Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has some challenging bosses, with Visages and Mask Keeper being up there as one of the hardest fights in the game. It’s a fight that will test your parrying and dodging skills, demanding fast reflexes.
This is a two-phase boss fight, with the first phase named Visages and the second Mask Keeper. Both pose a great challenge and require solid preparation to come out victorious.
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If you’re having a hard time taking down Visages and Mask Keeper in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you have come to the right place. This guide explains how to beat this duo of bosses once and for all.
How to Prepare For Visages & Mask Keeper
Before we get into the actual Visages & Mask Keeper boss, it’s important to learn how to come well-prepared for the fight. When it comes to preparation, it’s important to choose the right party composition and equip those members’ best skills.
Best Party Composition
The best party to bring to the Visages and Mask Keeper boss fight is Maelle, Verso, and Sciel. The most important character here is Sciel, who has strong Dark attacks, an element that Visages and Mask Keeper are weak to.
Out of all the characters who can apply Burn, Maelle is the most efficient at doing so, and she also has the ability to make the enemy weak to fire. This will significantly help with passive damage.
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Verso is a great choice here due to the handful of skills he has available, which we’ll discuss in the next section.
Best Skills
The skills selected here focus on stunning the boss, applying burn, and targeting its weakness with Dark attacks. In return, the player will deal more damage overall to Visages and Mask Keeper. Take a look at the best skills for this boss fight in the grid below.
|
Party Member |
Skills |
Description |
|
Maelle |
Degagement |
Deals low single target Fire damage. 1 hit. Target becomes weak to Fire damage for 2 turns. |
|
Revenge |
Deals high single target Fire damage. 1 hit. Damage increase for each hit received since the previous turn. Can Break an enemy. |
|
|
Pyrolyse |
Deals extreme single target Fire damage. 3 hits. Applies 5 burn per hit. Offensive Stance: Applies 2 more Burn per hit. |
|
|
Verso |
Perfect Break |
Deals very high single target Light damage. 1 hit. Can Break an enemy. Rank S on Break. B Rank: Costs 5 AP instead of 7. |
|
Overload |
Increases Rank to S and refills all AP but sets self-health to 1. |
|
|
From Fire |
Deals medium single target damage. 3 hits. Uses weapon’s element. Heals self by 20% Health if the target Burns. B Rank: Increased damage. |
|
|
Sciel |
Searing Bond |
Deals medium single target Dark damage. 1 hit. Applies 5 Foretell. Also deals damage and applies Foretell to every other Burning enemies. |
|
Grim Harvest |
Deals medium single target Dark damage. 1 hit. Heals all allies by 30% Health. Consumes Foretell to increase Heal by 5% per Foretell. |
|
|
Twilight Dance |
Deals extreme single target Dark damage. 4 hits. During Twilight, extends Twilight duration by 1 turn. Consumes all Foretell to deal additional damage. |
Visages & Mask Keeper Attack Breakdown
To successfully defeat Visages and Mask Keeper, you’ll want to fully understand their attack patterns and the best action to take (dodge or parry) to avoid taking as much damage as possible. Be prepared to go up against many attacks that consist of consecutive hits.
First Phase
Visages first phase consists of a handful of masks, each with its own unique attack. Just like any other boss in the game, players should take note of the phrase that appears at the top of the screen before each attack.
|
Attack Phrase Indicator |
Description |
Action |
|
“Visages attacks with the Determination Mask.” |
Visages slams down a hammer and then swipes it to the left. He then slams down the hammer again. |
Parry first slam, jump and counter the swipe, and then parry the final slam. |
|
“Visages attacks with the Anxiety Mask.” |
A mask appears and lights up green. It fires one blast, and then swipes its two swords at the entire party. |
Parry both attacks. |
|
“Visages attacks with the Doubt Mask.” |
Visages swipes its weapon five times with wide swings. About three seconds between the first three swings, with the fourth swing being slightly quicker (about 2 seconds). The fifth swing comes much slower. |
Parry or dodge all attacks. |
|
“Visages tries to build Shields with the Peace Mask.” |
Visages summons down a mask that shoots off 5 consecutive explosions. About a second between each explosion. This attack also adds a shield to Visages. |
Parry. Destroy the shield by shooting your gun at Visages. |
|
“Visages tries to heal with the Confidence Mask.” |
Visages sends down a mask that executes one slam on the entire party. |
Parry |
As you play through this phase, you’ll begin to understand which mask does what attack. Each of the attacks has a long intro, too, giving you time to prepare to dodge and parry.
Second Phase
In the second phase of this boss fight, where you fight Mask Keeper, the attacks are much more aggressive and require quicker reflexes.
The reason this phase is so difficult is because of the delay between some of his attacks, which can mess up the player’s rhythm for dodging and parrying. Let’s take a look at all the attacks in the grid below.
|
Attack Phrase Indicator |
Description |
Action |
|
“The Anger Mask makes Mask Keeper play a second time.” |
Gives Mask Keeper an additional turn. |
Nothing, automatically Mask Keeper’s turn. |
|
“Mask Keeper attacks like a storm.” |
Mask Keeper swings his sword four times at one party member. |
Dodge all attacks |
|
“Mask Keeper performs a swing combo.” |
Mask Keeper spins and swings his sword twice, and then jumps up and swings his sword one more time. |
Dodge or parry |
|
“Mask Keeper attacks the Expedition.” |
Mask Keeper shoots four deadly waves at the entire party. Slight delay on the second and fourth attack. |
Parry all attacks |
|
“Mask Keeper sets Fire to his sword.” |
Mask Keeper selects one party member, lights his sword on fire and swings his sword four times. The last swing is a Gradient Attack. |
Parry or dodge the first three swings and then Gradient Counter the fourth. |
|
“Mask Keeper is surrounded by a defensive aura.” |
Mask Keeper begins to gain a Shield for each blow dealt to an expeditioner. |
Parry or dodge attacks to prevent Mask Keeper from gaining shields. If he does gain shields, destroy them with attacks. |
|
“Mask Keeper vehemently attacks the Expedition.” |
Mask Keeper sends off six waves from his sword. Each wave comes. Each attack alternates between about 2 seconds to 3 seconds. For example, the first attack lands in 2 seconds, the next one lands in 3 seconds. Repeat. |
Parry all attacks. |
|
“Mask Keeper performs a chaotic combo.” |
Mask Keeper targets one party member and attacks with his sword a total of eight times. The fifth and eighth attacks have long delays. |
Dodge or parry all attacks. |
|
“Mask Keeper performs a long swing combo.” |
Mask Keeper targets one party member and swings his sword a total of six times. The first two swings are back to back, with the third having a slight delay. He then does two quick stabs, and one final delayed swipe. |
Dodge all attacks |
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As you can see, most of Mask Keeper’s attacks are long combos with his sword. The best way to go about this phase is to constantly focus on Mask Keeper’s sword, following the entire combo, and pressing the parry or dodge button right when it begins to move.
How To Beat Visages & Mask Keeper
To defeat Visages and Mask Keeper, it’s best to focus on using the skills mentioned earlier in this guide.
Let’s first breakdown Maelle’s role in this fight. Players should focus on applying Burn first and foremost through the Pyrolyse skill, which applies 5 Burn per hit (3 hits). Afterward, players can then make Visages and Mask Keeper weak to that Burn through the Degagement skill.
Continuously applying Degagement while the boss is inflicted with Burn will cause him to take even more damage on every turn.
Lastly, considering Mask Keeper loves to do long combos, Maelle’s Revenge skill is good to use as a rebuttal if you failed to parry or dodge those combos. Each hit that Maelle takes will increase the damage of the Revenge skill.
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For Verso, we have the Perfect Break, Overload, and From Fire skills. Perfect Break is a standout here as it can possibly Break the boss, leaving it stunned for a couple turns. In return, this allows you to get some free hits in or recover health if need be.
Speaking of health, the From Fire skill should always be used to recover health after Maelle applies Burn. Not only does it do damage, but Verso can absorb the Burn and recover 20% health to help stay in the fight.
Overload will instantly increase Verso’s Perfection Rank to S for increased damage, but be prepared to heal him afterward since it lowers his health to 1. Again, that’s where From Fire comes in handy.
Sciel is the real damage dealer here as she will be exploiting the bosses’ weakness through Dark attacks. Players should focus on reaching 10 Foretell through the Searing Bond ability and then consuming that Foretell with Grim Harvest to heal the entire party.
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Consuming the Foretell will also switch Sciel to Twilight mode, which significantly increases her damage. Using the
Twilight Dance skill (boss weakness) while in Twilight mode (additional damage) will have you dealing around 9,999 damage.
Visages And Mask Keeper Rewards
After defeating the Visages and Mask Keeper boss in Clair Obscur Expedition 33, players will be rewarded with the following:
- Immaculate Pictos: 30% increased damage until a hit is received.
- 6x Resplendent Chroma Catalyst
- 1x Recoat
Players will also be rewarded with a ton of experience points for leveling up depending on how well they did in the fight.
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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Released
-
April 24, 2025
- ESRB
-
Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
-
Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher(s)
-
Kepler Interactive
- Engine
-
Unreal Engine 5
- Cross-Platform Play
-
No
- Cross Save
-
No
- Number of Players
-
Single-player
