Summary
- Maelle's combo offers high damage, maintains stance, and excels against single targets.
- Verso's combo delivers delayed, high damage through rank-boosted abilities.
- Lune's combo provides powerful, ramping AoE damage with a spellcaster's fantasy.
No one expected Clair Obscur to be anywhere near as good as it is, and the world has since been gifted by one of the best turn-based RPGs ever made. The real-time combat mechanics, the character interactions, and a slew of build customization options that are virtually endless and can offer something for every playstyle and every kind of player.
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Part of what makes the game so enjoyable is the ability to chain and combo Pictos, Luminas, and most importantly, skills together in order to generate some insane damage output and destroy anything in the party's path. Every character has their own set of absurd skill rotations, but there are a few that are hard to beat when it comes to their flair and raw destructive potential.
8 Maelle - Gustave's Homage + Fleuret Fury
Absurd Damage And Maintains Maelle's Best Stance
- High lighting/physical damage
- Increased damage to marked targets
- Switch to Virtuose stance
- Can break
Maelle is one of the strongest characters in the entire game, and a lot of that power comes from her stance swapping, each version of which brings its own set of strengths and capabilities to the fight. One of her best abilities is 
Fleuret Fury, as not only does it deal insane damage by itself, it also allows the player to maintain the Virtuose stance once acquired, whether through another skill like Swift Strike or her weapon.
Following this up with Gustave's Homage, along with the target being marked, turns a single ability into a nuke that tears through single targets like butter and leaves nothing behind. It is quite an expensive combo to pull off, but by using extra supportive skills like Mezzo Forte, players will have no problem casting the attacks over and over, with very little being able to withstand the onslaught.
7 Verso - Perfect Break + Steeled Strike
Delayed Destruction That Removes Enemies From The Screen
- Light damage
- Generates S on break
- Delayed physical attack
Verso is for sure top three when it comes to raw damage output, and a good chunk of that relies on his Perfection meter, which amps his damage and applies different bonuses to his abilities depending on which rank he is at. This is a two-ability combo that takes that concept and bumps it to 11, letting out one of the highest single bursts that any character can do.
The main downside of Steeled Strike is, of course, the delay on the attack, which can be quite troublesome if the player isn't as adept at dodging. But it only takes one turn for the enemy's health pool to be eviscerated, thanks to the absurd burst that comes from casting just a single skill.
6 Lune - Crippling Tsunami + Fire Rage
Fire And Ice Joining Forces
- Ice damage
- Applies slow
- Buffed AoE fire damage
Lune is every mage player's fantasy. The perfect spellcaster that can be turned into either a supportive healer or a deadly archmage that tears through every foe in her path. The latter really thrives on AoE attacks that deal consistent damage to every enemy in the battle, and few skills can match the raw damage output of Fire Rage.
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The spell continues to ramp up every single turn Lune has avoided damage, and when buffed with the right Stains, two ice, the flames are simply absurd. One of the simplest skills to combo with it is Crippling Tsunami, which deals a chunk of damage itself, slows enemies which means that Lune won't be under as much stress, and provides the exact Stains she needs to follow-up with the fiery storm that just keeps on coming
5 Sciel - Final Path + Dark Wave
Maximum Foretell With Single And AoE Darkness
- High, single-target dark damage
- 10 (20 in Twilight) Foretell applied
- Consumes all Foretell for massive AoE
Sciel is one of those characters that often takes a bit too long to get going to compete with the others. This is in part due to her need to apply Foretell to enemies before actually letting off her burst. But this doesn't mean she doesn't have some pretty good combos like this one that can really tear through even the toughest opponents in the game.
The combo itself will throw the player straight into Twilight, but if they were already in that state, then the damage is even more insane. Being able to apply 20 Foretell stacks all at once and then consuming all of them on the next turn to unleash an area attack that blows through groups in a second is incredibly satisfying and well worth the build-up that it takes to get there.
4 Verso - Overload + Phantom Stars
Instant Perfection With An AoE Follow-Up
- Reduces health to 1
- S rank and refills all AP
- Extreme light damage to all enemies
- Can break
Sometimes, it can be quite troublesome to reach the coveted S rank, as without a weapon that gives the player a jump-start or a skill to help them along the way, it can take a few turns to actually get there. This combo removes all of the difficulty and instantly allows the player to reach the top rank and quickly unleash an extremely high-damaging skill that erases almost everything in its path
It can be a little risky to drop to 1HP so early in a fight, but being able to pump out such insane damage as early as the second turn is pretty hard to argue against. And when traversing the world, the number of enemy groups is pretty high, making AoE attacks even more valuable, especially ones that deal this much damage all at once.
3 Maelle - Degagement - Swift Stride - Revenge
The Fire That Keeps On Burning
- Fire weakness application
- Low AP costs
- Virtuose stance
- Break on the final hit
Fire and Maelle go hand in hand, as many of her skills bring with them a blazing effect that complements her already high damage with some additional ticks that are more than enough to finish anyone off. This combo revolves around using low AP skills to unleash a smashing hit after a few turns that combines all of the precious skills into one enormous burst.
The basic idea is that Degagement applies a fire weakness to an enemy, which is then followed by Swift Stride, which swaps the player into Virtuose stance. From there, the player has a lot of flexibility on the final blow, but one of the best abilities to use in this case is Revenge, which is amplified by both the fire tick, the burn, and the Virtuose stance, resulting in insane burst that can even break targets, making it the perfect chain to use against some of the tougher opponents.
2 Sciel - Card Weaver + End Slice
The Finishing Blow After A Whole Load Of Cards
- Spreads Foretell to all enemies
- Play a second turn
- Gradient attack finish that scales with Foretell consumption
Sciel has quite a few unique abilities that make her both the perfect support and an insane damage dealer. Whether it's giving allies Rush or having a second turn herself, she has a lot of flexibility on the battlefield and can be quite the menace for enemies to deal with. One of her best skills is Card Weaver, which allows her to act again, whilst distributing her Foretell to everything on screen.
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This, combined with a finisher like End Slice, and after a long fight of consuming cards and having extra turns, the burst that comes right at the end is truly remarkable, and there is virtually no chance that the enemy will be left standing after throwing out one of the highest single damage skills in the entire game.
1 Lune - Sky Break + Storm Caller
The Definition Of A Board Wipe
- AoE Gradient attack
- Can Break
- Buffed Lightning damage
- Applies at the end of enemy turns and when damage is taken
When it comes to choosing the best AoE skill for Lune to play with, the list is far too long to pick from. But this combo is certainly one of the crazier ones that doesn't require a whole lot of AP and gives Lune a ridiculous burst that comes out of nowhere. The gradient attack Sky Break in itself can be a one-shot machine, dealing insane damage to everything on screen and being well worth saving up those points for.
If anything is still left standing afterwards, the fact that players can then cast a spell on top of it, allows them to follow with Storm Caller, another high-damage AoE skill that benefits greatly from the Stains gained from Sky Break and adds to it with a ticking lightning damage effect that hits hard and even keeps going for a few turns after.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Released
- April 24, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Sandfall Interactive
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based RPG, JRPG, Fantasy
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
