Simon the Divergent Star is widely considered the most punishing optional encounter in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Found deep within the Endless Tower after defeating the original Simon in The Abyss, this upgraded version is designed as a full mechanical and build check.
He has no elemental weaknesses, no breakable weak points, and multiple mechanics that outright remove party members from the canvas, making traditional attrition strategies unreliable.
This has led many players to pursue a one-rotation kill, or “one-shot,” to skip his most punishing phase transitions and canvas removal effects.
Where Do You Find Simon the Divergent Star?
To reach Simon the Divergent Star, players must progress through the Endless Tower, move beyond the gauntlet canvas, climb upward, and use the grappling hook to reach an elevated platform.
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At the far end, interacting with Simon’s portrait initiates the fight. Preparation matters before even touching the canvas, as Simon always takes the first action regardless of speed or turn-order bonuses.
How Does Simon’s Light-Speed Opening Attack Work?
Simon begins the battle with a light-speed multi-slash attack, chaining fast, consecutive blows into a devastating final sword strike.
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The opening attacks are manageable, but the last strike is lethal, erasing the whole active party regardless of revival or fail-safe mechanics.
Dodging or parrying this final hit is mandatory. Visual cues are especially important here as pillars of light appear behind Simon before and during his attacks, revealing how many follow-up strikes are coming and their timing.
Missing colors represent skipped beats, so learning to read both the number and spacing of these pillars is key to surviving long enough to execute a one-shot strategy.
Beyond the opener, Simon’s kit actively punishes common defensive habits. He can steal shields, rendering shield-heavy builds ineffective, and he removes fallen allies permanently if they are not saved by specific survival effects.
When pushed near death, he triggers a phase transition that removes the active expedition from the canvas and fully restores his health, forcing players to deploy a backup team.
The value of one-shot strategies lies in ending the fight before the reset, bypassing its most punishing moments.
What Team Composition Is Used to One-Shot Simon?
Most successful one-shot setups revolve around Maelle as the primary damage dealer, supported by teammates whose sole purpose is to amplify a single burst turn.
A commonly used composition includes Maelle, Verso, and Sciel, though the exact party members matter less than the roles they fill.
Maelle acts as the finisher, Verso accelerates setup and applies damage-taken amplification, and Sciel provides powerful damage buffs that push Maelle’s final attack over the threshold needed to kill Simon outright.
How Does the Standard One-Rotation One-Shot Strategy Work?
In a more accessible version of the strategy, Maelle is equipped with a high-damage weapon and skills that lower enemy defenses and dramatically increase her damage when conditions are met.
The goal is to give Maelle the first meaningful action after surviving Simon’s opener. Verso contributes by rapidly building his internal mechanics and applying a marking or vulnerability effect to Simon, while Sciel applies a damage-doubling buff.
When done correctly, this setup can deal tens of millions of damage in one turn, eliminating Simon before his second phase begins.
For players pushing the limits of the system, later updates introduced even more extreme burst potential.
These builds lean heavily on stacking burn effects on Simon ahead of Maelle’s turn, then detonating those stacks using a multi-hit finisher while Maelle is in her highest damage stance.
The opening strikes set the combo in motion by applying marks and scaling effects, with the final blow consuming all stacked multipliers in a single hit.
With the right buffs active, this final strike can exceed a billion damage, instantly emptying Simon’s massive health bar.
You don’t need this much damage to one-shot Simon, though it highlights the upper limits of what the game allows when conditions are ideal.
Regardless of which variation you use, the execution follows the same structure. If done correctly, Simon is defeated before he can trigger canvas removal, shield theft loops, or phase resets.
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