Looking to refine Maelle’s playstyle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33? In our Maelle Build Guide, we’ll show you the best build to emphasize her strengths, which abilities deserve your focus, and how to turn her into a dependable and effective force in every fight.
Table of Contents
If Gustave is the backbone of your party, Maelle is the blade aimed directly at your enemy’s heart. She’s your burst DPS specialist, centered around the Virtuose Stance mechanic that boosts her damage output to incredible levels. With the right build, she can enter a fight, land a Stendhal or Sword Ballet, and eliminate enemies before they even have a chance to react. The catch? You’ll need to master dodges and parries to keep her alive because the best Maelle builds reward risky, high-skill play.
Maelle Build: The Best Attributes
- Act 1: Invest in Luck and Might. Luck boosts your crit rate, and with her early weapon options, crits lead to consistent Burn procs and large yellow numbers. Might adds raw DPS to help you snowball early fights.
- Act 2 and beyond: Switch to Agility and Defense, especially after you equip Medalum. Agility provides more turns, while Defense increases both survivability and crit rate due to Medalum’s scaling. Together, they turn Maelle into a crit machine that hits quickly and powerfully.
Best Skills
- Percee: Debuffs the enemy so they take more damage from your entire team.
- Fleuret Fury: Great for breaking enemies and setting them up for the kill.
- Swift Stride: A must-have for movement and for quick stance swaps.
- Rain of Fire + Combustion: A powerful mid-game combo to spread and detonate Burns.
- Stendhal: Her late-game nuke, capable of obliterating targets in Virtuose stance.
- Sword Ballet: Crit-focused, multi-hit devastation.
- Last Chance: Lets you re-enter Virtuose stance if needed, though with Medalum, you won’t use it often.
- Breaking Rules: Shatters shields and even gives you extra turns if the enemy is Defenseless.
If you’re comfortable with parries, Payback becomes a devastating skill, rewarding perfect timing with cheaper, more powerful counters.
Best Pictos
- Immaculate: Huge damage as long as you don’t take a hit.
- Glass Canon: Classic risk-reward—25 percent more damage but 25 percent more damage taken.
- Inverted Affinity: Pairs beautifully with her crit-heavy kit, giving bonus damage when Inverted.
In the early game, you can rely on Critical Burn and Attack Lifesteal to smooth things out, but in the late game, the Immaculate + Glass Cannon combo is what really pushes Maelle into true glass cannon territory.
Best Luminas
- Burning Shots and Critical Burn: Core synergy with her crit + Burn playstyle.
- Painted Power: Removes the damage cap, letting Stendhal and Sword Ballet hit for truly outrageous numbers.
- At Death’s Door and Full Strength: Reward aggressive, no-mistake play with massive damage boosts.
- Energising Parry and Roulette: Add sustain and flexibility if you’re leaning on parries.
- Teamwork: Keeps her synced with party buffs and debuffs.
How to Play Maelle
- Start in Virtuose Stance (thanks to Medalum) and immediately unleash Percee or Stendhal for maximum burst.
- Stack crits and Burns to keep enemies weakened and set up your allies.
- Chain parries and dodges if you’re running counter-focused builds—your damage skyrockets the cleaner you play.
- Use Swift Stride and Breaking Rules to manage your stance and AP, giving you more windows to unleash big finishers.
Customize your build with PLITCH!
With our Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Gustave Build Guide, you can create the perfect build for Gustave and experiment without limits. You can also use the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 cheats from PLITCH to shape your playstyle exactly how you want.
For example, add experience points, reset them to zero for a fresh start, or directly set your AP and level. You can even maximize your Lumina Points to unlock the skills that fit your strategy best.
Happy Gaming!
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