Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - All Main Characters, Ranked

Each of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's playable characters has a lot to offer on the battlefield. Between elemental affinities, playstyles, and an arsenal of exceptional Skills, you can build a fantastic team from any combination of Expeditioners.

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If you're really building for pure combat prowess, though, we've ranked all six party members based on their overall usefulness in combat. It might help to keep one of the top performers on the bench just in case, though - remember, if the first team falls, the Reserve Party steps in to finish the fight, and they'll be shorthanded.

6 Gustave

Gustave is a great addition to the team, but his limited Skill list really holds him back. You can give him a bit of utility once he's leveled up by slotting in some Lightning-elemental attacks, but at the end of the day, he's a one-trick pony; build up his Charge Meter, then unleash a big hit with Overcharge.

By the end of Act One, you'll probably start to see Gustave spending less and less time on the main team and Sciel, Lune, and Maelle eclipse him in overall power. He makes a decent backup, though, as by the time he steps in for a Last Stand the rest of the team will have likely weakened the foe enough that all he needs is one good Overcharge to finish the job.

5 Sciel

Sciel's Darkness-based attacks pack a massive punch, especially when empowered by Foretell. She also has a lot of support powers that you can make clever use of. However, she's very situational because of her limited elements, and she can be slow to build up since she needs to prepare Sun and Moon Charges.

Given enough time to set up and the right weapon, Sciel is a tempo-driven rock star on your team, but more than any other character she struggles to deal with enemies that are resistant to her chosen style.

4 Monoco

Monoco offers fantastic versatility - arguably the best in the game - thanks to the unmatched size of his Skill list once you've hunted down dozens of Nevrons with him in the party. He can be easily set up to fill nearly any role, although it's often best to find a build that works for you if you don't want to constantly spend time on his character screen making changes.

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One of Monoco's most underappreciated strengths are the reliable buffs and debuffs that he offers. His Caster Mask is especially good for keeping the party in top shape, to say nothing of his excellent Santuary Gradient, and he has more options for Breaking foes than anybody else.

3 Verso

Verso makes an exceptional "anchor," a character whose job is to hold out when everyone else has fallen. Between his enormous combos, self-healing, and ways to augment damage, he's a one-man army.

Equipping Verso with Second Chance makes it much safer to use risky Skills like Berserk Slash, and he only becomes more survivable in Act 3 once he learns Angel Eyes for another resurrection option. You can afford to take chances with Verso, and the payoff is almost always worth it. Just beware of enemies that are resistant to Light, as a lot of his Skills rely on that element.

2 Lune

Lune's rotation of elemental spells lets her blast enemies in groups or one at a time. She's slightly better at the former than her companions, making her a must-have for crowd control situations, but single-target spells like Lightning Dance and Crustal Crush can make short work of lone targets as well.

It's best to make sure that Lune has access to all four of her elements (Fire, Ice, Earth, and Lightning), so that she's never stuck against an insurmountable foe and that she can effectively generate whichever Stains she needs. Until late in the game when she has enough Skill Points to unlock most of her tree, it can be worth spending a Recoat now and then to change her setup to suit the current situation.

Lune also makes a fantastic healer, and her recovery spells are within easy reach on her Skill Tree.

1 Maelle

The youngest member of Expedition 33 is a Nevron's worst nightmare from the moment she joins your party until the very end of the game. Her Stances offer staggering damage multipliers that mean she'll often be the first character to hit for 9,999 in a single strike, especially with the benefit of high-damage Skills that apply Mark and Defenceless.

If her raw damage output wasn't enough, Maelle also dishes out Burn even more efficiently than Lune, piling on more damage each time enemies take their turns. Outside of the occasional fight against Fire-elemental enemies that absorb the flames, Maelle's Burn attacks will hasten your victory in nearly every battle.

To top it all off, Maelle gets access to the unique Void element in Act 3, via her unlocked Skills and the Lithum rapier that you earn from her personal quest. Nothing can resist Void attacks, so there's truly no foe that's safe from late-game Maelle.

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