Let me give you a quick rundown on grabbing paint break since you'll need it for a bunch of hidden areas. First up youll want to track down 4 lost gestrals, and the timing on finding these is pretty important since it unlocks major progression paths. The most efficient route starts at esquie's nest where one's sitting right outside, then work east past stone wave cliffs for another, and there's one near the white tree portal that's hard to miss. For the fourth one, explore the path between forgotten battlefield and monoco's station, keeping an eye out for the distinct glow.

Once you've got your 4 gestrals, make your way back to sastro in the cave by the central tree, and he'll teach you paint break. The execution is pretty straightforward - r1/rb will shatter those blue paint spikes, but positioning is key since you need to be fairly close. The recovery animation leaves you open for a moment, so time your breaks carefully especially in combat areas. You'll find these spikes blocking critical shortcuts through stone wave cliffs, and they often hide upgrade materials on the map. Really important to note that paint cage locks in places like tainted sanctuary need this ability, and there are some tricky hidden paths in ancient sanctuary and flying waters that require precise paint break timing to access.