Summary
- Sciel's Twilight Dance consumes all Foretell for increased dark-based damage, making it her best attack.
- Verso's Defiant Strike strikes twice, marking the enemy for amplified damage on the next hit.
- Maelle's Gustave's Homage deals heavy lightning-based damage and switches her to her strongest stance.
All six playable characters in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 have a separate skill tree. They can equip six skills to use in battle at a time, which is limiting like the Pokemon series, but not in a bad way. While they all have their uses, only a handful are truly worthy of being ranked at the top.
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Looking to get seriously OP in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33? Here are a few boundary-breaking tips to help players reach the summit of power.
Gradient Attacks will not be included in this Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 breakdown because they are different and are obviously more powerful by nature. They are like Limit Breaks in the Final Fantasy series. With that said, let’s rank these skills out without the need for spoilers.
8 Twilight Dance
Conditional Dark Pain For One
- Character: Sciel
The Twilight Dance skill is for Sciel, who can control tarot-like cards called Foretell. Most attacks will build Foretell like Final Path, which will be a good one to pair with Twilight Dance. That’s because Twilight Dance can consume all Foretell on the playing field to increase its dark-based damage, and if Sciel is in Twilight mode, things will go even better.
It’s certainly Sciel’s best attack, although it is conditional, as she is a tricky party member to play, but with the right build, Sciel can sing in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
7 Defiant Strike
Criss, Cross, Applesauce
- Character: Verso
The Defiant Strike skill is not in the “Extreme” category of damage and yet it can rival any of these skills. The attack will strike an opponent two times with physical-based damage. On the first attack, the enemy will be Marked, which is a status effect in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
The next attack will do more damage, as that’s what Marks do to enemies: amplify damage received. The AP cost is wildly low, so even though Verso technically has stronger skills, players may gravitate to spamming Defiant Strike nonstop.
6 Chapelier Slash
Hit Enemy Party And Mark Them
- Character: Monoco
The Chapelier Slash skill is for Monoco, who can learn skills by being in the party and defeating monsters. It’s similar to how Blue Mages learn spells in the Final Fantasy series, although they aren’t collecting legs like Monoco does in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
7 Best Support Skills In Clair Obscur Expedition 33, Ranked
A good party in an RPG is a supported party, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has some good skills to learn to maximize the group's effectiveness.
With Chapelier Slash, he will strike the enemy party three times, marking them in the process and doing more damage as he goes. Like Verso’s Defiant Strike, Chapelier Slash is not doing “Extreme” amounts of damage, and yet it is a great one to use against enemy parties.
5 Gustave’s Homage
Attack Target With Multiple Lighting Strikes
- Character: Maelle
The Gustave’s Homage skill is for Maelle, who is easily the strongest party member in the game. This attack will strike one foe, dealing a large amount of lightning-based damage. The damage is strong, but what makes this skill better is that it will automatically switch Maelle into her Virtuous Stance.
She has three Stances in all, with Virtuous being her strongest as it is able to increase damage by 200%, which is a good boost for her other skills on the list. Plus, if an enemy is Marked, Gustave’s Homage will do even more damage.
4 Phantom Stars
Attack All Enemies With Light-Based Damage
- Character: Verso
The Phantom Stars skill is Verso’s best attack, and it will strike an enemy party multiple times with light-based force. Technically, Steeled Strike is Verso’s best attack, doing a massive amount of damage. However, players have to sacrifice a turn to do it, and if Verso gets hit, he returns to his normal stance and is unable to complete the attack.
If players have the Cheater Picto equipped, Verso could act twice in a row, but even so, that would be sacrificing a turn just to do one skill. That’s why Phantom Stars is the better choice, as there aren’t as many conditions to make it work properly, plus it does high Break damage.
3 Burning Canvas
Deals Void Damage To One Target, Amplified By Burn
- Character: Maelle
The Burning Canvas skill is strong on its own, but with a good fire-based build for Maelle, it will get better in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The base damage is Void-based, but it will also Burn enemies. The more Burn stacks are applied to the enemy, the more damage Burning Canvas will do.
7 Best Fire Skills In Clair Obscur Expedition 33, Ranked
Fire is one of the elements available in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and its destructive force is best showcased in these powerful skills.
Rain of Fire is a weaker skill for Maelle, but it’s a good one to pair with Burning Canvas to stack those Burn effects high and dry to let those flames touch the sky.
2 Elemental Genesis
Use Stains To Rapidly Attack All Foes
- Character: Lune
The Elemental Genesis skill is for Lune, and it’s easily her best attack skill. When Lune uses skills, they will generate Stains, and with the right combo, players can summon Elemental Genesis. This attack will use the Stain elements accumulated to do a full round of rapid strikes against a group of foes.
Besides Gradient Attacks, it’s the strongest group-based skill by far, with the only downside being that it can be tricky to get the right Stain combo together. That’s why a good Lune build is valuable in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
1 Stendhal
Blink Enemy Out Of Existence Or Cause Great Harm
- Character: Maelle
The Stendhal skill is easily the strongest in the game, and it belongs to Maelle. It’s a single strike, but the damage can easily get over a million points if players are in the right state of mind.
The only other attack that comes close to this is Maelle’s final Gradient Attack, which will not be listed because even the name could be a bit of a spoiler. Regardless of that, Stendhal makes Maelle a must-have party member at all times in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 92 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- April 24, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Kepler Interactive
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Playable
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based RPG, JRPG, Fantasy
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
