, Granite increases base HP by 9, base Defense by 2, base Agility by 2, and base Luck by 1 when Set, and like in the old games, when it is used, all currently active and alive Adepts are buffed for until the end of the turn with a protective effect that decreases all damage done to them from enemy attacks by 50%. This effect has the "strikes first" property, meaning it will be the first performed action in a given turn  regardless of the agility rating of the user and any other unit in battle. It visually appears as the user summoning the 3D model of Granite, who hovers around briefly as bricks of orange granite fall from the sky and line up to form a wall in front of the party briefly. The Venus Djinni Bark is identical to this Djinni in function.

=Name Origin= Granite is a type of igneous rock. Granite is almost always large, hard, and tough, so it is often used in construction. These characteristics may be why the Djinni Granite was given defensive abilities.