Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG that follows a young group of heroes as they attempt to vanquish a mysterious being known as The Paintress. Throughout your journey, you’ll meet like-minded individuals who want to join your party, but you can only use three characters in battle scenarios, meaning there are some party formations in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that are better than others.
Every playable character in the game has a unique battle mechanic and abilities that create seemingly endless strategies for combat. If you’re overwhelmed by the amount of customization or need to find the right team for a certain boss or obstacle, these are the best party combinations you can use in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Updated on January 11, 2026, by Ben Williams: After New Game Plus dropped for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, many possibilities for testing the best party formation throughout all stages of the game have opened up. When you make use of Expedition 33’s best formations, try out these ideal character builds we’ve listed as well — so you can get the perfect levels of performance out of each dynamic trio.
7
Gustave, Lune, Maelle
Opening Team
Like most RPGs, you’ll slowly begin to add characters to your ensemble as you find them during your adventure. After the epic prologue, you’ll begin with only Gustave and will slowly find your first couple of allies — Lune and Maelle — as you progress through the first two areas in the game.
In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, this will be your best party formation by default until you find Sciel in the Gestral Village, and they work together incredibly well. It will be mentioned again, but Maelle can do massive amounts of damage to enemies who are burned by Lune’s attacks, and this can be even more effective after Gustave marks the enemy with his Marking Shot.
Best Builds
|
Party Member |
Priority Attributes |
Best Weapon |
Core Skills |
Essential Pictos & Luminas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gustave |
Vitality, Agility |
Abysseram |
Powerful, Marking Shot, Overcharge, Lumiere Assault |
SOS Shell, Rewarding Mark, Burning Shots, Dodger, Dead Energy II |
|
Lune |
Defense, Agility |
Choralim |
Healing Light, Mayhem, Elemental Trick, Elemental Genesis, Hell |
Burning Shots, Energising Start, SOS Shell, Versatile, Healing Share |
|
Maelle |
Agility, Defense |
Medalum |
Stendhal, Last Chance, Breaking Rules |
Glass Cannon, Immaculate, Painted Power |
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6
Maelle, Monoco, Verso
Quick Battle Team
When you’re returning to areas to search for missing collectibles or to look for optional bosses, the last thing you want to do is waste your time fighting inferior field enemies. With this line-up, you can easily hop into a battle against three or four opponents and wipe them out before they even have a chance to attack.
Monoco has a variety of strong attacks, like Chevaliere Ice, which deals high ice damage to all enemies and applies Slow, so you have more time to take them out. Following this move with Maelle’s Fencer’s Flurry (medium damage to all enemies with the weapon’s element and gives them Defenseless) and then Verso’s Radiant Strike should decimate your enemies before they know what hit them.
Best Builds
|
Party Member |
Priority Attributes |
Best Weapon |
Core Skills |
Essential Pictos & Luminas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Maelle |
Agility, Defense |
Medalum |
Stendhal, Last Chance, Breaking Rules, Fencer’s Flurry |
Glass Cannon, Inverted Affinity, Immaculate, Energising Parry, Healing Counter |
|
Monoco |
Agility, Defense |
Joyaro |
Healing Parry, Energising Turn, Immaculate, Chevaliere Ice |
Immaculate, Energising Parry, Empowering Parry, Energising Start II, Marking Shots, SOS Power |
|
Verso |
Agility, Luck |
Chevalam |
Radiant Strike, Defiant Strike, Ascending Assault, Phantom Stars, Follow Up |
Confident Fighter, Perilous Parry, Augmented Counter, Energising Counter, Critical Moment, Breaking Momentum |
5
Maelle, Monoco, Sciel
Buff And Debuff Team
Sometimes, the best strategy in a tough fight is to hold your attacks back so you can make your team stronger or the enemy team weaker. In this strategic loadout among Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s best party formations, Maelle, Monoco, and Sciel each have abilities that can buff the entire squad, so you can have a fighting chance against some of the toughest bosses in the game.
Maelle’s main status attacks are Guard Up, which decreases the amount of damage the party takes for a few turns, and Guard Down, which lowers every enemy’s defense for a bit. Sciel can use Rush to increase your allies’ speed, or Fortune’s Fury to let someone deal double the damage on their next turn. Monoco has a bunch of great moves as well that either apply status effects or deal extra damage to anyone suffering from one.
Best Builds
|
Party Member |
Priority Attributes |
Best Weapon |
Core Skills |
Essential Pictos & Luminas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Maelle |
Defense, Agility |
Medalum |
Stendhal, Breaking Rules, Momentum Strike, Guard Up, Guard Down |
Immaculate, Glass Cannon, Inverted Affinity, Painted Power, Dead Energy, Critical Burn |
|
Monoco |
Agility, Defense |
Joyaro |
Demineur Thunder, Moissonneuse Vendage, Pelerin Heal |
Energising Parry, Empowering Parry, Immaculate, Healing Counter, Energising Start, SOS Power |
|
Sciel |
Luck, Defense |
Charnon |
Twilight Dance, Final Path, Fortune’s Fury, Rush, Fortune’s Fury |
4
Lune, Maelle, Verso
Burn Team
You can build a party around a variety of status effects, but Burn is both a common and useful one for taking out larger enemies or bosses. Lune, Maelle, and Verso each have skills that either apply Burn or benefit from attacking enemies with it, and when used correctly, they can take out some of the Clair Obscur’s hardest foes with ease.
It’s best to start the battle with Lune, who can easily use skills like Immolation or Wildfire at the start of battle to apply Burn to all opponents. Maelle can also apply Burn with moves like Spark and Rain of Fire, or benefit from them by using Swift Stride to enter her Virtuose Stance.
Equipping Verso with Corpeso lets him apply Burn with his base attack, and when the weapon is level 20, he can deal up to 300% more damage to enemies on fire.
Best Builds
|
Party Member |
Priority Attributes |
Best Weapon |
Core Skills |
Essential Pictos & Luminas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lune |
Defense, Agility |
Choralim |
Burning Stain, Chromatic Cascade, Healing Light, Arcane Reversal, Immolation, Wildfire |
Arcane Overflow, Energising Turn, Healing Boost |
|
Maelle |
Defense, Agility |
Medalum |
Stendhal, Breaking Rules, Sword Ballet, Last Chance, Spark, Rain of Fire |
Immaculate, Glass Cannon, Inverted Affinity, Painted Power, Critical Burn, Dead Energy |
|
Verso |
Agility, Luck |
Chevalam |
Defiant Strike, Ascending Assault, Phantom Stars, Follow Up |
Confident Fighter, Perilous Parry, Augmented Counter I, Energising Counter, Breaking Momentum, Critical Moment |
3
Monoco, Sciel, Verso
Break Team
Every enemy in Clair Obscur has a break bar that you can fill to deal a massive amount of damage and stun them, making them unable to move on their next turn. There are a few times when breaking an enemy is your best strategy for victory, and Monoco, Sciel, and Verso are all capable of making it happen quickly.
Monoco’s Stalact Punches move only requires 4AP and deals four devastating attacks that each increase the enemy’s break bar significantly. Sciel will mostly act as your support for healing allies, but Fortune’s Fury can help her team fill the bar up faster, and she can use Phantom Blade to consume Foretell and deal massive damage.
Verso can damage and break one opponent with Radiant Slash, or multiple with Phantom Stars, which deals extreme damage and only costs 5AP when he is at S rank.
Best Builds
|
Party Member |
Priority Attributes |
Best Weapon |
Core Skills |
Essential Pictos & Luminas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Monoco |
Agility, Defense |
Joyaro |
Pulverizing Howl, Crushing Rush, Debilitating Snarl, Stalact Punche, Bestial Guard |
Energising Parry, Empowering Parry, Immaculate, Healing Counter, Energising Start, SOS Power |
|
Sciel |
Luck, Defense |
Charnon |
Intervention, Temporal Boon, Fortune’s Favor, Crescent Slash |
Energising Turn, Critical Burn, Dead Energy, Energising Start, Critical Moment, Emergency Shell |
|
Verso |
Agility, Luck |
Chevalam |
Ascending Assault, Defiant Strike, Phantom Stars, Follow Up |
Confident Fighter, Perilous Parry, Augmented Counter I, Breaking Momentum, Energising Counter, Critical Moment |
2
Lune, Maelle, Monoco
AoE Team
Many of your encounters in Clair Obscur will be against multiple enemies, and no matter what level you are, with a randomized party formation, it can be hard to handle them one at a time. Fortunately, characters like Lune, Monoco, and Maelle can work together to quickly take them all in a turn or two.
It’s best to have Maelle go first if possible, so she can use Fencer’s Flurry to deal medium damage and apply Defenseless to all enemies. Monoco can strike next with moves like Clair Enfeeble or Chapelier Slash, which will deal high physical damage to every opponent and Mark them to receive extra damage. Lune can then easily close the deal with powerful AoE moves like Wildfire, Crippling Tsunami, and more.
Best Builds
|
Party Member |
Priority Attributes |
Best Weapon |
Core Skills |
Essential Pictos & Luminas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lune |
Defense, Agility |
Choralim |
Chromatic Cascade, Elemental Stain, Healing Light, Arcane Reversal |
Arcane Overflow, Energising Turn, Healing Boost, Energising Start, Dead Energy, Emergency Heal |
|
Maelle |
Agility, Defense |
Medalum |
Stendhal, Breaking Rules, Momentum Strike, Last Chance |
Immaculate, Glass Cannon, Inverted Affinity, Painted Power, Dead Energy, Critical Burn |
|
Monoco |
Agility, Defense |
Joyaro |
Pulverizing Howl, Crushing Rush, Debilitating Snarl, Bestial Guard |
Energising Parry, Empowering Parry, Immaculate, Healing Counter, Energising Start, SOS Power |
1
Lune, Sciel, Maelle
Girl Power Team
The women in Clair Obscur are arguably the strongest party members in the game, so it’s not too surprising that they make up for what is the best party formation in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 altogether. Not only are they powerful on their own, but they each have abilities that can help each other out as well.
As mentioned in previous strategies, Lune should start by using attacks like Immolation or Wildfire to apply Burn to enemies, so Maelle can follow up with Swift Stride and enter Virtuose Stance. Sciel can either focus on applying Foretell on enemies to buff her own attacks, or she can act as a support with moves like Grim Harvest that simultaneously damage enemies while healing the entire party.
There is so much more you can do with them beyond this, but this line-up is guaranteed to get you through most of Clair Obscur without a problem.
Best Builds
|
Party Member |
Priority Attributes |
Best Weapon |
Core Skills |
Essential Pictos & Luminas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lune |
Defense, Agility |
Choralim |
Elemental Stain, Chromatic Cascade, Healing Light, Arcane Reversal, Immolation, Wildfire |
Energising Turn, Healing Boost, Arcane Overflow, Energising Start, Emergency Heal, Dead Energy |
|
Maelle |
Agility, Defense |
Medalum |
Stendhal, Breaking Rules, Last Chance, Momentum Strike |
Immaculate, Glass Cannon, Inverted Affinity, Painted Power, Dead Energy, Critical Burn |
|
Sciel |
Luck, Defense |
Charnon |
Intervention, Fortune’s Favor, Temporal Boon, Crescent Slash |
Critical Burn, Energising Turn, Dead Energy, Energising Start, Critical Moment, Emergency Shell |
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