Melusine (Final Fantasy V)

Melusine, also known as Mellusion, 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. In the Finest Fantasy for Advance and the discontinued 2013 Matrix Software versions, she is also fought in the Sealed Temple's Cloister of the Dead.
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.
== Stats ==
== Battle ==
Melusine has four 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 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. Any status ailment with a duration will be very short due to her Heavy flag. Status effects are not shared between the 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 attacks physically.
She spends at least three turns in one form. As turns pass, she becomes more likely to use Barrier Change. Once Melusine changes 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 Melusine's magic. If the player does not plan on buffing their party members with magic, Reflect Ring deflects almost all of Melusine's attacks, but 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
* Releasing Magic Dragons or Bio Soldiers from Zephyrus (2 will finish her)
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 form.
Sleep is effective as well, which can be followed up by using only magical 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 her 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 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 defense, while the rest have a much higher defense stats.
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 any reflected spell will heal Melusine. Reflect status also lapses, and so must be refreshed periodically.
== Other appearances ==
=== Final Fantasy Dimensions II ===
=== Pictlogica Final Fantasy ===
=== Final Fantasy Record Keeper ===
== Gallery ==
Mellusine.jpg|Concept artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.
Melusine FFV Nomura Art.jpg|Concept artwork by Tetsuya Nomura.
Melusine TCG.png|Final Fantasy Trading Card Game card.
== Etymology ==
de:Melusine
it:Melusine
Category:Bosses in Final Fantasy V
Category:Dummied enemies in Final Fantasy V