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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33tells the story of that very same expedition, as they embark on a journey to slay the Paintress, an ever-present source of suffering for humanity. Throughout the main story of this game, you will meet numerous characters, but the first one to greet you is Gustave.
Gustave is the first character we get to use in the game, and as such, he serves as the introductory point of the combat mechanics throughout the early stages of the story. However, this doesn’t mean his techniques cannot be complex enough, so here we’ll tell you all you need to know about him.
There are heavy spoilers of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 below!
The Best Gustave Weapons And Attributes
Gustave’s best attributes are Vitality and Agility, which will affect how the best weapons he can use scale as you upgrade your characters and equipment. Likewise,his best possible weapons, Lanceram and Abysseram, can be found early in the game,which makes sense as we get to play as him just for a while.
The first sword, theLanceram, can be easily found by defeating a Lancelier in Spring Meadows, so you’ll be able to get one early on. This Swordscales on Vitality and Agility, and while it doesn’t have a lot going on for Gustave, you want to level it up as often as you can, asit’ll become more important once you take control of Verso, as it gives the Perfection status on later levels.
Now, the next one,Abysseram, can be found by defeating the Bourgeon on The Continent, in the southern area of Stone Wave Cliffs. This swordscales with Vitality and Defense,and while it only inflicts Physical damage,it gets bonuses on overall damage percent the more you upgrade it; finally,at rank 20, you’ll recover HP with every basic attack.
The Best Gustave Skills
The best Gustave skill is, by a long shot, his Overcharge, and even though it takes a while to build up,it inflicts massive damage on any enemy, weak or not.To keep up with the buildup requirements, you canalways synergize with Lumiere Assault and Strike Storm, as those will do good damage, while also building up the Overcharge counter.
On the survivability front, Gustave has access to two good skills, calledRecovery and From Fire.The first one will bea good tool to just recover HP whenever he needs it without wasting a potion,but From Fire takes it to a higher level, asit’ll heal Gustave while also inflicting Burn damage.
Last, Gustave can be a very versatile character, ashe also has some good support tools, helping him to stay useful even against more resistant enemies.The skill Powerful will increase the damage your teammates deal for three turns, which is a massive advantage for units like Maelle or Lune, andMarking Shot will apply the Mark effect to an enemy,making them more vulnerable to the next attack of a party member.
The Best Gustave Pictos And Luminas
First off, Gustave needs to be built upon Overcharge, so you want to get him passive AP recovery, which is whyDodgerandDead Energycome in handy, asthe first one gives him 1 AP on a perfect dodge, andthe latter rewards you with 3 AP every time you kill an enemy. On top of that,Energising Startis always a good one to include, asit’ll give you an extra AP at the beginning of a fight.
Furthermore, you should also include a way for him to deal some extra damage, andEmpowering Attack will passively give you the Powerful bonus for one turn with basic attacks, which might change the tide of the battle in combat.
On the other hand, if you wannahelp Gustave develop as a hybrid support unit more effectively, the best Pictos he can use areMarking Shots(not the skill, just similar in name),Burning Shots, Double Burn,andCritical Burn.Another useful Picto for this isRewarding Mark, which willgive you 2 AP every time you attack a Marked Target, which comes in handy after you use Marking Shots.
The first two will give him a20 percent chance to inflict Mark and Burn on free aim shots, which is always useful,then Double Burn will give you a free stack of Burnevery time you trigger one, andCritical Burn will give you 25 percent Critical Chance on Burning enemies.
The Best Gustave Builds
As one of the first party members,Gustave will be the frontrunner in your progression for a good while, thanks to how balanced he is as a character, even able to heal himself to a certain degree, without losing his offensive capabilities. Here are the best Gustave builds.
First Playthrough Build
This build centers aroundmaking Gustave a well-rounded character, especially for the early stages of the game. The idea is tohelp him be an aggressive, yet independent DPS, and the skill set will center around that.
While Overcharge might take a while to build up, it’s by far his best skill, sowe willuse Lumiere Assault and Strike Storm to quickly build those charges up, shortening the time between Overcharges as much as we can.
Shatter will help do some AoE damage, should you ever need it, and if you’re facing an enemy that’s particularly weak to a specific element, you will use Powerful to boost any companions that need it. Last, Recovery will help you togain back some HP without wasting other resources.
Versatile
New Game Plus Build
For the New Game Plus,the time we spend with Gustave doesn’t get any longer, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be more powerful!For this new playthrough, the aim is similar, but taking advantage of the better equipmentwe got on our last run, this time,the Simoso sword at maximum level will allow Gustave to inflict Light damageand to literally be immune to, well, death.
However, this timehis skills will rely upon marking enemies and demolishing them by using Marking Shot, then making that skill synergize with pictos likeMarking Shots and Burning Shots, so, on top of an already solid skillset, you’re able to nowhelp your party by making enemies weaker under the Mark and Burn effects.
Last, to help his survivability again,we’ll use From Fire, so we can heal ourselves without wasting time to attack.
