To beat Simon in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, consider the following key strategies:
- Simon is one of the hardest bosses, located in The Abyss area, underwater in Renoir's Drafts. You need Esquie's ability to swim underwater to reach him, and a recommended character level of 90+ is suggested.
- The fight has three phases with increasing difficulty. In phase 1, Simon's attacks are somewhat predictable but get faster and longer combo-wise as his health decreases. In phase 2, he wields two swords and requires consecutive parries, sometimes for 5-10 seconds. Phase 3 adds a third sword and an unpreventable move that wipes active party members, requiring recalling reserves.
- Parrying is crucial: perfect parries are necessary for surviving and counterattacking. The attacks become increasingly complex, and you need to parry multiple hits in a row efficiently.
- Build up your Gradient attacks and use powerful skills with high damage and debuffs to break Simon down quickly. Skills like Angel Eyes can revive you immediately upon death, allowing continuous pressure.
- Equip your party with the best Picto and Lumina including Recovery, Second Chance (revive), Painted Power (damage boost), Healing Counter, Gradient Fighter, Energising Parry, and Counterattack damage boosters to enhance survivability and damage output.
- Use characters with abilities like Cheater for extra attack turns and Revive Paradox to attack immediately after revival.
- Focus on a single target damage approach, shooting Simon to build fire build up that can stun or "cook" him for large phase damage.
- Avoid going in with a full party of 3 active members; consider using weaker members up front and stronger ones in reserve.
Following this mix of parry mastery, damage build-up, and careful party setup is the best way to defeat Simon in this challenging boss fight.
