Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s New Patch Nerfs The Strongest Party Member

Sandfall Interactive and Kepler Interactive have released Patch 1.2.3 for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and it nerfs Maelle, a party member who can deal absolutely massive amounts of damage with the right character build.

Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG, and each party member acquired over the course of the game has a set of abilities that offer up a distinct playstyle. Maelle’s abilities center around switching between Offensive, Defensive, and Virtuose stances to maximize defense or damage. But a powerful late-game ability called Stendahl was a little too powerful, and with the right Pictos equipped, players can deal several million in damage using this ability.

On May 8, the developers admitted that they made Stendahl a little too powerful and would nerf it in the next patch. Now that the patch notes are here, Stendahl damage has been reduced by a whopping 40%. While that’s a pretty massive nerf, Maelle’s Medalum weapon now doubles all damage in Virtuose stance. This patch also brings improved widescreen support with it, and gets rid of a lot of areas where players could get stuck while exploring the world map.

Don’t expect this to be the final balance pass for Expedition 33 either, as the patch notes tease that more is on the way. “This is the first in a series of patches we are looking to do over the coming months,” Sandfall Interactive says. “We are still investigating many feature requests and issues for future updates.” You can read the Patch 1.2.3 notes below:

Steam Deck

Fixed backgrounds of various menus not displaying properly on the Steam Deck

Xbox Game Pass

PC GAMEPASS: PS5 controllers are now compatible

Various Ultrawide Fixes

Gameplay no longer becomes zoomed after a cutscene occurs in ultrawide resolutions
The Options menu image will no longer be stretched in ultrawide resolutions
Combat UI now adapts correctly to ultrawide resolutions
Game will no longer minimize upon changing settings in ultrawide resolution
Cutscenes won’t letterbox in 32:9 aspect ratio
Title screen now displays fullscreen when the game is launched in ultrawide resolution

Mouse and Keyboard

UI button prompts in Expedition Menu are now visible and fully able to be triggered with Keyboard
Mouse buttons do not become unresponsive after first use
With mouse cursor on screen, using ‘WSAD’ or directional arrows to navigate in UI or trigger any other functionality will no longer hide the cursor instead of doing the intended action
Left Mouse-button click will no longer block the player from using Keyboard to navigate menus
Mouse input is not lost after the first Jump counter attack if it is pressed only once
Each year, the number decreases, erasing more lives. Soon, she will mark “33.” When she does, we will embark on our final mission—to destroy the Paintress and end her deadly cycle for good.

Fixed areas of the world map where you can get stuck:

Between lanterns scattered on the ground near Stone Wave Cliff portal
While walking on the ship wreck near the Forgotten Battlefield level entrance
Between lanterns on the ground near Bourgeon encounter next to Stone Wave Cliffs level
Between two small rocks located between Spring Meadows and Abbest Cave
Between vases and corals when jumping from rooftopps
Between various rocks
In ruins behind Flying Manor level entrance
Near the bridge between Flying Waters and Spring Meadows
In the rocks on the World Map, near Flying Waters
Next to hardened land, close to the Flying Waters location exit

Fixed situations where Esquie specifically would get stuck (poor guy):

When taking off from paint bridges, making him fall through the bridge and restrict movement
When flying into bottom parts of levitating structures near Visages
Near the Flying Waters entrance level
Near a giant hammer when traversing close to Blades’ Graveyard level

Weapon and skill fixes and tuning:

Fixed Lithelim attribute scaling not working at high level. Reduced initial Vitality scaling from A to C (will still end at S at max level). Added Luck scaling starting at D.
Fixed Blizzon attribute scaling not working at high level. Reduced initial Luck scaling from B to C (will still end at S at max level). Added Defense scaling starting at D.
Fixed Medalum third Lumina doubling all damage in Virtuose Stance instead of doubling only Burn damage.
Stendhal: Reduced damage by 40%.

Other fixes

Boss encounter in Stone Wave Cliffs can now be finished on NG+
You will no longer be blocked by the Journal UI window after opening the first Journal in the Spring Meadows
Fixed being unable to shoot in Free aim while exploring levels due to worn triggers
Lune and Monoco no longer spawn in same place during end of theirs Level 6 relationship quests if they are completed without going to camp
If at camp you pick “remember the objective”, then quickly choose to “go to sleep” and immediately after press “leave”, the screen no longer goes black
You can no longer trigger the “Discovering the truth” cutscene in Old Lumière a second time in a row, splitting the party forever with only Verso and Maelle in it.
Update to rolling credits

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. You can try it out through Xbox Game Pass if you aren’t already one of the 2 million people who have bought the game.