Powers and abilities in Control Resonant are broken into two types: combat abilities, used to damage enemies, and traversal abilities, used to explore the world and reach new locations. As a general rule, combat abilities are unlocked by defeating Resonants, the power bosses found throughout the game, while all your traversal powers are tied to the Faults in dimensions that you’ll encounter as part of your pursuit of Jesse.
However, what makes things tricky is that certain combat abilities are mutually exclusive. After defeating a Resonant, you’ll be given a choice between two or three combat abilities, and choosing one will prevent you from utilising the other. You can choose again by using a Reset Item, but these are rare and limited throughout the game, so it’s better to just get it right the first time.
Below I’ll lay out all the powers and abilities in Control Resonant, where to get all of them, and the best choices of abilities when they’re provided to you.
Want to focus more on your gear? Check out the truth behind the best weapon in Control Resonant.
Where to get all abilities and powers in Control Resonant
Below we’ve laid out the locations of every traversal and combat ability on the Control Resonant map, as well as the rough order that they’ll be unlocked and thus recommend pursuing them.
Combat abilities are marked in orange, traversal powers in blue.
- Double Jump traversal ability. Complete the Fault in Downtown. Allows you to double-jump as well as air-dash and elevate for greater distance.
- Barrage / Volatile Anomaly / Shield combat ability. Defeat the Artist Resonant boss fight in West Downtown. Either fire projectiles, summon an explosive ally, or conjure a protective shield.
- Shift traversal ability. Complete the Fault inside the parking lot in West Incursion Zone. Allows you to align your gravity with Gravity Anomalies and walk along certain surfaces.
- Ground Slam / Push combat ability. Defeat the Dancer Resonant boss fight in the West Incursion Zone Theater Hall. Either slam the ground from the air, or fire a telekinetic pulse that knocks foes back.
- Ignite / Inferno combat ability. Defeat the Deserter Resonant boss fight in the Central Patterned Factory in Control Resonant. Allows you to either set your weapons ablaze, or to unleash short range waves of fire.
- Reach traversal ability. Complete the Fault inside the Subway in The Evacuation Zone. Allows you to grapple to the various Control Resonant distortions for quick movement.
- Spore Burst / Growth combat ability. Defeat the Collective Resonant boss fight under the Park after eating four types of Mold (no, really). Either fire a barrage of projectiles that build the Infected Status, or summon a Mold turret that fires Infected projectiles.
- Spike / Astral Rebuke combat ability. Defeat the Physicist Resonant boss fight at the top of the Spire in the Underpass. Allows you to either summon an ally that attacks enemies, or a spike from the ground that raises up and hits enemies. Both inflict the “Astralized” status, which leaves enemies more susceptible to other status effects.
- Command combat ability. Defeat the Co-Director Resonant boss fight in the Unknown Field Office. Allows you to turn hostiles into allies and have them fight on your side. Requires unique “Command” charges.
- Resonant Combat Token. After completing the main story, complete the “Pope’s Research” side quest in Unknown. This Token allows you to get one additional combat power from any of the previous choices without giving up the other one.
These is a bit of leeway on this ordering: some powers are mandatory (such as the Double Jump), while others are side quests, such as the Fire abilities in the Patterned Factory. The ordering above is a rough guide that is occasionally enforced by certain mechanics and story events.
What are the best combat abilities in Control Resonant?
With multiple combat abilities being split into choices and having the player decide which one sounds better to them, it’s important to know which of the options provided are best. Below I’ll lay out what I consider to be the best “build” of combat powers and abilities based on the choices given to you, and go into further detail beneath that.
- Shield /
Barrage/Volatile Anomaly - Ground Slam /
Push - Ignite /
Inferno - Spore Burst /
Growth - Spike /
Astral Rebuke - Command
- Growth (Purchased with Resonant Combat Token)
The philosophy on this build is generally focused around the idea that the Summons in Control Resonant aren’t particularly impressive as a rule, in part because they tend to be a bit weak and need constant direction, which somewhat defeats the purpose of having a Summon who can do the work for you.
The Growth Summon is sort of the exception to the rule, but this build generally is built around speed, agility, and most importantly, the relationship between Infection and Burn damage. When both are maxed out on a single target, they cancel each other out and cause a powerful explosion, so the goal here is to use Spore Burst to infect opponents, close the distance, and hit them with Ignited Weapons until they pop for massive damage. It’s a pretty simple strategy that works even into the post-game.
Barrage, Volatile Anomaly or Shield?
After defeating the Artist boss fight, you’ll choose between these three powers for the first time. Having tried them all, I’d say that Shield is actually the best, especially when you unlock the talent that allows you to Detonate it for increased damage. Shields are a bit of a power drain, but they do serious Falter when you dash into an enemy, and can give you the safety needed to close the distance for Health pickups.
Ground Slam or Push?
After defeating the Dancer in the West Incursion Zone, you’ll be given the choice between Ground Slam or Push. These powers are probably roughly equal in viability – Ground Slam is more damaging while Push is easier to use – but in terms of the build laid out above, I’d say Ground Slam is definitely more useful. Control Resonant tries to give players several types of projectile attack, but you only really need one, and Push isn’t the best of them.
Ignite or Inferno?
After defeating the Deserter Resonant in the Patterned Factory in Central, you’ll be given the choice between two fire-themed powers: Ignite, which lets you add Burn to your weapon attacks, or Inferno, which is a series of short-range fire attacks.
Ignite is absolutely the best one: it massively increases the damage your weapons are already doing, allows you to inflict long-term burns on enemies, adds Falter effects to every hit, and allows you to quickly set up the fiery side of the combo mentioned above incredibly quickly.
Spore Burst or Growth?
After a bizarre quest in the Park where you have to eat several sorts of Mold to access the Collective Resonant boss fight, killing it gives you the choice of two Infection-themed powers. Spore Burst is a machine-gun barrage of Infection projectiles, and Growth is a summoned turret that fires infection at nearby foes.
I definitely recommend you choose Spore Burst, as, you can max out an opponents’ infection status with a single burst – a seriously useful ability, especially on late-game opponents.
Spike or Astral Rebuke?
When you reach the Underpass region, the Spire leads up to a gap in the Astral Plane that ends with a fight against the Resonant known as the Physicist. Defeat them, and you can choose between Spike, a controlled summon that hampers opponents, or Astral Rebuke, which is a…. uh, spike that comes out of the ground and knocks foes upwards. Are the labels mixed up on these?
Either way, I suggest you choose Astral Rebuke, though I don’t think either power is particularly impressive as an addition to your arsenal. Astral Rebuke is better simply for requiring less thought (tap one button and off you go), though keep in mind it can only be used on grounded opponents, not flying ones.
How to respec abilities in Control Resonant?
If you’re not happy with your choices of combat abilities in Control Resonant, you can change your choice of powers around by going back to the Gap hub area and interacting with the mural on the left when you enter, as shown above. At the top there’ll be an icon to “Reset All” by holding down the Square / X button (depending on controller).
This will cost you one of the Control Resonant Reset Items, but will allow you to make all your choices of Powers again from the start (and yes, I do mean all – one Reset Item lets you rechoose all your powers).
© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.