While there are a ton of powerful and challenging enemies in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, many of the endgame and secret bosses take the cake when it comes to difficulty. If you struggled against the likes of Sirene, Visages, or any of the other main story bosses, those encounters pale in comparison to some of the Act 3 side bosses that you'll face if you travel into the far reaches of the Continent. Luckily, even the toughest enemies can be overcome if you put all the different weapons, Pictos, and Luminas to good use.

Warning: This list contains spoilers for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.Combat really kicks up a notch once you enter NG+ in Clair Obscur and advance to Act 3, and I would argue that the toughest bosses in the game aren't part of the main storyline at all. Bosses like Serpenphere and Simon are among the most challenging in the game, with multiple stages and some of the most difficult attacks to dodge or parry, even if you are familiar with the timing. Simon, in particular, will put your skills to the ultimate test, and there's absolutely no room for error.

10 Bald Mime

The Mime In Sunless Cliffs Is Not Like The Others

There's no doubt you have faced off against your share of Mimes in Clair Obscur by the time you reach Act 3, but there's a somewhat hidden location called the Sunless Cliffs with a Mime that takes Miming to a whole new level. Entering the main area, you'll find an unsettling doorway that will give you a prompt for a duel. This is the ultimate Mime test, and you will have to fight the Bald Mime one-on-one with each character to take it down and collect all the associated rewards.

Mimes all share the same move set and are often accompanied by other Nevrons in the later stages of the game, but you typically have your entire party by your side. In this case, you'll have to optimize each character for Break damage to get past the Bald Mime's defenses and deal meaningful damage. Defeating the Bald Mime befittingly rewards you with the bald haircut for each character.

9 Chromatic Gold Chevaliere

Trigger The Three Swords In Crimson Forest

The Chromatic Gold Chevaliere can be found by completing the puzzle in the Crimson Forest. This is a tricky area full of tough and relentless enemies, and the color effects will change as you trigger each sword. To take on the Chromatic Gold Chevaliere, you have to find the three blades located around Crimson Forest and activate them, then return to the main arena for a final showdown.

The Chromatic Gold Chevaliere will be accompanied by two powerful Clair enemies that will provide buffs and engage in quick attacks, and all of them have some moves that can be hard to counter. I find the Chevaliere's fire attack extremely awkward to parry, making it among the most frustrating enemies you'll face off against. Defeating the Chromatic Gold Chevaliere will drop the weapon for Verso in Clair Obscur.

8 Merchant Grour

The Merchant In Renoir's Drafts Has Backup, But It's Worth The Trouble

In most cases, Merchant battles are relatively straightforward and aren't too difficult to overcome, and defeating them is worth it if you want to access some of the best purchasable weapons in the game. One merchant in particular is much more difficult than the rest, which makes sense considering he's located in Renoir's Drafts, one of the most challenging areas in the game. Renoir's Drafts is only accessible if you've unlocked Esquie's underwater diving ability.

If you haven't made your way to Renoir's Drafts yet, be warned that it is the most difficult area in the game.

Merchant Grour is accompanied by a Contorssioniste enemy and an Aberration enemy, both of which are extremely difficult even if you have your full party equipped, but especially in a solo battle. Be sure to have all your solo Luminas active on the character you choose to go up against Grour, such as Solo Fighter. Grour has a bounty of great weapons, including the Nosaram, Painerim, not to mention all the valuable Pictos. Needless to say, Grour's fight is worth the struggle.

7 Chromatic Creation

While You're In Renoir's Drafts, Check Out The Nearby Creation

The Chromatic Creation is not far from the above-listed Grour Merchant, and it's yet another extremely tough enemy, at least if you aren't properly prepared. The Chromatic Creation in Renoir's Drafts is basically just a buffed-up version of the normal Creation enemies you've encountered many times. While these Creation enemies don't necessarily have the quickest attacks, their movement is strange and belabored.

If you've taken out the other Creation enemies in Renoir's Drafts, then you should be pretty familiar with the timing for the Chromatic Creation's skills. Defeating the Chromatic Creation with Monoco in your party will unlock the Creation Void skill if you don't already have it, and you'll also get a Perfect Chroma Catalyst to boot.

6 Chromatic Chapelier

Shoot The Crows To Fight The Most Annoying Enemy In Clair Obscur

If you haven't made your way to The Crows yet, you can go there and shoot all the glowing green crows in the area to trigger a boss fight with the Chromatic Chapelier. This boss is incredibly annoying because it can Dodge pretty much anything you throw at it. While you might be tempted to shoot the hats that it summons, you might deal a lot more counter damage by letting him fire them at you and hitting the parry.

You'll be limited to Free Aim shots and counterattacks for most of this fight as your most effective ways to deal damage, but parrying all of his many swings during his longer combo is no easy feat. Defeating the Chromatic Chapelier will unlock or upgrade the Shielding Death Pictos and the Minason weapon for Sciel.

5 Golgra

A One-Hit Wonder

Golgra is the strongest Gestral fighter you'll face in Clair Obscur, and you'll have to fight her at least four times if you follow Monoco's character quest all the way to the end. You first meet Golgra very early in the game, and you can choose to provoke her into a duel multiple times, though you'll be lucky to defeat her once in the early game.

You can fight Golgra initially at the Gestral Village, then again in the Dark Gestral Arena, then again to complete Monoco's quest, then duel her again back in the Gestral Village to claim the rewards.

Golgra will most likely one-shot you when you duel her in the early game, and unless you have impeccable parry and dodge skills, your best bet is to buff up a character defensively specifically for this duel. You can get one of the most missed weapons in the game, Hevasson, by defeating Golgra for a fourth time.

4 Clea

Fight The Nevrons In Flying Manor To Face Clea

Clea is one of what I consider the three secret bosses in Clair Obscur, and you'll have to complete the side quest at Flying Manor in order to open the Manor door and face off against Clea. This requires defeating four tough Chromatic Nevron enemies in the area. Clea is able to restore her health if you end up taking damage from her attacks.

You can take her out with Void damage pretty easily, but you will need to have your character builds set up properly. Clea will summon the help from many different Nevron enemies, and their attacks are very sporadic and strange, but nothing nearly as challenging as some of the remaining bosses on the list. Defeating Clea unlocks the Clea's Life Pictos, which fully restores your Health if you haven't taken any damage this turn.

3 Painted Love

Ascend The Endless Tower

Painted Love is the final test of your skills after completing all 33 trials in the Endless Tower. The Endless Tower's Gauntlet puts you through 11 stages with three trials each, all containing three different Nevron or Chromatic Nevron bosses that you've seen throughout the rest of the game. The ultimate battle in the Endless Tower is against Painted Love, an enemy comprised of the main Paintress boss and The Curator.

These enemies share a single Health bar, which can be a good thing if you know how to manage the fight. Painted Love has the full arsenal of attacks from both the Paintress and The Curator, and it may take you a few tries to fully deplete its health bar.

2 Serpenphere

A Dragon Axon With AP Absorbing Abilities

Whether you knew it or not, there is actually a third Axon enemy in Clair Obscur outside of the two you already fought, and you've likely seen it flying around in the sky. Serpenphere is one of the endgame optional bosses that you can fly up to with Esquie and take on for some primo loot and to unlock the "A On" achievement/trophy.

Serpenphere is extremely challenging and will absorb the party's AP often, though if Serpenphere absorbs too much AP it will actually explode, causing it to take major damage and Break. This is the moment to strike with everything you have. Otherwise, the Serpenphere fight is all about patience and learning the timing of its basic attacks. Defeating Serpenphere unlocks the Energy Master Pictos, a must-have Lumina ive on every character.

1 Simon

Reach The Abyss For The Hardest Boss In Clair Obscur

Simon is easily the most difficult boss in the game, and he is found at the bottom of The Abyss after traveling through Renoir's Drafts. You will need to walk off the ledge and literally descend into the depths to face him, and when you do, you will have your work cut out for you. Simon is a three-phase boss that has a ridiculous move set, doubling and then tripling up his sword swings with an ethereal sword at each phase.

At the end of his second phase, he will erase the active party from the canvas, meaning whoever you have out against him in your active party will be permanently killed and your Reserve line will have to take over. If there is a harder boss than Simon in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, I don't want anything to do with them.