Soul Brand

The Soul Brand (たましいのつるぎ, Tamashī no tsurugi^?, lit. Soul Sword) is a Long Sword-class weapon Artifact found in Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

In Golden Sun: The Lost Age

Soul Brand
Visual effect of Soul Shatter
In-Game Description
"Long Sword: Unleashes Soul Shatter" (TLA)
Trade Info
Weapon class	Long Sword
Buy value	11600
Sell value	8700
Artifact?	Yes
Statistic Boosts
Attack Boost	141
Unleash effect
Effect name	Soul Shatter
Extra damage	50
Side effect	May restore user's PP by 10% of damage
Acquisition
• Reforge Rusty Sword found in the center-west shallow spot in the Western Sea (TLA)

The Soul Brand can only be found after the Reunion adds Isaac's party from the first game to Felix's ranks following Jupiter Lighthouse. It is one of several rusty weapons found by inspecting shallow spots throughout both oceans; uniquely in its case, the shallow spot hiding it, west-southwest of Atteka Inlet's point on the world map, is surrounded by a small ring of rocks. The Lemurian Ship needs to be flown over and into the ring using the Hover Psynergy after the Wings of Anemos are attached to it shortly after the Reunion. After dredging up the rusty sword, you can bring it to the Blacksmith all the way back in Yallam so that you can then buy the reforged Soul Brand for 11600 coins.

The Soul Brand, despite being the strongest and last-acquired rusty weapon in The Lost Age, will not be the strongest weapon available to you even if you make an immediate beeline for its hiding place after setting off on your now-flight-capable ship for the first time. The 151-Attack Phaeton's Blade will have been found in Jupiter Lighthouse, and endgame-tier materials capable of being forged into the game's strongest weapons will be found much more readily up through the end of the game. Some of these weapons will feature Unleashes that potentially multiply the resulting damage, such as the Masamune that can easily be found in Yallam in a password-enhanced game, which will leave the Soul Brand in the dust because Soul Shatter adds a moderate amount of flat damage.

Soul Shatter (ソウルクラッシュ, Souru kurasshu^?, lit. Soul Crush) adds 50 damage points and aligns the attack with the Mars element, and it features a 60% chance to steal PP from the target equal to 10% of the damage dealt. Its visual effect takes the form of a glowing, reddish-orange image of a sword erupting from the ground at the target's position with an accompanying explosion, and a procession of similarly glowing orbs emitting from the tip of the sword are absorbed into the caster to signify the effort to siphon PP (whether the chance passes or not).

Since you now have twice as many warrior-style Adepts to distribute stronger weapons to, the Soul Brand makes for a good stopgap weapon for Garet, whose Mars power can increase the damage dealt by Soul Shatter. On the other hand, the Hestia Blades you can win from Lemuria's Lucky Medal Fountain feature slightly more Attack and an Unleash that is guaranteed to halve the target's Agility, making the Soul Brand fairly redundant in raw damage output despite having the rare PP-draining secondary function. As you gain superior weapons, the Hestia Blade can easily be passed onto Garet as a hand-me-down, saving you the 2900 coins spent reforging the Soul Brand and then selling that off once you can find a stronger weapon for Garet.

The PP-draining aspect of the Soul Brand's Unleash is only seen on three other weapons: the Psynergy Rod from much earlier in the game, the Nirvana staff that was found in a chest in Jupiter Lighthouse, and the endgame-tier Nebula Wand that can be crafted from an Orihalcon. Since all three of the other weapons are staves for caster-style Adepts, the Soul Brand represents the only way to give a potential PP-draining physical strike to one of the Warrior-style Adepts. This may be an appealing prospect for warriors who primarily rely on elemental physical attack Psynergy like Odyssey and Liquefier and go through their smaller PP reserves more quickly than Adepts in caster classes. However, in virtually all cases, a given Adept's PP-restoring needs can be sufficiently met by equipping a Crown of Glory (another Lucky Medal prize from Lemuria), which restores 8 PP at the end of each turn.