Don't Forget Traps!
I hardly use traps and had forgotten about them. Getting ready for the last fight my party was almost completely used up (the fallen Solar was the last straw which I barely got by). I didn't think I could last through another fight with Melissan. Then I remembered those traps I'd been buying up with my fighter/thief. I planted four spike traps in a rectangular pattern right around the arror Melissan appears in after you sever her last connection to the Bhaal essence. I planted several more regular traps around the area just to be careful. It was overkill. I severed the connection, she appeared, and was instantly defeated and I got the end-game dialogue. A good thing too, since I wouldn't have made it through the last fight.

Submitted By: Doug

The Art of Running & Pulling
In the first fight I moved all my fighters into melee combat with her and scored a few hits before I had to deal with the monsters she summoned. I made sure though to always stay close to her so that I coudl get keep dealing her damage. When one of my fighters bit badly injured I moved him away to the other side of the map where I had run to with my cleric/mage to recieve some healing. I also made sure all my fighters had lots of potions so that they coudl stay in battle as long as possible. Doign this I defeated her quite easily.

She then starts gathering bhaal essence and you need to cut of her energy supply. To do this you need to deafeat some guardians consisting of the prince of air and some air elementals and a few wraiths (or is their name something else. dont remember right now) thsi batlte s won quite easily by placing all fihters in the small passage to the main platform so that you can beat them one by one (or at least two at the time). after that you click on the pool and you are up for a new battle with Melissan. This time she is more dangerous but you can basically use the same start this time. If you run into problem you can also try to mave away from Melissan luring the demons with you and defeat them and then move on to Melissan, scoring a few hits before she summons new monsters. Be aware though that she is increadibly hard to hit with all her defensive spells up so you might want to play some hit and run for a while waiting for them to rn out and then move in for the kill.

After defeatig her you must cut of another energy supply and this time you are up against the prince of cold and his minions. This battle can be won quite easily using the same strat as against the prince of air. After clicking on the pool you are up for another battle with Melissan and she is even tougher this time. She immediately summons 4 shadow slayers and then teleports away so you can deal with them without her interference. After this you can use the same lure away demons and then hit her for a while start as I descibed ealier and after ahiel wshe willl go down. Now you have to destroy her last energy supply but this time you are up against tougher guardians. You are up against a fallen solar that have a nasty ranged attack that makes the previous start impossible. This battle was really tough and what I did was to try to lure away one enemy at the time with my Boots of Speed/Cloak of Reflection kensai and then I moved up with all my party and if I was lucky I manged to kill that monster before the rest arrived. Try to kill the fallen solar first or you will always have be hit by ranged attacks when you hit another monster. It took a while and I lost one character but eventually defeated them turing of the last pool.

This time Melissan is even tougher ad I was running out of healing potions so kept my fighters in motion moving in against one or two monsters at a time scoring a few hits on Melissan as soon as I got the chance. When I was up against just one or two monsters I moved two of my weaker characters to deal with them while the other two hit Melissan for a while, thus allowing for a few more hits before they had to help with the other monsters. Running around like this I finally defeated her losing only one of my fighters that I actually managed to resurrect during battle.

Finally. Remember to save as soon as you have the chance. You are very likely to die a few times and you don't want to play it all over again.

Submitted By: NoctoZ

Preparation is Key
No doubt about it, this is one hard fight. Before you enter the Abyss, try to get as many of the following items as you canL
- fully charged rod of resurrection
- wands of spellstrike
- items granting free action, such as Flail of Ages +5 and Ring of Free Action
- weapons granting negative plane protection
- items that can summon powerful monsters (golem manuel, staff of woodlands)
- staff of the magi
- tons of super healing potions

Also, memorize a lot of the following spells:
- uber-powerful summoned creatures (planetars, devas, and elemental princes)
- powerful spell breachers (warding whip, ruby ray, pierce shield) and dispel magic
- tensor's transformation
- stoneskin

Now you are ready to take on Melissan in a four-part indurance battle with no chance to rest in between. The first couple of times you face her she tends to be pretty melee oriented, and likes to summon demons (worst was a balor), death tyrants (beholders), and shadow slayers (weaker versions of slayer, but with level drain). I couldn't get much of any magic to work on her so you need to close in fast and do melee damage. First, however, you need to get rid of her protections. The combination of breach with a higher level spell (ruby ray) seemed to get all of them. Your fighters should concentrate on Melissan while having some item that grants free action to negate the various slows, holds, and other attacks that she and her summoned friends unleash. Note that you cannot simply use the spell free action, as Melissan dispels magic constantly (this also makes spells such as energy blades worthless). Use whorlwind and hardiness to protect your fighters and damage Melissan. Use your summoned allies to fight her summoned allies. Also try to keep throwaway creatures such as shambling mounds close to Melissan. Thus, when she summons creatures they will be behind your creatures, creating a wall of protection for your fighters. Use your planetar on her summoned creatures, its Vorpal hit does wonders - don't use it on Melissan as she has a nasty taint spell that kills it quick (this goes for all summoned creatures, they last about 3 seconds fighting Melissan).

Most importantly, when she gets hurt she retreats to heal and summon monsters. You must press the attack now. Don't let her heal and come back for more. Also, when your fighters get damaged, keep them on the attack as much as possible and use potions to heal them. It is hard for clerics to get spells off near the melee without getting killed, and you can't afford the time it takes to remove a fighter from combat, heal him, and send him back in. You need to damage Melissan fast or her summoned pets will overwhelm you. Use slayer change or tensor's tranformation if you need an extra warrior. Each time you "kill" Melissan she retreats to recharge, and you have to cut off the flow of power from three different sources. Each source is protected by a different guardian. They are 1) prince of air with air allies, 2) prince of ice with ice salamanders, and 3) fallen planetar with demons, succubus, and other nasties. These are straight up fights, the only real strategy being to try to preserve powerful spells/abilities and take them out in straight melee. Note that after you kill Melissan each time, try to use your planetar's healing abilites before he disappears as he has three heal and three raise dead spells. This will preserve your magic as much as possible.

The third fight with Melissan is the toughest in that she starts casting more spells. Right from the start of this fight she summons four shadow slayers and teleports to the other end of the platform. Have summoned friendlies ready to engage them right when they teleport in and send your fighters and your mage over to deal with Melissan. She will cast multiple globe of blades spells on her so you need to dispel them. Since she constantly re-casts this spell, the best way is through melee. Have your wizard cast stoneskin, tensor's and close with his staff of the magi as each hit will dispel magic, killing the globe (paladin with holy avenger will work too), then just hit her until she falls. The fourth battle is the easiest as she seems to focus entirely on melee. Breach her protections, close, and hit her fast with your fighters, using summoned friends to kill her summoned friends. When she falls, the Solar will appear, declaring the contest over and you victorious.

Submitted By: Belisarius

Rest With a Wish
Basically you have to complete 4 fights with Melissan AND the air prince, frosty prince and fallen solar without resting.....

Remember the scroll salesman in Saradush? Make sure you buy/steal all the lvl 9 Wish scrolls you can from him. If you have a mage or cleric with high enough Wisdom (I use Aerie), one of the wish options is to make it as though the whole party is completely rested. Not only will this restore health and spells, but you also get all your traps back if you have a thief (this makes it very easy). I'm not sure if the complete rest option comes up every time with the wish spell so you may need a couple of reloads.

Most people to whom I've spoken about this fight say that the Fallen Solar is the hardest part. It's worth noting that it is also the first creature to come charging out after you when you enter that area, which makes it the ideal candidate for 'death through an obscene amount of traps' (3 spike 4 normal ought to do it)

Submitted By: Lok

Concentrate on Melissan
I found the easiest way to defeat Melissan was simply to concentrate on her. Each battle beforehand summon a couple of elementals, beef characters up with prayer, bless etc and use hardiness on fighters.

Then as soon as you cut off the flow pools, immediately cast breach, spell strike etc on her. Then use greater whirlwind attack for all fighters and you will just carve thru her. I only had 2 tanks - a paladin with the holy avenger and Minsc with Crom Feyr/Foebane. Whirlwind attack ensures she is constantly hit and she is slowed by the hits. Once she retreats the monsters disappear and you have won. Just make sure you have potions of healing ready and are wearing rings of regeneration.

Mages/prients can be used for support - extra cannon fodder and Horrid Wilting/dragons breath do the trick. I only had Imoen so I didn't worry about traps and I think that due to Melissans magic resistence most spells are only useful against summoned monsters. Of course a lvl wish in the final battle to raise all stats to 25 helped but I did it again to access the second ending and didn't need it.

The last battle was the most simple of all - I didn't even get hit as she went after the elemental prince and dark planetar and I chopped her up.

The only things to be careful of is do not use time stop as she is immune and her teleporting up the back in the 3rd battle - however you can overcome this by summoning high lvl help eg elemental prince at the back to start on her as soon as possible.

The side battles are only diversions and only the fallen solar is a danger - however take it out early and use charm protection - such as from the blackrazor - to ward against the succubus. The rest fall away and should not stand up to any high lvl party.

Submitted By: Peter