Melusine is a boss in Final Fantasy V and the first Demon of the Rift the party encounters. She possesses Lenna, but is thwarted. She is fought at the Guardian Tree with four different forms with different elemental alignments for each.
A fifth enemy called Melusine with the same sprite appears in the game's data, but is dummied. The dummied Melusine also seems to be the only Demon of the Rift who is not seen in the cutscene where Exdeath summons the demons, other than Melusine herself, who is already dead by that time.
Contents
Stats[]
Immune
Fire
Ice
Lightning
Battle[]
Melusine in battle.
Melusine has 4 forms that she swaps between every few turns by using Barrier Change. The main difference between her forms is whether she is weak to or absorbs Fire, Ice and Lightning elements. Three of her forms are weak to one of those elements while absorbing the other two, and her last form absorbs all three. She always enters the battle starting in her Fire-vulnerable form.
In all her forms, she is immune to every other element. For status ailments, she is susceptible to Darkness, Silence, Confuse, Sleep, Paralyze, Slow and Stop. However, any status ailment with a duration will be very short due to her possessing the Heavy flag. Also, status effects are not shared between forms.
Melusine attacks primarily with third-tier elemental Black Magic spells, Firaga, Thundaga and Blizzaga, cast against one party member at a time. She also has her normal physical attack. Her form determines which spells she casts and whether she attacks physically. The forms with a weakness use the normal attack, and never cast the spell that corresponds to her weakness. For example, Melusine's Fire-vulnerable form never casts Firaga. Melusine's form without elemental weaknesses will cast all three spells, but never attack physically.
She always spends at least three turns in one form. As turns pass, she becomes more likely to use Barrier Change. Once Melusine decides to change forms, she takes two actions in one turn. If Melusine is in a form with a weakness, she casts a party-wide Black Magic spell, then uses Barrier Change to swap to a random form. If she is in her no-weakness form, she will instead use Entice to try and inflict Confusion to one party member before using Barrier Change.
Strategy[]
Flame Rings are good accessories to equip to negate Ice and absorb Fire. Diamond equipment to resist Lightning are useful armor pieces to wear as well. The party can also equip Flame and/or Ice Shield for blocking Firaga and Blizzaga, or Aegis Shield to occasionally dodge her magic. If the player does not plan on buffing their party members with magic, Reflect Ring is a very effective accessory for deflecting almost all of Melusine's attacks, but the player should be aware her reflected magic always heals her.
As she always starts in her Fire-vulnerable form, attacking rapidly with Fire-based attacks is a good strategy. Powerful options include:
- Black Magic spell Firaga
- Charging Firaga Spellblade and attacking
- Throwing Fire Scrolls
- Breaking Flame Rods
The party should be hasted with Hastega and Melusine should have Slow cast against her so that the party can defeat her before she changes forms even once.
Sleep is effective as well, which can be followed up by using only magic Fire attacks to avoid waking her up. Confuse or the Dancer's Tempting Tango are other possible options to stall her for the entire battle, but less reliable as Melusine can free herself from confusion by physically attacking herself.
If Melusine manages to use Barrier Change, the Blue Mage's Scan ability, or the White Magic spell Libra should be used to check what Melusine's active weakness is (or if she lacks any weakness) so that the party may respond appropriately. Any status ailments cast on the previous form will also need to be re-cast.
The party can also try using non-elemental abilities against her, or physical attacks. For physical attacks, the player should keep in mind that only Melusine's no-weakness form has no physical defence, while the rest have a much higher defence stat.
A Mystic Knight charging Silence Spellblade can be used to stop Melusine from casting her Black Magic against the party. Silence can be combined with summoning Golem to block her physical attacks and make it almost impossible for Melusine to hurt the party.
The Summon Carbuncle can be called to prevent any of her spells from hitting the party for a while, but the player should keep in mind that any spell that is reflected will heal Melusine. Reflect status also has a duration, so reflects must be refreshed periodically.
Other appearances[]
Final Fantasy Dimensions II[]
This section about Summon magic in Final Fantasy Dimensions II is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.
Pictlogica Final Fantasy[]
This section about an enemy in Pictlogica Final Fantasy is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.
Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]
This section about an enemy in Final Fantasy Record Keeper is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
In European mythology, Melusine is a female spirit that inhabits or watches over water. Similar to a siren or mermaid, Melusine generally possesses one or more serpent or fish tails and a woman's torso and head. Sometimes she also has wings. Several noble houses took great pride in claiming to be descended from Melusine, notably the Plantagenet Dynasty of England.
