Vulcan Axe

The Vulcan Axe (Smog Axe in Japan) is an Axe-class Artifact weapon found in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Basic Description by Game
In all its appearances, the Vulcan Axe increases the wielder's base Attack by 76 points. It is a pure-element weapon, aligned with Mars, meaning that its standard attack takes into account the wielder's Mars Power and the target's Mars Resistance. It can be bought for 4600 coins and sold for 3450 coins.

In Golden Sun, it is found in a hidden chest early on in Lamakan Desert that can only be seen (and opened) if Reveal is used near it, and the chest is located in an area that otherwise appears to be a dead-end. The Vulcan Axe can be equipped by Isaac and Garet. If the Vulcan Axe were transferred to Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Felix and Piers would also be able to equip it. Its Mars-based Unleash effect, activating at the standard base rate of 35% of the time, is Barrage (Explosion in Japan), which adds 20 points of damage to the attack's result and attempts to stun the target. Barrage appears as the axe strike creating an intense explosion of flame with a few sparks being emitted.

In Dark Dawn, it can be found in a chest in The Ouroboros labyrinth, and can be equipped by Matthew, Tyrell, and Eoleo. It retains Barrage as its main Unleash, and gains one new, secondary unleash, Critical Strike. Critical Strike, normally a non-elemental unleash, is converted to a Mars-affiliated  unleash due to the Vulcan Axe's pure-element nature, and multiplies damage by 1.5.

Analysis
The Vulcan Axe, as is typical of many weapon artifacts, is easily the best weapon the party has when it can first be collected. It is one of a scant few weapons in either game whose normal attacks convert to an element, which means its damage is easily affected by enemy resistances. Watery monsters, or more precisely any monster with a low Mars resistance rating, will always receive enhanced damage from this axe whether it Unleashes or not, making it a great weapon to use in the boss fight with the Kraken a little later on, and its damage increases if its wielder has a higher Mars power rating. Garet is typically a strong candidate for holding the axe, but so is Isaac if two Mars-based attackers is better in a particular battle, and particularly if Isaac has Mars Djinn set onto him to make his class of the Brute class series.

The Vulcan Axe is a great weapon for Tyrell to wield, due to his naturally high Mars Power. However, Matthew can also make use of the weapon if he given set Mars Djinn to make his class the Brute class series. The Vulcan Axe is an extremely useful weapon to have on hand for the boss battle against the Ice Queen in Harapa Ruins, due to her low Mars Resistance. The weapon's pure-element nature means that the player can always exploit this weakness, even when taking the unreliability of Unleashes into account.

Cultural References
Vulcan, also known as Hephaestus in Greek, was the Roman god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes.