Gargoyle enemy line
The Gargoyle, Clay Gargoyle, and Ice Gargoyle are enemies that are battled in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. These monsters, resembling demons in the classic image of gargoyles but in flesh-and-blood and holding small scimitars and ellipsoid shields with "three-eyed face" designs on them, are palette swaps of each other that have differing levels of power and defense and are fought in different locations in the games.
In Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Gargoyle
A Gargoyle (ガーゴイル) is a light-blue-skinned level 16 variant with reddish eyes and a shield. In Golden Sun, it is battled only throughout the optional Vault Cave location.
Making the Gargoyle notable among the other monsters in Vault Cave is the rather startling difference between its Defense rating and that of the other monsters it is fought alongside. It has almost literally twice as much Defense as the Ravager's 47 Defense. Though the Gargoyle doesn't have quite the highest HP rating, it will take more physical hits to fell, but of course this could be considered incentive to only use offensive Psynergy against it to bypass the Defense.
A Gargoyle is especially likely to be affected by Defense-lowering effects. Its statistics are as follows:
| Name | HP | PP | Attack | Defense | Agility | Luck |
| Gargoyle | 176 | 21 | 181 | 81 | 59 | 7 |
| Elemental Resistances and Levels | Exp | Coins | Item Dropped | Drop Rate | ||
 127 (Lv 1)  100 (Lv 1)  100 (Lv 1)  48 (Lv 2)
|
84 | 119 |  Sleep Bomb
|
1/32 | ||
A Gargoyle uses these battle commands with moderate intelligence:
| Command | Chance to use |
Elem. Stats used with * |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | 4/8 (50%) |
-- | Standard physical attack. |
| Guard | 2/8 (25%) |
-- | Psynergy costing 3 PP that buffs up either the user or another combatant on its side of the field, increasing its current Defense by 25%. |
| Quake Sphere | 1/8 (12.5%) |
100 Power
|
Psynergy costing 15 PP that launches the entire party of Adepts into the air three times each. Deals a Venus-aligned attack with 65 base damage that is spread out across 7 enemies with high damage distribution. |
| Ice Blessing | 1/8 (12.5%) |
100 Power
|
Enemy ability where the user generates a mass of air filled with pieces of ice at the party of Adepts. Deals a Mercury-aligned attack with 50 base damage that is spread out across 3 enemies with low damage distribution. |
Clay Gargoyle
A Clay Gargoyle (クレイガーゴイル) is a beige-skinned variant with purplish eyes and a shield. It is level 18 in Golden Sun and level 25 in The Lost Age. In Golden Sun, it is fought throughout Altmiller Cave. In The Lost Age, it is fought throughout Gaia Rock, and subsequently in Izumo Ruins.
In Altmiller Cave, the Clay Gargoyle continues its highly defensive tradition, beating out the then recently introduced Armored Rat in Defense and having much more HP than that rat. Compared even to its earlier predecessor, however, it is less of a damage-dealing threat, with a relatively strong Quake Sphere replaced with a weak single-target Spire attack. At Gaia Rock, particularly in the interior, the Clay Gargoyle ranks about average among the other monsters, but since equipment in that game is generally much more powerful than in the previous games, it is not considered as much as the Wood Walker.
A Clay Gargoyle is especially likely to be affected by Defense-lowering effects. Its statistics are as follows:
| Name | HP | PP | Attack | Defense | Agility | Luck |
| Clay Gargoyle | 209 | 24 | 210 | 90 | 84 | 7 |
| Elemental Resistances and Levels | Exp | Coins | Item Dropped | Drop Rate | ||
| 127 (Lv 1) 100 (Lv 1) 100 (Lv 1) 48 (Lv 2)
|
100 | 147 |  Nut
|
1/32 | ||
A Clay Gargoyle uses these battle commands with moderate intelligence:
| Command | Chance to use |
Elem. Stats used with * |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | 2/8 (25%) |
-- | Standard physical attack. |
| Guard | 2/8 (25%) |
-- | Psynergy costing 3 PP that buffs up either the user or another combatant on its side of the field, increasing its current Defense by 25%. |
| Spire | 2/8 (25%) |
100 Power
|
Psynergy costing 5 PP that causes a large stalactite to fall down from above onto a targeted Adept and shatter. Deals a Venus-aligned attack with 40 base damage. |
| Sonic Wave | 2/8 (25%) |
95 Power
|
Enemy ability where the user launches rings of orange energy through a targeted Adept. Deals a Jupiter-aligned attack with 45 base damage. |
Ice Gargoyle
An Ice Gargoyle (アイスガーゴイル) is a light-purple-skinned level 26 variant with greenish eyes and a shield. In Golden Sun, it is fought at Babi Lighthouse, and subsequently throughout Tunnel Ruins and the true "dungeon" portion of Venus Lighthouse.
The Ice Gargoyle technically has the highest Defense rating of all random monsters in the original Golden Sun. However, the second highest Defense Rating is held by the Grand Golem at an effectively identical 149 points, and that monster has much more HP and is much more powerful, and is fought alongside the Ice Gargoyle as well in Venus Lighthouse. So, it is only really worth paying special attention to the Ice Gargoyle when it is first fought in Babi Lighthouse, where, compared among the earlier lesser monsters there, it proves that it takes comparatively low damage from normal weapon attacks. Like the old Gargoyle, it should be felled with offensive Psynergy spells, while normal physical attacks are used on the other monsters alongside it.
The Ice Gargoyle is especially likely to be affected by Defense-lowering effects. Its statistics are as follows:
| Name | HP | PP | Attack | Defense | Agility | Luck |
| Ice Gargoyle | 304 | 21 | 319 | 150 | 100 | 7 |
| Elemental Resistances and Levels | Exp | Coins | Item Dropped | Drop Rate | ||
| 127 (Lv 1) 100 (Lv 1) 100 (Lv 1) 48 (Lv 2)
|
307 | 170 |  Potion
|
1/64 | ||
An Ice Gargoyle uses these battle commands with moderate intelligence:
| Command | Chance to use |
Elem. Stats used with * |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | 4/8 (50%) |
-- | Standard physical attack. |
| Guard | 2/8 (25%) |
-- | Psynergy costing 3 PP that buffs up either the user or another combatant on its side of the field, increasing its current Defense by 25%. |
| Mother Gaia | 1/8 (12.5%) |
100 Power
|
Psynergy costing 17 PP strikes multiple Adepts with an eruption of earth-based energy and rocks from the ground. Deals a Venus-aligned attack with 100 base damage that is spread out across 5 enemies with high damage distribution. |
| Ice Blessing | 1/8 (12.5%) |
100 Power
|
Enemy ability where the user generates a mass of air filled with pieces of ice at the party of Adepts. Deals a Mercury-aligned attack with 90 base damage that is spread out across 3 enemies with low damage distribution. |
