Clair Obscur Expedition 33: guide to beating Simon

SPOILER WARNING. This guide reveals an optional end-game boss and touches on narrative elements from Acts II and III of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. If you haven't yet finished the main story or wish to discover the later areas for yourself, come back to this guide later.

Released in April 2025 by French studio Sandfall Interactive (published by Kepler Interactive), Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 shook up the RPG year thanks to a reinvented turn-based combat system, a spellbinding Belle Époque art direction, and a soundtrack by Lorien Testard. Once the credits have rolled, one last challenge awaits the most tenacious expeditioners: Simon, the Abyss's hidden superboss, considered by the community to be the game's true final boss.

This guide walks you through it step by step: location, prerequisites, the mechanics of the three phases, team composition, essential Pictos and Luminas, critical parries, and of course the rewards. Get your notepad ready, the Abyss forgives nothing.

Who is Simon and why fight him?

Simon is a former member of Expedition Zero, the very first expedition to depart from the continent of Lumière under Renoir's command. A close friend of Verso and in love with Clea, he was crushed by the conflict between the Paintress and the Curator, before ending up in the Abyss, a secret zone hidden within Renoir's Sketches. You don't fight him for the main story: you fight him because he represents the highest mechanical wall in Clair Obscur, with a whole sequence of parries to pull off frame-perfect.

Simon isn't just another boss. He's a complete test: reading animations, managing resources, choosing Pictos, and keeping your cool. Beating him proves you've fully mastered Sandfall's combat system.

Prerequisites before the fight

• Progression: be in Act III, having defeated the Paintress.
• Recommended level: 90 to 95 minimum on Normal difficulty, 99 on Expert.
• Main weapons: each team member's weapon ideally leveled to 33 (the studio's little nod is no coincidence).
• Relationship with Esquie: level 6 minimum, essential to unlock her underwater diving ability.
• Pictos compendium: having farmed the Infinite Tower and the later areas to have a deep pool of Luminas available.

Without this foundation, forget it: Simon has a colossal health bar and combos that punish the slightest imprecision. The difficulty isn't artificial, it's structural.

How to reach the Abyss

Once Esquie's diving ability is unlocked, steer your flying creature southeast of Visages Island and southwest of Sirène Island. Spot the patch of bubbles on the water's surface: that's the entrance to Renoir's Sketches. Dive in.

1. Cross Renoir's Sketches until you reach a golden portal located at the back of the area.
2. The portal teleports you into the Abyss, a graveyard of swords planted in a dreamlike landscape.
3. Move to the center of the graveyard: Simon awaits you, leaning against his sword Simoso.

The area is an explicit homage to the Souls games (Dark Souls, Elden Ring): the atmosphere, the architecture, and the staging of the duel fool no one.

Image credit: Sandfall Interactive / Kepler

The three phases of the fight

The duel is split into three phases spread across two chained battles. Each transition hardens the combos and shortens the reaction windows.

Phase 1: getting a feel for the rhythm

• Slow sword combos of three to five hits, ideal for timing your parries.
• A quick but readable flurry of punches, perfect for building your action points (AP).
• Simon absorbs your team's shields from the very first turn and applies them to himself. All compositions based on HP/shield generation are therefore penalized.

Phase 2: the ghost blades

Once Simon is "defeated" a first time, he refuses to be erased from the canvas and is reborn, his sword Simoso even larger. Every hit in his combo is doubled by a ghost blade that strikes a split second later.

• Now expect two consecutive parries on each hit, with very tight timing.
• The quick combos go from six to eight hits, all with a double strike.
• Damage per hit climbs: a single mistake can empty a health bar.

Phase 3: the substitutes' switch

When Simon's health bar drops below 30%, he unleashes a scripted attack that wipes out your active team. The characters left in reserve take over to finish the duel. You therefore need to prepare a second line as solid as the first.

The golden rule of Phase 3: never let a character die without an instant resurrection. In case of an outright death, Simon erases them from the fight for good.

Recommended team composition

There is no single perfect team, but the community converges on two effective build families:

• Pure DPS build: Verso (parries and burst), Maelle (Burning and Gradient Erasure), Lune (Elemental Stains). The trio maximizes damage on every perfect parry.
• Survival and break build: Sciel (support, cards, resurrection), Maelle (main DPS), Monoco (break and versatility). This combination sacrifices a bit of burst but gains stability in Phase 3.
• Reserve: keep at least Gustave or a second healer, already carrying a few AP right from the start of the fight.

Verso remains essential for two reasons: his parries hinder Simon enormously, and he directly benefits from the rewards upon victory.

Essential Pictos and Luminas

The priority rule: forget anything that relies on shields. Simon systematically steals them. Focus your slots on damage, mobility, and raw survivability.

• Overpainted Power (Lumina obtained after the Paintress): massive damage boost, to be equipped across the whole team.
• Trickster: damage and dodge bonus after a perfect parry.
• Survivor: increased damage at low HP, devastating in Phase 3.
• Second Chance: essential, turns the first death into a resurrection.
• Initiative: guarantees the opening of the fight, precious for setting up your buffs before the combos.
• Add a reliable source of AP generation and a cooldown reduction Lumina.

Key parries and dodges

Simon doesn't fight, he's read. Every combo has a distinct, memorizable rhythm. Here are the cues that come up most often among those who win:

• The jump combo (three hits): parry the ground impacts, dodge only if you miss the first read.
• The slow sword combo: the best friend of your Action Points, every perfect parry recharges your resources.
• The eight-hit fast combo: the most dangerous sequence, requires an uninterrupted chain of parries. One mistake = combo resets.
• The phantom blades (Phase 2 and 3): double parries mandatory. Anticipate the "click-click" instead of the single "click".
• The erasure attack (Phase 3): unavoidable, don't waste AP trying an impossible parry.

Community tip: start the fight on Easy to memorize the patterns, then switch back to the difficulty you're aiming for. Simon keeps exactly the same animations, only the damage wall changes.

Rewards: why it's worth the detour

Once Simon is brought down, you unlock the most prestigious loot in the game:

• Simoso: Verso's ultimate sword. At level 4, it summons an ethereal blade that deals bonus Light damage on every skill. At level 10, 20% chance to apply Burn on Light damage.
• 2 Perfect Chroma Catalysts: a rare resource allowing you to push your favorite weapons to their maximum.
• 50 Lumina Colors: ideal raw material to finalize your builds.
• "Finally at peace" Trophy/Achievement: the meta-narrative reward, often cited as one of the most beautiful trophies of the year.
• Simon's expedition journal: essential lore to complete the story of Expedition Zero and understand why Verso is the way he is.

Going further

Once Simon is defeated, the endgame of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 doesn't stop there. Three avenues are worth exploring:

• Clea, the Mistress of the Flying Manor: another hidden boss, focused on managing healer Nevrons and Maelle's Burn builds. Reward at stake: Clea's Life Force Lumina and an exclusive dress.
• Painted Love, in the Endless Tower: on the 11th floor, after 33 consecutive battles. This boss recycles the patterns of previous opponents and demands a perfect read of the defense system.
• New Game+: replaying with your maxed-out Pictos radically changes the experience and gives real meaning to the most unusual builds.

For more details, check out the guides from jeuxvideo.com, Breakflip and Millenium, all in French, all up to date and complementary. Good hunting, expeditioner: may your Journal stay open and your parries ring true.