Maelle's 2 Billion Damage Build Nerfed by Clair Obscur

Discover the secrets behind Maelle's ability to unleash over 2 billion damage with her nuke build in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Dive into the details of this game-changing strategy and learn how Sandfall Interactive is responding to this powerful exploit.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Updates

Stendhal Hurts, A Lot

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 continues to surprise and delight players with new discoveries each day, including a player's revelation of achieving up to 2 billion damage with the character Maelle. As players venture into the endgame after completing the main story, they encounter more challenging bosses and additional story elements. This phase of the game can be intimidating, given the bosses' massive health pools and one-hit kill potential. In response, players have developed a nuke build to counter these threats. Be cautious, as this article may contain minor spoilers.

Maelle's skill, Stendhal, is key to this high-damage output, capable of being amplified to 200% in her Virtuose stance. To execute Maelle's nuke build, players need two specific Luminas, unlocked via Pictos (equipable items with unique effects). The required Luminas are Cheater, granting an extra turn, and Shortcut, which provides another turn when Maelle's health drops below 30%.

Additionally, Maelle must be equipped with the Medalum weapon, which starts battles in Virtuoso stance, and the Last Stand skill, which also triggers Virtuoso stance while reducing Maelle to one hit point.

To further enhance her damage, Maelle can equip any three of the following skills: Painted Power to exceed 9,999 damage, Death’s Door for an extra 50% damage at low health, Confident Fighter for an additional 30% damage but no healing, Inverted Affinity for another 50% damage while making healing harmful, and other percentage-based damage boosts.

With the right combination of Pictos and Luminas, Maelle can deliver over 2 billion damage. For context, the endgame boss Simon has about 45 million HP, meaning Maelle’s nuke strategy could theoretically defeat him 48 times over—a clear case of overkill.

Players are continually pushing the limits, experimenting with various characters and strategies to achieve even higher damage outputs. The challenging nature of Expedition 33's post-game encourages players to innovate and enjoy their journey.

Stendhal Getting Nerfed

Sandfall Interactive has acknowledged that Stendhal's extreme damage was making the game too easy. In a Twitter (X) post dated May 8, the studio announced upcoming adjustments to Maelle’s skill. Initially, they planned only to address bugs early in the game's life cycle, but the overwhelming power of Stendhal necessitated a balance change.

During development, Stendhal was underwhelming, but a final pre-release balance pass significantly boosted its damage—perhaps too much. "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 part of their first full hotfix, which will go live today on Steam and soon after on other platforms.

2 Million Copies in 12 Days

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is breaking records, having sold 2 million copies within just 12 days of its launch, as announced in a Twitter (X) post on May 6. The game's success was further highlighted when French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated Sandfall Interactive on Instagram for their achievements and for showcasing French creativity and audacity.

With such milestones, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a strong contender for this year's Game of the Year. The developers are committed to enhancing the game through updates and potential DLCs if the momentum continues.

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