Clair Obscur: Best Verso Character Skills Builds – Expedition 33 Act 3 Guide

Verso’s power reaches new heights in Act 3, turning careful timing and skill choices into devastating precision. This build magnifies her rhythm-based abilities, letting each note strike harder and each movement flow with calculated impact.

Best Verso build overview

Verso’s best build in Act 3 focuses on maximizing her hybrid damage potential and exploiting her strong scaling with light and dark abilities. Prioritize upgrading her dual-element skills for flexible combat responses and equip relics that enhance burst damage and cooldown reduction. Balancing offensive stats with moderate survivability keeps her versatile against tougher enemies, while choosing gear sets that boost magical and critical output ensures consistent performance through longer encounters.

The best way to build Verso so you can get the most out of him regardless of parry proficiency – and without having to worry about a battle going out the window if you make a mistake with your rotation. This build lets Verso attack twice, sustain himself, and debuff enemies so they take more damage from him and his allies. It relies on the Dualiso and leans more heavily toward light-aligned damage. But there are lightning skills included as well, and his basic attacks with the Dualiso are strong enough to handle enemies that nullify light damage.

There are other viable builds, such as a death build that depletes Verso’s HP and uses weapons and Pictos that grant buffs with HP loss or a glass cannon build that pours everything into luck and agility. They work, but they’re risky. One badly timed dodge or parry mishap, and you’re in a rather unpleasant position. We’ve opted for this build for its self-sustaining capabilities and how it sets up enemies in ways advantageous for other party members as well, so Verso isn’t carrying everything alone.

Best weapon for Verso

Dualiso is our pick for this build.

• Element: Lightning
• Scaling: Vitality (A); Defense (B)
• Level 4 effect: Play again after base attack
• Level 10 effect: 50% increased base attack damage
• Level 20 effect: Base attack grants 4 Perfection

The nice thing about this weapon is that it’s impossible to miss. You get one for defeating Dualiste, a mandatory boss. The downside is that its base power level is lower than most other swords that Verso can use, though once you set up the right skills and Pictos, that won’t really matter.

Another bonus is that stacking your attribute points in vitality and defense means Verso’s much sturdier and won’t just keel over at the proverbial drop of a hat. Make sure to spread your stat points around, too. Vitality should, of course, get the most attention, followed by defense, but agility and luck should be nearly even with defense by the endgame.

Best skills for Verso

These are the six skills you should stick on Verso by the time you reach the mid-game, and they’ll still serve you well in the endgame, too.

• Assault Zero (essential when fighting enemies with resistance to light damage)
• Radiant Slash
• Phantom Stars
• Powerful
• Light Holder
• Berserk Slash

Don’t waste slots on recovery or marking skills, since Pictos and Luminas will have those needs covered. Defiant Strike is a popular choice, and it does deal heavy damage. However, we’ve swapped it for Berserk Slash for a few reasons. This build’s recovery function only recovers 25% of Verso’s health once per turn when he attacks a burning enemy. Defiant Strike uses 30% of his health. Five percent might not sound like much, but it can make a big difference in a tough fight. Berserk Slash is useful for potentially turning a battle around if Verso starts a turn with low health, and if your rotation gets interrupted and an enemy isn’t burning, then you end up losing health with Defiant Strike and have no way to recover it.

If you do opt for other skills before defeating the final boss of Act 2, just make sure to experiment with skills that do more than a single instance of damage. Prior to acquiring the Pictos that breaks the damage ceiling open, you’ll end up dealing less damage with one 9,999 strike than you can with a multi-hit skill.

Best Pictos for Verso

• Exposing Attack
• Energizing Attack (1 or 2)
• Combo Attack (1, 2, or 3)

You’ll almost always use a basic attack with this build, since it lets Verso attack again, and Exposing Attack reduces his target’s defense for that second turn. Energizing Attack gives Verso AP just for attacking, making it a more reliable way to keep his AP high than Energizing Start and the other Energizing Pictos, and Combo Attack lets his basic attack hit one extra time. Defenceless is a good debuff to inflict, one that everyone can benefit from. But if you’re finding that you need your team to take less damage, consider experimenting with Enfeebling Attack to reduce the foe’s power.

It’s also worth noting that, before the endgame, it doesn’t really matter if you have, for example, Exposing Attack as a Pictos choice or a Luminas. By the start of Act 3, the important thing is just having the abilities available.

Best Luminas for Verso

• Painted Power
• Healing Fire
• Augmented Aim
• Marking Shots
• Burning Shots
• Dodger
• Burn Affinity
• Recovery
• Energizing Turn

Painted Power is essential, since it lets you deal more than 9,999 damage, though you won’t acquire it until the start of Expedition 33‘s third act. Marking Shots and Healing Fire are the two other cornerstones of this build. Marking Shots lets you deal damage in Verso’s first turn and prep them to take extra damage from his basic attacks before acting again. Healing Fire restores HP when Verso attacks burning enemies, which should be pretty much a constant thing. Burning Shots helps make that constancy more likely, though bear in mind the base chance of applying burn with it is quite low.

The remaining Luminas are your standard buffs for any good build – extra AP for dodging with Dodger, HP recovery from Recovery, and extra AP when Verso’s turn begins.

How to play Verso

Verso builds damage around his Perfection Gauge, which ranks from D to S and amplifies attacks at higher levels. Dodge or parry enemy strikes to gain ranks through multi-hit skills like Assault Zero at B rank, Strike Storm at C rank, and Light Holder at A rank, which speeds progression to S for maximum output. Follow this rotation each turn: Free Aim to hit C, Strike Storm to climb to A, Light Holder to reach S, then Phantom Stars to deal peak single-target harm.​​

This role puts Verso in a sub-DPS role, but only because Maelle will almost always be dealing more damage more often. Verso’s still no pushover, though, and he’ll be dishing out plenty of damage while keeping himself healthy and full of AP.

The way a turn will go is like this. After Lune applies burn (more on that below), Verso’s first action should be using free aim to fire shots at an enemy’s weak point (or anywhere on them, if you don’t know their weak points yet). AP should be no issue with this build, but if you’re concerned about having enough, make sure to stop when Verso’s down to four AP (more, if you plan to use Phantom Stars in the next action). Then, use a basic attack. Verso will hit twice and apply defenceless, thanks to Exposing Attack, and then he can go again.

This second turn is where you’ll lean on Verso’s skills. Using Powerful sets you up to deal more damage the next time around – and this turn won’t be wasted, since Verso already applied defenceless for the next attacker to benefit from – or you can go ahead and start building perfection. Assault Zero and Radiant Slash are the best choices for boosting Verso’s rank and getting extra damage in before hitting A and S rank, though getting a perfect rating on Light Holder increases Verso’s rank automatically. Use whichever of those suits your situation, but also bear in mind that if you’re fighting foes that resist light, Assault Zero, free aim, and basic attacks are the only way for Verso to deal damage.

Once you’ve hit A or S rank and have enough AP, rely on Phantom Stars to deal the most damage. And if Verso’s HP drops, throw in Berserk Strike as a way to keep his damage output high and recover perfection in the process.

Best supporting party members for Verso

Verso shines when he’s paired with Lune, who acts as the primary burn applier for this party, and Maelle, who deals even more damage and has skills that benefit from burn as well. Lune’s Wildfire is the easiest (and cheapest) skill to use if you’re facing multiple enemies, since it hits all of them and applies three stacks of burn. Have something like Ice Lance for her as well, since Wildfire can consume two ice stains to deal additional damage. It’s also worth putting Revitalization on her when you can, for party-wide healing and (when it consumes three fire stains) a regen effect.

Maelle’s skills are less specific since Maelle Virtuose stance any attack equals high damage. However, it’s worth having Guard Down and Guard Up on hand to help give the party some extra advantages.

Unless you’re in a boss fight that demands absolute precision, like most of Act 3’s optional fights, it’s okay to get a bit creative and loose with your skill rotations. Sure, focusing on burn for maximum damage and recovery is ideal. But Lune’s other skills, like Crustal Crush, have high damage potential and might be more useful than prepping more burn rotations depending on the situation. Basically, just make sure to tailor your choices to what the situation at hand calls for.

Which weapons are best for Verso in Act 3 and why

Chevalam tops the list for Verso in Act 3 due to its ability to start battles at max Perfection Rank S, enabling immediate high-damage skills like Phantom Stars right from turn one. This pairs perfectly with first-strike pictos such as Cheater or Energising Start, allowing one-shots on many encounters when combined with Agility/Luck scaling for speed and crits.​

Contorso Strengths

Contorso excels for break-heavy playstyles, as base attacks gain break potential and enemy breaks auto-switch Verso to Rank S with 100% crit chance, triggering lightning strikes on crits. It’s ideal for experts at parrying/dodging to maintain rank, synergizing with Sniper picto free aims for quick breaks followed by massive AoE output.​

Simoso for Sustain

Simoso, a late Act 3 unlock, adds an ethereal follow-up sword hit on most attacks/skills and grants immortality at Rank A+ (Level 20 passive), making Verso unkillable during sustained fights. Its double-skill procs break bosses when stacked with offensive pictos, though it demands precise rank management.​

Gaulteram Transition

While Gaulteram shines in Act 2 by preventing rank drops on hits (Level 4 passive), swap it out in Act 3 for the above options as enemies demand higher burst and its safety net becomes less vital with better player skill. Prioritize Agility > Luck on all for Verso’s damage and turn frequency.​​

Compare Chevalam and Simoso for Verso in Act 3

Chevalam and Simoso both rank among Verso’s top Act 3 weapons, but they cater to different strengths: Chevalam for raw burst speed, Simoso for sustained immortality and procs. Chevalam starts Verso at Rank S every fight, enabling instant max-damage openers like Phantom Stars without buildup, making it ideal for quick clears and boss one-shots when paired with Cheater picto for double turns. Simoso counters with an ethereal follow-up sword on most actions plus Rank A+ immortality (Level 20 passive), turning Verso unkillable while stacking breaks via double procs.​​

Key Stats Comparison

When to Choose Each

Use Chevalam for Act 3 trash mobs and burst phases where first-turn nukes trivialize encounters, especially with first-strike setups. Opt for Simoso in prolonged fights or NG+ health-scaled bosses, as its procs and invincibility outshine Chevalam’s no-heal penalty once fights drag. Player skill in dodging/parrying amplifies both, but Simoso edges endgame versatility.​​