Maelle's 2 Billion Damage Build Nerfed by Clair Obscur

Discover how Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 can unleash over 2 billion damage with her nuke build. Dive into the details of this explosive strategy and learn how Sandfall Interactive is addressing this overpowered skill.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Updates

Stendhal Hurts, A Lot

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 continues to surprise and delight its players with new discoveries each day. One such revelation is the ability to deal up to 2 billion damage using Maelle, the Expeditioner. After completing the main story, players dive into the endgame, which is packed with additional story elements and challenging bosses. These bosses often have immense health pools and can deal devastating one-hit attacks, pushing players to develop powerful strategies like the nuke build. Be warned, this article may contain minor spoilers.

Maelle's skill, Stendhal, is at the heart of this high-damage build. When in her Virtuose stance, Stendhal's damage can be boosted to 200%. To maximize this nuke build, players need to equip Maelle with two specific Luminas: Cheater, which grants an extra turn, and Shortcut, which provides another turn when Maelle's health drops below 30%. Additionally, Maelle must wield the Medalum weapon, allowing her to start battles in Virtuose stance, and use the Last Stand skill, which activates Virtuose stance and reduces her to one hit point.

To further enhance her damage output, Maelle can equip any three of the following skills: Painted Power, which allows damage to exceed 9,999; Death’s Door, which boosts damage by 50% at low health; Confident Fighter, which increases damage by 30% but prevents healing; and Inverted Affinity, which adds another 50% damage but makes healing harmful. With the right combination of Pictos and Luminas, Maelle can achieve over 2 billion damage. To put this into perspective, the endgame boss Simon has about 45 million HP—Maelle’s nuke could theoretically take him down 48 times over.

Players are constantly pushing the limits, experimenting with different strategies and characters to achieve even higher damage numbers. The challenging post-game content of Expedition 33 encourages players to innovate and enjoy their journey.

Stendhal Getting Nerfed

Sandfall Interactive has acknowledged that Stendhal was making the game too easy. In a Twitter (X) post on May 8, the studio announced upcoming adjustments to Maelle’s skill. Initially, they had planned only bug fixes, not balance changes, at this early stage. However, the extreme damage output of Stendhal necessitated a rethink. The skill was underwhelming during development until a final pre-release balance pass gave it an unintended massive boost.

"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 included in the first full hotfix, set to go live today on Steam, with other platforms following shortly.

2 Million Copies in 12 Days

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 continues to break records, reaching 2 million copies sold just 12 days after its launch, as announced in a Twitter (X) post on May 6. Earlier in the month, French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated Sandfall Interactive on Instagram, praising the game for its representation of French culture and creativity.

With its ongoing success and updates, Expedition 33 is a strong contender for this year's Game of the Year. The developers are committed to enhancing the game experience with further updates and potential DLCs.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Stay updated with the latest news by clicking on our article below!