Despite huge nerfs to Maelle's damage output in the first patch following Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's release, the new Thank You update has introduced new ways to see her deal over 1.1 billion in damage to the most difficult boss in the game, thanks to new weapons, Pictos, and more.
It wasn't long after the game was released that fans realized just how broken Maelle could be. With the combination of her Medalum weapon and the infamous Stendhal skill, players were able to quickly tear through even end-game bosses, that is, until the game's first patch. Mendalum went from dealing double damage to only dealing double burn damage, and Stendhal's power was nerfed by 40%. Maelle's boss baby era appeared to be over.
Following Expedition 33's era-defining sweep at The Game Awards 2025, developer Sandfall Interactive released a free 'Thank You' update, with a new area, boss, weapons, and Pictos. In particular, Licorum, a weapon for Maelle that can be found in the new area of the game, Verso's Drafts, has caught players' eyes thanks to its 10% buff per skill hit. It combos perfectly with the new Picto, Frenzy, which has the same effect.
The key to dealing unthinkable amounts of damage in Expedition 33 relies on consuming large stacks of status effects like burn, marks, and shields, at once, while also having a huge multiplier available on your damage via buffs, other skills, and Picto effects. As found and demonstrated by YouTuber BltzZ, the build buffs Maelle's base damage through various multipliers while consuming over 100 stacks of status effects.
Burning Canvas is the attack of choice, which is a skill that hits five times. Maelle's friends, Sciel and Lune, are mostly there to apply mark and burn status stacks to the enemy, in this case, the game's hardest boss, Simon, though Sciel will also cast Fortune's Fury on Maelle for a 200% damage boost.
The other multipliers include the Pictos Gradient Overcharge, which involves consuming three stacks of Gradient to deal double damage, and Feint, which removes damage from the first four hits of a skill, but allows the fifth hit to deal 600% damage. When you consider that Burning Canvas hits five times, you can see how this is so powerful.
BltzZ shows their full build including all weapons and Pictos in their video which also has an excellent breakdown of everything they're doing if you want to try this one out for yourself.
