Clair Obscur - Low Level No Attributes (Expert Mode) Part 3: Goblu
3Challenge playlist:
• Clair Obscur Expedition 33 - Low Level No ...
The boss at the very end of the second major area of the game, Flying Waters. Only lv. 5 before the battle ends, we are now some 8-10 levels behind a normal party at this stage with no attributes used up whatsoever, so the difference in power between our party and an unrestricted one is quite considerable.
As is tradition, the boss is a pinnacle of everything we've fought in its dungeon. Originally, I started out making the most out of every member of the party, emerging with a video about twice as long as the current one. I then reached an important realisation: focussing on setting up one single party member can result in way more damage being incurred than if I were to let them run amok without trying to maximise the pain this way. Moreover, if I hadn't had to get somebody hurt to negate the 20% experience bonus from finishing the fight unscathed, I would've been able to shave off an additional two or so minutes from the footage - that's how big the discovery was.
You can see my weapons, skills and Pictos before the fight at the start of the video. As you can see, Lune has the most attack from being a lucky owner of a strong lv. 3 weapon, which is rare in a low level / mandatory fights only challenge, as beating normal enemies in dungeons and seemingly especially most often on the overworld map results in getting new ones - an option we lack. Gustave is the one with the weakest weapon, but his Overcharge will still pack a punch even with that measly attack stat when he fills its meter. Our range of Pictos available has also expanded greatly, with there now being more of them to equip than we have slots. As this is our first obligatory battle, we do not have any of them learnt just yet.
The video shows me ostensibly trivialising the encounter, needing to take extra time to get damaged by the boss and prolonging the battle this way, as if to insult boss Goblu. However, it took me a while to get to that level, both Goblu's melee combo and his 'crush' posing an inordinate amount of challenge to successfully parry.
So, what is this strategy favouring one main source of damage I keep talking about? Simply put, it involves Maelle use Percee in Virtuose Stance for a mere 2 AP when the boss has been Marked by Gustave - the most reliable way to inflict the ailment. Percee does extra damage versus Marked foes, resulting in colossal damage for a low level challenge at this point. When Maelle isn't in her Virtuose Stance, she needs to use Swift Stride to get there, and the boss has to be constantly burning for that to be possible. Goblu being burnt also gives Maelle +25% crit on her attacks with the right Pictos equipped. As Lune is slower than my Maelle with the current setup (I probably could've rearranged some Pictos for Lune to be the fastest), Maelle uses my first turn to inflict Defenceless on the boss, which causes all my early attacks, including team counters, to be very painful for Goblu.
My secondary sources of damage are Gustave and Lune using Overcharge, when the meter is full, and Thunderfall, when Lune has surplus AP, respectively. Around the half HP mark, possibly even earlier (Maelle's Percee dealing so much damage helps make a huge leap in the boss's attack pattern workings), the boss starts summoning four flowers - two red, two blue. Not shooting them with your guns will lead to the flowers giving the boss extra attack and extra shields. The extra attack in particular will cause the boss to do some really excessive damage should his attacks connect. When the health gets really low, they will be many more flowers on the field, I'm thinking 10? It can't just be double the old number. Because Maelle is in her Defensive stance much of the time, she's often the one with surplus AP to shoot these things, but in the end even that won't be enough.
In this video, I needed someone to eat an attack and die, just so that I could finish the battle afterwards. It was one I enjoyed doing immensely until I finally got it. This could've ended badly for me, I guess. Surprisingly, we only get one level from our victory here.
I like Goblu's theme a lot, anyone else?