Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: 10 Best Tips for Beginners

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 uses a turn-based battle system with a mix of real-time action. It can be a little confusing, especially when you consider that each of the three active party members has unique abilities, fights distinctively, has their own skill trees, and has more nuances in the combat system. 

Exploration, too, can pose challenges for those preferring a mini-map to tell them where to go. Most of all, the timing window for dodges and parries is pretty tight. And moreover, they vary depending on the attack pattern of the type of Nevron you’re fighting. Every party before Expedition 33 may have failed to stop The Paintress. But with these Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: best tips for beginners, you just might stand a chance.

10. Fight Optional Bosses

Gamers shy away from fighting optional bosses in RPGs for various reasons. In  Sandfall Interactive Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, it may be because they seem too tough to beat. But for the sole reason that beating optional bosses drops some valuable rewards, you might want to brace yourself for the challenge.

The trick here is to work smart by lowering the difficulty. This eases the battle for you in different ways, such as activating the automatic QTE setting. Alternatively, you can upgrade your stats in the Attributes you thrive in. Or better still,  perfect your skill, especially mastering the Parry and Dodge timing windows. 

9. Optimize Your Gunshots

You have various tools on hand for taking down enemies, among them guns. But gunplay isn’t always applicable to all combat scenarios, especially since each gunshot costs valuable Action Points (AP). You want to identify scenarios when gunshots come in handy, like when dealing with aerial enemies who’re resistant to melee attacks. 

Alternatively, gunshots come in handy when breaking down armor so the enemy can begin taking real damage. You want to look out for the shield icons over the enemy’s health bar, and use each gunshot to take down the armor, one shield icon per shot. 

8. Manage Your Party

Each character in your party has unique skills and attributes, making them unique for certain scenarios. While you choose three active party members at a time, don’t neglect the remaining three, called the Reserve Party. Make sure to use each one so they earn experience points (XP), and not just interchange them, but master their unique fighting styles.

7. Sharpen Your Defenses

Attacks should be relatively easier to master. Defense is where the trick lies. You have four buttons for a Dodge, Parry, Parry for special moves, and Dodge for massive AoE attacks. Each has its own tight timing window. So, you see, defense can be a tough nut to crack, especially considering enemies have different attack patterns. 

Generally, Parries have a tighter timing window. Moreover, you’ll find that, unlike games like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Dynasty Warriors Origins, the Parry timing is slightly earlier than usual, thus giving your character time to react. 

6. Experiment with Pictos

Now, onto learning the odd terms Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 uses. You’ll come across the word Pictos quite often. The latter basically means “passive buffs,” which you can collect as items from exploring the world, as rewards for completing the main story and defeating optional bosses, and as rewards for completing side quests. You may also buy them from Merchants. 

With Pictos in hand, you can equip three onto a character, bestowing them with a new perk. This is where your experimenting with your build comes in to find the perfect balance of skills and passive buffs that work best for you.

5. Explore to Your Heart’s Desire

As you’ve probably figured out, exploration can be hugely rewarding. And yes, you don’t have a minimap, but still push yourself to explore off the beaten path. You never know what interesting lore you might find. Better still, you may stumble onto exciting secrets, optional bosses, treasure chests, Pictos, crates, and more goodies. 

4. Maximixe Your Luminas

Another term you’ll come across quite often in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is Luminas. It’s quite frankly hardly explained in the game. But all you need to know is that whenever you unlock a new Pictos special ability, you need to equip it on one of your party members and ensure they win four battles.

This will unlock the Pictos’ associated Lumina, which you can think of as the accessories or special effects of a Picto. It’s another way you can upgrade your party to unstoppable levels. 

3. Feel at Home at the Camp

The camp has plenty of use cases that can easily go unnoticed. It’s a home away from home you can always visit, where you can level up your party with Lumina points, upgrade your gear, explore new story beats, and even pursue closer bonds with your party by the campfire. 

2. Look Out for the Weak Points

Weak points aren’t new to gaming, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is sure to make good use of them. Whenever you see a glowing blue, it’s your sign to use Free Aim to inflict a critical hit on that spot. But there’s a more damaging weak point that’s not always obvious.

Some enemies in Flying Waters, for instance, have floating mines around them. These can cause a massive explosion when hit, which will surely take out all enemies within the vicinity.

1. Beware of the Danger Zones

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is structured a bit like a Metroidvania, where some areas are best left unexplored until you upgrade with enough power to take on the enemies in that area. These places are marked with “Danger” in big red letters. Sure, you can ignore the warning, giving in to your curiosity. But do so at your own risk. 

Danger zones aren’t marked lightly. At most, you can look around and maybe pick up some valuable collectibles, taking a mental note to return. Otherwise, engaging the enemies will near-certainly be futile, and there’d be no shame in simply choosing to walk away.