Master Maelle's Skills and Weapons in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

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Maelle's playstyle revolves around her Battle Stance gauge, which starts at Stanceless. By using specific skills, she can enter Offensive, Defensive, or Virtuose Stances for one turn, with durations extendable by other skills and weapon traits. While requiring some setup, Maelle can deal significant damage when controlled effectively.

The three Stances are:

Offensive Stance: Damage Dealt +50%, Damage Received +50%
Defensive Stance: Damage Received -50%, gain 1 AP per Parry or Dodge
Virtuose Stance: Damage Dealt +200%

Using a Base Attack while in Offensive or Defensive Stance switches her to the other. Using a skill of the same stance returns her to Stanceless. Some weapons can initiate combat in a specific Stance. Virtuose Stance is the most powerful, offering a massive damage increase without the penalty of Offensive Stance. Accessing it often involves skills like Swift Stride when a target is burning, or later through weapon traits and her Gradient Attack, Virtuose Strike.

Once in Virtuose Stance, the goal is to accumulate enough AP for her strongest skills, which can reach the damage cap of 9,999 HP per hit in Act II and exceed it in Act III. Skills like Mezzo Forte can prolong Virtuose Stance. In Act III, Maelle gains three new skills that further boost her damage.

Maelle’s Best Skills

Maelle has a versatile skill set, with no truly useless options. Builds can focus on Fire skills and Burn effects for escalating damage, or prioritize reaching Virtuose Stance quickly for multi-hit attacks, which are particularly effective in Act II due to the single-hit damage cap.

Sword Ballet

Located on the far right of her Skill Tree, Sword Ballet is a powerful multi-hit attack. When used in Virtuose Stance and with high Crit Rate, critical hits can double damage, potentially reaching the 9,999 damage cap per hit in Act II. It also places Maelle in Defensive Stance afterward, offering survivability.

Breaking Rules

This skill is crucial throughout the game, especially against enemies with multiple shields. For 3 AP, Breaking Rules delivers two hits that destroy all enemy shields and returns AP for each shield destroyed. If the enemy is Defenseless, Maelle acts again.

Mezzo Forte

A vital support skill for builds aiming to maintain Virtuose Stance. Costing only 1 AP, it restores 2-4 AP and keeps Maelle in her current Stance. This is invaluable for staying in Virtuose Stance until enough AP is available for powerful attacks like Sword Ballet.

Gustave’s Homage

Acquired automatically later in the game, this is Maelle's hardest-hitting skill with eight hits. It's ideal for Act II's damage cap, despite its high 8 AP cost. It places Maelle in Virtuose Stance and deals increased damage to Marked enemies without removing the Mark.