There’s one major mechanic in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that has bothered me from the very beginning, and while it’s certainly not a dealbreaker by any means, I’m still confused as to why it was designed this way. In an otherwise impeccable gameplay experience, the one mechanic I have a beef with is the Critical Rate system, which allows you to pump your Critical Chance to nearly 300% but with no additional benefits beyond 100%. When I first started playing, I assumed there would be some benefit to exceeding 100% Crit Rate, but quickly learned I was mistaken.
While I have very few complaints about Clair Obscur’s multifaceted combat system and how it allows for countless playstyles and creative experimentation, the Critical Rate system is an area I think could use some clarification for players just getting started with their journey. In the beginning of your adventure, you won’t be anywhere near the maximum Critical Rate percentage and will be happy to boost it in any way possible, but as soon as you start to advance further into the game, you can very easily waste your resources and/or time boosting Critical Rate more than is necessary.
How Critical Rate Works In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Critical Rate Can Be Increased Using Pictos, Luminas, & Luck
Critical Rate in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a crucial part of dealing maximum damage against enemies, and is essential for defeating tough secret bosses such as Simon, for example. There are multiple ways to enhance and increase your Critical Rate in the game, including equipping characters with unique Pictos that have specific Critical Rate-increasing effects. Many different Pictos have Critical Rate increasing effects, not just those with “Critical” in the title. For example, The One has the highest Critical Rate stat increase of all the Pictos at 114% (more on that later).
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Another way to increase Critical Rate is via specific Lumina effects gained from learning the effects from particular Critical-related Pictos. Luminas are learned after completing an encounter with a Pictos equipped on any given active character in four different fights, after which you can activate the Lumina effect as a passive skill for any or all of the characters, assuming you have the points to do so. Critical-related Pictos such as 
Critical Burn, 
Critical Moment, 
Critical Stun, Critical Vulnerability, etc., will all increase your Critical Rate based on their respective descriptions.
Finally, Critical Rate can be increased by investing Attribute points into Luck, which can be a sound strategy especially in the early stages of the game. You’ll be able to re-spec later once you’ve collected some 
Recoat, and at a certain point it won’t be worth investing more into Luck unless your specific weapon scales with it specifically, in which case you’ll still see some diminishing returns and might still be better off investing in other stats. Luck will also influence Speed, which determines how often and early each playable character gets to play during a given encounter.
In Clair Obscur, a 100% Critical Rate simply means that you’ll land a critical against an enemy every time you hit them.
Critical Rate can technically be increased as high as you are able to enhance each of the above methods, which can easily exceed a 300% Critical Rate with the proper Pictos equipped and Luck maxed out to 99. However, while in some games you will benefit from maxing out your Critical Rate up has high as possible, in Clair Obscur, a 100% Critical Rate simply means that you’ll land a critical against an enemy every time you hit them, with no additional Critical damage bonus beyond that 100% rate, and herein lies the problem.
Why Clair Obscur’s Critical Rate Mechanic Is Confusing
There Is No Point Of Exceeding 100% Critical Rate Without An Additional Damage Bonus
The implication of being able to exceed 100% Critical Rate is that it will actually have an impact during combat in some meaningful way, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Players who don’t realize that going past 100% Critical Rate is pointless might attempt a Critical Rate build under the assumption they can multiply Critical damage for each percentage past the 100% cap, essentially wasting their resources until they realize they’re not getting anywhere with this strategy. It isn’t necessarily that the 100% cap is an issue, but that it isn’t explained clearly anywhere in-game.
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A tool-tip or Expedition Menu entry detailing this distinction would be extremely beneficial for new players, and would help prevent frustration for anyone thinking there’s a benefit to maximizing Critical Rate beyond 100%. Alternatively, a damage increase for Criticals for each percentage exceeding 100% would be a lot of fun and increase build options for players looking to deal massive damage. It’s obvious with recent updates that developers want players to be able to “break the game” and deal absurd amounts of damage, and allowing Critical Rate beyond 100% to actually increase damage would do just that.
To use The One effectively, you’re going to have to be on top of your Parry game to play a character with 1 Health, and you’ll need to utilize low-health-effect buffs and Luminas such as 
At Death’s Door.
Allowing Critical Rate to exceed 100% and not distinguishing that it’s pointless isn’t ideal, and it makes Pictos like the aforementioned The One kind of misleading. Having a set Critical Rate of 114% as a base stat on an equipped item implies that it’s going to give you some extra benefit past 100%. The real benefit of this Pictos is that you don’t have to worry about pumping Crit Rate from other sources, and you can allocate stats/Pictos/Luminas accordingly, but it could just as easily be set at 100% instead of 114% and there’d be no misleading implication involved.
Clair Obscur Uses Misleading Language For Critical Hits
Critical Chance Is No Different Than Critical Rate
My final beef with the Critical Rate system in Clair Obscur is that the language is inconsistent and adds further confusion about how Critical Rate works. Two different terms are used when referring to the Critical system: Critical Rate and Critical Chance. This is a small distinction that, in my view, implies there are two different mechanics at play. The “Critical Chance” terminology is used in Luminas/Pictos descriptions, while “Critical Rate” is used just about everywhere else. For example, the language on Critical Burn states “25% increased Critical Chance on Burning enemies,” yet this is directly affecting Critical Rate.
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This is a semantic distinction that isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but can be unnecessarily confusing for players trying to figure out how the Critical Rate system in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 works. Overall, I don’t want to make it sound like this is a game-breaking issue, because ultimately, players are going to figure out one way or another that there’s no benefit to increasing Critical Rate beyond 100%. I do think it would be nice to have some in-game clarification on this issue though, as it would simply improve an already nearly-flawless gameplay experience.
9/10
- Released
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April 24, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
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Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher(s)
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Kepler Interactive
