Best Gustave Build in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will completely drain you. And it won’t even hide it from you, letting you know from the start that this is a futile mission. Yet, you never know, your expedition group could prove the lucky number. Every year, the Paintress will paint a number on a monolith far away from your home. And everyone whose age corresponds to that number will die. She’s been painting from descending numbers from 100, with the current year at age 33. You’re among the expeditioners trying yet again to put a stop to her; never mind the countless others that have failed. 

Feeling hopeless yet? Don’t fret. We’ve got you. The first rule in gaming is to ensure your character is up to the task. And you do that by ensuring they have the best weapons and gear on hand. We know Gustave wields a sword and pistol. He also thrives better when he builds his Overcharge ability for a massive damage output. Below, we highlight the best Gustave build in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that will give you the best fighting chance against the atrocities you’ll soon face on your way to stopping the Paintress for good. 

Best Gustave Build in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

The biggest thing to note about Gustave is that he’s most useful when he maxes out his Overcharge ability. At a maximum of ten Charges, Gustave’s Overcharge will unleash devastating lightning damage. Plus, it’ll more easily break enemies’ armor as well as stun them.

To max out Gustave’s Overcharge, you want to make sure he successfully attacks, dodges, parries, and uses specific skills like Lumière Assault and Strike Storm more. You also want to land as many critical hits as possible so he can build up his Overcharge meter quickly.

Best Attributes for Gustave

When prioritizing attributes in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, we suggest focusing on these two:

• Vitality – Vitality is a stat that focuses on Health as well as Attack Power. So, by leveling it up, you can help boost Gustave’s health and increase his damage output, which helps you last longer on the battlefield to build Overcharge more efficiently. 
• Agility – Agility, on the other hand, has everything to do with speed. It allows you to land more hits and react faster to incoming attacks. In turn, it helps boost your offense and defense, landing more critical hits.

Best Pictos and Luminas for Gustave

For your passive buffs, which are the Pictos and Luminas, we suggest equipping the following:

• Marking Shot – Equipping the Marking Shot Picto will ensure that after a successful attack, you inflict 50% more damage on the next hit. For the Luminas effect, it raises the chances of landing a successful first hit when using the Free Aim Shot by 20%.
• SOS Shell – If Gustave’s health bar reaches below 50%, the SOS Shell Picto allows you to take up 20% less damage. The Luminas effect unlocks the 20% damage reduction buff for any other party member.
• Augmented Attack – Augmented Attack increases your base attack damage output by a whopping 50%. Meanwhile, the Luminas effect applies the increase in attack power to other characters.

Best Skills for Gustave

As for the skill choices, we recommend the following:

• Lumière Assault – It’s the best way to build Gustave’s Overcharge, at least skills-wise. Lumière Assault deals five hits. However, each consecutive hit generates an additional Charge for your Overcharge ability. 
• Strike Storm – While Strike Storm hits a single target, every critical hit helps generate two additional charges for Overcharge.
• Overcharge – An obvious choice for Gustave, you want to equip Overcharge to deal massive lightning damage corresponding to the number of charges you have accumulated.
• Marking Shot – Marking Shot is also a skill that ensures the next hit after a successful attack inflicts more damage.
• Powerful – This lets you be a team player and increase your allies’ damage output for three turns.
• From Fire – Be sure to equip From Fire in the last slot because of its varied uses, including increasing your single-target damage as well as applying a Burn status effect to your attacks.

Best Weapons for Gustave

Meanwhile, the best weapons for Gustave are the following:

• Abysseram – You want to maximize Gustave’s basic attacks as much as possible, and Abysseram helps you do that. It increases your damage output by 50% when you reach level four. At level ten, you gain a 50% increase in the damage output of your base attacks. And at level 20, you can recover 20% of your health with every base attack. For even better performance, you can scale Abysseram with Vitality and Agility to create an unstoppable tank dealing significant damage. 
• Chevalam – Alternatively, consider Chevalam, which, at level four, automatically boosts Gustave to Rank S. At level ten, you deal 20% more damage with each consecutive turn while not taking any damage. It’s a sure-fire way to stay in battle longer, but also, consistently go on the offense without a sweat, specifically stacking your turn up to five times. At level 20, you can apply Rush, which is a buff that will increase your speed by a whopping 33%. 

Best Team for Gustave

Lastly, you want to create the following party composition for the best chance against formidable enemies:

• Maelle – However, Maelle is your best leading DPS party member. She’s more versatile, with an ability that can instantly break enemies’ shields.  She stacks up AP based on the number of shields she breaks. Moreover, you can gain a free turn with Maelle when you attack an enemy marked with the Defenceless debuff. These all pave the road for Lune.
• Lune – She’s an elemental Mage, supplementing Gustave’s physical damage. She can inflict burn damage on enemies, whether dealing basic attacks or using her skills. The damage is quite significant, making her a great sub-DPS party member. She can also be a potent healer.
• Gustave – Gustave then comes in with Overcharge, dealing devastating lightning damage to enemies. But he needs time to charge up and allow Maelle to break enemies’ shields, hence serving a more supportive role during combat.