Swift Sword

The Swift Sword is a Light Blade found in throughout the Golden Sun series.

Basic description by game
In all games, the Swift Sword increases Attack by 104 points, and also increases Wind Power by 10 points. It can be bought from Vendors for 9400 coins and sold for 7050 coins.

In Golden Sun, it is first available at the Weapons Shop in Lalivero, and can be equipped by Isaac, Garet, and Ivan. In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, it is first found at the weapons shop in Contigo, and can be equipped by Felix, Jenna, and Piers. The Swift Sword's sole Unleash effect in both games is Sonic Smash, with the standard base activation rate of 35%, which is a physical attack whose resulting damage is either increased or decreased based on how the user's Jupiter power measures against the target's Jupiter resistance. Although normally Sonic Smash doesn’t increase attack power, it occasionally does three times the normal amount of damage. Visually, Sonic Smash resembles the attacker rushing up and hitting the target, with small shockwaves released on impact. Normally the attacker only hits the target once, but when Sonic Smash does triple damage the target is hit three times.

In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the Swift Sword is first available at the weapons shop in Tonfon. As a Light Blade, it can be equipped by Matthew, Tyrell, Karis, Amiti, Eoleo, and Himi. In addition to its signature Unleash of Sonic Smash, the Swift Sword has gained two new Unleashes: Critical Strike and Spin Strike. Critical Strike is a non-elemental physical attack that multiplies damage by 1.5, while Spin Strike is a physical attack that converts all damage to Jupiter damage, and hits up to 3 targets.

Analysis
In Golden Sun, the Swift Sword can overpower even the Gaia Blade when Sonic Smash does triple damage. The Swift Sword is best placed into Ivan's hands, since it boosts his already high Jupiter power and Sonic Smash does Jupiter damage. In The Lost Age, the Swift Sword is unavailable until late in the game, and so players will probably have already acquired stronger and more reliable weapons. Despite the Swift Sword having an unleash effect that can potentially inflict triple damage, the Excalibur is regarded as being superior, because its unleash "Legend" (which is also of the Jupiter element), not only has the chance to triple damage inflicted, but also increases damage done by 73, not to mention the extra 76 Attack added. However, since the Swift Sword is a Light Blade, it is equippable by Jenna and especially Ivan (for his Wind element), whereas the Excalibur is not.

In Dark Dawn, the Swift Sword will see little use. While its ability to increase Jupiter Power is useful, it will be outclassed by most of the weaponry available to the player at that time. The only use the Swift Sword is likely to see is as a placeholder weapon in case the player has not yet acquired all the weaponry available.

Gallery of Dark Dawn unleashes