Expedition 33: What are Maelle's Stances?

Combat stances are the key part of Maelle's tactics. They directly affect her offensive and defensive abilities. Mastering them will allow you to make Maelle a powerful DPS. On this guide page, you will learn how each Stance works and how to utilize the synergy between them.

• How do Stances work?
• What is the best way to use Stances?

How do Stances work?

At the beginning of her turn, Maelle adopts one of several combat stances, which affect her actions in a current turn. These are:

1. No Stance (grey icon) - in this neutral mode, Maelle does not receive any bonuses or penalties.
2. Defensive Stance (blue icon) - Maelle receives less damage when hit, and also gains an additional Action Point with each parry and dodge.
3. Offensive Stance (red icon) - Maelle deals more damage, but also receives more damage when she's hit.
4. Virtuose Stance (purple icon) - fencing deals much more damage.

You can view the current Stance by Maelle's portrait or on the right side of the screen during her turn.

Maelle starts an encounter without a Stance. Each selected ability switches Maelle into a new Stance right after the turn ends. You can see how an ability will change Maelle's Stance in the top right corner of the ability window, next to the AP cost.

Moreover, there's a few things you should also keep in mind:

1. Using a basic attack when Maelle is in an Offensive or Defensive Stance will cause her to change her Stance to the opposite one at the end of the turn.
2. Attempting to change the Stance to the same one that Maelle is in will cause her to switch to neutral mode (no Stance).

Some weapons also influence Stances. For example: a Brulerum upgraded to level 20 increases the chance of a critical attack by 200% when there is no Stance. You can find more about weapon upgrades on a separate page of the guide.

What is the best way to use Stances?

Playing as Maelle requires switching between Stances skillfullys and planning your next turns based on the Stances. Due to a large number of offensive skills, Maelle has a great potential to become the main DPS of the party. In that case, it is important to maintain the Virtuose Stance for as long as possible to maximize the damage dealt.

Also, keep in mind that some of Maelle's skills provide additional effects if you are in the correct Stance. For example, Rain of Fire applies additional Burn charges with each hit when Maelle is in a Defensive Stance. Pay attention to these dependencies as well as synergies to create advanced sequences of devastating attacks.

See also:

1. Game guide
2. All bosses
3. What are Lune's stains?
4. Best builds

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

April 24, 2025

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