How to defeat the Paintress in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

The Paintress is the final boss of Act 2 in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. She is located at the top of the Monolith, offering one of the most challenging fights in the game. She employs large area attacks, curses that can eliminate your team in just a few turns, and a two-phase structure that requires strategic planning.

Here is a step-by-step guide to defeating the boss in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

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How to beat the Paintress in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Duel with the Paintress in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming // Kepler Interactive)

You’ll find the Paintress in The Monolith, defeating Renoir. From there, a golden door leads to the Monolith Peak checkpoint – walk forward, and a cutscene triggers the face-off.

Here are some key details you should know about when fighting the Paintress in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33:

• When the first phase fight begins, she instantly casts Void Meteors – a series of explosive orbs that can technically be parried, but the timing is tricky. The best play? Just dodge early, save your AP, and prepare your support abilities. Her next move is usually the Gradient attack – if you’ve mastered your parry rhythm, this one’s counterable and sets her up for some clean damage.
• Stay alert for the Chroma Waves right after – she fires five in succession, and if even one connects without a parry, expect to burn through your heals quickly. She’ll also lob chunks of Monolith rock at random targets, so watch your formation.
• During this phase, Sciel’s Twilight Slash and Shadow Bringer shine – both stack solid dark damage, and Shadow Bringer’s random multi-hit can chip her down.
• After getting her to around 10% HP, she won’t go down until she fires off a scripted attack –save your AP here and switch to your backup squad if things go south.

The Paintress with her Palette in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming // Kepler Interactive)

• In the next phase, she whips out a Palette, starts hovering, and smashes your team with a giant brush of light. This deals consistent area damage, so if you’ve got Lune’s Healing Tint ready, use it here. When she flies in the air and dive-bombs one of your characters, parry it clean or lose a teammate. She also unleashes Reality Apart, a brutal hit that demands precise timing to parry. If your rhythm falters here, that one hit can disrupt your setup.
• Verso’s Sabotage is decent if you need a filler skill while waiting for your next heavy damage window.
• Your real burst comes from Maelle. Switch her into Virtuose Stance with Swift Stride, then use Fleuret Fury. If you’ve unlocked Gustave’s Homage through her journal, that’s your trump card – it sticks to Virtuose stance, hits eight times, and melts boss HP in chunks.
• At around the halfway point, she casts Corrupted Chroma – this curse kills all party members after four turns. The only way to stay alive? Enter free-aim mode and shoot the two glowing orbs above her head. One orb equals one extra turn for a single member. Miss them, and someone’s going to drop.
• She has no clear elemental weakness, so don’t bother stacking for damage types. Focus on break mechanics and combo chains. Weapons like Monoco’s Echassier Stabs or Sciel’s Marking Card help apply Mark, which Maelle can then follow up with Momentum Strike or Percee for massive bonus damage.

Lune's Revitalization is helpful in the boss battle (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming // Kepler Interactive)

• Healing and revive traits are your safety net. Keep Revitalization, Pelerin Heal, and the Revive Tint active. If you’ve picked up Healing Parry near the Bourgeon camp, you’ll also restore HP on every successful parry – huge value against her AoEs.
• Once you clear the second phase and take her near zero HP, the third phase is more of a clean-up. No tricks, no surprises – just burn down her last sliver of health and finish the job.

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Rewards

Once you defeat the Paintress, you'll receive:

• Painted Power
• Resplendent Chroma Catalyst x3
• 8,520 Chroma
• 144,780 XP

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This concludes our guide to defeating the Paintress in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Check out: Clair Obscur Expedition 33: Yellow Harvest area guide