Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is out now, and it’s one of 2025’s best JRPG experiences around. With a lovely narrative, gorgeous aesthetics, and fun combat, it’s a game to remember for years to come.

Let’s focus on the combat, as it requires a lot of active button-pressing and JRPG-style setups and preparation. The game can get challenging especially in later fights, but it’s all the more fun because of how it strives for you to improve your reflexes when you’re fighting in a turn-based format.

Here are some top tips you need to get ahead. Note that all this is based on the Normal/Expedition difficulty, and all inputs are using the PlayStation controller:

Learn To Parry & Defend

The enemies in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 may be small fries at the start, but they’ll start hitting you hard and you’ll need to defend yourself. Luckily you have options to avoid damage: you can Dodge, Parry attacks, Jump over special symbol attacks and counter them, and do Gradient Parries.

Dodging has more invincibility frame (i-frames) than Parry, but you cannot do counterattacks.

Parry windows are strict, but if you parry the entire attack sequence, you can unleash a powerful counterattack.

Jump only works on attacks with symbols on them. The timing is less strict for these, as you can just press the Jump button a second or two after the symbol appears, followed by the R2 button.

Gradient Parries can only be done on Gradient Attacks. These attacks usually one-hit kill the target, but their tells are very obvious and usually come with a slow-motion greyed-out effect. Press the Gradient Parry button once the slow-motion sound trails off.

Fight Enemies Over & Over

When you’re in a dungeon, you’ll come across new enemies with irregular attack patterns and combos. This is usually the perfect time to find a save point, then just repeatedly fight mobs until you get the hang of their attacks and tells whenever they assault you.

After a few rounds with them, you’ll get the timing and get better at dodging and/or parrying them. Practice makes perfect, after all.

In addition, don’t expect to win against a boss so soon. It’s always better to just restart the fight and try again to get the hang of their attack patterns and when to parry/dodge. You’ll get better at the game if you have this mentality. Besides, there’s always a save point next to a major boss fight, so you can quickly retry again and again until you get it right.

Use Pictos & Luminas To Buff Up Your Party Tenfold

Instead of traditional armour, gear, and other sorts of equipment, you instead use Pictos, which are talismans that give you passive powers and special abilities. Each character can equip up to 3 Pictos. However, if you bring a Picto into battle three times, you and your party will be able to use that Picto’s special ability without that Picto. For example, if you bring in the Burning Shots Picto to 3 battles, the Burning Shots ability is available to equip for everyone; no Burning Shots Picto required.

This requires Luminas though. Each character has a set number of Lumina Points that increase by levelling up (or using Lumina stones on that character). All abilities cost different amounts of Lumina Points to equip; something as simple as Dodger (get points from Perfect Dodge once per attack sequence) costs 1 Lumina Point, while better skills like Exposing Attack (base attacks inflict Defenseless stat ailment) cost 10 Lumina Points.

These abilities and Pictos come with many stats and abilities, that you’ll come across loads of them throughout your JRPG journey which then let you customize your playstyle how you see fit. For our end, we focused on giving our tank/damage dealer Verso with Pictos that give him more health and defense, while we give Maelle more speed and critical chances so she hits first and hard. Also, we prioritize Pictos and abilities that gives the party more Action Points when dodging, parrying, or even getting hurt, while also buffing their counterattack.

Pick Fights With Gestral Shopkeepers

Throughout your adventure, you will come across Gestral Shopkeepers who sell you weapon materials, cosmetics, weapons, and Pictos. Sometimes, you can choose to fight them so that they can sell you their hidden gear. Do that; the stuff they’re hiding is usually worth buying, and the fights aren’t that tough even if they’re 1-versus-1 fares. Just pick your hard-hitting fighter and learn to dodge/parry and you’ll do just fine.

Have At Least One Attack Skill That Deals With Shields

Each character has up to 6 special skill slots, so you’ll need to figure out which skills are worth unlocking or which skills are needed to deal with future threats. One constant in this is that you will come across enemies that add Shields to protect their hit points. To get rid of Shields, you need to keep attacking them until all their Shield count is gone.

There will be times when enemies unload so many Shield points, that mere basic attacks may not be enough. Some party member skills can either take away all of their Shield, or just bypass it. Maelle’s Breaking Rules and Monoco’s Chevaliere Piercing are great skills to use against Shield-happy opponents.

Talk To Your Companions At Camp

You’ll find a lot of opportunities to make camp and relax. Most importantly, these are the parts where you can talk to your companions and learn more about their backstories, or even pursue a relationship with. Doing this will also unlock new Gradient Attacks for your party members, so that they have more powerful moves to use for free during heated battles.

Take Your Sweet Time With The World Once You Open Up New Traversal Options

Once you unlock Esquie’s ability to swim and break coral barriers, you will be able to check out many, many awesome areas and secret spots to fight optional bosses and find more Pictos and materials, along with more shopkeepers willing to sell you more cosmetics. You’ll even come across Gestral Beaches where you can partake in platforming and minigames to win special cosmetics like swimsuits. Don’t rush the game; you’ll have fun exploring once you’re given the swimming and coral-breaking abilities.

Once you’ve gone past certain story bits late in the game, you’ll unlock the ability to fly, opening up the entire map for you to explore and have fun in. You’ll find more superbosses to fight and better equipment to help create your uber party. So take your time before you head to the final area of the game, because you’ll probably need it.

That’s all we have so far. If you want to see actual boss fights and see how we dealt with them, check out the videos below; spoiler warning FYI.

All Boss Fights (SPOILERS)