Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Expert Glitchless Route

Last update: 12/20/25.

Patch update 12/11/25: This patch removed the extra 10% damage on First Strike and Dead Energy II, which breaks this route. This route assumes that you use the patch before it, 57661. Anything before that would work, and optimal patch would be the one before Stendhal nerf. However, if running on pre-Stendhal nerf, the Renoir 3 strat would need to be adjusted.

These are my preferred downpatch instructions.

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.

Cutscene menu: you can open a menu right before you enter a cutscene transition, which will give you about 3s of menu time before the cutscene plays. You can use this to squeeze in menus and reduce wasted time. Menus will be labeled with which cutscenes they can be done during. Note that this seperates the menus, so if you're not doing cutscene menus you will want to combine them into one menu.

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 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.

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 Demineur and fight them.

Go to Manor.

Jump towards flag.

Load most recent save, interact with 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

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.

If not done earlier, can use flag before Ultimate Sakapatate or just skip it entirely.

Gestral Village

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

If you didn't get the Weapons and Critical Moment equipped, do so before Francois fight.
You can cutscene menu entering Francois fight for anything you missed earlier.

Backtrack to Esquie.

After talking to Esquie, run to flag by Francois and fast travel to entrance. Exit to Continent.

The Continent

Mount Esquie and Camp.

Camp

Talk to Curator

The Continent

Head towards the Demineur, Lancelier, Crueler. Dismount as close as possible.
Pick Colour of Lumina and 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. Menu on the jump down.

Pick up $790 after Farm flag.
Pick up Colour of Lumina before last grapple up.

Act II

Camp

Go to flag.

Continent

Forgotten Battlefield

Buy Inverted Affinity from Merchant ($9870).

Camp

Go to Curator

Option 2 to sleep.

Continent

First Strike group before Monoco Station

Monoco Station

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.

You can cutscene menu before Renoir to fix any missed Maelle Picto / Lumina stuff earlier.

Camp

Go to sleep.

Continent

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

Run into group of Ballets.

Camp

Go to sleep

The Continent

Go to the Monolith

The Monolith

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.

Act III

Lumiere

Camp

Talk to everyone, talk to campfire, Option 2

Lumiere

Talk to Merchant.

Go to flag.

Fight as Maelle.

Time on fight end.

Bonus Strats

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

1/02/26

• Update title from restricted to glitchless
• No longer link Deminerim notes
• Add information about DLC patch and downpatching
• Add information about cutscene menuing
• Menus now have different colors from battles
• Menus updated to take advantage of cutscene menuing
• Menus now have information about when to do them
• Menus are generally split up into smaller ones to take advantage of cutscene menus
• Manor now has Maelle skill menu (gets you Swift Stride left-bottom)
• Teach Lune Electrify early (skips manual equip of Lightning Dance)
• No counter opening for Goblu
• Add "backup" strat for Goblu
• Cutscene menu to equip Sakaram before Ultimate Sakapatate
• Moved fast Dualliste strat to bonus strat section at bottom of notes
• Correct some names
• Mask Keeper: Use Energy Tint instead of 1st Leadership (unless bad damage)
• Sirene Ballet fight now swaps weapons and uses Perfect Recovery to kill Verso
• Added bonus for Sirene fight if Scielson LV9
• Added note to optionally cut T1 Verso Attack on Renoir 2
• Added bonus for Paintress P2 where you counter both moves and skip Verso's 2nd Attack

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!