Dive into the world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 where Maelle's nuke build can unleash over 2 billion damage. This article explores how players can achieve such staggering damage and how Sandfall Interactive is responding to this overpowering skill.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Updates
Stendhal Hurts, A Lot
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 continues to captivate players with daily discoveries, including a method to deal up to 2 billion damage using the Expeditioner, Maelle. After completing the main storyline, the game's endgame unfolds, offering more narrative depth and challenging bosses with enormous health pools and even one-hit kill abilities. This has led players to innovate with a nuke build to counter these formidable foes. Note: This article contains minor spoilers, so proceed with caution.
In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Maelle's skill, Stendhal, inflicts significant damage, which can be boosted to 200% in her Virtuose stance. To maximize Maelle's nuke build, players need to equip two specific Luminas, unlocked via Pictos (items that provide various effects). The required Luminas are Cheater, granting an extra turn, and Shortcut, which offers another turn when Maelle's health drops below 30%.
Additionally, players must equip Maelle with the Medalum weapon, enabling her to start battles in Virtuose stance. Another crucial skill is Last Stand, which activates Virtuose stance and reduces Maelle to one hit point.
To further enhance her damage output, Maelle should also equip any three of the following skills: Painted Power, allowing damage to exceed 9,999; Death’s Door, boosting damage by 50% at low health; Confident Fighter, increasing damage by 30% but disabling healing; Inverted Affinity, which raises damage by 50% but makes healing detrimental; and other skills that offer percentage-based damage boosts.
With the right combination of Pictos and Luminas, Maelle can achieve over 2 billion damage. For context, the endgame boss, Simon, has approximately 45 million HP. Maelle’s nuke strategy could theoretically kill Simon 48 times over, demonstrating the sheer overkill potential.
Players continue to push the boundaries, experimenting with different strategies and characters to achieve even higher damage numbers. The challenging post-game content of Expedition 33 encourages players to develop creative tactics to enhance their gameplay experience.
Stendhal Getting Nerfed
Recognizing the ease Stendhal brought to the game, Sandfall Interactive announced upcoming changes to Maelle’s skill via a Twitter (X) post on May 8. Initially, the studio planned only bug fixes, not balance changes, at this early stage. However, Stendhal's extreme damage prompted an adjustment.
During development, Stendhal was underwhelming until a last-minute pre-release balance pass significantly boosted its damage, perhaps too much. "We still want you to be able to break the game—and you absolutely still can—but Stendhal was making it a bit too easy," Sandfall Interactive stated. The changes to Stendhal will be part of the first full hotfix set, launching today on Steam and soon on other platforms.
2 Million Copies in 12 Days
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has achieved another milestone, selling over 2 million copies within just 12 days of its launch, as announced in a Twitter (X) post on May 6. Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron celebrated the game's success on Instagram, praising Sandfall Interactive for showcasing French creativity and audacity.
With its ongoing success and updates, Expedition 33 is a strong contender for this year's Game of the Year award. The developers are committed to enhancing the game, with potential DLC on the horizon if sales continue to thrive.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Stay updated with the latest game news by clicking on our article below!
