Mastering Control Resonant requires navigating a rich Talent tree, defeating optional Resonants across multiple zones, and choosing between powerful combat abilities. Players can unlock early passive boosts like Dominance and All-Rounder, tackle the Park zone for the Spore Burst upgrade, and master status ailments to conquer late-game bosses.
Unlocking Talents and Spending Points in the Gap
As you fight your way through Manhattan, you will start earning Talent Points early in Control Resonant. These points are spent in the Gap on passive skills and perks designed to ease your progress. You will need to spend a certain amount early on to open up subsequent sections of the tree.
The journey begins with Dominance, your mandatory first choice. It boosts melee damage for 8 seconds after an Execution, granting a 100% damage increase to your Primary and Combo Finisher and a 50% boost to your Secondary. Enemies defeated under this effect are guaranteed to drop Health Elements.
From there, you reach your first fork in the road. Choosing All-Rounder provides a 5% increase to both Damage and Falter damage. Following that up with Extra Impact adds 10% extra Falter damage from Combat Abilities when used, helping you target smaller enemies to set up Executions and use that Dominance on the other, larger enemies in the vicinity.
Managing Complex Talent Splits and Defensive Perks
Defensive maneuvers also shape your build. Perfect Dodge is a mandatory unlock that grants Retaliation whenever you dodge right before an incoming attack lands, boosting your next attack’s Damage and Falter by 50%.
Deeper in the tree, a four-way split requires careful prioritization. Extended Rush triples the duration of Rush to help you escape longer Resonant attacks faster. Pairing it with Clensing Rush ensures that moving quickly also removes status ailments like Mold and Burn twice as fast.
Continuing up the left side of the tree unlocks Retribution for extra Falter damage on Retaliation, followed by Agile Response, which yields a 25% Damage and Falter boost specifically from Dodge Attacks.
Choosing Combat Abilities From Optional Resonants
Combat abilities are special skills tied to defeating optional bosses known as Resonants, which appear in every zone of the game. You earn your first ability after defeating The Artist during the prologue, choosing between Barrage, Volatile Anomaly, and Shield.
Subsequent optional bosses grant further choices, though you can only pick one ability per defeated Resonant. If you wish to swap your choice later, you must use an expensive Reset Item costing 5,000 Source from Vendors or earned by defeating other Resonants.
| Resonant Boss | Zone Location | Combat Ability Choices |
|---|---|---|
| The Artist | Prologue | Barrage, Volatile Anomaly, Shield |
| The Dancer | West Incursion Zone | Push, Ground Slam |
| The Deserter | Central | Ignite |
Finding the Park and Acquiring Spore Burst
While standard combat abilities handle most encounters, one specific upgrade stands above the rest for late-game success. Spore Burst is one of two options obtained by defeating the giant mold boss in the Park, an easily missed zone accessible through a gate in the northeast of the Central zone.
Because the Park is not part of the central storyline, players must seek it out manually.
Expanding Your Arsenal Through Optional Side Quests
Beyond standard zone bosses, players can push their repertoire even further. Defeating five Resonants grants five combat abilities, but completing the Pope’s Research side story in the final zone unlocks one additional skill selection from your previously unlocked pool.
Managing your power gauge, timing your dodges, and deploying status ailments like poison dictate how efficiently you clear out the Hiss. Whether you lean into minion builds with Volatile Anomaly or rely on raw crowd control via Push, balancing your talent points and parautilitarian skills remains essential for surviving Manhattan.