There are endless possibilities when it comes to the best party composition inClair Obscur: Expedition 33,with each character having a range of weapons, skills, Pictos, and Lumina passives that can synergize in many different ways. Because of that, I highly encourage you to experiment with whatever combinations you feel fit your playstyle and character preferences. Many recommendations for best character builds do not take into account all three active characters in the party, but this build aims to set every character up for an all-around balanced party.
This build is my best recommendation for an endgame party comp that assumes you are in NG+ and have collected and upgraded many of the necessary weapons and unlocked a majority of each character’s skills. For an early game party setup, I recommend using anOvercharge Gustave build, a Healer orFire build for Lune, and a Burn-basedbuild incorporating Maelle’s Medalumweapon. You will use Medalum for Maelle in this build as well, and will also need to defeat one of the toughest endgame bosses for Verso’s best-in-slot weapon.
Best Party Build In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Top Line Characters Are Maelle & Verso
For the best party setup, you shouldalways have Maelle and Verso on your top line,and to filter out your third choice between the remaining characters. I tend to start with Monoco as a support unit with high speed Pictos equipped to maximize his opportunities to buff the party. I use a similar strategy with Sciel, and will swap her and Monoco out depending on the enemy’s specific attacks, buffs & debuffs, weaknesses, and strengths. Aside from support skills, Sciel is great for enemies who are weak to Dark damage, while Monoco is best for building up Break damage.
Lune can be used equally effectively as a support or offensive unit, but I prefer to bring her in for a pure offense-focused line to deal ridiculous damage alongside Maelle and Verso. Lune synergizes extremely effectively around Burn skills and damage, and the three of them combined are a deadly combination.I recommend Verso, Maelle, and Lune if you are extremely confident in your Parrying skillsand don’t think you’ll need any defensive buffs during combat, or when facing enemies that are particularly weak to Fire.
Best Weapons, Pictos, & Luminas For Each Character
Verso’s Simoso & Maelle’s Medalum Are Best-In-Slot Weapons
While there are a ton of greatweapons inClair Obscur, I’ve found that the best balance for the entire partybuilds outward from Maelle and Verso’s best-in-slot items:MedalumandSimoso. If you managed to acquire Verso’s Simoso weapon from Simon in The Abyss, congratulations, you’re in good shape. However, this is a late game item that you likely won’t be able to get until you’ve honed your skills and optimized your build for each character. TheGlacesois an excellent alternative that is available much earlier, though you will need to adjust your attributes accordingly.
Break Specialist
Breaking Burn
Both Medalum and Simoso are Burn-stacking weapons that are capable of dealing incredible amounts of damage, especially when both are fully upgraded and both characters haveDouble Burnand other Burn-enhancing Pictos and/or Luminas active. Lune’s best-in-slot weapon,Scaverim, synergizes with these really well, assuming you have the right skills slotted, but also does not necessarily rely solely on Fire and/or Burn to be effective. In fact, Scaverim is one of the few weapons available for Lune that can generate Dark Stains, whichcan increase damage for any skill up to 300%.
Sciel’s best weapon for this party build is the Chation, which will automaticallygenerate 10 Foretell with any Sun Skill, but can also enhance Burn effects, increasing Burn damage by 100% in Twilight state. Joyaro is Monoco’s ideal weapon of choice in this build because I use him as both a support unit and a Break-damage booster. This set of weapons and the below skills make for a balanced build that doesn’t rely too heavily on one element and will be viable against some of the toughest enemies in the endgame.
Every character in your build should have theCheaterandEnergy MasterLuminas active if possible, as well asFirst Strike. There are so many Luminas that can benefit this build, but most of the Burn-enhancing ones will be good for just about every character, especiallyBurn AffinityandCritical Burn, among others.
Best Skills For Each Character In Clair Obscur
Maelle’s Burning Canvas Can Deal Millions In Damage Per Hit
The benefit of stacking Burn across the party is that Maelle’sBurning Canvasabilitydeals increased Void damage based off of the number of Burn stackson an enemy. Even if an enemy is resistant to Fire, it’s very unlikely they’re also resistant or immune to Void damage, and Burn can be stacked up on enemies regardless of their resistances in most cases. Maelle alone can stack 60 Burn from Virtuose Stance in one hit by usingPyrolyseand various Burn buffs, particularlyDouble Burn.
Final Path
Contorsionniste Blast
Verso’s Marking Shot can set up Maelle for a Percee attack as well, which will be enhanced considerably in Virtuouse Stance. With Lune as the third in your party, you will be able to add further Burn stacks with Hell and Wildfire,both of which can deal serious damage if she has four Dark Stains active. All of her skills in this build aside from Thermal Transfer have the chance of generating a Light Stain, giving her more versatility for consumed attacks and higher chance of generating a Dark Stain.
I’ve set both Monoco and Sciel up to be effective at dealing damageandwith support skills that buff the rest of the party in different ways. Sciel’s Harvest skills are extremely useful, but you need tomake sure she has enough Speed to get as many turns as possibleto keep the rest of the party fully stocked with AP and Health. Monoco is optimized for Break damage, but also has useful support skills included here that can be swapped out as you see fit.
Strategy For Best Party Build In Clair Obscur
Maximize Burn Stacks & Set Maelle Up For Extreme Damage
In most cases, Maelle will be your primary damage dealer, with both other units setting her up for the most powerful hits possible.Verso should apply Mark at the end of his turn with either Marking Shot or Defiant Striketo increase damage for Maelle or Lune on their next hit. Equip theDouble MarkLuminas for an extended Mark duration. On Maelle’s first turn, if she doesn’t start with full AP, use Mezzo Forte to get her to the max.
Thanks to the Cheater lumina, she will now be able to performPyrolyse from Virtuouse Stance and automatically apply 60 Burn to the target,assuming you have all the right buffs in place and are using Medalum. On her next turn, she can use Swift Stride to go directly back into Virtuouse Stance and use another Burning Canvas. Verso should have plenty of AP on his first turn and should use them to get to Rank A and try to maintain Rank S as much as possible, using his second turn to Mark the target.
If Lune is in your party,you can use Wildfire and Thunderfall to try to generate as many Dark Stainsas possible while simultaneously adding Burn. When she has max Dark Stains, be sure to use Hell to inflict ultimate damage and also add Burn stacks in the process. Sciel is great for supporting the rest of the crew with Plentiful Harvest, but can dive into attack mode if needed. Monoco should be used against enemies require Break Damage to be defeated, and I recommend keeping him on your Reserve team.
Your reserve team should be just as powerful and effective as your top line with this build, regardless of how you interchange or mix and match characters.
Overall, this party build functions mostly around Burn damage and Maelle’s unique weapon, Medalum, but incorporates a ton of other synergies between characters. That said, I know it isn’t a perfect build and there are likely many tweaks that could improve it. Further, there are definitely other party setups that will be equally effective (if not more) depending on the enemy or area you’re in. Because there is such diversity with weapon options, Pictos, Luminas, and Skills inClair Obscur: Expedition 33,there are endless possibilities.
