Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – The best skills for every character

In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, each character has their own unique skill tree that branches out in several different directions, making it difficult to tell exactly what the best skills are for each character. Many different strategies can work, but in this guide, we’ve put together sets for every character that we find the easiest to use and most effective on the battlefield.

Best Gustave skills

Lumiere Assault – One of Gustave’s starting skills remains one of his best for the majority of the game. Being able to unleash five hits for a low AP cost is great for building his Overcharge.

Overcharge – Gustave’s entire character is built around this ability, so you can’t skip it. It can deal really impressive damage to enemies when fully charged and comes with a Break.

Powerful – It’s not always a good idea to use an entire turn to apply a buff, but when you have an opening, Gustave can use this on his allies to up their damage potential.

Marking Shot – This is another set-up skill, but one that does a bit of damage itself. Using this before an ally unleashes a powerful strike is a great move.

From Fire – Healing on the battlefield is important, and being able to do so while dealing damage is perfect, just make sure you follow our guide on the best build for Burn damage in Expedition 33 and you’ll be set.

Strike Storm – Six strikes all dealing heavy damage is something you can’t turn your nose up at, even with the heavy AP cost, which can be somewhat negated if you follow our best Pictos and Luminas guide. On top of this, critical hits charge Overcharge twice, meaning you just need two out of six hits to crit to get a full charge in one move.

Best Lune skills 

Wildfire – Burn should always be the core of your strategy and Wildfire is the most reliable for this, costing low AP and hitting every target on the field at once.

Mayhem – While this will be outclassed damage-wise as you progress, a Break skill is always handy to have on hand.

Revitalisation – Healing is always handy and healing the entire party at once is even better.

Rebirth – Your Revival Tints are limited, but this is not. Plus, if you have enough lightning stains, it’s free.

Lightning Dance – This is one of Lune’s biggest damage-dealing moves, striking seven times with a critical hit, inducing a bonus strike for a maximum of 14 hits, all of which have heavy damage.

Hell – Burn is always king, and while setting up the right stains to maximize the damage on Hell can be a bit of a pain, the huge amount of both damage and Burn it inflicts is worth the trouble.

Best Maelle skills

Mezzo Forte – Managing Maelle’s stances can be tricky, but Mezzo Forte makes it a breeze, as it retains her stance while giving her more AP.

Swift Stride – This is by far the easiest and most consistent way to get Maelle into Virtuose Stance, which should always be your goal with her.

Fleuret Fury – This will be Maelle’s strongest attack until you unlock her most expensive skills, and it’s handy for a Break too.

Breaking Rules – Shields are a pain to deal with, and this skill gets rid of them in one strike, no matter how many the enemy has built up.

Stendhal – The self-application of Defenceless is a little annoying, but it’s worth it for the massive damage this attack can do.

Pyrolyse – In case you haven’t already caught on, Burn is the way to go in almost every scenario, and Pyrolyse combines huge damage potential with applying loads of Burn.

Best Sciel skills

All Set – This is the ultimate set-up move, giving everyone in the party Shell, Powerful, and Rush in a single action.

Searing Bond – Benefitting from Burn, this is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to apply Foretell, setting up Sciel’s other moves.

Dark Wave – High damage to all enemies multiple times. That’s all there is to this one.

Intervention – If the turn order hasn’t worked out in your favor, Sciel can fix that, forcing an ally to move immediately while gifting them AP.

Final Path – This has just about everything you could want, it’s a Break attack, it applies the maximum amount of Foretell, and deals extreme damage.

Twilight Dance – This is the big attack you should always be working towards with Sciel. It deals four hits of extreme damage that can be boosted with Foretell stacks and extends the duration of Twilight.

Best Verso skills

From Fire – Once again, healing from Burn is good because your foes should always be burned.

Light Holder – Verso’s all about gaining perfection ranks to increase his damage and other abilities, so a guaranteed +1 to his rank is essential.

Leadership – Reducing rank is annoying, but giving extra AP to all allies is invaluable.

Blitz – This is a bit of a niche use, but it’ll come in handy every now and then, insta-killing enemies on low health.

End Bringer – Extreme physical damage for six hits is amazing, but it’s even better, as if Verso is Rank A, it will extend the duration of an enemy’s stun, which is unbelievably powerful.

Phantom Stars – Everyone should have a Break attack and this is Verso’s that also deals extreme damage for five hits. Plus, if you’re Rank S, it costs just 5 AP instead of 9.

Best Monoco skills

Chalier Combo – Six high damage hits is pretty great, nothing more to this one.

Braseleur Smash – This is Monoco’s way of inflicting stacks of Burn quite cheaply, so you should always have it on hand.

Sapling Absorption – Three hits of high dark damage plus healing will help keep Monoco on the battlefield for longer, plus it makes a big spin on his Mask Wheel.

Chevaliere Piercing – Once again, shields are annoying, and while this ability doesn’t get rid of them, it can hit through them, dealing damage no matter how well-protected the foe is.

Cultist Slashes – Deliberately getting Monoco to low health isn’t easy, but if you manage it this could be a very powerful attack.

Portier Crash – The obligatory Break ability, though this one also benefits from big damage to all enemies at once.