Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — How to upgrade weapons

Understanding how to upgrade weapons in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is important if you want to keep increasing your offensive output in order to tackle the increasingly difficult challenges the game will progressively throw at you. Weapons are important tools that help you deal damage and defeat enemies. However, to upgrade them, players will need to acquire unique resources.

This article guides you on the process of refining weapons in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

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A guide to upgrading weapons in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Players will acquire the ability to upgrade weapons after they reach a certain point in the story.

Note: The following section contains minor spoilers for 33's campaign. To paraphrase it, you'll need to visit the Curator after the Flying Water quest line in Act 1 to upgrade weapons.

After defeating the Goblu boss during the Flying Waters area, Maelle will join your party and introduce her friend, the Curator. This is the person you'll need to interact with to upgrade your weapons. Once he is unlocked, he'll be toward the right of the main campfire area of the Camp, inside a cave. Thus, whenever you want to upgrade weapons, simply press D-pad Down when on the world map to travel to the Camp and give him a visit.

The Curator (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Kepler Interactive)

However, refining your tools of destruction isn't free. You'll need to give resources called Catalysts to the Curator. There are five ranks of Catalysts. Each tier can upgrade weapons to a particular level, following which you need to switch to the next one. Here are all of them:

Name	Maximum Level
Chroma Catalyst	Level 1-3
Polished Chroma Catalyst	Level 4-9
Resplendent Chroma Catalyst	Level 10-19
Grandiose Chroma Catalyst	Level 20-32
Perfect Chroma Catalyst	Level 33 (weapon upgrade level cap)

Catalysts can be acquired through:

• General exploration (ground loot)
• Completing side quests
• Completing special interactions
• Rewarded after enemy/boss encounters
• Purchased through Gestral Merchants

Upgrading weapons (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Kepler Interactive)

Once you've gotten the required materials, simply visit the Curator and click the "Upgrade Weapon" option to refine your tools. With each improvement to your weapon, it's Attack Power (base damage) and Attribute Scaling (additional damage based on your combat skill levels). Note that spending one Catalyst (regardless of its rarity) will only increase one level of the weapon.

Choosing to upgrade Expedition Resources (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Kepler Interactive)

Aside from just upgrading your weapons, the Curator can upgrade Expedition Resources like a character's Lumina Points and Tints.

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Check out our other articles on the game:

• Is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 coming to Nintendo Switch and Switch 2?
• 7 best RPGs to play while waiting for Clair Obscur Expedition 33
• Is there Romance in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?
• How to parry, dodge, and jump in Clair Obscur Expedition 33
• How to fast travel in Clair Obscur Expedition 33