A Beginner's Guide To Mastering Gustave In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Gustave’s having a rough time of it at the start of Clair Obscur. His lover vanishes into ash; his friends get party wiped before they even finish saying “where are we?”, and everybody else he comes across who lands in the Paintress’ domain seems to have taken up getting horribly impaled as a new hobby. As many will say in Clair Obscur, he will Continue™.

But we’re still gonna need to set our boy up for success. And despite looking eerily like Robert Pattinson and being voiced by the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen himself, good looks and charm are only gonna get him so far. Let’s see what he’s got to work with.

1. Basic kit
2. Special mechanic: Overdrive
3. Recommended builds/synergy
4. Skills to aim for

Basic kit

Naturally, being our hero character, Gustave’s got the comparatively boring combo of a big-ass sword and a moderate-ass gun. Fortunately, he happens to be quite good with both. How could he not be? That mustache is just giving “will duel at ten paces at a Starbucks”.

As for starting skills, he’s the first in your crew to have the ability to Mark enemies using Marking Shot, a lightning-based skill which sets baddies up to take more damage on the next hit. It’s a tool you gotta wield carefully to get the most out of it, but an important one. The most crucial one, for reasons you’re about to find out, is Lumiere Assault, which is a snazzy five hit combo. It doesn’t do massive damage on its own, but mostly it’s because it’s your best primer for.

Special mechanic: Overdrive

So, this here is your main event, the thing you should be working towards with Gustave at all times. See, every time you attack, dodge, or parry an enemy, his Winter Soldier-brand prosthetic arm gains a charge, up to 10. Overdrive then allows Gustave to release the charges for a huge amount of damage, which can also break enemies if their meter’s built up at least halfway. Naturally, the more you can stock up, the better—especially in the early going, a fully charged Overdrive is basically game over for every enemy you meet. But that still means getting 10 Overdrives and having the AP in stock to unleash it.

Recommended builds/synergy

Here, my friends, is where Lumiere Assault comes in. You come pre-equipped with a skill that gives you five charges for Overdrive right up front—as long as you hit the QTEs. It’s also extremely useful for enemies with shields, since taking down five shields at once will make the job extremely easy for the rest of your crew. However, you’re still going to want to give Overdrive as much a chance for total devastation as possible before you drop the hammer. You’ll get a skill early on called Powerful which increases damage output for the whole party, but you’ll mostly want to use Pictos/Lumina.

Focus on perks that grant extra AP after killing an enemy or dodging (e.g. Dodger, Dead Energy) so you’re not caught out there with a full charge, but no way to capitalize. Critical Burn is also a nice one to slap on after Lune’s in your party. Set enemies on fire, and then at least one of your Overdrive hits will be absolutely devastating.

Skills to aim for

Once you’re a bit further down the road, Strike Storm and Shatter wind up becoming your best friends. Strike Storm is basically a better Lumiere Assault, which can give you eight charges if you hit it right, and Shatter can break enemies without having to drop the Overcharge just yet. Also, From Fire is extremely useful once both Lune and Maelle are with you, since it’s basically a bespoke way for Gustave to heal himself without dipping into your collection of tints, or taking the others away from the important work of burning everything alive.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs.