There are a total of six playable characters in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. However, you won’t get access to all of them right away. In fact, some of them require you to play through a good chunk of the game before you can start leveling them up. Here’s everything you need to know.
All Party Members and Playable Characters in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Before we get started, do be warned that there are some spoilers in this article. I won’t actually spoil the story, but I’ll list all the characters in the order they become available. If you don’t want to know any of that stuff, click away now. If not, read on.
| Character | How to Unlock |
|---|---|
| Gustave | Available at the start of the game. |
| Lune | Joins the party in Act I, in the Spring Meadows zone. |
| Maelle | Joins the party in Act I, in the Flying Waters zone. |
| Sciel | Joins the party in Act I, in the Gestral Village. |
| Verso | Joins the party at the end of Act I, after clearing the Stone Cliffs zone. |
| Monoco | Joins the party in Act II. Requires you to defeat him at Monoco’s Station. |
Gustave
Gustave is the first character you’re introduced to in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. He’s a great all-rounder with the unique Overload ability that charges up as you take actions in combat. Once his Overload gauge is full, you can use the Overload skill to deal a crap ton of damage with just one strike.
With that in mind, try to use his other skills before using Overload. It’s a lot less effective when it isn’t charged to max, so hold off until it’s ready.
Lune
Lune is the mage/healer of the party. She comes with some pretty devastating magic-based attacks across a variety of elements. And yes, elements absolutely do matter in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. As you use elemental attacks, Lune acquires stains, which can trigger extra abilities when attacking.
Don’t forget to invest in her healing abilities either, especially early on in the game. Things can get pretty rough without a dedicated healer, so don’t be afraid to have Lune fill that role as necessary.
Maelle
Maelle will very likely be the fan-favorite playable character of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and it’s easy to see why. She’s spunky and opinionated, and if that wasn’t enough, she’s a total badass in combat too.
Her kit revolves around stances — offensive, defensive, and Virtuouse — and you’ll need to swap between them effectively to get the most out of her. The offensive stance increases her DPS but lowers her defense; the defensive stance increases her defense but lowers her damage output, though you also get extra AP generation; finally, the Virtuouse stance increases her damage output by 200%.
Switching between the stances is the key to using Maelle well. Once you master all three, she’ll be basically unstoppable.
Sciel
Sciel is kind of like a trickster-style character. Think Astrologian from FFXIV, but with fewer card types. When you use an ability, she gets either a Sun or Moon card, and receives different bonuses based on those cards.
Generally speaking, Sun cards apply debuffs and other detrimental effects on enemies, while Moon helps with Sciel’s defensive capabilities and AP generation. When you have both Sun and Moon in hand, you enter Twilight mode, which gives Sciel a 50% boost in damage.
Verso
If you’re a Devil May Cry fan, you may enjoy Verso’s play style in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. His entire combat kit is based around a ranking system where you progress from D and work your way up as you land hits and dodge them. The higher your ranking, the more your damage Verso does, and this can help enhance his existing abilities as well.
Generally speaking, you want to equip dodge and parry-focused Pictos on Verso. By really getting those down, you can rank up Verso very quickly in combat, allowing him to deal more damage.
Monoco
Monoco is the final party member you’ll get in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. If you’re familiar with JRPGs, think of Monoco as the Blue Mage equivalent. He doesn’t have a skill tree like the rest of the characters, and instead gets new abilities by learning them from enemies. To do this, you’ll need to put him in the party, then defeat enemies for a chance for Monoco to learn them.
Because of this, Monoco is both the trickiest character to use in Expedition 33, and also the most versatile. You get what you put into Monoco, and if you take the time to learn a bunch of abilities, he can be really useful.
