Spoiler alert.....I need some tips.

[Lumin El]

How do you guys take care of Mellisan at the end of ToB?

She just keeps throwing stuff and throwing stuff. If I could rest in between the battles, it would be OK, but since you can't...well...

Any advice?

Thanks

[white_sapphire]

This might be cheese but anyway...
Just memorize a wish spell and reload until you get the memorize all spell and rest option, this will rememorize all even that wish spell.

[Magness]

I've beaten ToB twice. Once as an Inquisitor and, just a few minutes ago, as an archer. (Both times with full parties of 6.) So I think that I can speak with a voice of experience.

The two most important keys are preparation and conservation of your magic.

Before even going to meet Melissan, carefully select your Mage and Cleric spells. Since you will not be able to rest between battles, have multiple copies of your favorite protection spells, since Mel may dispel them. For example, dump all of your Hold Person cleric spells, in favor of barkskin and Draw upon Holy Might. Have 3-5 stoneskins for your mages. Have plenty of good summon spells. I also had conserved tons of Mage scrolls, particularly Breach and Pierce Magic scrolls.


Melissan is an enemy who will summon in various creatures to help her. Except for your very first encounter where circumstances do not permit you to have summoned allies prior to the battle, you should summon 2 or 3 monsters prior to initiating the battle. Also place them in close proximity to where Melisan spawns in. Furthermore, the best use of your monsters is to combat Melissan's monsters.

To the best of your ability, focus all your combat power on Melissan. Mel's combat tactics mix both melee and magic. Try to keep hitting her constantly to limit her spell casting. (A really good archer works wonders in this department.)

A trick that I learned tonight was to have nearly every character armed with a ranged weapon at the start of the battle and hit Melissan immediately with them. While it by no means was enough to kill her or really seriously damage her, I was able to sneak in some quick damage before she got her stoneskins up. (Of course, I had Imoen and Nalia knock them back down immediately.)

You will have to defeat Melissan FOUR times. Do not throw everything at her all at once. I think that the toughest battle is the 3rd one, because her combat script will have her teleport to the top of the screen, leaving her monsters (slayers!!!) to attack you. You need to have a decent number of your own monsters to run interference while you chase after Melissan.

The Final battle of the four can be the easiest. Why? If you've been able to conserve your magics, you can throw EVERYTHING you have left at Melissan. Summon your best monsters. Drink your best potions. Use your best protection magics. Whup some Melissan butt!!!


BTW ... Don't forget the 3 battles in between the Mellissan battles ... 1st against air elementals, 2nd against Ice elemental, ice trolls, and ice salamanders (nuke these guys with fireballs and fire potions to start), and 3rd against a very tough bunch of female monsters.

The third is by far the toughest. But the real key is to be ready to drop the defenses of the Maraliths and be ready to hit them REALLY HARD when those defenses are down. The other monsters are very manageable. I actually killed the other monsters (a fallen deva, an alu-fiend, and a succubus, if I'm not mistaken) first, then took on the 2 maraliths.


Oooops, didn't realize that I was gonna say this much. Oh well...

[Lumin El]

Thanks for the tips. I've gotten to the 4th battle with Mellisan, but by then, my stuff is pretty wiped out and she just overwhelms me. I'll try the stuff with the ranged weapons and the wish spell. I've been relying on the summoned monsters a lot.

[Seid]

The first 3 battles I just hacked and summoned lots of stuff. The last one I just booby trpped her and she died before she could even speak [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Kresselack]

This battle is where the sword is mightier than magic. I would suggest trying to take out melisaan and ignore her summonings, she will keep on trying to summon more n more critters. Btw if U really cannot do it try putting a few spike traps beneath where she always appears, that will end this fight pretty fast.

_+_+_+_+_+________________________________________ ___________+_+_+_+_+

[Magness]

Generally speaking, I agree with Kresselack's comments about concentrating on Melissan. However, I don't think that you can afford to completely ignore her monster allies. As Kresselack states correctly, Melissan will spawn more if you kill them, but they are simply too dangerous to be totally ignored. Hence the need for your own monster allies.

If your monsters can keep her monsters occupied, that's a minor victory.
I usually ended up having to use one of my 3 tanks to occupy some monsters and keep them away from my mages.

All things considered, this final sequence of battles is quite entertaining. It's nice to see if you can manage 7 consequective battles without resting.

[diesel44]

Traps...especially spike traps do wonders

[Lumin El]

WooHoo.

I did it. I didn't use the wish trick (sorry, too cheesy), but I did use the advice about missles. It worked really, really well. In fact, the only real difficult battle was the 3rd one with Melissan. The fourth one was a piece of cake, as a matter of fact, all my characters had all their hps when I defeated her. Sure they had lost some during previous battles, but a little curing between the battles solved that. I had enough magic for the fourth battle that I just pounded her and pounded her. Well, once again, thanks for the tips.

Man, I'm glad I'm through this game so I can move on to something else.

(My roommate is on Chapter 2)

(sucker)