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.

In Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age

Manticore

For the Psynergy, see Manticore (Psynergy).

The Manticore (マンティコア) 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 is especially likely to be affected by PP-draining effects. Its statistics are as follows:

Name	HP	PP	Attack	Defense	Agility	Luck
Manticore	1700	83	168	48	61	36
Elemental Resistances and Levels			Exp	Coins	Item Dropped	Drop Rate
175 (Lv 4)   100 (Lv 2)   100 (Lv 2)   25 (Lv 0)			590	3400	Psy Crystal	1/1

The Manticore uses its battle commands with high intelligence and acts twice in a row. It is unusual among enemies in the GBA series because it cycles through these eight battle commands in the following order, starting from a random position in the list, unlike most enemies which randomly choose their abilities based on the Random Number Generator:

Command	Chance to use	Elem. Stats used with *	Description
Mad Blast	1st move	115 Power	Psynergy costing 9 PP that generates a fiery, almost lava-like explosion at the position of the party of Adepts. Deals a Mars-aligned attack with 50 base damage that is spread out across 3 enemies with high damage distribution.
Poison Tail	2nd move	95 Power Level 2	Enemy ability where the user shoots a green projectile at a targeted Adept. Deals a Venus-aligned standard physical attack with 30 damage points added to the end result, and the hit target has a chance to be afflicted with Deadly Poison.
Attack	3rd move	--	Standard physical attack.
Curse	4th move	Level 2	Psynergy costing 6 PP that briefly generates a candle icon at the target Adept's position. The target has a chance to get inflicted with a 7-turn Death Curse status ailment.
Nova	5th move	115 Power	Psynergy costing 13 PP that generates a large explosion of fiery energy at the entire party. Deals a Mars-aligned attack with 70 base damage that is spread out across 5 enemies with high damage distribution.
Delude	6th move	Level 2	Psynergy costing 4 PP that that wraps multiple Adepts in a bright blue mist. Up to 3 party members have a chance to be afflicted with Delusion.
Poison Tail	7th move	95 Power Level 2	Enemy ability where the user shoots a green projectile at a targeted Adept. Deals a Venus-aligned standard physical attack with 30 damage points added to the end result, and the hit target has a chance to be afflicted with Deadly Poison.
Impair	8th move	Level 4	Psynergy costing 4 PP that attempts to temporarily lower the current Attack rating of a targeted Adept by 25%.

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 is especially likely to be affected by PP-draining effects. Its statistics are as follows:

Name	HP	PP	Attack	Defense	Agility	Luck
Magicore	321	34	253	74	109	11
Elemental Resistances and Levels			Exp	Coins	Item Dropped	Drop Rate
175 (Lv 4)   100 (Lv 2)   100 (Lv 2)   25 (Lv 0)			169	208	Aura Gloves	1/128

A Magicore uses the following battle commands with high intelligence:

Command	Chance to use	Elem. Stats used with *	Description
Nova	2/8 (25%)	115 Power	Psynergy costing 13 PP that generates a large explosion of fiery energy at the entire party. Deals a Mars-aligned attack with 70 base damage that is spread out across 5 enemies with high damage distribution.
Poison Tail	2/8 (25%)	95 Power Level 2	Enemy ability where the user shoots a green projectile at a targeted Adept. Deals a Venus-aligned standard physical attack with 30 damage points added to the end result, and the hit target has a chance to be afflicted with Deadly Poison.
Bind	2/8 (25%)	Level 2	Psynergy costing 4 PP that displays a holographic symbol onto a targeted Adept. The target may have its Psynergy capabilities temporarily prevented with the Seal status condition.
Sleep	1/8 (12.5%)	Level 2	Psynergy costing 5 PP that drops a flock of sheep around the party, and up to three Adepts each have a chance to be afflicted with the Sleep status condition.
Attack	1/8 (12.5%)	--	Standard physical attack.

Manticore King

A Manticore King (マンティコアキング) 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 is especially likely to be affected by PP-draining effects. Its statistics are as follows:

Name	HP	PP	Attack	Defense	Agility	Luck
Manticore King	348	33	317	106	134	12
Elemental Resistances and Levels			Exp	Coins	Item Dropped	Drop Rate
175 (Lv 4)   100 (Lv 2)   100 (Lv 2)   25 (Lv 0)			342	240	Psy Crystal	1/64

A Manticore King uses the following battle commands with high intelligence:

Command	Chance to use	Elem. Stats used with *	Description
Attack	2/8 (25%)	--	Standard physical attack.
Poison Tail	2/8 (25%)	95 Power Level 2	Enemy ability where the user shoots a green projectile at a targeted Adept. Deals a Venus-aligned standard physical attack with 30 damage points added to the end result, and the hit target has a chance to be afflicted with Deadly Poison.
Bind	2/8 (25%)	Level 2	Psynergy costing 4 PP that displays a holographic symbol onto a targeted Adept. The target may have its Psynergy capabilities temporarily prevented with the Seal status condition.
Lucid Prophecy	1/8 (12.5%)	Level 2	Enemy ability that briefly generates a candle icon at the target Adept's position. The target has a chance to get inflicted with a 7-turn Death Curse status ailment.
Eruption	1/8 (12.5%)	115 Power	Psynergy costing 14 PP that causes two columns of lava-like fire to spontaneously combust out of the ground at the position of the party of Adepts. Deals a Mars-aligned attack with 90 base damage that is spread out across 3 enemies with high damage distribution.

Category:Enemies exclusive to Golden Sun

In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

While the Manticore enemy line is not featured in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the game's internal monster index includes an entry for the basic Manticore; while this only features weak placeholder stats and abilities, it includes a fully modeled and animated asset that can only be seen through an in-depth hacking procedure. As is evident from the picture, the Manticore model was made with comedic intent.

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.