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Maelle establishes herself as a damage-dealing powerhouse from the moment she joins the party inClair Obscur: Expedition 33.Throughout the campaign, she plays a key role in many strategies, and unlocking her final abilities in Act 3 solidifies her spot as the Expedition’s deadliest member.
Between her unbelievable Skills, top-tier weapons, and the array of Luminas available to the entire team, you may set up Maelle to deal millions of damage in a turn, making her a threat to even the most dangerous bosses in Clair Obscur. Here’s our favorite build for the lethal fencer.
Best Weapon And Attributes For Maelle
Maelle has access toarguably the best weapon in the game, so you should try to get it as soon as you can in Act 3 and level it up as high as possible.Lithum, a Void-elemental rapier, is earned byclimbing the makeshift tower of The Reacherwest of Visages' Island anddefeating Alicia in a duel at the top.
Maelle has to fight Alicia alone, and her opponent doesn’t hold back, so it’s a good idea toset her up with Luminas like Solo Fighter and Recovery before approaching the summit.
Lithum scales best withLuck and Agility, so focus on maximizing those Attributes before distributing points elsewhere. Once both are at 99,give Maelle a little extra fortitudeby adding to her Defense and Vitality; otherwise she’ll be an easy target if she misses even a single parry.
Lithum Weapon Traits (Level 20+)
It can be a good idea to have other party members set up Marks for Maelle to exploit. Monoco’sChapelier Slashapplies Mark to the entire enemy team, making it a good choice for this.
Best Skills For Maelle
Even if you aggressively level up for Skill Points, Maelle’s best powersremain locked until Act 3.Once she has them, though, she can tear through most standard encounters on her own.
Phantom Strikeis ideal for clearing out groups, hitting all enemies multiple times with heavy Void damage. Against bosses and elite enemies, it makes a great opener forgetting rid of minions.
Against single targets, it’s best toopen with Pyrolysefor high damage and several Burn stacks, thenfollow up with Burning Canvasfor even more. If you’re able to use a counter to switch to Virtuose Stance between turns, so much the better.
Gustave’s Homagemakes a great finisher and an easy (if expensive) way to switch into Virtuose Stance. The main thing to note is that it’s aLightning-elemental attack, which isn’t part of Maelle’s usual lineup, so be aware of enemy resistances.
Your last two slots should have utility Skills.Breaking Rulessmashes through enemy Shields for only 3 AP, making it the game’s most effective penetrator, whileFleuret Furylets MaelleBreak enemies whose gauges are fullwhile staying in Virtuose Stance.
Best Luminas For Maelle
Like most late-game builds, Maelle’s ideal Lumina loadout can get expensive. You’ll need to balance her Pictos with the rest of the party, sharing the more expensive abilities to make sure that everybody gets their most important powers.
The Basics
Start by ensuring that Maelle has the Luminas thatevery party member should have:
These all help keep her Health and AP up, while also providing the necessary edge against late-game foes viaextra turns and removing the damage cap.
Damage Boosters
Most of Maelle’s Luminas should be centered aroundincreasing the damage that she deals,both through Burn and through her Skills and Counters.
Double Burnis a must for Maelle, and since it’s less critical for other characters you’re able to equip it to her as a Pictos and save 30 Lumina Points.Pair it withBurn Affinityto deal more damage to Burning foes, butdon’t bother equipping Critical Burn; at 99 Luck, Maelle won’t need the extra help landing critical hits.
Second Chancemight be too expensive for Maelle, but taking it alongsideBurning Deathis a fun trick to pull with Double Burn.
Full Strengh, Auto Powerful,andAugmented First Strikehelp Maelle open fights strong, and takingas many of the Augmented Counter Luminas as you canaffordmakes her even more deadly on defense than on offense as long as you can parry effectively.Roulettestacks with Maelle’s existing bonuses to push her damage into the millions.
Synergy Luminas
Since Lithum allows Maelle tobuff herself with Shell, Luminas that interact with that status effect in particular make great picks.Longer ShellandPowerful On Shellcost 10 LP each, and extend Maelle’s survivability while increasing her already formidable damage.
Since Lithum lets Maelleexploit Marks without removing them, and Gustave’s Homage gets more benefit from hitting Marked Targets,Rewarding Markis a good way to help defray the Skill’s high AP cost.
Healing Parryhelps keep Maelle at full Health, keeping Full Strength in play and saving the rest of the party from having to spend their turns keeping your damage-dealer alive.
