Summary
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33has a lot of mechanics that evolve as the game goes on. For example, it seems at first that players can only use Dodge or Parry to negate an enemy attack, but then a jump-based version will unlock later, and that’s not all.
There is a system inClair Obscur: Expedition 33similar toFinal Fantasy’sLimit Breaks, wherein players can charge a shared meter among the party to use powerful skills called Gradient Attacks. Despite the name, not all Gradient Attacks are offensive. Of the party members in the game, players can unlock fifteen Gradient Attacks, and these are the ones that stand out the most, which will be ranked by their usefulness.
8Doom
Dark Damage To One Target And Applies Debuffs
The Doom Gradient Attack belongs to Sciel, and it can do a high amount of dark-based damage to one enemy, which is great if the enemy is weak to dark attacks. More importantly, it will imbue the enemy with several ofClair Obscur: Expedition 33’sstatus effectsand apply Powerless, Defenceless, and Slow for a few turns.
Powerless will weaken its attacks, Defenceless will lower its defenses, and Slow will reduce its speed, meaning that it will have fewer turns during battle. It’s a good Gradient Attack for strategists out there.
7Sanctuary
Applies Regen And Two Shields To Party
The Sanctuary Gradient Attack will not do any damage at all and is instead a supportive skill for Monoco. It will apply Regen to the party, which will heal them on every turn for a few rounds, which is a greatway to heal inClair Obscur: Expedition 33.
The other effect will give characters two Shields, and Shields in general can absorb complete damage for a solid hit. Once a Shield is hit, it will disappear, but they are nice to have in a pinch.
6Tree Of Life
Heal HP And Status Effects For All
The Tree of Life Gradient Attack is another supportive type, and Lune can learn this one. It will heal the party a good amount and, more importantly, it will remove pesky status effects like Powerless, which can lower attack power.
It’s easily one of the besthealing skills inClair Obscur: Expedition 33, and players may choose to save Gradient charges just to have this on the back burner. It may get used a lot in battle, but it is far from the coolest Gradient Attack in the game.
5Tremor
Earth Damage Targets All And Breaks Shields
The Tremor Gradient Attack is another one for Lune, and this one is an offensive type. It will target all enemies on the battlefield and strike them with high earth-based damage. Unfortunately, not many enemies are weak to earth-based attacks, but that’s not what makes Tremor good in the first place.
It will also remove every Shield the enemy party has with just one attack, which is huge for bosses or certain enemy types who like to apply Shields a lot like those sacrificial knights inClair Obscur: Expedition 33’sStone Wave Cliffs.
4Break Point
High Damage To One Target And Can Break Them
The Break Point Gradient Attack is another one for Monoco, and this one is an offensive type. It will target one enemy and do a great deal of damage, which is nice, but not the major perk. The Gradient Attack will automatically apply Break no matter where the enemy’s Break meter is.
Broken enemies inClair Obscur: Expedition 33can lose a turn, buffs applied to them, and can take more damage, which is most useful against very tricky enemies like the many optional Mime bosses.
3Gommage
The Ultimate Insult
The entirety ofClair Obscur: Expedition 33revolves around characters being Gommaged, which means they get erased from existence based on their age. To avoid direct spoilers, let’s just say that Maelle gets the power to Gommage certain foes within the story.
Eventually, players can get the Gommage Gradient Attack to use whenever they want in battle with Maelle. On weaker foes, it will kill them automatically, but on stronger enemies, like bosses, they will take an absurd amount of damage instead.
2Angel’s Eyes
High Damage To One Target, Raises Perfection, And Applies Auto Revive To Verso
The Angel’s Eyes Gradient Attack is the one good one for Verso, which deals a great amount of damage to one foe and hits it multiple times. Verso’s specialty is called Perfection, which is a letter-based grade system that starts at D and goes up to S in a descending order, which istypical in Japanese games, albeit confusing from an alphabetical perspective.
Angel’s Eyes will raise Verso’s grade with each hit, basically guaranteeing to get up to rank S after the attack, and ranks will boost attack power. Also, Verso can withstand death once during battle as if an angel is watching over him.
1Phoenix Flame
Burn Enemies And Revive Allies
The Phoenix Flame Gradient Attack is a great one for a very specific situation, but still amazing on a grand scale. If Maelle is alone in a party after witnessing her teammates die, Phoenix Flame will resurrect them with a good amount of health.
It will also apply a large stack of Burn status effects onto an enemy, and players use theirbuilds for Maelle right inClair Obscur: Expedition 33, they can absolutely dominate a boss by using Burn and fire-based attacks. That’s the biggest reason why this Gradient Attack is useful, but hopefully, players won’t go through losing two party members often.
