JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is famed for its creative and dynamic combat system, which underwent a significant overhaul partway through the series. During the Phantom Blood story arc and Battle Tendency, it was all about Hamon/ripple, but when Stardust Crusaders began, supernatural Stands took over.
Giorno Giovanna -- the fifth Joestar hero -- picks up where Josuke Higashikata left off in Diamond is Unbreakable. His close-range Stand is Gold Experience, and while it has melee capabilities, it's different from the superpowered puncher Star Platinum. With the Life-Giver ability, Gold Experience sets itself apart and frequently flourishes this unique power.
The Many Powers Of Giorno's Gold Experience
Gold Experience usually fights at close range, just like Star Platinum and Crazy Diamond, and more than once delivered a devastating beatdown with a barrage of fists. That alone is impressive, but like Crazy Diamond, Gold Experience can do more with its punches than pulverize things. Gold Experience can harness the power of life itself and either manipulate the energy of living things or create life out of non-living materials in all sorts of creative ways.
Once Gold Experience strikes an item, it will transform into an animal of a roughly similar size that can move around independently. However, these animals still have ties to their original object, and their behavior reflects that. Since the transformed object will try to reunite with its original owner, Giorno can use it to track them down -- able to scout areas with certain animals too. Gold Experience may revert the animal into its original form at any time.
In addition, Gold Experience can accelerate the mental process of any person whom it strikes and cause a severe disconnect between the body and mind. If the person's mind is too fast, then the body cannot respond to its commands. And if that weren't enough, Gold Experience can heal bodily injuries when it turns items into a piece of flesh and inserts that flesh into the wound seamlessly. Even bones and eyes can be restored this way.
Gold Experience In Action In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Gold Experience can use the power of life to overcome any obstacle in the right hands, and all of these abilities are demonstrated during Golden Wind -- the fifth story arc. Early on, the mobster Bruno Bucciarati confronted Giorno in a trolley, unleashing the power of Sticky Fingers in close-quarters combat. In response, Giorno struck Bruno with Gold Experience and accelerated his mind, causing Bruno to have an out-of-body experience. The experience shook Bruno, who fled as soon as he recovered. Finally, however, Giorno made clever use of a housefly Gold Experience transformed to track down Bruno.
Giorno continued to make excellent use of Gold Experience's affinity for living things. During his clash with Koichi Hirose, Giorno created rapidly-growing trees and transformed a ceiling light into a snake. When he and Fugo, who unleashed his Purple Haze Stand to deadly effect, fought the mirror-based villain Illuso, Giorno synthesized a cure for himself and Leone Abbacchio, protecting them against the virus.
Giorno's Stand was pushed to the limit against the villainous Ciocolatta and his Stand, Green Day, which could spread killer mold all over the place. Giorno's Stand caught Ciocolatta's helicopter in a tree, and Gold Experience and Guido Mista's Sex Pistols worked together to take down the villain. Once Ciocolatta was cornered, Giorno delivered the beating of a lifetime with Gold Experience's fists, reminding everyone that his Stand was still a close-combat threat. Still, the greatest challenge remains Diavolo and his Stand, King Crimson -- a test we've yet to see.
