Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Guide | Best Early Game Farm Location

If you want to level up early on, this guide has you covered. This guide will show you the exact steps to unlock a fast XP farm spot, obtain the crucial weapon, set up your skills and equipment, and execute a run that nets over 30,000 XP in about 30 seconds.

Prerequisites

Before accessing the farm spot, you must have finished the Gestral Village and Esquie’s Nest quests. Once those are complete, you can unlock the solo challenge that leads to this location.

Farm Spot Location

The farm spot is located in the Hidden Gestral Arena. On your world map, you will see the arena icon; head there once you meet the prerequisites. As soon as you arrive, talk to Bagara to initiate the solo challenge.

Obtaining the Medalum Weapon

You need the Medalum weapon to start in the Virtuouse stance, which grants 200% increased damage. It doesn’t matter if the weapon is level 5, 6, 7, or 11—any Medalum will work. To obtain it, enter the village tournament and challenge the secret boss at the end. Choose Maelle as your fighter; once you beat the secret challenger with Maelle, you will receive the Medalum weapon as a reward.

Stance and Skill Build

With the Medalum equipped, you begin each fight in the Virtuouse (Wheel) stance, giving you +200% damage. You will build a simple counter-based kit using only two skills: Fleuret Fury and Mezzo Forte. Fleuret Fury deals high damage while keeping you in Virtuouse stance, and Mezzo Forte retains Virtuouse stance while restoring AP for your next rotation. You don’t need any other combat skills for this strat.

Pictos Setup

For your Pictos, focus entirely on health and defense. Equip Protecting Last Stand, Empowering Last Stand, and Solo Fighter. You obtain all three by defeating the four bosses inside the arena—each boss drops one of these Pictos. Select Maelle, clear all four bosses, and then equip the Pictos you earned.

Lumina Setup

You want Last and Critical to achieve a 100% crit rate when fighting alone in your Lumina slots. Add Shell for extra defense, Solo Fighter for +50% damage on solo fights, Energizing Start (+1 AP on battle start), Empowering Last Stand for the additional attack, and Augment Counter for +25% counter‐attack damage. This exact setup maximizes damage output and survivability in a single‐character run.

Adjusting Difficulty

Because the final boss can one-shot Maelle on Expert if your HP or defense is low, reduce the difficulty to Story for the farming runs. Go to Settings, switch to Story, then immediately switch back to Expert before starting the challenge. This makes the boss manageable without sacrificing the 31,000 XP reward.

Farming Strategy

Fight the secret challenger (Julian Tiny Hat) when you enter the challenge. Keep Maelle’s agility low so the enemy acts first. Start in a Virtuouse stance with Medalum equipped to deal with massive damage from the first hit. Whenever you successfully land a counter, use Fleuret Fury to remain in Virtuouse stance and hit for +200% damage. 

If you lack the six AP needed for Fleuret Fury, use Mezzo Forte to restore AP and stay in Virtuouse stance for your next turn. This rotation takes about 30 seconds and yields approximately 31,000 XP with no damage taken, resulting in a level-up every run.

Materials and Rewards

Aside from XP, you will occasionally receive Resplendent Chroma Catalyst ×2 in this run. These catalysts allow you to upgrade Medalum to level 19, making this an XP farm and the best early‐game spot to advance your weapon. This strategy gives you a significant early advantage, getting your characters up to speed and grinding the needed materials.

Also, check our Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review and other guides below:

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