Boss

A Boss in the Golden Sun series is no different than a boss in any other series. They are stronger than any other enemy in their immediate area, boasting high HP, Attack, and Defense ratings as well as powerful Psynergies and monster skills, and can only be fought once per game. One notable exception would be the Tempest Lizard, which can be fought any number of times. They are often obstacles keeping you from reaching the next required area of the game, accessible only by defeating the boss (the Tempest Lizard's cousin, the Storm Lizard, being an exception as non-mandatory; it can be "outrun"). But some reside at the end of seemingly irrelevant caves guarding a treasure or powerful tool, as the "Super-Bosses" do: Deadbeard in Golden Sun, and the Star Magician, Sentinel, Valukar, and the dreaded Dullahan in Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

Boss Strategies
Perhaps the most common strategy employed to defeat bosses is the "Summon rush", wherein just before the player encounters the boss, they put all their Djinni on Standby. This allows them to cast many summons in a short period, and, as summons do damage based on a percentage of the opponent's health, their offensive value against bosses is much higher than most other attack options. The biggest drawback to this is that before and after summoning, the player's Adepts will be forced into weaker classes, limiting their offensive and defensive capabilities. Hence the "rush", the player is faced with using up as many summons as possible while their HP is still high, so that they can survive long enough for the Djinni to return to set and finish off the boss. Of course, against specific bosses this strategy is nigh on useless (such as Star Magician, Valukar and the Doom Dragon), but it serves as an effective staple from which the player can add to.

Bosses in Golden Sun
The following table lists the details of all bosses fought in Golden Sun, sorted by order of appearance (in the cases where order of appearance is optional or unclear, they are listed in ascending order of HP).