Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG that emphasises teamwork during combat. Each character has a versatile set of Skills, enabling players to define their roles through intelligent builds and strategic planning.
When it comes to Maelle, she’s most famous for her strong single-target play and debuffs, meaning she’s not so great with big AoE fights—but literally stands out in the boss battles. With proper setup, Maelle can be one of your team members who can make the most significant contribution. In the section below, we outline the top builds to maximise her potential in Expedition 33.
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Best Build For Maelle in Expedition 33
As you gather additional weapons, Skills, Pictos, and Luminas throughout Expedition 33, Maelle’s hybrid potential just continues to increase. She’s one of the few characters that can transition from full support to full DPS, depending on how you construct her.
There is a lot of flexibility with Maelle. You can specialise in her as pure support dedicated to putting out Burn DoTs and protecting the party, or you can get totally into damage with heavy single-target nukes. That being said, her hybrid build still stands as one of the better choices, granting her the capacity to deliver substantial damage and support her teammates. The star of this build is Sword Ballet, which deals like a truck when Maelle goes into Virtuose Stance, making her a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
Luck is less of a concern for Maelle in the endgame. That’s because her Pictos give her a massive Crit Rate increase as they level up, often bringing her to around 50% Crit without having to spend much on Luck. From there, Critical Burn and Critical Vulnerability Luminas help push her crit rate even higher. Instead of pumping more into Luck, you’ll get better returns by focusing on Vitality, Might, and whatever stat scales best with her current weapon.
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Strategy For Using Maelle in Expedition 33
DPS Build
In this DPS-focused Maelle build, she takes a more aggressive tack by entering into Virtuose Stance and dealing heavy damage. Instead of relying on Percee, though, this build is based around Sword Ballet—an extremely high-damage single-hit skill that absolutely shines when utilised with the Painted Power Lumina. The Lumina plays a key part, as it enables Maelle to strike above the cap of 9,999 for a single hit, unleashing her full capacity for damage.
All of that being considered, Percee is still good to use when you don’t have a lot of AP, or you can substitute it for Momentum Strike—a stronger, improved version with the same functionality but much more damage output.
Guard Down remains an essential part of her kit. Not only does it give Maelle time to set up her attacks, but it also creates a window for damage for the entire team—something precious during Expedition 33’s endgame battles, where the enemies are heavily tanky and absorb a whole lot of damage.
Spark is also an essential one due to the degree to which game strategy depends on Burn as a damage-over-time spell. To increase damage even further, think about replacing Spark with Rain of Fire, an expensive but higher-damage alternative that still qualifies for a Burn-based strategy.
Support Build
For a strong support build in Expedition 33, focus on stacking Maelle with defensive stats like Defence and Vitality to keep her standing through tough fights. A good opening move is Egide, followed by Guard Up to extend Egide’s protective effects. That said, if you’re up against enemies that love AoE attacks, leading with Guard Up might be the more imaginative play.
Combine Maelle’s defensive abilities with Lumina, such as Longer Shell and Powerful on Shell—this not only provides her with a longer-lasting Shell but also applies the Powerful buff all at once. If you have unlocked Faster Than Strong, you can chain Egide into Guard Up consecutively for even more protection from the start.
To support the team going on the offence, use Guard Down to place a group-wide Defenceless debuff, or use Offensive Switch to reduce a specific target. For more specialised situations, Maelle has a handy niche move in the form of Breaking Rules that is very effective on enemies who love to stack Shield effects.
If you’re using the Barrier Breaker weapon, try using Free Aim Shot to bust through enemy Shields. Not only does it clear their defences, but it also lets Maelle steal the Shield and instantly enter her Virtuose Stance, boosting her support potential even further.
