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With a ton of skills and Pictos to choose from,making a build for any charactercan be challenging inClair Obscur: Expedition 33. But know that Maelle can be turned into one of the strongest characters in this game.
When your Maelle build is fully optimized, you’ll realize that she does a great job at dealing additional damage, inflicting Burn on the enemy, and even supporting her teammates in battle.
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If you need some guidance to create a good Maelle build, you have come to the right place. Read on to learnhow to make the best Maelle build inClair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Best Build for Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
To create the best Maelle build in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, it’s essential to focus on unlocking her strongest skills quickly while equipping her with the best Pictos and weapons that aid those skills.
Let’s discuss her skills first.
Best Skills for Maelle
Maelle’sfire skills are without a doubt her best. Not only do they deal high damage, but they can apply burn and make the enemy weak to Fire.
We also want to verify that Maelle canenter Virtuose Stancemost of the time for maximum damage, but without neglectinga good mix of Offensive and Defensive Stance skills.
Lastly, it’s important that Maelle supports her teammates through buffs and weakens the enemy through debuffs.
Best Early Game Skills
Maelle is at her best when she’s switching between stances, since she gets additional AP for doing so. Because of that, we want to give her skills to build up AP fast.
Check out the grid below to learn about the best skills for Maelle early on in your playthrough of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Description
Degagement
Deals low single target Fire damage. 1 hit. Target becomes weak to Fire damage for 2 turns. Puts Maelle in a Offensive Stance.
Deals low single-target Fire damage. 1 hit. Applies 3 Burn. If in Offensive Stance, applies 2 more Burn. Puts Maelle in a Defensive Stance.
Guard Down
Applies Defenceless to all enemies for 3 turns. Puts Maelle in an Offensive Stance.
Swift Stride
Deals low single target Physical damage. 1 hit. Switches to Virtuose Stance if target is Burning. Regains 0 to 2 AP.
Mezzo Forte
Reapplies current stance and gives 2 to 4 AP.
Applies Shell, reducing damage taken, to up to 3 allies for 3 turns. Puts Maelle in a Offensive Stance.
The six skills selected here cover everything you need: solid defense, stance switches, acquiring AP, and dealing burn damage.
First up, we haveDegagement, a useful skill that makes the target weak to fire for two turns. This is especially helpful if players use theSparkskill on the same enemy, as it deals Fire damage and also applies burn.
In other words, players will deal additional damage on the initial use ofSpark, but also extra damage on the burn effect that comes after. All thanks toDegagement.
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As for support skills, we haveMezzo ForteandGuard Down. The latter is great at gaining AP quickly as it grants Maelle 2 to 4 AP depending on how well a player does the QTE.
Guard Downapplies Defenceless to all enemies for 3 turns, allowing the entire party to deal more damage, andGuard Upprotects the entire party.
Most importantly, we haveSwift Stride, which puts Maelle in a Virtuose Stance (highest amount of damage) if the target is Burning. This is the perfect skill to use after Sparks, which always applies Burn.
Best Endgame Skills
As you enter the latter half of the game, about 15 hours in, you’ll start to get access to deadlier and more useful skills for Maelle.
However, her purpose remains the same, which is to switch between stances as much as possible and keep her AP acquisition high.
The grid below shows my recommendations on which skills to pick for Maelle in the late game.
Rain of Fire
Deals medium single target Fire damage. 2 hits. Applies 3 Burn per hit. If in a Defensive Stance, applies 2 more Burn per hit. Puts Maelle in an Offensive Stance.
Combustion
Deals medium single target Physical Damage. 2 hits. Consumes up to 10 Burn for increased damage. Puts Maelle in an Offensive Stance.
Deals high single target Fire damage. 1 hit. Damage increased for each hit received since the previous turn. Can Break an enemy. Puts Maelle in a Defensive Stance.
Deals extreme single target Fire damage. 3 hits. Applies 5 burn per hit. If in a Offensive Stance, applies 2 more Burn per hit. Puts Maelle in a Defensive Stance.
Phantom Strike
Deals very high Void damage to all enemies. 4 hits. Also gives +35% of a Gradient Charge. Puts Maelle in a Defensive Stance.
Gustave’s Homage
Deals high single target Lightning damage. 8 hits. Increased damage to Marked targets. Doesn’t remove mark. Puts Maelle in a Virtuose Stance.
Maelle’s late-game skills are some of the best in the game. The standout skill here isCombustion, whichconsumes up to 10 Burn for increased damage.
Considering bothRain of FireandPyrolyseboth inflict Burn, you’ll be able to significantly increase the damage of theCombustionskill.
Revengeis a good skill to have as it has the possibility ofbreaking an enemy and stunning them, giving your entire party an advantage over the battle.
Meanwhile,Phantom Strikedeals high Void damage and grants you35% of a Gradient Charge. Since Gradient Attacks are the strongest in the game, this can make a massive difference.
Lastly, we have our skill to put Maelle in a Virtuose Stance —Gustave’s Homage. Remember, Maelle deals way more damage while in a Virtuose Stance, so this is important.
Alternate between Offensive Stance skills and Defensive Stance skills to gain extra AP.
Best Stats for Maelle
Similar to all the characters in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, let’s discuss whichpoints you should shove into Maelle’s stats.
However, players should focus on puttingmore points into Vitality, Agility,andwhichever stat their weapon scales with. For example, if a weapon has a high scaling in Defense, then focus on raising Maelle’s Defense.
Vitality is a given, simply because it increases Maelle’s health pool and allows her to stay in the fight longer.
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Meanwhile, increasing Agilityallows Maelle to have more turns in combat,which translates to applying burn and dealing damage more often while switching stances more frequently to acquire AP.
Remember, if you need to change Maelle’s stats at any moment in the game, feel free touseRecoatto respec.Recoatcan be found all over the game world.
Best Pictos for Maelle
When equipping Pictos for Maelle, you want to focus on choosing those that help withhealthrecoveryandgaining AP.
Additionally, you want to pick Pictos that canMark your enemies, since Marked enemies receive double damage.
For the early hours of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, I recommend the Pictos listed below.
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Further into the game, where you’ll start to encounter the game’smost challenging bosses, you’ll find stronger Pictos with better benefits.
The ones I have selected for you below increase Maelle’s overall Attack Power, help with healthrecovery, and continuously build AP.
Remember, there area tonof Pictos in the game that have similar effects. The Pictos you choose don’t have to be the exact same, but just make sure you focus on improving Healthrecovery, Attack Power, and AP acquisition.
Best Weapon for Maelle
When picking a weapon for Maelle, you want to take a look at two things: the Attack Power and the buffs that it comes equipped with.
While the former is important, the latter can make more of a difference.
Best Early Game Weapon
One of the best early-game weapons is theMedalum, a weapon that has decent attack power and scales with Defense (B) and Agility (C).
Most importantly, though, is that it comes with buffs that can improve Maelle’s performance in combat.
TheMedalumcomes with the following buffs:
As you’re able to see, this weapon focuses onimproving Virtuose Stance. Maelle is at her strongest when in Virtuose, so this weapon is a good choice to push that stance even further.
Best Endgame Weapon
TheBarrier Breakeris the best overall weapon for Maelle inClair Obscur: Expedition 33. This weapon is acquired through story progression, right before heading to the Monolith.
Not only does theBarrier Breakerhave an Attack Power of over 1,000, but it also does a great job atbreaking shieldsandincreasing Maelle’s defense and protection. TheBarrier Breakerscales with Defense (B) and Agility (C)
TheBarrier Breakercomes with the following buffs:
Even though the Level 4 buff is the lowest here, it’s actually the most valuable. Each time Maelle hits an enemy who has a shield attached, she will absorb that shield and take zero damage on the next few hits. This is incredibly helpful duringendgame boss fights.
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