In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the character Maelle can unleash over 2 billion damage with a specialized "nuke" build. Discover how players achieve this staggering damage output and see how developer Sandfall Interactive is responding to this overpowered strategy.
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Stendhal's Devastating Power
The community surrounding Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 continues to uncover incredible gameplay secrets daily. A prime example is a player who engineered a build for the Expeditioner, Maelle, capable of dealing up to 2 billion damage in a single hit.
After completing the main story, players unlock a challenging endgame featuring new narrative content and formidable bosses. These encounters can be intimidating, as many bosses possess enormous health pools or deadly one-hit attacks. In response, players have developed a powerful counter: the nuke build. Please note that the following contains minor spoilers for the game's mechanics.
Maelle possesses a skill called Stendhal, which deals significant damage. This damage is amplified by 200% when she is in her Virtuose stance. To execute the nuke build, Maelle requires two specific Luminas, special powers unlocked by equipping certain Pictos.
The essential Luminas are "Cheater," which grants an extra turn, and "Shortcut," which provides another turn when her health falls below 30%. Furthermore, players must acquire Maelle's signature weapon, the Medalum, which allows her to begin battle in the Virtuose stance. Another key skill is "Last Stand," which activates Virtuose stance but reduces her health to 1 hit point.
For maximum effect, Maelle should also equip any three of the following skills: "Painted Power" (removes the 9,999 damage cap), "Death’s Door" (+50% damage at low health), "Confident Fighter" (+30% damage but disables healing), "Inverted Affinity" (+50% damage but converts healing to damage), or other percentage-based damage boosts.
While many Picto and Lumina combinations are possible, the setup described above enables damage exceeding 2 billion. For perspective, the endgame boss Simon has approximately 45 million HP. Maelle's nuke could theoretically defeat him 48 times over—clearly an excessive amount of damage.
Players are continually experimenting to push damage numbers even higher with different characters and strategies. The demanding post-game of Expedition 33 encourages this creative optimization, making the journey both easier and more engaging.
An Upcoming Nerf for Stendhal
Sandfall Interactive has acknowledged that Stendhal's power is making the game too easy. In a May 8th post on X (formerly Twitter), the studio announced upcoming adjustments to Maelle's skill. They stated that while initial plans only included bug fixes, the extreme damage output of Stendhal necessitated a balance change.
The developers revealed that Stendhal was considered underwhelming for most of the development cycle. During a final pre-release balance pass, they gave the skill a substantial damage boost but now admit they overcorrected. "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 explained.
The adjustments to Stendhal will be included in the first major hotfix, rolling out first on Steam before coming to other platforms shortly after.
2 Million Copies Sold in 12 Days
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 continues to smash sales records, having sold another million copies to reach a total of 2 million within just 12 days of launch, as announced in a May 6th X post.
The game's success has even drawn recognition from French President Emmanuel Macron. In a reply to an Expedition 33 Instagram post, he congratulated Sandfall Interactive, calling the team "a shining example of French audacity and creativity."
Given its critical and commercial success, Expedition 33 is a strong contender for Game of the Year honors. The developers remain committed to improving the game through updates, and potential DLC is on the table if momentum continues.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. For the latest news and guides on the game, check out our related article below.
