Summary
- Generally, Pictos are unique and great in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but some variants are notably weaker than others and have unjustified Lumina costs.
- Effective Heal is redundant for healing due to better options, while Energising Start IV costs too much Lumina for a single AP.
- Some of the worst Pictos in the game include Charging Alteration, Greater Slow, and Healing Stun.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 offers dozens of unique Pictos for players to experiment with, creating various overpowered builds for main characters, including Verso, Maelle, Sciel, Lune, and Monoco. With no cap for Lumina points per character, players are free to turn everyone into an OP killing machine or an ultimate healer or supporter as well. However, once players fully grasp the entire Picto and Lumina systems, they may discover that some Pictos aren't really worth it to equip.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Best Pictos For Support, Ranked
Support Pictos can make Expedition 33 much easier by providing extra AP and granting different buffs. Here are the strongest Pictos of this kind.
While almost any Picto could prove beneficial in particular builds tailored around them, some Pictos' perks aren't as balanced as many other stronger variants, granting rather underwhelming bonuses and taking 10 or more Lumina points to be equipped. More often than not, players can easily find an alternate Picto with a similar but better perk for the same cost. Below, this list will take a look at some of the worst Pictos in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that are rarely worth the Lumina cost they need and are recommended to be avoided.
1 Effective Heal
Double All Heals Received
- Lumina Cost: 30
- Passive Stat Boost: Health, Defense
- Where to find: Found during exploration of the Sirene area
On paper, 
Effective Heal Picto looks promising, doubling all heals received by a character. However, not only is Effective Heal way too expensive, but its ability also isn't as strong as it may seem for several reasons.
To start with, players have many options to heal regularly in Expedition 33, including more affordable, effective Pictos, such as ones that grant passive healing every turn or recover substantial amounts of HP with each hit, like base attacks. Second, many healing perks, including tints, restore 100% of a character's HP, making the bonus of Effective Heal redundant. It's much more effective to spend 30 Lumina points on something else.
2 Energising Start IV
On Battle Start, Grant +1 AP
- Lumina Cost: 20
- Passive Stat Boost: Health
- Where to find: Found during exploration of the Forgotten Battlefield area
Energising Start I Pictos are among the best for characters with costly skills equipped, as each tier of this Picto grants an extra action point (AP). However, the cost of each subsequent tier rises notably, adding 5 Lumina points to each new Picto's cost. This makes Energising Start IV far too expensive for the single AP it grants, despite its commonly desirable perk.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Best Pictos For Attack, Ranked
Players aiming to craft the most devastating combat builds in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 should focus on these offensive Pictos.
Unless players are desperate to gain an extra AP at the start of the battle or have amassed ample Lumina points with each character to easily afford Energising Start IV, they should avoid using it due to its unjustifiably high Lumina cost and opt for alternate ways to consistently build AP flow rather than relying on a single extra AP at battle start.
3 Double Mark
Mark Requires One More Hit to be Removed
- Lumina Cost: 20
- Passive Stat Boost: Speed
- How to get: Sold by Gestral merchant Klaudiso in the Sirene area
Double Mark is a solid Picto variant to keep enemies marked without fear of hitting them with potentially the wrong character, yet its effect is somewhat overpriced. Upon collecting Pictos, players will discover that there are many ways to simply place a new mark on an enemy if needed, either with other Pictos that enable free aim shots or base attacks to mark enemies or via the numerous skills available for every character.
Coupled with its substantial Lumina cost, this makes Double Mark less desirable than it might initially seem. Overall, it's very easy to sustain marks on enemies if needed in Expedition 33, which renders Double Mark far too expensive for its mid-tier perk.
4 Burning Mark
Apply Burn on Hitting a Marked Enemy
- Lumina Cost: 15
- Passive Stat Boost: Health, Defense
- Where to find: Found during exploration of the Ancient Sanctuary area
Burning Mark shares similar traits and shortcomings with the Double Mark Picto, and while these two Pictos can work in synergy, even that is not worth the benefits players gain. While additional Burns could prove highly beneficial, players will discover much more effective ways to stack Burns on enemies through less costly Pictos, skills, and even weapons.
Clair Obscur Expedition 33: Best Pictos That All Characters Should Have
Regardless of a player's build, every party member in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 should have these Pictos equipped for any combat encounter.
Moreover, Burning Mark's perk is somewhat overcomplicated, requiring players to mark an enemy before hitting them — all just to apply a single extra Burn. Combining Burning Mark with Double Mark would cost a whopping 35 Lumina points to equip, which is far too much for their combined payoff.
5 Greater Slow
+15% to Slow Speed Reduction
- Lumina Cost: 15
- Passive Stat Boost: Defense, Speed
- Where to find: Found on the World Map, on Sky Island (requires unlocking Esquie's fly ability first)
Generally, Slow is among the least useful debuffs in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, as in many cases, it's much easier to boost every character's Speed through Pictos than to slow down a fast enemy with a debuff that may require a turn to properly cast. This alone makes 
Greater Slow quite easy to ignore for the majority of possible builds — but on top of that, its speed reduction bonus is quite underwhelming.
The default Slow debuff reduces enemies' Speed by 25%, so getting an extra half of that for 15 Lumina points seems rather impractical. To gain an advantage in battles against fast opponents, players are advised to rely on the First Strike Picto and invest in damage rather than spending their Lumina points on a chance to slow down the boss via the Greater Slow ability.
6 Greater Shell
+10% to Shell Damage Reduction
- Lumina Cost: 10
- Passive Stat Boost: Health, Defense
- Where to find: Found during exploration of the Sirene area
Greater Shell is in the same league as Greater Slow, a notably weak Picto that most players can easily ignore. While it's at least cheaper than Greater Slow, its effect is also weaker, granting just an extra 10% damage reduction on top of the default Shell buff's 20% damage reduction.
Clair Obscur Expedition 33: Hardest Optional Areas, Ranked
These optional areas are the hardest in Expedition 33, featuring deadly enemies and bosses but offering powerful rewards.
Still, Greater Shell might prove useful if players are determined to create the ultimate survivalist build in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, aiming to reduce damage from even the toughest bosses to a minimum. However, for that goal, there are many more effective defensive Pictos, such as Confident or Enfeebling Mark, to name a few. At least Greater Shell isn't entirely worthless, even if it remains among the weakest Pictos in the game.
7 Charging Alteration
Once per Turn, Grant +10% of a Gradient Charge on Applying a Buff
- Lumina Cost: 10
- Passive Stat Boost: Defense, Speed
- Where to find: Found during exploration of the Flying Manor area
Gradient Attacks could be a real ace in one's sleeve, standing as some of the most powerful attacks for every character, which is why players would certainly appreciate ways to fill Gradient Charge faster. While 
Charging Alteration can be used to achieve that, it is among the worst Pictos for doing so, given its specific conditions for building a charge and a fairly underwhelming bonus of 10%.
For instance, support Pictos like Charging Critical grant 20% of a charge on critical hits — double the value with easier conditions, all for the same 10 Lumina points. While Charging Alteration can be used to push the buildup of Gradient Charge to its maximum, in many cases, it's not worth the hassle of spending Lumina points on it.
8 Healing Stun
Recover 5% Health on Hitting a Stunned Target
- Lumina Cost: 10
- Passive Stat Boost: Health, Speed
- Where to find: Found during exploration of the Lumiere area in Act 3
Healing Stun is easily among the most underwhelming Pictos in the entire game, especially considering how late in the game players can acquire it. Not only does this Picto have a rather specific condition for its healing effect to trigger, but it also only grants 5% HP recovery on hit, which is simply laughable.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Best Pictos For Defense, Ranked
Dealing massive damage is good, but surviving anything a boss might throw at players in Expedition 33 is even better.
In Expedition 33, players have countless ways to heal, either via healing tints with up to 100% HP recovery or through numerous skills or other Pictos that allow them to heal upon dealing damage to enemies. For instance, with Attack Lifesteal, players gain 15% HP recovery with no extra conditions. Overall, it's hard to imagine a situation where the Healing Stun Picto is worth equipping, even if it costs a moderate 10 Lumina points.
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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
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based RPG, JRPG, Fantasy
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
