Best Solo Build In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Weapon, Skills, & Luminas) (2025)

While there are many different ways to build your party in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, one particularly devastating build that can potentially deal millions in damage features Maelle's Medalum weapon and the Stendhal skill - and it's best used solo with nobody else in the party. This playstyle will not be for everyone, as you'll be missing out on most combat encounters in general, pretty much one-shotting any enemy you go up against, including the strongest endgame bosses in the game.

Maelle from Clair Obscur is easily the best candidate for a solo build due to one unique skill that only becomes available in Act 3: Stendhal. However, once unlocked, you can buff Maelle considerably with various Pictos and Luminas to enable the highest damage possible. I would only recommend this build if you want to basically bypass every combat encounter in Act 3, as it makes even the toughest secret endgame bosses such as Simon or Clea an absolute cakewalk. In short, while this build is a bit broken, it's the closest you'll get to God Mode in Clair Obscur.

Best Weapon & Attributes For A Solo Maelle Build In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Maelle's Medalum Starts You In Virtuose Stance

Medalum is arguably the best weapon in Clair Obscur, but is easily Maelle's best weapon option because it automatically starts her in Virtuose Stance at the beginning of combat. This is a serious advantage and critical to making a solo Maelle build work, as you don't want to waste turns getting into Virtuose Stance using skills. For this build, the remaining upgrades for Medalum are more or less irrelevant, though you can always play around with Maelle's various Burn skills if you want to try something different.

Medalum scales with both Defense and Agility, and will benefit from investing attribute points in Might as well (this is true for all weapons). At max level, you can have 99 points invested in 3 different attributes, but before then, I would recommend primarily Agility and Might, as your Defense and Health will be somewhat irrelevant in most cases due to using Last Chance and various buffs from having low health.

Best Skills For A Solo Maelle Build In Clair Obscur

Stendhal, Phantom Strike, & Last Chance Are Featured Skills

For an optimal solo build, you'll want to have three primary skills equipped for Maelle: Stendhal, Phantom Strike, and Last Chance. Stendhal is a late-game skill unlocked in Act 3, and it is way overpowered, dealing extreme single target Void damage. There are minor Debuffs as a result of using this skill, losing all shields and becoming Defenceless, and you'll also revert to the Stanceless position. However, these downsides are well worth the massive damage Stendhal inflicts.

Phantom Strike should be used in combat against multiple enemies, as it will typically be able to wipe out any weaker enemies on the first turn, and weaken any tougher enemies substantially. With your Luminas and Pictos set up correctly, you'll be getting three turns at the start of every encounter, and by the time you've leveled up a bit, you should be able to use all three skills to wipe out most groups of enemies before they even get a chance to attack.

Best Pictos & Luminas For A Solo Maelle Build In Clair Obscur

Solo Fighter, Roulette, & Immaculate Add Incredible Damage Buffs

The key to running a solo build is having Maelle stacked with passive buffs from Luminas, and it may take you until NG+ in Clair Obscur to collect all of them. If you're planning on using only Maelle for most of your encounters, you'll want to spend your Colour of Lumina upgrades on her to add as many passive buffs as possible. There are a handful of absolutely essential Lumina passives (aside from the obvious Painted Power), including Cheater, First Strike, and Shortcut.

Cheater and Shortcut will allow you to essentially play three turns in a row if you use Last Chance to deplete your self-health to 1, while First Strike lets you play first. For my slotted Pictos, I opted for Second Chance in case things don't go according to plan, plus having this equipped will save you 40 Lumina points to spend on more useful passives. I also have equipped the Shortcut and Roulette Pictos, though these are mostly for the passive effects than the Pictos stats.

Stacking Lumina passives is your main source of damage, and there are some really nifty combinations you can play around with to increase damage. These include the Shell and Powerful Luminas such as SOS Shell, SOS Power, Greater Powerful, Powerful on Shell, etc., which will give you an additional Powerful damage bonus and ensure you have Powerful during most of the encounter. Other excellent passives include Shield Affinity with In Medias Res, as well as Inverted Affinity.

Clearly, any Solo-specific Luminas that specifically mention fighting alone are going to be relevant, particularly Solo Fighter. At Death's Door and Confident Fighter are great for this build because you'll be draining your Health to 1 anyway, and won't require healing, plus you'll be inverted and will want to actively avoid healing anyway.

Best Solo Strategy For Maelle In Clair Obscur

Use Stendhal For Single Targets & Phantom Strike For Multiple

Stendhal is your go-to attack for any single-target encounter, and if you're properly decked out with Luminas, it's unlikely any one-on-one fight in the game will go beyond a single turn. For multi-target encounters, there's a really straightforward rotation that should wipe out all three targets no matter the situation. Use Phantom Strike to weaken or kill all three enemies, then use Last Chance to drop your health to 1, get full AP, and enter Virtuose Stance again.

This will also give you an automatic turn thanks to the Shortcut passive. You can then clean up with Phantom Strike again for multiple targets, or knock out the remaining target with Stendhal. I tried this out in Renoir's Drafts, which is arguably one of the toughest areas in the game, and was able to clear the entire area and defeat Simon in one shot, all done solo with Maelle.

Overall, this is probably going to feel like cheating by the time you get into max level territory, as you'll be defeating the hardest bosses in the game in a matter of seconds. This build will make short work of the toughest enemies, from Serpenphere to Clea to Simon, and is easily one of the most broken, if not effective, builds in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Turn-Based RPG

Fantasy

Systems

9/10

12 9.8/10

Released

April 24, 2025

ESRB

Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence

Developer(s)

Sandfall Interactive

Publisher(s)

Kepler Interactive

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