Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: How to Beat the Paintress

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS MAJOR STORY SPOILERS FOR CLAIR OBSCUR: EXPEDITION 33.

After fighting your way past countless Nevrons, and defeating the mighty Axons, you'll be able to take on the Monolith, the home to the Paintress. Immediately, you'll attack the crouched, giant stone woman at the bottom of the Monolith, only to realise you can't damage this creature. Then, you'll be led inside the Monolith itself.

After fighting through twisted versions of places you've visited before, with tougher enemies including Clair and Obscur. Once you've battled past them, and made your way on the train to a weird version of Lumiere, you'll be able to face the Paintress. It's worth making sure you're fully prepared for this fight. We did it at an average level of 50, but you could make it out alive from level 40 or above.

Well, first you'll have to deal with Renoir, as a final encounter with the white-haired man that has been giving you trouble since you set out. Renoir throws out waves of Chroma, and can attempt to wipe some of your party from existence, but he gets to his strongest point in his second phase, where he summons a giant lion made of Chroma. But, if you've levelled up enough and can get off a few parries and dodges here and there, he shouldn't be too much trouble. Lune practically solo'd him for our playthrough with a massively damaging Elemental Genesis.

Once Renoir's down, you'll get a visit from the Curator, who helps Maelle rid you of his presence for good. From there, you'll get another chance to upgrade, swap your party around, and perhaps even back out to level up if you need it, but you'll reach the Paintress at the top of the Monolith, and your final confrontation with her will begin.

The Paintress is a fight of three phases. The first sees her mostly use wave attacks and projectiles that come at you quickly. Her meteor swarm in particular can be tricky to predict, but if you parry just after the light flashes around each projectile, you should be good. There are also audio queues for each of her other attacks. Also, you can stun the Paintress, and she will take decent Break damage from attacks and skills that provide it. Slowing and stunning her are great ways to keep pressure down as you work towards Phase 2.

Here's where things start to peak in terms of the battle's scale. Remember that massive stone lady at the bottom of the Monolith? Well, she's back, and she raises the Paintress up for her second phase, giving her extra powers. The paintbrush of light gives the Paintress a slow combo that can be parried quite easily, but she does have some quick close-combat combos that can quickly down a party member, so have your revive tints at the ready. The most devastating attack your party can face in this phase is the Paintress' reality rip.

Opening a hole in reality, dark orbs will fly at your party at quite a pace, dealing hundreds of damage with each hit. Even if you are devastated by this attack, you should still be able to bring down the Paintress to her third phase rather quickly, as she'll still keep her debuffs throughout the entire fight. Using burn and other status afflictions can help build up quite a bit of consistent damage over time.

The Paintress' third phase isn't really a phase at all. She'll start by shielding an Expeditioner and healing another before essentially just giving up. Still, with the fight she gives in those first two phases, you'll want to make sure you've got revive and healing tints, or ways to regain health during the course of the fight via skills, pictos and lumina. Also, if you've got a character who can apply great stacks of burn like Maelle, then it's worth putting them front and centre, so they can keep up damage over all the phases.

After beating the Paintress, you'll get access to the story's meatiest twist, as well as a picto that allows your damage to surpass 9,999, a must-have on all your characters if you're going to take on some of the game's more difficult bosses. We won't get into the story ramifications of beating the Paintress, though, as this guide was simply here to help you beat her.