Simon is one of the most infamous optional endgame fights in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and for good reason. He is a secret boss tucked away in The Abyss, hits hard, punishes sloppy turn order, and has multiple attacks that ignore the usual “just dodge it” instincts. Defeating him is also tied to the Peace At Last trophy or achievement, so many players specifically hunt him down during Act 3 cleanup.
The good news is that Simon can be beaten in two very different ways: a controlled, mechanics heavy duel where you master his combos and counter windows, or a high damage setup that deletes him before he meaningfully plays the game. Both are valid, and which one you choose should depend on whether you enjoy parry timing or prefer build crafting.
Where to Find Simon in The Abyss
Simon is located in The Abyss, a sub area accessed through Renoir’s Drafts. You need Esquie’s ability to dive underwater to enter Renoir’s Drafts in the first place.
Once you are in The Abyss, follow the path until you reach what looks like a dead end, then drop into the pit. You will land in an area marked by giant illuminating swords and an Expedition Flag. Simon is just past that flag. Walk up to him to trigger the fight.
What Makes Simon Difficult
Simon is unusual because he does not present a clean elemental puzzle. He is listed as having no weaknesses, resistances, immunities, absorbs, or weak points, so you are not “solving” him with one correct element or break target. You win by executing fundamentals better than he does: turn order, AP economy, shield management, and consistent avoidance or parry timing.
He also has at least two attacks that are explicitly unavoidable in the normal sense:
- Chroma Shift reduces a target’s HP to 1 and cannot be dodged or parried.
- Shield Steal removes your team’s shields and converts them into shields for Simon, also not dodgeable or parryable.
That means “perfect play” is not just dodging everything. It is building so those moments do not snowball into a loss.
Simon’s Attack Patterns You Actually Need to Learn
Simon’s threat level spikes when you treat his strings like generic slashes. His combos have consistent tells and specific counter rules, and learning just a few of them dramatically stabilizes the fight.
In his earlier phase, the core patterns are his Melee Combo, Short Combo, Long Combo, and Powerful Combo, each with defined dodge and parry timings.
Later, he upgrades into enraged variants that add follow up hits, and he gains signature endgame strings like:
- Lightspeed Combo, a rapid multi hit sequence followed by a giant sword strike.
- Sword of Lumiere, a slower but still lethal sequence ending in another sword strike.
If you plan to beat him “straight up,” your priority is to reliably survive these strings, because the counter damage and tempo swing you get from successful parries is a major part of the intended win condition.
Pre Fight Checklist That Makes the Battle Much Easier
Before you commit attempts, make sure your account wide power spikes are online.
Painted Power is a major breakpoint because it allows damage to exceed 9,999, which meaningfully changes how quickly you can push phases and how valuable big burst windows become. It is obtained by defeating the Paintress.
Level wise, many Simon focused setups assume endgame stats. One commonly recommended benchmark for the one shot approach is Maelle around the mid 90s with extremely high Attack Power and guaranteed crit.
Even if you are not one shotting, treat this like a true endgame boss: upgrade weapons, tighten your Pictos and Luminas around a single plan (burst, shield stacking, or counter damage), and do not split roles across all three characters.
Core Game Plan: Win Turn Order and Deny Snowballing
A consistent Simon clear usually follows the same logic:
First, secure early turns. Pictos or Luminas that grant “play first” effects are disproportionately valuable here because they let you set debuffs, apply marks, or establish shields before Simon begins chaining combos. The popular “cheese” plans explicitly revolve around acting before he does.
Second, assume Chroma Shift will happen. Since it drops someone to 1 HP and cannot be avoided, your survival plan should not rely on “never getting hit.” Instead, plan to either finish the fight before attrition matters, or keep your team stabilized so that the next random hit does not immediately cause a collapse.
Third, be careful with shields. Shield Steal turns your defensive setup into his defensive setup. If your build leans heavily on shields, consider whether you are unintentionally feeding him. In many clears, shields are still worthwhile, but you want them timed for immediate value, not stockpiled indefinitely.
Strategy 1: Maelle Stendhal One Shot (Fastest and Most Reliable)
If your goal is simply “beat Simon” for the trophy or achievement, the most consistent approach is to kill him before he acts.
A widely documented version uses Maelle as the finisher with Stendhal, supported by Sciel and Monoco. The recommended setup leans into extreme burst: high level, extremely high Attack Power, 100% crit, and Maelle’s Barrier Breaker weapon upgraded to Level 33.
The core idea is straightforward:
- Stack “act first” and “first hit” damage multipliers so Maelle’s opening burst is amplified.
- Use your two supports to apply damage amplifiers like mark style effects and defense down effects before Maelle acts.
- Fire Stendhal into the fully debuffed Simon and end the fight before mechanics begin.
The Game8 version of the build highlights several Pictos and Luminas that fit this logic, including effects that boost first hit damage, boost damage while low HP, allow acting twice in a row, and allow damage to exceed 9,999 via Painted Power.
If you have been experimenting with endgame burst already, this strategy will feel familiar: the only real “Simon specific” requirement is ensuring you act before him and that your debuffs are applied cleanly.
Strategy 2: Parry and Counter Simon (The Intended Duel)
If you prefer a mechanics win, treat the fight as a rhythm test with a few critical rules.
Simon’s combos have consistent tells, and the guide level timings are based on animation cues like arm movement, landing frames, and the light pillar telegraph before the giant sword strikes.
Practical advice that helps most players:
- For the Short Combo, the third hit is handled differently: it is a jump avoid rather than a standard dodge, and it also creates a counter opportunity when executed correctly.
- The Long Combo is less about speed and more about staying disciplined through uneven intervals, especially around the spin portion where the next parry comes faster than expected.
- In enraged variants, many swings add a follow up hit, so you are often parrying twice per swing rather than once.
- For Lightspeed Combo and Sword of Lumiere, do not panic roll. Learn the cadence of the slashes, then treat the giant sword as a separate timed event keyed to the light pillar’s delay.
This approach becomes much easier if you build around counter value: survivability that lets you take the occasional unavoidable hit, plus damage that spikes off counters rather than off long AP chains.
Strategy 3: Backup Team Finish (If You Want a Scripted Cleanup)
Some players use a deliberately sacrificial approach where the first team sets up ranks or triggers specific fight beats, then a backup team closes. One published example suggests pushing Verso’s rank aggressively, accepting that Simon will wipe the first group, and then using a backup sequence involving Sciel and Lune to finish with specific skills.
This is not the simplest plan to execute if you have not already practiced the skill interactions, but it is a useful fallback if your roster is deep and your problem is less “damage” and more “staying stable once things go wrong.”
Rematching Simon and Making Him Harder on Purpose
If you beat Simon and want to re fight him for mastery, he can be rematched thanks to a patch addition. After defeating him once, his Chroma remains in the center of The Abyss as an interactable, and the rematch begins directly in his later phase with his full kit available immediately. Challenge Modifiers can also significantly increase the difficulty if you opt in.