Summary:
- Medalum is the best weapon since it automatically activates Virtuose Stance at the beginning of battle.
- Core skills for Maelle’s DPS capabilities include: Stendhal, which enables the biggest burst of damage, and Last Chance to refresh Virtuose Stance.
- Core Pictos that work well with Maelle are Immaculate, Glass Cannon, and Inverted Affinity for increased crit chance, speed, and health.
So you’re heading into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and you’re wondering how to get really overpower the game with a specific Maelle build? Lucky for you, you’ve come to the right place! Maelle is no regular DPS unit; she’s a beast, and she has the potential for crazy amounts of burst damage. Getting your Maelle build right can completely change the game and make bosses feel like a walk in the park!
Key Attributes for Maelle DPS Build
When it comes to developing the best Maelle DPS in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the essential attributes all have to do with Agility and Defense. Agility provides Maelle with faster attack speed with better potential for crit hits. Meanwhile, Defense allows her to stay in combat situations longer, allowing consistent damage output.
In the early game, prioritize Luck and Might to get as many critical hits and to maximize raw damage. Luck, in particular, can be helpful to increase Maelle’s critical rate. And once that is combined with crit-enhancing Pictos and Luminas, it makes her early-game burst damage killer. Once Maelle has progressed through the game, the build starts to transition into investing into Vitality, Might, and the specific stats that scale off Maelle’s weapon.
It’s important for Maelle to find a balance between survivability and damage. Although it’s important to maximize damage output, completely ignoring Vitality and Defense means Maelle is susceptible to getting debuffs. This can be devastating, given that Maelle tends to focus on single-target damage per fight or fight a boss. The idea of progressing through the game using basically all Luck and Might in the early stages of the game and transitioning to Vitality and weapon-scaling stats later is a perfect example of finding that balance. Players should also pay attention to how Maelle’s skills are utilized might synergize with her attributes.
Best Weapon Choice
Medalum is the best weapon for Maelle in Expedition 33 because it automatically activates Virtuose Stance when the battle begins. This is important because when Maelle enters Virtuose Stance, she increases her damage without penalties, which isn’t the case with her Offensive or Defensive stance. So when Medalum puts Maelle into Virtuose Stance, that means she can do a lot of damage right away. For example, Percee would work right away because it utilizes her highest damage skills early in Virtuose Stance.
On top of that, Medalum gains from Maelle’s Defense and Agility, causing it to take advantage of those natural traits. It also goes very well with Maelle’s playstyle when applying stacks of Burn effects. When Medalum gets to level 10, every Burn put out while in Virtuose Stance is doubled. And then at level 20 the Burn Damage is also doubled. This synergy allows Maelle to rack up impressive damage amounts and even exceed 9999 damage in the early game.
Essential Skills for DPS
Underneath it all is Stendhal, a high burst damage skill that is still solid even after nerfs. It can take forever to do damage, with high damage returns. Stendhal is also supported by Last Chance, which refreshes Maelle’s Virtuose Stance. This’ll allow her to stay in her peak damage state longer and take advantage of the damage she can deal.
In addition to these, there are also a few more parts that complete the best DPS build for Maelle. Percee is also a medium single-target physical damage skill, and the damage is better and more effective when used in Virtuose Stance since it does bonus damage to marked enemies. Technically, you get solid damage with this skill, and it also switches Maelle back to Defensive Stance.
While arguably not a conventional skill, Swift Stride is necessary for staying in and taking advantage of Virtuose stance. When used against burning enemies, it also converts base form to Virtuose Stance, then you can make a follow-up, and you can wreak havoc. Mezzo Forte is another damage skill while also changing the stance of Maelle from base to offensive. It provides a seamless approach to switching offensive maneuvers.
Optimal Pictos and Luminas
For Maelle’s DPS build, the best Pictos to equip are Immaculate, Glass Cannon, and Inverted Affinity. All 3 of these Pictos can increase Maelle’s critical chance, speed, and health, and they apply some big damage multipliers. Immaculate provides speed and critical rate, providing a 30% damage spike until Maelle takes damage. Glass Cannon also gives speed and 25% more damage, while increasing damage taken by 25%, so be careful when defending. Inverted Affinity provides health and critical hit, and applies Inverted status at battle start, giving a 50% damage spike while active.
Pictos aside, the best Luminas focus on increasing Maelle’s damage output and survivability with crit and status effect synergies. The major Luminas are Burning Shots (20% chance to Burn on Free Aim shots) and Marking Shots (20% Mark chance). These allow for damage over time and debuff stacking. Other Luminas include the following:
- Critical Burn
- Critical Vulnerability
- Healing Counter
- Energising Parry
Conclusion
We’ve finally reached the end. And now, you’ve got a complete build blueprint to create a Maelle DPS that absolutely crushes Clair Obscur: Expedition 33! With correct stat balances, skills, and of course the weapon Medalum, your Maelle will be doing crazy burst damage. Make sure you appreciate the maximization of stats whilst also timing your skills to keep your enemies under pressure!
