Tints are one of the various materials that you’ll be gathering early on in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. These are consumable items that are important for character enhancement, be it leveling up weapons or increasing Lumina points.
The items’ descriptions imparts a general understanding about their function but not really on how the actual process works. So if you have a stockpile of Chroma Catalyst and Colour of Lumina and you have no idea how to use them to upgrade a weapon or Lumina enchantments, we’ve got you covered with everything you should know.
How to Upgrade Weapons Using Chroma Catalyst
If you want to improve your weapons, you will be required to interact with a special vendor called The Curator. You’ll unlock him naturally as you progress through the main story. Once available, you can find The Curator inside a cave located at your camp which can be accessed anytime from the overworld.
To find the cave, go inside your camp and face the cliff; the entrance will be to the left. As an alternative, walk to the cliff’s edge and follow the path around to the left; this will lead to a second entrance. Speak with The Curator, and choose the [Upgrade Weapon] option.
Chroma Catalyst can be used to augment level 1 weapons to level 3. To reach level 2, one catalyst is required, while two are needed for level 3. Every upgrade increases Attack Power and Attribute Scaling of the weapon, thus augmenting both base damage and bonus damage linked with the combat skills of your character. After Level 3, more rare upgrade materials are needed for further enhancement.
How to Boost Lumina Points & Unlock the Curator
To increase your characters’ Lumina Points (important for upgrading your character) visit The Curator again and choose the [Upgrade Expedition resources] option inside the same cave. Each Colour of Lumina you use boosts a character’s Lumina Points by one, allowing them to equip additional Luminas. Characters also gain one Lumina Point every time they level up.
You don’t have to distribute Lumina evenly across your team—feel free to focus them on characters with higher-level Pictos for better performance. This upgrade menu also lets you enhance three specific consumable Tints: Healing Tint, Energy Tint, and Revive Tint. Each can only be upgraded once and requires specific materials to do so.
Unlocking the Curator
Although you’ll start collecting Chroma Catalyst and Colour of Lumina fairly early in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you won’t be able to use them to craft weapons or enhance your characters’ Lumina right away. To gain access to The Curator at your camp, you’ll first need to complete the Flying Water questline.
This involves progressing through a major part of the game—meeting Lune, finding an escape route from the Spring Meadows, tracking Maelle into the Flying Waters, rescuing her from the Curator’s mansion, and eventually battling your way through to the end of Flying Water before returning to the Continent hub.
On average, it will take about seven hours to unlock the Curator, provided you’re thoroughly exploring each area and engaging with optional challenges along the way.
How to Find Chroma Catalysts and Colours of Lumina
You can obtain Tints like Chroma Catalysts and Colours of Lumina through exploration and combat. Keep an eye out for glowing white or purple objects on the ground—these often contain weapons, Pictos, or valuable upgrade materials.
Side paths that are protected by enemies frequently lead to useful rewards, such as Chroma Catalysts or Colours of Lumina. If you reach a seemingly empty dead end, check for nearby ledges to climb or grapple points to interact with. Your controller’s haptic feedback will also give you a hint—if it starts to rumble, there’s likely a grapple point close by. In short, the more thoroughly you explore and engage in battles, the more upgrade materials you’ll gather.
