Manticore enemy line

The Manticore, Magicore, and Manticore King are enemies that are battled in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. These monsters, resembling quadrupedal lion-like beasts with wings and scorpion tails, are palette swaps of each other that have differing levels of power and defense and are fought in different locations in the games. This enemy line includes one boss, the Manticore.

Manticore
The Manticore (マンティコア Manticore) is a giant-sized level 20 variant with features in tan, brown, and red. In Golden Sun, it is a mandatory boss battle that takes place near the end of the Lamakan Desert; when Isaac's party goes through the desert, they come across a sandfall. Using the Reveal Psynergy reveals a large cave entrance with this monster right at its entrance. Interacting with the monster while the Reveal field is still up begins the boss battle. You must defeat it in order to pass into the cave, which leads out of the desert into the southwest region of Angara.

This is the first boss in the first game that acts more than once per turn. That can make it quite powerful and capable as a boss monster depending on the strength of your party. But if Mia has four Mercury Djinn set onto her so that she's a Cleric, she will have access to the Wish Psynergy series, which makes all the difference in keeping your party alive through the Manticore's repeated assaults. Since the Manticore is extremely weak to Mercury, any Crystal Powders you might have in your party should be used, since they are essentially free uses of the Hail Prism Psynergy.

The Manticore's statistics are as follows:

The Manticore is unusual because it cycles through these eight battle commands in the following order, unlike most enemies which randomly choose their abilities based on the Random Number Generator:

Magicore
A Magicore (ウィザードコア Wizardcore) is a normal-sized variant with features in various tones of green, and it is level 22 in Golden Sun and level 28 in The Lost Age. In Golden Sun, it is fought throughout the Suhalla Desert. In The Lost Age, it is fought throughout Tundaria Tower and the earlier portion of Islet Cave.

In the first game, it is generally strong, fast, and durable among the monsters it is fought alongside in Suhalla Desert. In the second, however, it is lesser in comparison to the other monsters in Tundaria Tower, despite having the highest HP in every places it is fought. In both cases, its rarely dropped item, if you manage to get it, would probably be a good defensive improvement over what hand-armor your Adepts currently have, and it can be acquired through specific abuse of the Random Number Generator. It might not be worth trying to get this item the hard way of felling each Magicore you see with a Mercury Djinni, though.

A Magicore's statistics are as follows:

A Magicore uses these battle commands:

Manticore King
A Manticore King (マンティコアキング Manticore King) is a normal-sized level 26 variant with features in dark purple and blue. In Golden Sun, it is first battled at Babi Lighthouse, and subsequently through Tunnel Ruins and the later dungeon portion of Venus Lighthouse.

The Manticore King, even at Babi Lighthouse, is already outperformed by the Wild Gryphon, and becomes all the more average as a random monster by Venus Lighthouse, when even stronger monsters like the Fenrir and Grand Golem are introduced.

A Manticore King's statistics are as follows:

A Manticore King uses these battle commands:

Cultural References
Origin: Persia, Greece

The Manticore is a mythical creature often depicted with a man's head, a lion's body, and the tail of either a dragon or a scorpion. Its name means "man-eater", referring to its habit of devouring humans found in small groups in the desert. Other aspects of the creature vary from story to story; in some cases, it can shoot poisonous spines, much like Golden Sun 's Manticore.