Punji Psynergy series

Punji Strike being cast in Dark Dawn

Punji (たけざしのじゅつ, Bamboo stick technique^?), Punji Trap (たけやりのじゅつ, Bamboo spear technique^?), and Punji Strike (たけふうじのじゅつ, Bamboo trap technique^?) are a series of Venus Psynergies featured throughout the Golden Sun series. The series seems to be similar in nature to the Thorn Psynergy series.

Basic Description

Punji, Punji Trap, and Punji Strike are offensive, ranged Psynergies. The overall power of each stage is determined by comparing the user's Venus Power and the target's Venus Resistance, and multiplying the resultant ratio by the base power of the Psynergy being used.

Punji

Venus

7 PP

"Attack with a bamboo weapon."(GS-TLA) "Strike with a bamboo weapon." (DD-present) (たけの力でダメージをあたえる, Inflict damage with bamboo's power?)　(GS-TLA) (竹の力でダメージを与える, Inflict damage with bamboo's power?) (DD-present)

Strikes up to 3 enemies with a base power of 45.

Punji Trap

Venus

13 PP

"Attack with a bamboo weapon."(GS-TLA) "Strike with bamboo stakes." (DD-present) (たけの力でダメージをあたえる, Inflict damage with bamboo's power?)　(GS-TLA) (竹の力でダメージを与える, Inflict damage with bamboo's power?) (DD-present)

Strikes up to 3 enemies with a base power of 85.

Punji Strike

Venus

24 PP

"Attack with a bamboo weapon."(GS-TLA) "Strike with bamboo spikes." (DD-present) (たけの力でダメージをあたえる, Inflict damage with bamboo's power?)　(GS-TLA) (竹の力でダメージを与える, Inflict damage with bamboo's power?) (DD-present)

Strikes up to five enemies with a base power of 150.

Visually, the Punji series features a group of bamboo shoots quickly sprouting up beneath the targets. The number and size of the bamboo shoots increases with each successive stage. Its unique visuals in Golden Sun and The Lost Age are in contrast to the other ranged series of the Ninja class, which shared visuals with other Psynergy series. In Dark Dawn, the series was preceded by a unique casting animation, which featured golden symbols emerging from a similarly colored scroll that formed around the caster.

Damage calculation example

Elemental Power attacks such as Punji, Punji Trap, and Punji Strike use a set base power as the base damage to be modified. For example, the base power of Punji Strike is 150. Thus, an unmodified Punji Strike would deal around 150 points of damage. Punji Strike's attack takes this base damage value and uses it in the following equation: final damage = (base damage) * (1 + (User's Venus Power - Enemy's Venus Resistance) / 200) To word this in prose, Punji, Punji Trap, and Punji Strike take the base damage of the particular attack, and then modifies this by how much higher or lower the user's Venus Power is than the target's Venus Resistance. The difference between the user's Venus Power and the target's Venus Resistance is then divided by 200, then 1 is added to this, resulting in what can be called the "elemental damage multiplier". This number is what the Psynergies' damage is multiplied by. For example, if an Adept with a Venus Power of 150 casts Punji Strike on a monster with a Venus Resistance of 50: damage = (base damage) * (1 + (Power - Resistance) / 200) damage = (150) * (1 + (150 - 50) / 200) damage = (150) * (1 + 100 / 200) damage = (150) * (1 + 0.5) damage = (150) * 1.50 damage = 225 Therefore, a Punji Strike cast under these circumstances would deal approximately 225 points of damage to the main target. Since Punji Strike is a ranged Psynergy, adjacent targets would take a percentage of the total damage, with the percentage decreasing as the distance from the main target increases.

Availability

Punji Strike being cast in the GBA games.

The Punji series is unique to the Ninja class series, available to Venus and Mars Adepts. Access to the class requires Jupiter Djinn and Djinn of the element symbiotic to the Adept's own element. Punji is learned at Level 4, while Punji Trap is learned at Level 15, and Punji Strike is learned at Level 36.

Analysis

General: The Punji series is the only Power-based Venus series available to the Ninja class and also is the second strongest Power-based series available to the Ninja class, after the Thunderclap Psynergy series. The series is available fairly early on, with Punji Strike available at Level 36, and is fairly cheap in terms of Psynergy cost. As a Venus-based offense, it can be outperformed by the Attack-based Annihilation, but is still useful for hitting multiple targets.

Cultural references

The names of the series appear to come from the Punji Stick, a style of trap that used upright spikes of wood or bamboo. The spikes would be hidden in areas commonly passed through by enemies, and were designed to wound rather than kill.