As a game developed by French studio Sandfall Interactive, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 includes one of the strangest real-world professions: mimes. Their in-game counterparts have a ton of health and can easily overwhelm you with their powerful attacks. Thankfully, proper use of the Break system will make short work of these silent enemies.
Learn a Mime’s moveset
Mimes always begin the fight by casting a protective barrier capable of blocking multiple attacks. While you can brute force your way through the barrier using multi-hit attacks, some Skills (such as Maelle’s “Breaking Rules”) are made specifically for dealing with shielded enemies.
Regardless of how you break the barrier, a Mime will only use one of two moves. The hand-to-hand combo starts with the Mime covering its already-gloved hands with invisible gloves before rushing toward your party. Each of the three hits has roughly the same amount of spacing between them, making the combo easy to dodge or parry.
The Strange Combo is more complex and always begins with the Mime taking out a giant invisible hammer. The combo is made up of four hits, with the first two hits coming out relatively fast followed by two longer pauses between the second, third, and fourth hits. As Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s dodge windows are wider than its parry windows, you might want to practice dodging each part of the Strange Combo before attempting to parry the slower attacks. Once you have the parry timing for those down, you can then try parrying the entire combo.
Breaking a Mime is the fastest way to whittle down its health
Though a Mime doesn’t have a wide variety of attacks, its large health pool and damage resistance can cause the fight to drag on. To dish out some real damage, you must first build up the Mime’s Break Bar using attacks and Skills. While all damage sources contribute to filling up the Break Bar, certain Skills like Gustav’s “Overcharge” fill it up faster.
The only way a Mime with a full Break Bar can be Broken is by using a Skill marked “Can Break” on it. Lune’s “Rockslide” is an Earth-based Can Break Skill, as is Gustav’s Break Bar-filling “Overcharge.” Landing the appropriate skill will cause the Mime to take 20% extra base damage and be Stunned for at least one turn (these bonuses can be augmented with different Pictos, Luminas, Skills, and weapons.)
Follow up with your strongest attacks and you’ll find that a Broken Mime won’t take long to eliminate. As the base Stunned duration only lasts one turn, you might have to build up a Mime’s Break Bar more than once at the lower levels. As you get stronger and gain more experience, you’ll find that these unique foes don’t pose much of a threat. They even drop unique cosmetics for your party members if you defeat them! However, as with Pétanks, Mimes won’t respawn once defeated.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X|S.
