Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Expert Restricted Route
This route is now updated to use the Lighterim instead of Deminerim. The Deminerim notes can be found here.
Last update: 7/08/25.
Patch update 6/10/25: You can no longer interact with flags during dialogue.
Here are the affected areas to my current knowledge and potential fixes:
- Manor: After Picto menu, reload most recent autosave to cancel dialogue.
- Sirene: Use flag at camp, or before Glissando.
Lampmaster phase 1 4 lamp attack can now no longer be countered. This is actually good for us since we can now parry all 4 for more AP.
Notation
For menus, I will sometimes have something in parenthesis. If it's (S1-3), it refers to the slot the Picto should be placed in. If it's a Playstation controller button, it's a button you should press to optimize the menu.
For battles, there will sometimes be something like (1.1 QTE). This refers to the Quick Time Action you do when you use an Ability. A perfect is 1.2, a normal is 1.1, and a fail is 1.0. The number refers to the damage multiplier the skill gets from the QTE.
You can check the changelog at the bottom of the notes.
These are my personal notes for the category, the writing will reflect that. For the most part these notes will not say where to go or where things are, just what to do. I will be updating these as the route progresses, changes will be reflected in the changelog at the bottom of the notes.
There will also be enemy data and maybe some other useful information at the bottom of the notes.
If there's a time listed by a fight, it's my best time for it so far. It does not represent the average.
Prologue
Harbor
- Talk to Aprentices
- Talk to Maelle, skip Maelle duel
- Talk to Emma
4 CS on Transition
Act I
Spring Meadows
Pick up Critical Burn.
First strike the Lanceram before the house.
You can jump up to the right side before the house, or take the path through the house.
Pick up Energy Tint Shard, $360 Chroma in house detour.
Pick up Dead Energy II. Afterwards, jump off to the left and menu.
First strike the Abbest on your left.
Pick up Colour of Lumina under the bridge. Go to Flag.
Optionally, Lune equip Lighterim
Continent
Go to Camp before entering Flying Waters
Flying Waters
Pick up $333 along path.
Take the detour to the right by the tunnel to spawn 3 Denerim and fight them.
Go to Manor.
After getting Maelle menu.
Go to flag.
Talk to Noco and fight him.
Buy Exposing Attack ($3600). After Noco continue straight.
Fight the Bruler that jumps down at you before the tunnel
Talk to Coral Cave Flag
Ancient Sanctuary
If you've been hitless since getting Maelle, you can use the flag at the start here for Maelle Might. If so, you can skip Powerful vs Robust Sakapatate.
Talk to flag before Ultimate Sakapatate
Gestral Village
Go to flag.
Tournament
Pattern for first 3 fights: Parry, Degagement, Parry, Rain of Fire
Rewards for each: 2026XP, $366
Talk to Golgra. Then go talk to Jujubree (Merchant).
Camp
Sleep. Go to Esquie's Nest.
Esquie's Nest
Go to flag by entrance.
Backtrack to Esquie.
After talking to Esquie, run to flag by Francois and fast travel to entrance.
The Continent
Picked Colour of Lumina by the Demineur, Lancelier, Crueler. Then camp.
Camp
Talk to Curator
The Continent
First strike the group here.
Pick up Energising Start I on beach west of Stone Wave Cliffs
Pick up $1775 near Chromatic Bruler.
Pick up $1305 after breaking the rocks to Stone Wave Cliffs
Stone Wave Cliffs
Pick up $790 on the left before the 1st flag.
Pick up First Strike.
Pick up $790 after Farm flag.
Pick up Colour of Lumina before last grapple up.
White-Haired Man (0:49)
Skip turn x4
Act II
Start off at camp, party full healed. Go to flag.
Do this menu before entering Forgotten Battlefield
Forgotten Battlefield
Buy Inverted Affinity from Merchant ($9870).
Camp
Go to Curator
Option 2 to sleep.
Continent
Fight group before Monoco Station
Menu before Monoco.
Monoco Station
Menu before Stalact.
Go to flag. Watch to see if you got a Recoat.
Old Lumiere
If no Recoat, talk to Merchant and buy Recoat.
If you bought Recoat, after party splits go to flag with Lune party.
Pick up Auto Rush.
Visages
Talk to the Plazza Flag. Go to Joyous Mask (Back left)
Pick up Confident Fighter.
Run into fight closest to flag.
Go to flag, warp to Plazza.
Camp
Go to flag.
Go to Curator.
Sirene
Start battle with attack with a group of Ballets.
The attack prevents Verso getting a 2nd turn before they move.
The Monolith
The Paintress
Skip
Pick up Weakness Gain at the end of the Stone Wave Cliffs section. It's behind the statue on the right.
Go to any flag along the way.
In Lumiere, fight the first battle with Chevaliers.
Chevaliers
- Lune Ice Lance, rest skip. Bring in 2nd party, flee.
Menu before Paintress
Act III
Camp
Talk to everyone, talk to campfire, Option 2
Lumiere
You can do this menu anytime before Creation.
Talk to Merchant.
Talk to flag.
Fight as Maelle.
Verso 157188HP (0:07)
Rain of Fire (Fail QTE)
Time on fight end.
Archive
Spring Meadows Lanceram Volester Abbest 70XP $216 (0:19)
Turn 0
- Gustav
- Shoot Volester 3 times to kill (main body, hitting weakness does less)
- Then shoot other weakpoints and attack Lanceram (default)
- Lune: Ice Lance Abbest (default)
Parry Lanceram, Abbest dies to burn
SWC Rocher 3367HP 1575XP(NB) $316 (0:11)
- Lune: Wildfire (fail QTE)
- Gustav: Marking Shot
- Maelle: Percee
Timings
Spring Meadows
The $720 chroma detour takes 11.5s.
Empowering Attack Picto is ~15s detour after Eveque.
Flying Waters
The Bruler than jumps down after Manor can be done pretty quick. $466, 1340XP, Bruleram.
The Bruler + Crueler fight gives 1069XP $400
Money pickups after tunnel cost ~6.5s for $990
Esquie's Nest
Backtracking after Francois is 12s faster, but loses $1305 and Colour of Lumina.
Flagging after Esquie saves ~13s, but loses Energising Start III.
Visages
Killing self with Wildfire + Perfect Recovery > Flee: ~14.5s
Killing self with Wildfire + Perfect Recovery > 2nd party: ~21s
Killing self with 2 Moisonneusse (2 short combo) > ~34s
Sirene
Standard Wildfire Ballet death: 29s
Enemies before Glissando: 32s
Other
Upgrading Healing Tint when near curator: 4s
Scribbles
Sciel needs 18 Luck, can hold off on some of it till Renoir 2 if I want to invest more might.
At LVL30, she will need 3 Agility 18 Luck to have EXACTLY enough for Paintress.
Verso doesn't need to be the fastest for Paintress with Auto Rush (even though we're rushing ourselves). No idea why.
For Renoir 2, without Weakness Gain Lune can enable 4 Agility 18 Luck Sciel with 49 Agility 24 Luck.
In other words, substitute 3 Might for 3 Agility on Lune to get 1 more Might on Sciel.
Grim Harvest doesn't work on Faketress. Harvest does, but doesn't consume Foretell.
Can probably delay Maelle might investment till Old Lumiere. Should hit just around the the threshold with marking shot and verso might investment.
Looks like Sciel doesn't need any might to kill Gault with Phantom Blade
Renoir 3 Setup: Don't touch Verso, give Sciel Weakness Gain and Auto Rush Lumina
Changelog
8/31/25
- Move Sirene flag to camp (just in notes, no route change)
7/08/25
- Slight Chroma route improvement. Skip $999 in Flying Waters and $790 in SWC. Get $1775 on Continent after Energising Start I, by Chromatic Bruler.
6/27/25
- Improved Dualliste mediocre strat. Consistent now, Lune doesn't need to Ice Lance.
6/24/25
- Eveque strat + setup change, Gustave first now. Stat attributions in Flying Waters adjusted accordingly.
- Fixed Verso Lumina menu in Forgotten Battlefield. Should be done in 2nd menu, when equipping Inverted.
6/23/25
- Give Maelle Dodger in Manor
- Percee Noco instead of Spark
6/23/25
- Better Bruleram LV3 fight (Thanks Doriius)
- Adjust stats in Flying Waters
6/22/25
- Cut 2 Demineur fight in Flying Waters.
- Different stats in Manor.
- Faster Curator strat.
- Take Demineur + Bruler + Luster instead of Cruler + Bruler.
- Always flag again before Goblu.
- Buy Critical Moment after tournament.
- Slightly different menus before Francois.
6/21/25
- Added more info on Maelle duel in prologue, you can dodge instead of parrying her 2nd set of attacks with 2nd script
- Removed Lighterim equip from old route before Ancient Sanctuary
- Tried to clarify Dualliste scripts
- Fixed slight number error in Sciel stat attribution at Sirene
6/19/25
- Added some info on notation used in the notes
- Maelle Pictos in Manor menu set to slots 2 and 3
- Lune and Sciel now get their stat upgrades in Esquie's Nest again.
- No longer flag in SWC
- New Lampmaster fight that counters in phase 1 and doesn't counter in phase 2. Much easier to hit damage thresholds, and parries are easier.
- Stat upgrade update in Camp after Lampmaster.
- Stat upgrade update for Sciel in Monoco Station
- Slight stat upgrade change for Sciel in Monolith
6/15/25
- This is a big route change, replacing Deminerim with Lighterim.
- Maelle doesn't get Dodger in Manor, Lune gets more Might
- Don't pick up Deminerim
- Maelle gets Dodger before Goblu
- Maelle removes Critical Moment when equipping Medalum
- Gustav gets 2 extra Might at Esquie's Nest flag, Sciel and Lune do stats in SWC
- Lumina upgrade menu got moved to after Dualliste
- SWC Picto menu slightly changed. Pick up extra Colour of Lumina
- Slight Lampmaster fight changes. You need parries in phase 2.
- Post Lampmaster Stat Attribution changes
- Pre Dualliste menu change, now need to swap Lune and Verso party order.
- Monoco Station pre Monoco slight menu change
- Flag at Monoco Station now. Added backup to Old Lumiere if no Recoat.
- Added Verso optional shot to Chevalier if no Maelle crits.
- Cut Verso Attack from Mask Keeper T1.
- Cut Ballet kill.
- Slight Stat Attribution changes after Mask Keeper
- Sciel gets Luck instead of Agility before Renoir 2
- Lune equips Inverted Lumina after equipping Weakness Gain
6/13/25
- Add Inverted to Verso in Old Lumiere (was missing)
- Streamline Sciel's Lumina menus.
6/12/25
- Cut the Spring Meadows Lumina by the Portier. Lune gets 1 less now.
- Split the pre-Stalact menu into 2, doing the rest in Old Lumiere. This saves about 4s in fights, and fixes the Old Lumiere flag problem in the new patch
- In Old Lumiere, Verso and Maelle now get Inverted, Monoco gets First Strike, and Chevalier fight is improved.
- Confident Fighter menu updated to accomadate above changes.
- Sirene Ballets are now skipped by default, only killed if Sciel is missing a level
- Removed Lumina menu in Monolith. It's just Weapon + Pictos now.
- Changed Party Order for Renoir 2 & Paintress, Lune is now slot 1. Fights are adjusted accordingly.
- Paintress fight change, swapped Verso's action T0 and T2. He now skips T0 and Berserk Slashes T2. T1 he might need to shoot or worst case attack to build Rank for leadership.
- Moved Act 3 menu up, since it can be done early and is best done on a roll.
6/11/25
- Replaced Wildfire on Paintress with Elemental Trick (They are interchangable, but Wildfire is no longer equipped and Elemental Trick is faster in 1st row)
- Added notes for backups on Eveque and Ultimate Sakapatate
6/10/25
- Move Storm Caller and All Set to right top (saves inputs, sorry lol)
- Ice Lance on Monolith Chevaliers
- Paintress fight adjustment, Verso Berserk Slash T2 instead of T0. This let's you cut the attack T0
6/07/25
- Take different final fight for LVL3 before Eveque (thanks Luzbel)
- Use Degagement for tournament (thanks left_bishop)
6/06/25
- Lower Maelle might for Ren 3 for easier menuing
- Swap Maelle skill slots in Act 3
- Added note to flag before Robust Sakapatate if no missing Maelle XP
6/05/25
- Fix Medalum upgrade in Act 3 (15 > 16), thanks Maitreya.
- Move Elemental Trick to top left, Storm Caller and All Set to bottom right
6/04/25
- Fix Maelle Might attribution in act 3
- Add flag before Ultimate Sakapatate for Maelle might, remove Might upgrade in Gestral Village
6/04/25
- Use Defiant Strike on Chalier battle in Forgotten Battlefield (Marking Shot is 5HP short with no crits)
- Different slots for Sciel skills in Sirene
- Pre Renoir 2 menu, don't touch Lune pictos/lumina and give her 9 Agility at flag. Sciel gets All Set.
- Pre Paintress, no longer flag, give Lune speed by equipping Weakness Gain over Inverted Affinity. Inverted Affinity only adds like 5-6k damage in phase 1, so ok to lose.
- Paintress fight adjusted to use All Set (All Set T2, Verso skips T3)
- Act 3, buy 3 more Resplendant Catalysts.
- Maelle gets 62 Might now. Medalum gets upgraded to LVL16 now.
- Picto menu changed, so Verso doesn't go before Renoir 3.
- Creation strat now uses Intervention to flee instead of killing Maelle.
- Renoir 3 new strat, no longer breaks him, uses Gradient and stratigic QTEs to skip Canvas.
6/04/25
- Hotfix for some act 3 errors (thanks bdud5 for testing)
- Added missing menu before Creation
- Better Creation setup strat using Intervention
- Added missing Critical Moment for Sciel before Glissando.
6/03/25
- Fix some errors (thanks bdud5)
- Old Lumiere stat attributions, Sciel supposed to get luck not might.
- Added missing instructions for suicide fight in Visages
- Fix typo in Monolith stat attributions, Sciel gets 6 Agility, not 61
- Commit to no Might / +15 Agility Lune for Renoir 2/Paintress
6/03/25
- Big "reroute", main focus is getting Auto Rush and a more efficient suicide before Mask Keeper. I'll list all the changes here since there are quite a few.
- Francois: Sciel gets 45 Might
- Lampmaster: Sciel gets Breaker
- Camp after Lampmaster:
- Maelle no longer gets Might (menuing timesave).
- Verso gets 1 less might, 1 more agility.
- Verso learns Perfect Recovery, no longer learns Powerful
- Stalact: Sciel no longer gets First Strike Picto, equips it as Lumina
- Old Lumiere:
- Verso now gets Powerful here.
- Pick up Auto Rush.
- Visages:
- Menus here completely restructured.
- Now self-kill Verso & Lune and flee with Sciel from setup fight.
- Menu after setup fight changed too, need to adjust Verso weapon and swap a picto.
- Sirene:
- Stat adjustments.
- Attack Ballets to start battle, so Verso doesn't get an extra turn.
- Monolith:
- Menu adjustments
- Stat adjustments
- No longer learn All Set
- Paintress:
- T2 Rush instead of All Set
- Counter Chroma Waves now
- Verso T3 just Powerful, Sciel no longer fails Sealed Fate
- Act 3:
- Shop: Buy Recoat if none owned
- New menus
- Setup on Creation without party wipe using Last Chance + Healing Tint
- Renoir 3 fight changed around not having All Set (it's faster now)
6/01/25
- Default to not remove Dodger from Lune & Verso. Added note to remove it if behind on EXP
- Update best fight times for Renoir 2, Mask Keeper
- Fix some typos/incorrect names.
5/30/25
- Fix some issues (thanks Bdud5)
5/30/25
- Another small Paintress phase 1 optimization
- Updates some best fight times
5/29/25
- Small Paintress phase 3 optimization
- Updates some best fight times
5/28/25
- Just updated some fight times.
5/27/25
- Better Sirene fight with Sealed Fate
- Adjusted skill learning order for above
- Remove 1 shot from Paintress fight before Berserk Slash
5/27/25
- Fixed extra Death's Door addition on Sciel before Glissando
- Fixed Francois strat, was non-medalum start in notes
- Lanceram Volester Abbest fight now uses Ice Lance instead of Immolation
- Pre Eveque Lune stats adjusted to 8 Might 1 Agility
5/26/25
- Cut Energising Start III
- Added middle-ground Dualliste strat for bad targetting in phase 1.
5/26/25
- Switch stat/picto setup for Eveque. Ends up the same as before in Manor menu.
- Added note to parry Robust Sakapate shield attack
- Updated times and HP values for bosses (HP values according to Gearboxed's spreadsheet)
- Fixed a few lumina menu issues (Dodger)
- Adjusted lumina / money route (pick up Lumina in Spring Meadows, skip money and lumina in Esquie's nest
5/25/25
- Move merchant in Visages to Lumiere
- Skip Dualiso upgrade, Scielson to LV8 instead of 9
- Added note to shoot Glissando if needed
- Added All Set to Sciel Skill menu
- Updated Paintress fight to use All Set. Fundamentally the same, just faster.
- Buy 10 Polished Chroma Catalysts from Merchant
- Upgrade Medalum to 15 instead of Barrier Breaker to 18, use that for Act III
- Added Maelle death to Creation
- Renoir 3 strat updated to break him
- Verso is now just Rain of Fire
5/23/25
- Fixed Lune missing First Strike Lumina in Monolith menu
- Put Dodger back on Lune earlier (no reason not to)
- Updated a few fight times.
- Improved 2 Lancelier fight.
- Re-ordered flag and normal menu before Renoir 3.
5/22/25
- Notes Complete!