INTRODUCTION
This guide is geared towards brand new players to Expedition 33. The suggestions are for the early game (Act I and II). They are meant to help get you started and make some of the challenging encounters a bit easier. The guide is structured to help you understand the core components of game, but still allow you to make your own discoveries. It includes: general tips for progression, combat tips, including individual character setups and essential skills for each character and an explanation on combat mechanics, and how to approach more challenging fights. If you are looking for a review of the game, check out this article.
GENERAL TIPS
Explore
Explore as much as you like. There are resources, items and Pictos scattered across the world and available to discover. Don’t feel pressured to do it but if you ever get stuck and feel you need more resources or more ways to power up just explore. Exploration in this game is rewarded with significant resources and upgrades.
Fight vs Run
Decide if you need to fight or if you should just run past enemies. In these type of games, you don’t necessarily need to fight every enemy you come across. The majority of fight encounters are optional. If you just want to get through a section, run. However, if you do want to gain experience and power up your team then you can fight. There are many optional bosses you’ll come across as well as regular enemies. Doing these optional fights will earn you Pictos and resources that will help you along your journey.
Camp
While at camp you have the chance to talk to party members and increase your relationship levels. Doing so will unlock certain bonuses, such as gradient attacks and unique traits (traversal with Esquie).
COMBAT TERMS
Here are some common terms in regards to combat:
Break:
Certain enemies (usually bosses) have a break bar under their health. Doing damage will fill the bar. Hitting weak spots with free aim will contribute more to filling the break bar. Once the bar is full, using a skill with can break will put the enemy into a break state. They will receive 20% more damage and are usually stunned.
Control:
Charm: Forces the unit to attack allies
Exhausted: Prevents AP gain
Freeze: Prevents unit from taking turns. Removed upon receiving damage.
Silence: Prevents use of skills
Stun: Prevents unit for taking a turn (1 time)
Damage Increases/Reduction:
Burn: Damage over time that is applied at turn start
Defenseless: Increases damage received by 25%
Mark: Takes 50% more damage from the next attack
Powerful: Boosts damage by 25%
Powerless: Reduces damage dealt by 25%
Shell: Reduces incoming damage by 20%
Shield: Negates incoming attack per stack (e.g. 1 attack hit removes 1 shield)
Evasion:
Dodge: Easier to execute as the window is to perform it is longer.
Parry: More challenging to execute with a short window, but if the entire attack chain is parried, the character will perform a powerful counterattack.
Jump: Indicated with a yellow icon and appears for ground attacks. Performs a counterattack when successful.
Gradient Counter: Indicated with slow motion black and white visual. Must use the gradient counter button. Usually press and hold is easier to pull off. Press before the hit (not when you see the indicator)
Health:
Blight: Reduces maximum health by 10% per stack
Inverted: Prevents all healing on the unit
Special Attack:
Gradient Skill: A powerful ‘ultimate’ skill. The shared gauge is filled by performing attacks, counterattacking
Speed:
Rush: Increases speed by 33%
Slow: Reduces speed by 25%
COMBAT TIPS
Customize Your Button Setup
It helps to setup the controls to match your personal preferences. The key buttons to test are the buttons you’ll use for dodge and parry. The default uses the shoulder buttons; however, this may not be the best setup for everyone. In my personal experience I prefer one of the dodge/parry buttons to be a regular input button on the controller (not a shoulder button). Changing this setup made challenging souls like games for me much easier. Try different setups and see which one best suits you. Even a small fraction of a second difference in reaction time can make a significant difference in these type of games.
Weak Spots – Free Aim
Some enemies have a weak spot. Attacking a weak spot will result in a significant amount of damage. Some weak spots are obvious. For example, large glowing orbs. Others may not be as clearly marked. For example some enemies have floating balloons (non-glowing). Furthermore, there are some weak spots that you’ll only be able to access when a unit is staggered. If you’re having a tough time with a fight it may be that you need to target the enemies weak spot.
How to Deal with Enemies that Dodge
If you’re having issues hitting an enemy, there is usually another mechanic at play. For example, some enemies that have high dodge chance against base attacks and skills may be hit with free aim shots or you may need to wait until you see an opening. For instance, they may produce flying objects during a turn and you’ll need to destroy them to damage the enemy. In addition, you may need to parry an attack and perform a counterattack. Many encounters are more like mini puzzles, so if you are having issues with an enemy try different tactics.
What If Your Attacks Do Low Damage
If you come up against an enemy and most of your attacks are doing low damage there may be a mechanic at play. For example, some of the mimes have high resistance/defense until you put them into a break state. Once you put them into a break state they may take a very high amount of damage. This makes a fight that initially seems impossible to one that is manageable.
Elemental Weakness
Enemies usually also have an elemental weakness. Some may be obvious. For example, if they are fire based, they are likely weak to ice. You should also note that if they are strong against an element they may be healed by attacks of that element. For instance, a fire based enemy may be healed if you use fire skills or a weapon that has an innate fire trait. Making sure your team is setup to deal with a variety of elemental strengths and weaknesses will make fights much easier.
Break Mechanic
This is an essential combat mechanic. When you do damage to an enemy it will fill their break bar. This is the yellow bar beneath their health. Hitting weak points with free aim will fill the bar much faster. Some skills may also be able to do additional break damage. Once the bar is full you need to use a skill that has the term can break in order to put the enemy in a broken state. In a broken state enemies take 20% more damage and are usually stunned (lose a turn). This mechanic can be pivotal in challenging fights as you can maximize damage and gain additional turns when the enemy is stunned.
Dodge vs Parry
Many fights will become significantly easier if you decide to go for a dodge instead of a parry especially when you are just learning. It is very tempting to just try to parry everything. A parry will also perform a powerful counterattack. However, if you are struggling to survive a fight or trying to learn when to parry it’s generally much easier to just dodge first. Once you understand when to dodge you can move to a parry. Most fights, even very challenging ones, you can finish with pure dodges. If you feel comfortable parry is like icing on the cake allowing you to avoid damage and do a powerful counterattack.
Timing Dodge/Parry/Gradient Counter
The overall timing of when to perform these actions is usually unique. Each attack animation is different. Overall you generally want to perform the evasive maneuver a little bit before you anticipate the actual hit. If you pay attention, you can visually see when you need to evade and also listen for audio clues. This is just a general guideline as each attack animation is different. A dodge window is generally much more forgiving vs a parry. In addition for a gradient counter it may be easier to execute if you press and hold.
GEAR/PICTOS/LUMINA
Weapons
Damage scales with specific attributes. These attributes are marked with letter grades (Ex- A or B). Make sure you are making the most of it be investing in the traits with the most return (higher letter rating). This means that if you switch weapons, you may need to reset that character’s attributes. The damage scaling also shows you what type of weapon and role it will play. For example, if the weapon scales off defensive traits like health and defense it will create a more tanky character with lower damage. If you want a high damaging and quick unit look for those traits in the weapon. Lastly, also look at the weapons passive ability. These can be very helpful to the overall power of the character. A general guide for weapons is that many units can be built for damage and speed. If you are really struggling you can lean towards more tanky builds as you learn the game.
Pictos
You can customize characters with Pictos. Pictos that you equip will enhance the character’s stats. In general the ones you may want to equip on a unit are those with the best speed and critical chance rating and higher lumina cost. If you are struggling to survive, you could also potentially use ones that give health and defense. However, in this game, many units can be built more like glass canons to maximize damage.
Lumina Setup
Lumina allows you to customize a character. Once you equip and learn a picto passive any unit may use it as a lumina. Key types of passives to look for are listed below. Please note the best lumina will depend on the character and their role. Hence the overall types of lumina are highlighted instead of specific individual ones. You can also select lumina to create a build. For example, if you want to boost base attacks or free aim or increase healing or apply buffs. There is a large variety of combinations to support different builds and playstyles.
I. AP
Usually you want a character to have the ability to gain AP. For example, this could be with a perfect dodge or some other mechanism. Some lumina in this area will help so you can use more powerful skills more often. This may be the most vital aspect to Lumina as it can impact the over flow of battle. Having enough AP allows you to perform more powerful attacks more consistently.
Examples:
Dodger: Gain 1 AP on perfect dodge. Once per turn.
Energising Attack: 1 AP on base attack
Dead Energy II: 3 AP on killing an enemy
Combos: Some can combo to produce powerful effects
Example:
1.Combo Attack – increases number of base attacks (can stack with other lumina)
2. Energize I – +1AP on base hit (can stack with other lumina)
Result: This increases your base attack and provides AP for each strike.
II. Critical Chance
Increasing a character’s critical rate will boost their overall damage. One way to do this is with lumina.
Examples: Critical Burn: 25% increased critical chance on burning enemies
III. Buffs
You can also equip lumina that will apply buffs.
For example:
Rush, Powerful, Shell, Shield, Regen
IV. Damage Increase
You can also equip lumina that helps boost the overall damage of a unit. These may be specific for a certain unit depending on their play style/build.
Example:
Augmented Attack: 50% increased base attack damage
Powerful Revive: Apply powerful for 3 turns when revived
SOS Power: Apply powerful when falling below 50% health
V. Reduce Damage
If you are having any difficulty surviving, you can look for lumina that will reduce damage. For example, there is one that will reduce overall damage at the expense of not being able to heal. Also if you are having issues surviving be cautious of lumina that increases damage taken even if it does boost damage. Once you get better at dodging or parrying you can try to use it, but while you are learning it may be better to avoid it.
Example:
Confident: Take 50% less damage, but can’t be healed
FARMING RESOURCES AND EXPERIENCE
If you feel stuck at any point, you can always level up to increase your teams power. There are also certain spots in the world that can help. In Act 2 (once you face the Axons) and you gain the ability to swim through coral, you can visit the island in the screenshot below. Here you can fight for decent experience and gain resources to level up your weapons. Taking some time to level up makes some of the more challenging fights easier to deal with. If you feel under powered, take time to try some side activities or farm experience/resources.
Color of Lumina
You can also turn in your expedition journals to a merchant in exchange for color of lumina. The merchant is located in the Gestral Village (take your first left). You can easily get anywhere between 60-80 color of lumina this way. Other ways to get color of lumina is by exploring new areas and defeating bosses, and once you get the dive function from Esquie picking up all the lumina from dive spots.
GENERAL SKILL GUIDE
The skill setup for characters makes a significant difference to their effectiveness and overall power. In general, many units can be built towards damage especially if you have a decent ability to dodge or parry.
For most of your damage units you want the following type of skills:
- High single target damage
- Moderate to high AOE damage
- Skills that do extra break damage or can break
This type of setup will allow you to get through a variety of fights much easier. As you’ll be able to deal with groups and bosses. Break ability is usually important in longer boss fights.
CHARACTER SPECIFIC SETUPS – ACTS I & II
This section will cover some of the key skills you many want to use for the early parts of the game. They are not the only viable options. Many setups are viable with different skills and weapons. Even if you miss a ‘best’ weapon other options are still viable. This section just gives you one example of what to consider. As you learn more about the game, you can customize your character’s to your own preferred playstyle. These are just the types of weapons/skills that helped me clear the early parts of the game.
General Attribute Setup: Invest in stats that scale with the character’s weapon. Invest early in vitality until you feel comfortable (in Act I I initially had 20 points in this area) and then look at more investment later (in Act II near the end of the act I had perhaps 40-50). Then usually put points towards whatever scales with weapon damage and increases speed/critical chance. This setup should give you some balance to survive and do a good amount of damage with every character.
Overview of Characters: In general, you’ll likely use most of the characters you come across. If your initial team of 3 fails, you have to option to bring in your reserve team (units not part of the initial 3). This means that leveling up and understanding each unit will help you along your journey. Also, since damage can be mitigated with dodges, you can build many units towards damage. The more damage your team does the shorter the fight and the less you’ll need to dodge/parry. However, if you struggle to survive, you can also add more health/defense. Furthermore, although there are certain roles, such as damage dealer, tank and support, most of the characters can still do decent damage. Items in the game allow you to heal and revive. This allows you to push for more damage instead of having a traditional healer if you prefer that style.
***NOTE: These are all early builds for Act 1 and 2. As you gain access to more powerful abilities, you will use different skills.
Basic Operation of Characters
Most characters function on a specific unique mechanic. There is usually a setup phase, a high burst damage phase and ways to recover AP.
GUSTAVE
Role: Damage dealer/Support
Weapon: Lanceram (scales with vitality and agility allowing good survivability and damage)
Pictos: High speed and critical chance. If struggling with survival use defense/health
Skills:
Shatter: AOE skill
Strike Storm: Quickly build charges
Powerful: Damage buff if using Gustave in a support role
Marking Shot: Debuff on enemy if using Gustave as a support unit
Basic Operation: Gustave’s fight mechanic revolves around his overcharge ability. He gains overcharge via basic attacks, critical hits and parrying. After charging up overload you can unleash a very strong attack.
LUNE
Role: Damage dealer but can be used as healer/reviver
Weapon: Trebuchim (helps generate stains with free aim and helps with survival as it scales with vitality)
Pictos: High speed and critical chance. If struggling with survival use defense/health
Skills:
Electrify: low cost, generates light stains. Light stains can substitute for any element.
Wildfire: AOE skill and can apply burn. Burn is critical for other skills and boosting critical chance (from lumina)
Thermal Transfer: Gain AP. Powerful low cost ability
Lighting Dance: Very high single target damage
Mayhem: Low cost high damage skill
Rockslide: Can cause break
Basic Operating: Gain stains with free aim or by rotating different elemental skills. Then use more powerful skills that benefit for those stains. Light stains can fill in for any type.
MAELLE
Role: Damage dealer with some support skills
Weapon: Brulerum (critical hits apply burn). Helps to maintain burn, which is essential for critical rate increase from lumina.
Pictos: Speed and critical rate. If more survival is needed use one with health and defense
Skills:
Mezzo Forte: Reapplies current stance an gives 2-4 AP
Spark: Deals low single target fire damage. Applies burn.
Swift Stride: Allows switch to Virtuose stance if target is burning.
Fencer’s Flurry: Medium damage to all enemies
Fleurant Fury: Deal high single target damage
Breaking Rules: Destroys shields (critical against certain enemies)
Sword Ballet: Extreme single target damage
Basic Operation: Maelle has a stance system. She gains 1 AP when switching stances. Stances provide different benefits. Defensive stance reduces damage taken and grants AP on dodge/parry. Offensive stance grants increase damage but also increases damage received. Virtuose stances grants a massive damage bonus.
MONOCO
Role: Tank and support with damage dealing capacity, good break damage
Weapon: Nusaro. Parry increase wheel by 1. Taking damage resets the wheel. Upgraded skills deal more damage.
Pictos: Speed and critical rate
Skills:
Chalier Combo: High physical damage
Stalact Punches: Medium damage with high break damage
Pelerin Heal: applies regen to allies
Chevaliere Thrusts: Physical damage to all enemies
Cultist Slashes: Deals more damage if Monaco has less health
Chevaliere Piercing: Deals damage and bypasses shields.
Basic Operation: You learn skills by having Monaco in the active party. Skills revolve around a wheel and different masks. Each mask of the wheel provides bonuses for corresponding skills that match. You advance the wheel by using skills that will move it a certain amount. The Almighty mask provides the strongest bonus to any skill. Ideally, you use the skill that matches the mask. Hence you skill setup should have a variety of skills and corresponding masks.
SCIEL
Role: Damage dealer with some support skills
Weapon: Algueron. Base attack applies foretell.
Pictos: Speed and critical rate
Skills:
Focused Foretell: Low cost way to apply foretell (sun skill)
Twilight Slash: low cost (moon skill)
Sealed Fate: High single target damage
Grim Harvest: Medium damage that also heals allies
Phantom Blade: High single target damage
Dark Wave: High damage to all enemies
Basic Operation: Sciel applies foretell with sun skills (usually max 10) and detonates them with moon skills. She also gains a charge of each type when using corresponding sun/moon skills. She also enters a powerful twilight state if she has a charge of each sun and moon. Hence, you usually apply max foretell with sun skills then use a moon skill to enter twilight. In foretell max stacks for foretell go to 20. Sciel regains AP by applying and consuming foretell.
VERSO
Role: Damage dealer with some support skills, good break potential
Weapon: Dualiso (play again after base attack). Powerful as it gives you a free base attack each turn
Pictos: Speed and critical rate
Skills:
Quick Strike: Low cost skill to use at D rating
Marking Shot: Low cost, use at C rating
Berserk Slash: Medium single target damage, use at C rating. Increases damage based on missing health.
Assault Zero: 5 hits, use at B rating.
Phantom Stars: extreme AOE light damage. 5 hits
Basic Operation: Verso has a ranking system. He gains ranks with attacks and parries and loses ranks when taking hits. To gain ranks you want to use multi hit skills, avoid damage and make use of anything that gives extra turns.
CHARACTER SPECIFIC SETUPS – ACTS III & Beyond
Here is the setup I used to finish Act III and take on some of the end game content. There are many viable builds at the end game so don’t feel like you have to follow one specific path. Also don’t forget to progress your relationship levels with characters (by talking to them at camp). Maelle’s gradient attack level 3 is one of the highest damaging options in the game.
How to Progress – Act III
There are a couple places to start your Act III journey. You can start with character side stories, for Maelle, Lune and Monoco (prioritizing Maelle’s fist). You can then proceed to the Frozen Heart area and then Dark Shores. Keep in mind that if you don’t want to be too overpowered for the last story battle, try to do the final fight around 50-60 level range. Power level jumps quickly in Act III compared to other sections of the game.
General Overview
Pictos:
There are a few factors to keep in mind when selecting Pictos. You can generally select pictos that have high lumina cost (to help maximize your lumina usage) and also: High speed and critical chance (2 slots) and some health/defense (1 slot)
Lumina Setup:
Here is a general guide to lumina to consider based on type. You can apply this to different characters depending on your playstyle. You don’t need to use all of them but it will give you an idea of what may help. These are the type of lumina that I used in Act III and endgame content. Most lumina will apply to any build. If there are specific playstyles they will be noted.
AP – One of the most important aspects to maintain momentum in a fight
Dodger – 1 AP on perfect dodge
Energising Attack I & II + Combo Attack I, II, III – +AP per base attack, +1 hit to base attack
Energising Turn – +1 AP per turn
Base Attack – Important for characters that focus on base attack damage or to re-gain AP
Combo Attack I,II, III – +1 hit to base attack
Augmented Attack – Increase base attack damage 50%
Versatile – After a Free Aim hit, Base Attack damage is increased by 50% for 1 turn
Buff – Helps boost speed/damage
Auto Rush – Rush for 3 turns
Accelerating Heal – Healing an ally also applies rush
Empowering Attack – Gain Powerful for 1 turn on Base Attack
Greater Powerful – +15% to Powerful damage increase.
Longer Rush – On applying Rush, its duration is increased by 2
Longer Shell – Extend duration for 2 turns
Burn – For burn focused teams
Burn Affinity -Grants +25% increased damage to targets currently burning
Critical Burn – 25% increased Crit Chance on Burning enemies
Double Burn – On applying a Burn stack, apply a second one
Healing Fire – Recovers 25% Health when attacking a target afflicted with burn
Damage – Essential and game changing
Painted Power – Removes damage limit of 9999
Debuff – Boost damage
Exposing Attack – Base Attack applies Defenceless for 1 turn
Heal – Helps with overall survival
Healing Fire – Recover 25% Health when attacking a target afflicted with burn
Healing Share – Receive 15% of all Heals affecting other characters
Second Chance – Revive with 100% Health. Once per battle.
Speed
Auto Rush – Rush for 3 turns
Cheater – Always play twice in a row
Team Setup:
This is an example of an act III build post final story fight. It’s been able to clear areas, such as Renoir’s Drafts, Flying Manor (Clea), Serpenphere (Flying boss on world map), Chromatic Clair Obscur, and Endless Tower stage 11 trial 3. It’s not a finished/best build in the game, but it will give you an idea of how to progress. In my playthrough I based my setup on a general burn focus. Lune, Maelle and, Verso are the main damage dealers with support from Monoco and Sciel. Most damage dealers are setup with 2 types of damage so there are options when facing enemies that may be immune to 1 type. They also have an AOE skill and ways to apply break to a boss.
LUNE
General Playstyle: Burn Focused with Break
One of the best DPS units in the game. Usually you’ll use Elemental Trick to setup Elemental Genesis. Lightning Dance is a backup damage skill for units where it may be tricky to use Elemental Trick. Crystal Crush is there to inflict high break damage for certain bosses. High critical chance is essential. You should have enough AP regain so you don’t need to use base attacks. This is due to Cheater + Energising Turn, and Monoco (gives allies AP).
MAELLE
General Playstyle: Burn/Physical/Void – High Single Target Specialist
Another very strong DPS unit especially with her gradient attack 3. Gradient attack 3 will help you deal with a variety of difficult bosses due to its extremely high damage output. Ideally in a fight the enemy is already afflicted with burn so that Swift Stride may be used to switch to Virtuoso stance and then Sword Ballet can be used after. Phantom Strike is available for AOE damage and Stendhal is another high damage option that is not fire based.
MONOCO
General Playstyle: Support
One of the best support units in the game. Can also be built for damage as well. Skills provide a variety of buffs from regen, shield and shell and can also apply burn. Monoco’s greatest asset is the ability to provide allies with AP with Orphelin Cheers. Works best with high speed to apply buffs before allies act. Lastly, Sakapatate Fire does incredible AOE damage.
SCIEL
General Playstyle: Support/DPS, Burn
Sciel can be built in a variety of ways. In this team, I used her more for support and sub-DPS damage. Works best when burn is already applied to enemies. Build sun charges and fortell with Focused Fortell then used Sealed Fate to enter twilight and Twilight Dance to extend its duration.
VERSO:
General Playstyle: Burn, Base Attack + Free Aim
A strong DPS option. Can be played as a base attacker and burn stacker. He can also use skills to rank up or do break damage to then setup Phantom Stars or End Bringer. For burn stacking, you use free aim and then base attacks to stay a lot of burn (30+ per turn). As you gain rank the burn damage becomes very high. For enemies that are resistant to fire you can use high damage skills such as End Bringer or Phantom Stars.
ACT III Weapon Upgrades
Once you feel powerful and have gotten some of the essential pictos (Cheater, Painted Power), you can look to power up your weapons. You can farm upgrade materials in Darkshores (Lune and Verso/Maelle with Monoco) can easily clear it. This will allow you to get your weapons up to level 32. You can then go to the Flying Manor and defeat the mini-bosses and final boss to get resources to level your weapons to 33, which is a significant power jump.
HOW TO APPROACH CHALLENING FIGHTS
There are a variety of factors to examine if you are having issues with a fight. Here are some components to consider.
1. Team Composition:
A factor that can make a massive difference is the team composition. If you are having issues you may need to rethink who is on your team. Does the team have the right skills to deal with the enemy and hit their elemental weakness? If they are having issues surviving, do you have a support unit that can mitigate damage or heal the team? Have you used your attribute and skill points for each character? Do you need to level up before doing the fight?
2. Weapons
Weapons can also have an impact on a fight. Do you have the best weapon for that act or boss fight? Have you leveled up the weapon as much as you can? Have you also invested in the right attributes to scale the damage of the weapon?
3. Pictos and Lumina:
Pictos provide a lot of stats for characters. If you are having issues surviving you can change the Pictos that are equipped and thereby alter that character’s stats. If you need more survivability you may want to consider Pictos with health and defense. If your units are slow or you are looking for a damage boost, you may want ones that provide speed and critical chance. Also if the boss has a specific mechanic, did you get a Pictos in that area that can deal with it? If so, you want may want to learn that passive and equip it to your entire team.
4. Fight Mechanics:
Learning the unique fight mechanics will dramatically alter a fight. It’s usually easier to dodge attacks especially when you encounter them for the first few times. Once you get the perfect timing down, you can try to switch to a parry; however, you can also just continue to dodge. In my experience, pure dodging makes most fights much easier while parrying does do significant counterattack damage it can also make a fight more challenging if you can’t consistently parry. Furthermore there may be a unique mechanic at play. Perhaps there’s a certain weakness or weak spot you need to exploit. Are there things you can shoot with free aim? Do you need to put the enemy into a break state? Many fights may seem impossible until you put them into a break state. Keep this in mind for the hardest fights in the game. Once you understand the mechanic at play, it’s usually much easier to defeat the enemy.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
There’s a lot to learn when you start playing Expedition 33. Take your time to learn about each character and how to setup their skills. Once you understand the fundamental ways they can powerup and what the fights are like, you’ll get go from feeling like fights are very challenging to knowing you can overcome them with the right strategy.
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