You’ll have to wait a while before you can get your hands on Verso, he won’t join the Expedition until the start of Act II but then becomes a mainstay for the rest of the adventure. Using a Sword and Dagger as his weapon, Verso’s entire playstyle evolves around his Perfection system that allows him to deal increasingly more damage the higher he is graded. Keep reading to learn how to play Verso and what the best skills and weapons are for him.

Table of Contents¶

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Verso’s Playstyle - Perfection¶

Verso has what seems like a simple mechanic on paper, but a lot of the fundamentals of how it works are hidden from the player, instead forcing you to dig deep into the mechanics to see how it all works. On a surface level, as Verso performs actions in battle, he’ll begin filling up a latter on the right side of your screen, these are known as Perfection Ranks and range from D-S. Each new rank begins an increase in damage, and on top of that, some skills have modifiers based on what Rank Verso is currently at. The downside to this is getting hit by the enemy or dying will instead cause the Rank to lower, so you need to be on your toes at all times if you want to maximize his damage.

So, the question you should be asking yourself, what’s the best way to raise his rank, and the answer is, by getting as many Perfection Points when it’s his turn. As a general rule, actions in battle will give you a Perfection Point, and you’ll need to reach certain thresholds for a Rank Up. Verso will gain one Perfection Point for a Base Attack, Free Aim shot, using a Skill, performing a Dodge, Parry, a Counter, and nailing a QTE. The short and simple of it is, using skills that have multiple hits and making sure your defense is on point will see him rise up the ranks quickly.

So, how many points does Verso need for each threshold then? Fortunately, we’ve worked out the numbers you need to attain for that, along with the damage multiplier all of Verso’s attacks will enjoy at each of those ranks in the table below:

While you’ll need to accrue 30 points to hit Rank S, it’s well worth the effort as Verso will deal triple the damage with every attack he makes while in this Rank. Fortunately, weapons and skills will make it easier to rise through the ranks quicker and hit that elusive S, and we’ll give you more information on that with his Best Skills below. The important thing to note is that Defense is important with Verso, if you’re not adept at avoiding the enemy’s assaults be it Dodge or Parry, you’re going to have a hard time playing Verso to his fullest.

Verso’s Best Skills¶

Verso, like most of the characters in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, has many playstyles you can focus on, including some great support skills. He inherits Gustave’s ever useful Powerful skill, has the ability to give AP to the rest of the party, and can even take all Debuffs on the party and place them on himself instead. However, that 3.0 damage multiplier when Verso is Rank S means he can deal some of the highest damage in the game if you set him up correctly. We’ve picked out a handful of skills we believe are among his best below:

Steeled Strike¶

An extremely powerful attack and features the most hits of any skill in the game at 13 hits, this will truly hit like a truck when Verso is at Rank S, especially once you break the damage cap in Act III. There is a big catch to this skill, however, in that you won’t use it instantly. Instead, you will prepare the skill and use it on Verso’s next turn, and if he’s hit while preparing, it will cancel the attack. It’s an incredibly high risk, high reward skill, but if you’re confident you’re not going to be hit, you won’t find much stronger than this attack, especially at Rank S.

Once you reach Act III and gain access to the Cheater Pictos, this becomes even more lucrative, as this guarantees you two turns a round. Should you equip enough Energising Start/Turn Pictos to ensure you have 9 AP at the start of your first round, you can use Steeled Strike and then Verso will use it immediately on his second turn, removing the need to rely on avoiding damage to prevent the skill from being interrupted.

Overload¶

Continuing the trend of high risk, high reward skills, Overload shares that same mindset. When used, at the cost of 0 AP (so you can use this whenever), you will instantly raise yourself to Rank S and fill all of your AP. The catch? Verso’s Health will drop to 1, meaning you’ll want to use this when you know you have an ally’s turn coming up next so they can heal him or if you’re confident in your dodging and parrying skills. Still, the ability to instantly put yourself into Rank S and being able to use any skill on the next turn is one you shouldn’t turn down.

End Bringer¶

Another incredibly strong multi-hit skill for Verso, and one with less risk than Steeled Strike, End Bringer will be a fantastic skill for large portions of the game. When used, Verso will deal six extreme physical damage hits against a foe that has its damage increased further if the target is already Stunned. Better yet, if you’re currently in Rank A, you will also reapply the Stun status!

Phantom Stars¶

This is another skill that costs a lot of AP (9, in fact), but is a very strong Light-based attack that will hit all enemies five times. Add to the fact that this skill can Break the enemy, this is one of the most effective methods of apply Break to an enemy group in the entire game. Still, with its high AP cost, we recommend you wait until you reach Rank S before using it, as doing so will lower the cost of it to 5 AP, making it far more manageable.

Assault Zero and Light Holder¶

Okay, so this is technically two skills, but they fill the same role for Verso, being an effective Perfection rank builder (if you’re not going the route of using Overload). You’ll start with Assault Zero and its low AP cost will make it useful for building ranks, especially if you’ve invested in Crit Rate as each Critical during the five hits will accrue an extra point of Perfection and at Rank B, the damage will be increased.

Light Holder, likewise, fills a similar role but in a slightly different way. This is a harder hitting attack, dealing five hits of Medium Light damage but instead of relying on Criticals, this will outright give you an entire Rank if you complete the QTEs. Considering Rank A to Rank S requires 15 Perfection Points, this is best used then and as an additional bonus, when used at Rank A, the skill will only cost 2 AP.

All of Verso’s Skills¶

Verso’s Best Weapons¶

There are a number of interesting traits to look at when it comes to Verso’s weapons, should you go for raw power, traits that benefit Verso’s Perfection Ranks, or even traits that allow him to act twice in the same combat turn, there are endless possibilities. With that in mind, we’ve selected four weapons that we believe are the best for Verso.

The first is the Dualiso, a unique weapon that offers some truly great weapon traits that can be obtained by defeating the boss at the end of the Forgotten Battlefield dungeon. At Level 4, you’ll get to have another turn immediately whenever you use a Base Attack. At Level 10, you’ll increase your Base Attack damage by 50% and at Level 20, your Base Attack will give you an extra four Perfection, this all combined allows you to build your Perfection very quickly with relatively little effort.

The second weapon you should consider is the Lanceram, an early game weapon you can obtain by defeating the Chromatic Lancelier in the Spring Meadows dungeon. At Level 4, your Perfection Rank will not be able to drop below C, starting you at that same Rank to begin a battle. At Level 10, a Base Attack will now give 4 Perfection and at Level 20, pulling off a Parry will reward 2 Perfection instead of 1. Add to the top of this that the Lanceram has high attack power, and it makes this an attractive weapon to use.

If you’re looking for pure damage output, look no further than the Seeram and Tireso weapons as they both have unmatched Power rating at Level 33 (3713). While the traits aren’t as useful, especially on the Seeram, they’ll still allow most of your attacks to hit very hard, especially whenever you reach Rank S for that 3.0 damage multiplier.

Finally, the Chevalam deserves a special mention for those of you who want to truly embrace Verso’s risk vs reward playstyle. You’ll have to wait until you beat one of the optional dungeons in Act III to get your hands on it, but it offers some great Traits for those who are adept at avoiding damage altogether. At Level 4, you will start the battle at Rank S, but you can’t be healed or gain Shields. At Level 10, you’ll gain 20% increased damage for each consecutive turn without taking damage, being able to stack a total of five times. Finally, you’ll get Rush whenever you reach Rank S, if you’re someone who can avoid damage all the time, this is a beast of a weapon.

Who is Verso’s Voice Actor?¶

If you’ve been following Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s development closely, you’ll know that the game is packed with a star studded cast, and Verso is no different there. The instantly recognizable Ben Starr plays the role of Verso, most famously known for playing the role of Clive in Final Fantasy XVI and Khazan in The First Berserker: Khazan.