Vortex

Vortex is a Jupiter Djinni found in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Vortex is the fifth Jupiter Djinni in Dark Dawn.

Basic description
When Set, Vortex increases its Adept's base HP by 10, base Attack by 3, and base Luck by 2.

When Vortex is unleashed in battle, the user deals a Jupiter-based attack equal in power to the user's normal physical attack, and the result is multiplied by 1.5. There is then a chance that the target will be afflicted with the Delusion status condition.

In Dark Dawn, Vortex's unleash animation visually resembles the user summoning the 3D model of Vortex near the targeted enemy's position. Vortex hovers around as a set of intertwining, purple rings arranged as a sphere pulsates at the enemy's position, and at the same time the enemy is spun around counterclockwise five times. By the time the enemy has made its third spin, the sphere has spread out to be a thin sphere of gray wind trails that surrounds the enemy, and it has disappeared by the end of the fifth spin. The enemy then takes the hit.

Damage calculation
Elemental physical attacks such as Vortex 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 = (Attacker's Attack - Target's Defense) / 2

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


 * ''final damage = (base damage * 1.5) * (1 + (Attacker's Jupiter Power - Target's Jupiter Resistance) / 400)

To word this in prose, Vortex takes the base damage of the user's normal physical attack, multiplies it by 1.5, and then this result is modified by how much higher or lower the user's Jupiter Power is than the target's Jupiter Resistance. The difference between the user's Jupiter Power and the target's Jupiter 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 Vortex's damage is multiplied by.

For example, if an Adept with an Attack rating of 110 and a Jupiter Power of 130 unleashes Vortex on a monster with a defense of 50 and a Jupiter Resistance of 80:


 * damage = ((Attack - Defense) / 2 * 1.5) * (1 + (Power - Resistance) / 400)
 * damage = ((110 - 50) / 2 * 1.5) * (1 + (130 - 90) / 400)
 * damage = ( / 2 * 1.5) * (1 + / 400
 * damage = ( * 1.5) * (1 + )
 * damage = *
 * damage = 49

Therefore, if Vortex were to be unleashed under these circumstances it would deal 49 points of damage.

Location
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: Vortex resides inside the Ouroboros dungeon at Kaocho that you explore after returning to Kaocho with Amiti in your party. When you make it into the B2 room where Vortex is visible at the right end, cast Whirlwind on the Zol cube, then quickly climb the ladder to the left and hop your way to it, and walk north onto the elevated path. To get the Djinni, the Cobra Head facing you down this path should be moved left with the Move Psynergy, and then you should press down against the small green pyramid tile northwest of the Djinni. Cast Move several times to Move the cobra head behind the djinni three spaces left so that it falls down to ground level. Slide back down to the ground level via the west slide, then push the Zol cube right so that it stops against the cobra head. Whirlwind it here, then hop east across it to reach Vortex. Battle it to add it to your collection, then take the room's north exit.

Analysis
General: Vortex has the highest damage multiplier of all attacking Jupiter Djinn introduced in the series as of the present, at a solid x1.5. This multiplier is only useful when it is a high-attack Adept later in the game that is Unleashing it, though. If unleashed under any other, earlier circumstance, it will likely demonstrate itself to be quite lacking - it will deal less damage than a Djinni that adds a typical set damage bonus damage. Not only that, its side effect chance, Delusion, is not a very useful effect due to only lowering the accuracy of the enemy's physical attacks that aren't Psynergy or monster skills. This makes it a Djinni with a niche that can only be realized much later on.

By game
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: Vortex, found roughly a quarter into the game, is very weak at that point and will be outclassed for damage result when compared even to a basic Djinni like Fever, which adds 30 set bonus damage. This is especially true if it is Karis who is Unleashing it, since she has low attack. What is most unfortunate about all this is that Vortex is the second attacking Jupiter Djinni you find, after Gust, which deals damage based both on a multiplier and based on chance. The next attacking Jupiter Djinni, Sirocco, has a good 60 set damage bonus, but that is found a good while later at Border Town. This basically means that, between Gust and Vortex, your attacking Jupiter Djinn for roughly the first half of the game do not do much consistent damage, certainly not anywhere near as much as the attacking Djinn of the other elements. This point is certainly driven home by the fact that the previous Djinni you could have gotten before entering Ouroboros is Lava, with a very strong and useful 60 set damage bonus and a relevant side effect as well. You would have to rely on the Impact Psynergy and unleashing Forge so that the Adept that Vortex is set on will do a respectable amount of damage.

Vortex's somewhat limited potential as an attacking Jupiter Djinni is realized at around the game's end, when the party's attack ratings are high, you have a Jupiter Adept with high attacking potential in the form of Sveta, and there exist means to drive up attack ratings much higher. With Psynergy like Weapon Grace, Vortex can be made to be the one Jupiter Djinni that consistently deals more damage than the others. In terms of being an attacking effect based on a multiplier, Vortex receives its competition from the aforementioned Gust and the Jupiter Djinni Bolt, one of Sveta's own Djinn. Bolt has a lower damage multiplier, at x1.4, but with the tradeoff that it has a good side effect, which is inflicting Stun. Bolt and Vortex may be roughly equal depending on your perspective.