Renoir is the main antagonist of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and makes his presence felt throughout Act I. It is during Act II that you get your first true battle against him and for someone that has proved to be as powerful as him, it only makes sense that players might be struggling with this fight. For anyone who might need some tips on how to take down this enigmatic figure, allow me to help! This guide will show players how to beat the Act II Renoir boss fight in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
How to Beat the Act II Renoir Boss Fight in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Renoir is found at the end of the Old Lumiere portion of the game’s main story. Your party will be separated at the start of the Old Lumiere section, so you won’t be able to customize your party composition before this boss. The first time you enter this battle, your party will be Verso, Maelle, and Lune. If you die to the boss, you will return to the Expedition Flag right before the fight and will be able to customize, so I will discuss the fight approaching it as if you are the starting party, but will note a few tips that work with an edited party.
Renoir has no weaknesses or resistance, so you don’t really need to worry about what elemental attacks you use, but one that you definitely want to make sure you use is Fire. These moves apply Burn and not only provide some extra damage at the start of every one of Renoir’s turns but Maelle’s Swift Stride attack will allow her to enter Virtuose Stance if used on a Burning enemy. This will allow her to deal massive damage and can even get her to reach the 9,999 damage cap easily.
Lune can use any of her Fire moves to apply the Burn status effect and she can use other skills like Ice Lance to inflict Slow on Renoir and decrease the number of turns he gets for a brief time. Lune can also be very useful as a healer so take into consideration how you will recover health if you decide to replace her. If you decide to remove her from the party, make sure Maelle has either Spark or Rain of Fire to fill the Burn gap.
Verso will need to have an attack that has the ability to Mark. This can be Marking Shot, Defiant Strike, or a Pictos that has a chance to inflict Mark like Marking Shots but this is a necessary attack to make sure Maelle gets the most damage possible. If you add Sciel to your party, she can also apply Mark with the Marking Cards ability. She can also deal a lot of damage because of her Foretells mechanic. When you have a lot of Foretells, you can use abilities like Phantom Blade to cash out big damage and even Break the boss. Grim Harvest can also be useful if you use her to replace Lune as a healer. Forune’s Fury will double damage for a character’s next turn so this can also be great to buff Maelle and make sure she gets the most damage possible even if she isn’t in Virtuose Stance.
Now that you’ve built your party, you will need to know how to avoid incoming damage. Renoir’s moveset is full of powerful, long combo strings that can really throw players for a loop due to their long delays and faints.
There are a few Chroma-based attacks that can be confusing if you mix them up. The “gathers an incredible amount of Chroma” attack sees a large orb appear above Renoir. There are two versions of this attack. The first one will happen during the first half of the boss fight and the second will appear when Renoir gets to low health. The first version will see a bunch of spikes rotate around the orb before the screen turns black and white, signalling a Gradient Counter. The orb will then collapse in on itself and attack the whole party. Perform a Gradient Counter and one of your party members will perform a counterattack. The second version will see the orb unleash two normal waves that are signified by energy pulsing from the orb and a sound cue before letting off the Gradient version as the third attack.
Another Chroma attack is the “pool of Chroma.” This is the easiest attack to avoid, as you just need to jump over it. The final attack in this group is the “waves of Chroma.” This will see energy surround Renoir and then collapse in on him before it quickly sends out a wave of Chroma at the whole party. There are 5 waves in this combo, each one having a varied delay between each wave. Watch for when the energy collapses in on Renoir and listen for an audio cue to know when to parry this attack.
The next few attacks are pretty simple. One attack is simply referred to as a combo and is the most straightforward of Renoir’s attacks, though it, too, has two versions. The combo consists of of 5 total attacks. The first 3 are pretty close together with each swing being accompanied by Renoir having a brief slowdown before he performs the swing. After the third attack, Renoir will twirl his sword over his shoulder, making it appear he has finished his string. This is to fool you as he will then quickly follow up with a leaping thrust, which is then followed up by a jumping slash that has a pretty noticeable delay that can throw off your timing. After drops below 50%, he will add a 6th attack which sees him jump into the air and, after a pause, will let off an explosion like the waves of Chroma attack. Watch for when the energy collapses in on Renoir and listen for an audio cue to know when to parry this attack.
The other pretty normal attack is the “attack from a distance” move. This can be one of the hardest attacks to counter since Renoir has long and confusing wind-ups and faints in this attack. This combo sees Renoir shoot 3 beams at a single target and ending with an explosion after slamming his cane into the ground from the air. The first attack sees Renoir twirl his cane around his left shoulder before letting out a wave towards his target. Right before he attacks, he will stop moving for a brief moment. Use this as your tell for when he is about to attack. After this attack, he pulls his arm back and thrusts forward after a delay. His third attack can be really hard as Renoir will fully spin his body while twirling his cane. He bends his knees right before letting off his attack so watch for that. This leads right into his jump, where he will slam his can down after a delay.
One of his moves can be absolutely run ruining as it can completely destroy any strategy you had going into the battle. When it says that Renoir is trying to “vanish” one of your characters, he will run up to them and place an orb in front of them along with the screen going black and white. This can be a bit scary and cause you to parry too early but just keep waiting. He will then leap into the air and after a delay, he will shoot a beam out of the orb. If you’re hit, that character will be removed from the rest of the battle. Right before Renoir lets out this attack, he will slow down in the air. Use that as your tell and then perform a Gradient Counter.
When Renoir drops below 50%, he will summon two petals on either side of him. These objects will become things you can target but won’t attack you back. Instead, you will need to destroy within the next few turns because if you don’t, they will heal Renoir.
Renoir’s final attack is the mask summon. He will use 3 giant masks to attack the whole party. The masks will attack from left to right. The mask will shake and then quickly let out a Chroma wave attack. After each mask attack, they will shake, going from right to left. Once all of them shake, all 3 will let out one final super attack.
Now that you can protect yourself from damage, you just need to keep dealing damage with the tools and tips discussed earlier. Apply Burn, Mark the target, and cash out with Maelle to easily hit the damage cap. A few rotations of this strategy and you should be able to easily take Renoir down.
You can now defeat the first Renoir boss fight in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Stay tuned to Gameranx for more news, updates, and guides for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as well as other great games in the future.
