The strongest Clair Obscur Expedition 33 skill is about to change, as developer Sandfall Interactive warns players that there's just "one more day to enjoy it in its current form and set some wild records." The Stendhal Maelle build has been making the rounds as eager RPG min-maxers discover more ways to skyrocket its damage numbers up into the stratosphere, causing Sandfall to take action.
When it comes to the best turn-based RPG with Maelle's damage numbers soaring into the millions (or even billions), there's a very good chance they're using the Stendhal skill. Described as dealing "extreme single-target Void damage" while removing self-shield and applying the Defenceless debuff, it's a high risk, high reward move that has become so strong that it makes the risk a non-issue.
Combined with her Virtuose stance, and the ability to further chain additional trickery by claiming additional turns from her arsenal of weapons, Pictos, and Lumina, or while applying buffs with other characters, you can use it to overcome the toughest fights in Clair Obscur Expedition 33 before your foes get so much as a chance to strike back. You can see a basic example below courtesy of 'whipshoutt' on YouTube (although be cautious of potential spoilers if you're still early in the game), but the numbers have continued to climb since.
"We hadn't planned to make any balance changes this early," the developer writes in a post to social media. "Just bug fixes, unless something clearly stood out. Well, Stendhal did. It was underwhelming for most of development, so in our final pre-release balance , we gave it a big damage boost – and clearly overdid it. It ended up overshadowing most other options."
It's always tough to know where to draw the line when balancing single-player games – breaking Expedition 33's limits is tremendously enjoyable, and you aren't hurting anyone else. But there's a point at which something becomes so relentlessly powerful that it actually harms the long-term pleasure of experimenting. "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 explains.
As such, a new Clair Obscur Expedition 33 patch set to arrive tomorrow, Friday May 9, will include an adjustment to bring Stendhal back down to earth. "After the change, it'll still be a strong single-hit skill with great synergy potential," Sandfall reassures, "just more in line with everything else." I suppose it's time to start practicing those parries again.
If you're trying to figure out some new strategies, take a look through our guides to the Clair Obscur Expedition 33 Pictos you need to prioritize unlocking.
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