Hexgas are hulking crystalline Nevrons that you’ll face toward the end of Act 1 inClair Obscur: Expedition 33.At the start of Act 2, a little exploration will lead you to the mightiest of them all, the Chromatic Hexga. It has a lot of tricks that its standard brethren don’t have, so if you aren’t ready it can catch you by surprise.

Taking down the Chromatic Hexga is more a matter of understanding its pattern and getting around its defenses than leveling up your party; as long as you have the right setup, you’re able to dismantle this rocky opponent with ease.

the continent map in clair obscur expedition 33, centered on stone wave cliffs cave

How To Find Chromatic Hexga

When Act 2 begins, you’ll gain the ability toswim through oceans on the Continent Map with Esquie.When you’re ready to hunt the Chromatic Hexga,swim east of Stone Wave Cliffs, the area that concluded Act 1.

When you come ashore, you’ll find a path leading northward toward a place calledStone Wave Cliffs Cave.It’s only a single trail; follow it until it splits. The right-hand path, which makes you crawl into a cave, leads to aclimbing rope with a Paint Cage at the top, so collect that first, then go back and take the left path. Use the grapple at the edge of the cliff to reach the Chromatic Hexga.

maelle readies an attack against the chromatic hexga in clair obscur: expedition 33.

The only party member who is an absolute must for this battle isMaelle. verify that she’s learned and equipped theBreaking RulesSkill, whichremoves all shields from its targetwhen used. Getting rid of the Chromatic Hexga’s huge wall of shields is critical to defeating it, and Maelle can do so in a single strike.

Use aRecoatto reassign Maelle’s Skill Points, or come back after levelling up if she still hasn’t learned Breaking Rules.

The other party members you choose are largely a matter ofpreference and synergy with Maelle’s build. The boss isweak against Ice but resistant to Fire, so consider the elements of your available weapons when building your team. When in doubt, Maelle, Lune, and Verso make a good lineup for this fight.

This fight requires that everyone on the team uses Free Aim as much as possible. As such, you shouldallocate your Lumina Points to powers that enhance ranged attacks.Be sure that everyone has access to:

These not only boost the damage from the shots you’ll be taking at the boss’s crystal (see below), but also give you a chance to applyMark and Burnwhile you’re at it, getting more out of your spent AP. If you’ve learned them and have the LP to spare, consider equippingRewarding Mark,Enfeebling Mark, andCritical Burnas well to get even more mileage.

It’s important that Maelle always has enough AP to cast Breaking Rules when she needs to. It’s not an expensive Skil to castl, but giving her Luminas likeEnergising Startcan help ensure that she’s never short.

How To Defeat Chromatic Hexga

The Chromatic Hexga is a defensively-oriented boss, butits shields are also its weapons. When it attacks, itadds a strike to the combo for every shield that it has remaining.Unless you’re supremely confident in your parrying abilities, you need to ensure it never has the opportunity to launch a huge combo.

Start the fight bybuilding up your APusing skills like Paradigm Shift and Thermal Transfer. That way, you’ll haveplenty of ammo for Free Aim shotsand AP for expensive, high-damage Skills. When the Chromatic Hexga puts up its shields,have Maelle use Breaking Rules to remove them right away.

Chromatic Hexga is resistant to Fire damage, but it’s not immune, so it’s still a good idea to apply Burn stacks when you can; a little extra damage each turn is good, and Skills likeThermal Transfer, Swift Stride,andFrom Fireall get extra benefits when they target Burning foes.

Why Isn’t Chromatic Hexga Taking Damage?

The most important thing to watch out for during this fight is whena strange power emanates from Chromatic Hexga’s crystal.If allowed to finish powering up, this renders the bosscompletely immune to all damageuntil you damage its crystal via Free Aim shots.

Once the strange power starts emanating,focus your attention on shooting the crystal on the boss’s shoulder.After about three, you should see a message thatthe crystal is starting to crack, indicating that you’re shooting the right place. This happenseven if you’re shooting through shields, though if you can it’s still best to have Maelle take care of those to avoid combo attacks.

Once you’ve shot the crystalsix or seven times, it will break,resetting its recharge and stunning the Chromatic Hexga for a turn.While it’s stunned,use your remaining AP to hit it with the most powerful Skills you may, or just use Base Attacks to replenish for the next cycle. Repeat the process until the boss is defeated.

Rewards

After you beat the Chromatic Hexga, you’ll receive theEnergising RevivePictos. This allows the equipped character toregain AP after being revived, which can be very useful against enemies whose parry patterns you haven’t mastered yet. You’ll also get to pick up theJournal of Expedition 54, to the right of where the boss was standing.

You can leave the area through the portal behind the boss instead of going all the way back; it will drop you off right at the entrance where you came in on the Continent Map.