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Sandfall Interactive gave countless interviews around the world, sayingClair Obscur: Expedition 33offers30 hours of main storyplus a ton of side content.
In my experience, “a ton” means an extra 30 hours, because it took me 62 hours to get that pristine platinum trophy. To do that, I had to find all the elusive collectibles, such as theExpedition Journalsand theMusic Records.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: Complete Guide & Walkthrough
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Regarding battle prowess and honoring the JRPGs of yesteryear,Expedition 33also features quite a few super bosses. Some you can face early on, like Sprong, while others show up only in Act III after acquiring flight.
One of them is Serpenphare, a gigantic flying snake. When you crash into it, you trigger one of the toughest fights in the game. If you want to take it down, I got you.
In this guide, I’ll teach youhow to beat Serpenphare inClair Obscur: Expedition 33by sharing my strategy after years of hunting flying snakes.
Preparing For Serpenphare
Being an endgame boss, I don’t even have to say you need to be extremely prepared. Not overly, though, because among all secret bosses, Serpenphare is one of the most manageable. Still… be prepared.
My party was around level 70when I faced it. I reached that naturally while completing the required dungeons to evolve myparty members' relationship levels inExpedition 33.
Serpenphare has a unique gimmick that you can exploit if you’re not confident in your dodge/parry skills or offensive output. I preferred to go all out, but the alternative is there if you need it.
To find it, you need to fly with Esquie to the northern region. It’s pretty hard to miss this giant hunk of serpent twirling up in the air.Crash into it, and the fight will start.
Best Party Composition
I’ll tell you the party I used to beat Serpenphare, but in hindsight, I believe there were better options.My trio was Lune, Sciel, and Monoco.
I say better options, because as soon as the battle started, andI learned the serpent can raise a shield fortress around itself, I wished I had Maelle to wipe them all out in one go.But, oh well.
Anyway, in the end, I think your party doesn’t influence the battle that much. That’s becauseSerpenphare’s gimmick is that it absorbs all the party’s AP on certain turns.
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While that sounds bad on paper, it’s actually worse for the boss. After absorbing a certain amount of AP, it’ll implode and deal massive damage to itself—and to us, if you fail to dodge.
That’s why I said you can totally go for a defensive build and win by outlasting it while it slowly offs itself. But that wasn’t my strategy, because I’m not a coward—and neither are you.
I usually avoid recommending Pictos and Weapons because they vary highly depending on your stats, learned skills, and playstyle. However, if I had to recommend one, it’d beCheater, obtained by defeating the superboss Sprong.
Best Skills
I suggest mixing low-AP skills with one or two high-cost powerhouses.Serpenphare will always be draining your AP reserve, so low-cost skills are the way to go if you want to make the most of your turns.
Since the boss isconstantly building up shields, you need skills with a high hit count.Go with spells like Lune’s Thunderfall. It can hit the boss 6 times or more with Critical Hits, taking down as many shields as possible in the process.
Sciel can try to feed the party more AP using Plentiful Harvest. She can take advantage of the fact that her Foretell mechanic doesn’t expire and slowly build it up.
Monoco has support skills, but one of the most essential here isRamasseur Bonk, which boosts Serpenphare’s Break Bar.
Shooting is one of the most practical ways to remove an enemy’s shield inExpedition 33. There’s something odd about Serpenphare, though. If you shoot it, it’ll absorb your AP and take zero damage.
However, if you shoot while it has shields on, you’ll remove the shield as usual despite it absorbing AP. I don’t know if a future patch will fix that. If not, activate gunslinger mode and fill that serpent’s belly.
No doubt, the easiest way to eliminate Shields is by using Maelle’s Breaking Rules skill, but my crazy ass beat the boss without her in the party.
Party Member
Description
Thunderfall
Deals medium Lightning damage to random enemies. 2-6 hits. Critical Hits trigger an additional hit. Consumes 1 Fire Stain for increased damage.
Crustal Crush
Deals high single target Earth and Break damage. 5 hits. Consumes 2 Lighting stains: increased damage.
Consumes all stains to deal high elemental damage to the target. Can Break if 4 Stains are consumed.
Plentiful Harvest
Medium Physical damage. 2 hits. Consumes all Foretell to give AP to party members.
Sealed Fate
High Physical damage. 5-7 hits. Consumes Foretell to deal 200% more damage. Critical Hits don’t remove Foretell.
Twilight Dance
Extreme Dark damage. 4 hits. During Twilight, extends Twilight duration by 1 turn. Consumes all Foretell to deal additional damage.
Ramasseur Bonk
Low Dark damage. Can Break. 1 hit. Agile Mask: fills 20% of the target’s Break Bar.
Potier Energy
Gives 1-3 AP to all allies. Caster Mask: Gives 1 additional AP.
Chevaliere Thrusts
Deals high Physical damage to all enemies. 3 hits. Critical Hits deal double damage. Heavy Mask: Increased damage.
Serpenphare Attack Breakdown
Serpenphare has only one phase, and its attacks are generously quite telling.They even announce how many hits they’re about to unleash, which honestly makes me wonder why I’m writing this guide.
In a way, these attacks actually easy to dodge—except for the headbutt. But each one hits like a truck, and if you lose your footing like I did after taking a tail whip from a giant snake, you might drop dead from a single combo.
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Below is a table describing all of Serpenphare’s possible attacks, their effects, and my suggestions on how to deal with them:
Attack Phrase Indicator
Attack Description
“Serpenphare absorbs all APs.”
Serpenphare will deplete the AP of all your party members.
Nothing to do here. Just accept the sucking.
“Serpenphare swipes with its tail 2/3/4 times.”
As stated, the Serpenphare will swipe with its tail. It could be 2, 3, or 4 times. The timing is always the same, with the first one being slower, and the second requiring a jumping dodge. If it’s 4 times, it will do the 2-hit combo twice.
Dodge the first one, then Jump on the second, and counter. Repeat if it swipes 4 times.
“Serpenphare gains Shields and increases its Speed.”
Serpenphare will cast Rush and unreasonably protect itself with 9 shields. This won’t consume the boss' turn and will attack again.
Watch and despair.
“Serpenphare attacks 4 times.”
The boss will spit beams four times at one party member. The last beam will be a Gradient attack.
Dodge all attacks and do a Gradient counter. You can try to parry based on the beams’ audio cue to earn some AP.
“Serpenphare smashes its head 4 times.”
Guess what? The Serpenphare will smash its head four times. It’s the most annoying attack because the first strike is insanely fast. There’s a delay before the second and third, but the fourth is soon after.
Dodge like your life depends on it.
“Serpenphare casts a freezing beam.”
Serpenphare will blow a freezing beam at each party member sequentially. The damage is lower than other attacks, but it can apply a freeze debuff.
Dodge when the charging audio cue ends.
“Serpenphare absorbed too many APs and explodes.”
After Serpenphare absorbs a boatload of AP, which I wager is around 50, it will explode, dealing insane damage to itself and being stunned. Oh yeah, the explosion also hurt you.
It will explode ten times and, in the tenth, damage everyone in battle. Do everything in your power to dodge.
“Serpenphare launches a silencing attack.”
Serpenphare will distance itself from the screen and launch three ice blasts that hit the entire party.
Pay attention to the audio, and don’t try to dodge it with your eyes because the attack’s perspective is weird.
In my experience,smashing heads is the most tricky attack to dodge and the one that wiped my party the most.The silencing attack is also annoying, but the audio cue tells you when to dodge.
Keep your fingers crossed that Serpenphare sticks to tail swipes or beams since those are the easiest to avoid. Swipes give you the perfect opening to jump-evade and counter, which is way easier than trying a parry.
How To Beat Serpenphare
The biggest downside in this fight is that Serpenphare will constantly drain all your AP while hiding behind 9 shields. It’s tough to break the shields when you can’t accumulate AP.
If you’re feeling bold, you can parry its attacks, build AP in the process, and land some counters. Even so,I recommend dodging (equip the Perfect Dodge Lumina to get the most out of it)and pulling a Jump Counter when it uses tail swipe.
Multi-hit abilities are crucial here, like Lune’s Thunderfall or Sciel’s Sealed Fate.As mentioned, Maelle would’ve been way more helpful with her Breaking Rules skill, but I managed without her.
Monoco can gradually buff your party with skills oruse Energy Tints to restore AP. I just kept shooting with him to chip away at Serpenphare’s shields.
Even if you’re able to’t bring its shield down, keep building Foretell on the boss with Sciel and gathering Stains with Lune. Those will be key when Serpenphare starts hurting itself.
After absorbing around 50 APs(not that anyone’s counting),Serpenphare will explode, dealing massive damage to itself and getting stunned.You better dodge that blast, or it’s taking you with it.
Once it explodes, it’s your time to shine. If you’ve been stacking Foretells and Stains, now’s the time to cash in.Spamming Twilight Dance during Sciel’s Twilight phasetook the biggest chunk of its HP for me.
Monoco would use any skill tied to his current Mask. Upgraded skills are vastly superior, so always go for them. In my case,I used Chevalière Thrusts while under Heavy Mask or Potier Energy in Caster Mask to recharge the party’s AP.
If you’re low on Foretell, Sciel can drop a Plentiful Harvest to help fill your AP pool. If everything goes sideways, lean on Energy Tints in a pinch. Ultimately, your job here is to fire off your hardest-hitting skills when the Serpenphare is locked down.
The best part is that even after Serpenphare gets stunned, its Break Bar won’t reset. So you can follow up with Mayhem or Ramasseur Bonk to break it again and keep the beatdown going.
After the first explosion, its skillset will shift. Still, the overall strategy stays the same. By the time it stuns itself again, you’ll most likely have done enough damage to bring the trophy home.
After defeating Serpenphare, you’ll get one of thebest Pictos inClair Obscur: Expedition 33, a crafting material to upgrade a weapon to max level, and also a trophy/achievement.
Among the super bosses, Serpenphare is one of the easiest. That doesn’t mean it’s a pushover, just more manageable than some others. Also, you’ll want to take it down before squaring off against the likes of Clea or the bloodlust Simon.
