Holy crap final battle, Batman! (spoilers!)

[Shotgun]

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I finally made it to the very end of the game and thought I'd prepared myself fully for the fight with Melissan. So I loaded it up, watched the nice little film of the abyss and got ready to fight. Let's just say I got my tookus kicked. Holy crap! I probably got about 5 seconds into the first fight when Melissan and her minions took out Minsc and Jan. That left four people left, and I knew I was doomed. What in the heck do I do? Doesn't it get tougher from here? Melissan beat me so badly, I turned off the game, shook my head, and walked away, unsure of trying that again. It was just ugly, man. Plain, plain ugly.... [img]graemlins/1dizzy.gif[/img]

[ 10-14-2003, 07:08 PM: Message edited by: Shotgun ]

[Xen]

What is your party and there levels? Is this Ascension Final battler or "standard"?

[ 10-14-2003, 04:33 PM: Message edited by: Xen ]

[Dar'tanian]

ADD A SPOILER TAG YOU HAVE A MAJOR PLOT SPOILER IN YOUR POST SHOTGUN!!!!

SPOILER
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Some people do not know that mellisian is evil yet!!!

[SixOfSpades]

Dar'tanian, the title of the thread contains the words "spoiler" and "final battle."

Shotgun: THIS is where you need to go nuts with everything you've got. But be wary of using Time Stop: Certain enemies are immune, which means that those enemies have 3 rounds to chop up your party members, all of whom (except the one that cast TS) can't do jack. So cut loose with Improved Alacrity and your best spells, Greater Whirlwind, and if you value your life, stick a character under Protection from Magic Weapons right in Melissan's face and keep him/her there. Also, watch out for Level Drain.

Save at least 3 9th-level spellslots for Wish, and don't use them until you've got some time to breathe and heal up. Then chug a Potion of Insight and hope for the best.

[ 10-14-2003, 06:18 PM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]

[Shotgun]

Yeah, it's Ascension. I didn't really realize what that meant until now. Any way to go back to normal mode?

As for levels, if I remember correctly (I don't have it on), most of my characters are level 25 or so. I took Aerie on later, so she's actually below 20, I think. I've already done WK and pretty much every single side quest available. I did carry 6 party members with me, so had to split XP points among them. Here's my party:

Anomen
me (female mage--only has 4 level 9 spell slots available)
Minsc
Jan
Mazzy
Aerie

So, am I screwed? [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-14-2003, 07:12 PM: Message edited by: Shotgun ]

[Tancred]

Level 25?!? 25?!?!? That's... that's low, isn't it?!? I swear my own party were at least in the thirties range when we fought Mel and crew.

Thing is, you can't fight this as a normal battle. Remember, this is the FINAL FINAL battle. Empty your potion sacks and scroll cases of useful stuff. Make sure everyone has oils of speed, potions of strength, wands aplenty, healing thingumies, protections evenly spread. Hit the shops and blow what gold you have left on useful, powerful supplies. Check through all those bits of loot and find anything that might be useful.

What do you mean, you sold it all? Buy it all back, now! [img]smile.gif[/img]

You need to be prepared for anything and able to keep track of absolutely everything at all times. Pausing a lot helps. As an example, you don't need to pull people out of danger if they're getting killed - you need to have had them out of there BEFORE they started getting killed, see?

It might be worth getting your butt kicked a couple of times just to watch and analyse the various amounts of damage and types of attack your foes are using... the better to plan a defence.

[ 10-14-2003, 07:56 PM: Message edited by: Tancred ]

[Lord]

To remove tougher Amellysan (spelling), just open up ascension setup, and go through the installations one by one. When it asks about tougher Final Battle, just chose no.

And Improved Final Battle is tough. Remember, there are SPOILERS here!!!
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I believe it's Balthazaar that is immune to time stop. Don't bother casting time stop, or else he will just tear apart and completely destroy your characters. And, like already stated, don't say, "Oh, I want to save that potion for later." There won't be a later
Each time Amellysan leaves, and you go to fight the creatures on one of the three platforms, save the game. Yes, that's right, if you put your whole party on one of the platforms after you've wiped out those creatures, you can save the game. It may help out.
BTW, for a fighter, GWW+Deathblow+Smite+Hardiness+Protection from Magical Weapons= Amellysan destroying machine [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Faceman]

But if you did a good job before Balthazar won't tear YOU apart

[Assassin]

Actually, Tancred, the difference between level 25 and 30 is slim, except that you get 5 extra HLA's. Useful, but not necessary.

A popular tactic if you have no way to free yourself of this battle is simple to cast on Protection from Magic scroll on Sendai, and one of Abazigal. Ilasera, trust me, is a pain in the butt. You will always want to have Protection from Magical WEapons for your MAges. Otherwise, she'll dispel their Stoneskin/whatever, and then, with her 10 attacks per round (Greater Whirlwind), cut them open like a can of tuna fish. Keep some unenchanted arrows for Mazzy, and also some Arrows of Dispelling.

Balthazar is very annoying, but I've never actually had to face him, because I've always had him on my side.

[Shotgun]

So you end up fighting all of the children of Bhaal you got rid of earlier in the game? I barely got 5 seconds into the first fight with Melissan once I arrived in the abyss that I have no idea what happens after that. Fear, I tell you, kept me from trying again! [img]smile.gif[/img]