There’s no better way to buff your party in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 than to unlock passive Lumina effects for each of your character builds. While at first you’ll be somewhat limited by the number of Colour of Lumina upgrades available, these become abundant in the later stages of the game, and there is no limit to how many Colour of Lumina upgrades you give to a specific character. Passive buffs are only limited to the number of Pictos in Clair Obscurthat you’ve collected and unlocked the Lumina effect for.

As there are hundreds of Pictos spread across the Continent, you won’t run out of options anytime soon. Working your way through the game, you’ll need to be smart about which Luminas you equip on each character. While many Luminas are somewhat niche or are only good for specific build types, the following Lumina effects are universally recommended for every character, assuming you have the Lumina points to equip them. You may have to defeat some tough bosses for a few of these, but they’re well worth the effort.

10The “Anti” Luminas Provide Crucial Immunities

Prepare Your Party For Every Occasion

There are five different immunity-based Luminas throughout Clair Obscur that you shouldn’t sleep on if you want to truly prepare for any occasion. These include Anti-Burn, Anti-Freeze, Anti-Stun, Anti-Charm, and Anti-Blight. There are two effective strategies for using these. If you’re a lazy Expeditioner like me with the Lumina points to spare, simply equip all five of these on each character. This is costly, but worth it for NG+, assuming you’ve stocked up on Colour of Lumina.

Lumina
Pictos Location(s)
Requirement
Lumina Points (LP)

Anti-Burn
Frozen Hearts / Flying Manor
Defeat the Gargant
15

Anti-Freeze
Frozen Hearts
Unlock the Paint Cage near Glacial Falls
15

Anti-Stun
The Continent
Defeat the Chromatic Petank.
5

Anti-Charm
Sirene
Defeat the Tisseur.
10

Anti-Blight
The Continent / The Reacher
Defeat the Chromatic Portier or buy from Eragol in The Reacher.
10

The other method is to equip them on a case-by-case basis, but this will require knowing ahead of time what status effects the enemy can inflict. Either way, you should track each of these down before a NG+ run of Clair Obscur to make your life easier. Notably, you’ll definitely want to get the Anti-Charm Pictos from the Tisseur before fighting Sirene.

Recovery Is The Best Healing Lumina In Act 1

Expensive, But Worth It

Recovery (10 LP) is arguably one of the best healing passives you’ll be able to access before Clea’s Life (see below), and you can technically get it as early as Act 1. However, that comes with a caveat, in that you’ll have to spend a hefty amount of Chroma on the secret “Fountain” in Red Woods, which actually will turn out to be one of the many White Nevron quests in Clair Obscur.

Painted Power is not included on this list, but you should have it equipped on every character as soon as you unlock it to start dealing above 9,999 damage.

This will start out small at a mere 5,000 Chroma, but there are ultimately four different “donations” you’ll have to make that get exponentially costlier, totaling at 90,000 Chroma. Once you’ve paid the piper, you’ll be rewarded with the Recovery Pictos, which automatically heals the character by 10% at the start of each turn.

Base Shield Or In Medias Res

Both These Passives Provide Much-Needed Shields

Two excellent Lumina passives will provide additional defenses in the form of Shields: the Base Shield (20 LP) and the In Medias Res (10 LP) effects. Base Shield gives you +1 Shield at the start of your turn if you don’t have any other active Shields, and it can be a literal lifesaver or last line of defense against tough enemies. It’s found in The Chosen Path in Act 3, where you’ll have to face five different enemies before getting the reward

In Medias Res is found on Dark Shores, and it’s relatively easy to get if you can defeat the Noir enemies surrounding it. You can also bait them out of the way and grab the Pictos quickly, though this can be kind of tricky, and the Noir aren’t too difficult to defeat if you’re properly upgraded. Ultimately, both of these are excellent passive effects that provide useful Shields. Base Shield is a little tougher to get but doesn’t have any debuffs, while In Medias Res will cut your Health in half but is slightly easier to grab.

Dodger Is The Cheapest, Earliest & Best AP Resource

You Can Always Rely On The Old Dodger Lumina

Custom Image by Lee D’Amato

Dodger (1 LP) is one of the very first Pictos you pick up in Clair Obscur, and you’ll get it just after you meet up with Lune and defeat the Portier in the cave. It’s a very simple Lumina effect, but it gets the job done, assuming you can nail some Perfect Dodges. Dodger gives you +1 AP for each Perfect Dodge, and it only costs 1 Lumina Point to boot, making it an essential add-on for all your characters.

This passive effect is as useful in the mid-to-late game as it is in the beginning. Unless you’re micromanaging your Lumina point investment on each character and can’t spare the single Lumina point cost, there’s no reason to skip this one.

Warming Up Is An Easy Damage Booster

Parry Grosse Tete’s Endless Bounces

If you haven’t taken on Grosse Tete already, and you think it’s an impossible boss, it can actually be defeated with a bit of resilience, and it will reward you with the Warming Up Pictos as a result. Defeating Grosse Tete is all about sticking it out as long as you can until the enemy eventually explodes and destroys itself. This will require quite a bit of dodging/parrying, as Grosse Tete essentially just bounces on top of your party the entire encounter.

You can fight Grosse Tete the old-fashioned way, but it’s recommended to be at least in the Level 50 range and have upgraded your weapons as much as possible.

Grosse Tete is found just outside the Forgotten Battlefield once you enter Act 2, and it won’t really matter what level you’re at if your dodge/parry skills aren’t up to par. You want to parry as much as possible, as that’s the only way to get Grosse Tete to self-destruct, but staying alive is important too, so don’t be afraid to dodge if you have to. It will take a while, but eventually Grosse Tete will explode, and you’ll get Warming Up (15 LP), which provides up to a 25% damage bonus with no debuffs.

Energy Master Is An Essential Support Lumina

Take Down Serpenphare For The Best Support Buff In Clair Obscur

If you’re wondering when you should fight Serpenphare, the answer is probably sooner than you’d expect, and the reward is better earned sooner rather than later. Energy Master is one of the best Pictos in the game thanks to its passive effect, which will increase every AP gained by 1. There’s a trick to defeating Serpenphare, which is to overload it with AP, so your level won’t matter nearly as much as your AP generation in defeating Serpenphare.

Much like Grosse Tete, Serpenphare has a self-destruct feature, though it won’t kill it entirely, just severely damage it and leave it prone. Each turn, Serpenphare will absorb the party’s AP, which sounds bad but can be taken advantage of. If it consumes over 20 AP from your entire party, it will overload and explode, so stack your AP and stay on the defensive. Energy Master (40 LP) is costly in terms of Lumina Points, but it’s absolutely worth the investment.

Use Energising Turn & Parry For Reliable AP Generation

Both Energising Turn & Energising Parry Are Found In Multiple Locations

Energising Turn and Energising Parry are two essential AP generation Luminas I’d recommend putting on every character in your party. The former will give you 1 AP at the start of each turn, while the latter will give you 1 AP for every successful Parry. Both can be found in multiple locations, though Energising Turn is unmissable, acquired by defeating Sirene in Act 2. Energising Turn (20 LP) can also be purchased after unlocking the Gestral Merchant inventories at both Renoir’s Drafts and Sacred River.

Energising Parry (15 LP) is a little harder to get. You’ll either have to defeat the Chromatic Luster in Forgotten Battlefield, or you can fight the same two merchants previously mentioned. All three of these fights are relatively tough, however, so you’re better off trying your luck at the Chromatic Luster enemy, and if you absolutely can’t take it down, resort to one of these two merchants. Grour, the Renoir’s Drafts merchant, is the most difficult but has the better inventory overall.

Clea’s Life Can Restore Your Health To 100%

You Can Fight Clea In Flying Manor

Clea is one of the few secret bosses in Clair Obscur, and she is absolutely worth fighting for multiple reasons, primarily because she rewards the Clea’s Life Pictos. The passive effect for Clea’s Life (30 LP) will recover 100% of the character’s health on turn start if they didn’t take any damage since the last turn. This effect will essentially keep your entire party at full health as long as you aren’t taken out by group attacks.

Clea can be found inside the Flying Manor, and you’ll have to take out all four of the Chromatic Nevron bosses in the area to unlock the manor door and be able to fight Clea. This sequence will also give you some narrative insight into Clea as a character, but she’s relatively difficult to defeat. Much like the effect from Clea’s Life, she will heal to 100% at the start of her turn if she hits you at all.

Everybody Deserves A Second Chance

The Second Chance Pictos Is Rewarded At The End Of The Monolith

Second Chance (40 LP) is easily one of the best and most useful utility passives in the entire game. It’s rewarded after defeating Renoir in the Monolith at the end of Act 2, which means you’ll have it available while completing all the side content during Act 3.

Second Chance allows you to revive at 100% health once per battle, and it’s a complete game-changer in the endgame. Even if you’re a pro with parries and dodges and barely ever get hit, Second Chance will let you rest at ease knowing that you’ll have at least one more shot at a comeback.

Cheater Cheater, Lumina Eater

Defeat Sprong For The Best Passive Lumina Effect In Clair Obscur

Easily the best Lumina effect in Clair Obscur is acquired from the giant Sprong boss you find in the middle of the ocean at the beginning of Act 2 after unlocking Esquie’s ability to swim. Sprong is a tough boss at this stage in the game, but you will want to defeat it for the Cheater Pictos. This lets the character play twice in a row every turn, and there’s no other effect quite like it that completely guarantees playing twice in a row.

“You can’t go wrong with the Cheater (40 LP) effect or Luminas such as Energising Parry and Second Chance, even if they are somewhat costly.”

Overall, you will want to prioritize Lumina effects on each character that contribute to their specific builds the most, but all the recommendations here are very likely to come in handy regardless of your build types or party makeup. You can’t go wrong with the Cheater (40 LP) effect or Luminas like Energising Parry and Second Chance, even if they are somewhat costly. Combined, these Luminas will help you take out even the toughest enemies in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.