Hexgas are gigantic Nevrons covered with crystals that you will encounter toward the end of Act 1 during Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Once you begin Act 2, a little exploration will introduce you to the strongest member of the Hexga family: the Chromatic Hexga. This one has got a few extra tricks up its sleeve beyond the regular ones, so if you aren’t careful, it could take you by surprise.
Taking down the Chromatic Hexga mainly involves the study of its attack patterns and how to circumvent its defenses rather than just leveling up your team. With the right setup, you can take it down without a lot of trouble.
How to Locate Hexga in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Once Act 2 starts, you’ll be able to swim across the oceans on the Continent Map with Esquie. To hunt down the Chromatic Hexga, swim east from Stone Wave Cliffs, which wrapped up Act 1.
When you land, you’ll see a path that heads north to a place called Stone Wave Cliffs Cave. It’s a straightforward trail, but it splits up ahead. Take the right path first, which leads to a cave you’ll crawl through, and at the end, you’ll find a climbing rope with a Paint Cage on top—grab that, then head back and take the left path. Use the grapple on the cliff’s edge to reach the Chromatic Hexga.
How to Beat the Chromatic Hexga in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
The Chromatic Hexga’s primary game plan is defense, but its shields act as weapons. Each shield it has remaining adds an extra hit to its combos, so unless you are a master at parry, you must almost always prevent it from building up that huge combo.
At the beginning of the fight, build AP with skills like Paradigm Shift and Thermal Transfer. This way, you will have enough AP for Free Aim shots and other powerful Skills. Whenever the Chromatic Hexga raises its shields, ensure that Maelle immediately uses Breaking Rules to get rid of them.
Note: Although the Chromatic Hexga has high resistance to Fire damage, it is not absolutely immune. It is therefore worth applying Burn stacks when you can. A bit of extra damage every turn adds up, and skills like Thermal Transfer, Swift Stride, and From Fire work even better when hitting Burning enemies.
Dealing with the Boss’s Immunity
The biggest thing to watch for is when a strange power starts coming from the boss’s crystal. If this power finishes charging up, the Chromatic Hexga becomes completely immune to damage until you shoot its crystal.
As soon as you notice this power charging, focus on hitting the crystal on its shoulder with Free Aim shots. After a few hits, you’ll see a message saying the crystal is cracking, which means you’re hitting the right spot. It’s possible to shoot through the shields, but it’s best to let Maelle remove them to avoid triggering combos.
Once you’ve hit the crystal six or seven times, it will break, stunning the Chromatic Hexga for a turn and resetting its power. While it’s stunned, use whatever AP you have left to land powerful Skills or just use Base Attacks to set up for the next round. Keep repeating this until the boss is down.
What You Get After the Fight as Rewards
Once you defeat the Chromatic Hexga, you’ll get the Energising Revive Pictos, which lets the equipped character regain AP after being revived—super useful against enemies with tricky parry patterns. You’ll also find the Journal of Expedition 54 next to where the boss was standing.
Tips for Defeating the Chromatic Hexga
The one party member you absolutely need for this battle is Maelle. Make sure she’s learned and equipped the Breaking Rules skill, which removes all shields from the target in one go. Taking down the Chromatic Hexga’s massive shield wall is key, and Maelle can handle that in a single hit.
The rest of your party is up to you, but it’s best to pick characters that work well with Maelle’s build. The boss is weak to Ice and resistant to Fire, so make sure you consider the elemental types of your weapons. If you’re not sure, Maelle, Lune, and Verso make a solid team for this fight.
Note: Make sure Maelle always has enough AP to use Breaking Rules when needed. It’s not a very costly skill, but equipping her with Luminas like Energising Start can help ensure she never runs low on AP.
Luminas You’ll Need
For this battle, everyone needs to use Free Aim as much as possible. Focus your Lumina Points on abilities that boost ranged attacks. Make sure everyone has:
- Augmented Aim
- Marking Shot
- Burning Shots
- Stun Boost
These will not only increase the damage you deal to the boss’s crystal (see below), but also give you a chance to apply Mark and Burn, letting you make the most of your AP. If you’ve got the LP to spare, adding Rewarding Mark, Enfeebling Mark, and Critical Burn will help you get even more out of your attacks.
