Hestia Blade

The Hestia Blade (ヘスティアブレード, Hesutia burēdo^?) is a Long Sword-class Artifact weapon winnable in Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

In Golden Sun: The Lost Age

Hestia Blade
Visual effect of Crucible Fire
In-Game Description
"Long Sword: Unleashes Crucible Fire" (TLA)
Trade Info
Weapon class	Long Sword
Buy value	12900
Sell value	9675
Artifact?	Yes
Statistic Boosts
Attack Boost	145
Unleash effect
Effect name	Crucible Fire
Extra damage	48
Side effect	Lowers the target's Agility by 50%
Acquisition
• Random Lucky Medal prize at Lemuria (TLA)

Lemuria's Lucky Medal Fountain features a prize pool that includes the Hestia Blade and many other pieces of quality gear that are new for the end of the Eastern Sea arc of The Lost Age. By tossing in one of the game's limited supply of Lucky Medals, you may be given a Hestia Blade free of charge; this is rather easy because it is one of only three items that the game randomly picks between when a medal lands within the center, purple circle, with the others being Aegis Shield and Erebus Armor. The rest of the other items only start becoming possible to be awarded as you land medals in the colored rings surrounding the circle. Furthermore, a certain level of "bad luck protection" makes it increasingly likely that you will get an item you haven't gotten yet as you collect duplicates of the other items in the applicable "sub-pool". It should only take several Lucky Medals landing in the center circle to win a Hestia Blade, and you are likely to get more copies if you continue to land medals in the circle.

The 145 base Attack of the Hestia Blade is higher than even the two heavy weapons your two warrior-style Adepts, Felix and Piers, would be holding at this point in the best-case scenario: the Cloud Brand and the Lightning Sword. Furthermore, its Unleash effect, Crucible Fire (ホットスフィア, Hotto sufia^?, lit. Hot Sphere), is unusually reliable for an Unleash because, in addition to adding 48 points of flat damage and aligning the overall attack with the Mars element, it is guaranteed to halve the target's Agility for several turns. Crucible Fire takes the appearance of three large rings of fire emitting spectacularly when the user physically strikes the target.

Even though neither Felix nor Piers are Mars Adepts who can supply a good amount of natural Mars power to increase the damage of the Unleash, this is still a good weapon for both to be wielding as you begin progressing through the Western Sea. (That said, giving Felix Mars Djinn to have him be high up in the Brute class series will give him both a strong Attack boost and at least 30 extra Mars Power from his set Djinn.) A less common prize from the minigame, the Mighty Axe, is quite similar to the Hestia Blade in that it is also capable of a Mars Unleash and can only be equipped by warrior Adepts; in comparison, it has 3 less Attack, and its Unleash deals 7 less damage and instead has a 75% chance to debuff the target's Resistances by 40 each. This is still a worthwhile weapon to have up through Jupiter Lighthouse if you get that instead of a second Hestia Blade.

Following the Reunion, Isaac and Garet join your ranks as two additional warrior-style Adepts. As you acquire even stronger weapons leading up to the endgame, any Hestia Blades and Mighty Axes you still have can be easily passed down to them until they, too, can be outfitted with some of the game's strongest weapons. (The Fire Brand is one Mars-aligned long sword that does not require RNG to get.) Garet's naturally high Mars Power will help improve the damage output of each Mars Unleash, though his default Guard class series will blunt the overall damage of the weapon and its Unleash with its low Attack modifier. As with virtually any weapon he could be wielding, Garet will perform much better in combat if given the Venus Djinn necessary to put him into the Brute class series.

The Hestia Blade's Agility-dropping effect is only shared with the Unleash of the early-game Themis' Axe, the Moloch Summon, and the Venus Djinn Mud and Vine. This makes the Hestia Blade the only method of delivering an Agility-halving effect that is attached to a strong single-target Attack, which gives it potential strategic applications in various boss fights even if stronger weapons are on hand to deal with them. It can be used to halve the agility ratings of Moapa (186) atop Trial Road, Karst (235) and Agatio (178) atop Jupiter Lighthouse, the two Flame Dragons (158 and 215) in the lower reaches of Mars Lighthouse, the Doom Dragon (200) atop Mars Lighthouse, Star Magician (268) in Treasure Isle, Valukar (206) in Yampi Desert Cave, Sentinel (171) in Islet Cave, and even Dullahan (241) in Anemos Inner Sanctum. It can also be used against each member of the Phoenix enemy line (243, 259, and 285) to help allow the rest of the party to land their hits for a huge Experience payout before it potentially flees the battle.

Etymology

In Ancient Greek religion, Hestia is a virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and the "right ordering" of domesticity, the family, and the state.