How Your Combat Setup Fits Together
CONTROL Resonant builds combine Aberrant weapon forms, supernatural Combat Abilities, Talents and Artifacts into a combat style you shape in the Gap. Start with the way you want to fight, then choose components that support the cycle of melee attacks, ability use and executions.
Prepare the Parts You Can Use
- Start with unlocked Aberrant forms and combos. Your available weapon toolkit expands through progression, so build around the moves you can equip now.
- Defeat Resonants to earn supernatural Combat Abilities. These bosses are part of story progression, and some ability rewards involve branching choices that favor different playstyles.
- Choose Talents to strengthen the interaction between your melee attacks and abilities. Favor effects you can put to work with your current loadout.
- Find untapped Artifacts while exploring, then craft usable Artifacts in the Gap. During your first playthrough, you can equip up to three; New Game Plus adds a fourth slot.
Compare Your Build Components
| Component | Role in Your Setup |
|---|---|
| Aberrant forms | Primary and Secondary Forms, together with Combo Enders, shape your speed, range and combat role. Hammer, Blades, Scythe and Fists are among the available forms. |
| Combat Abilities | Boss-earned supernatural powers add another way to fight. Barrage launches projectiles, while Volatile Anomaly summons a turret-like ally you can throw and detonate. |
| Talents | Talents connect your abilities and melee attacks through stronger synergies. Choose them around the actions you intend to repeat during combat. |
| Artifacts | Equippable passive modifiers can affect survivability, combat performance, exploration or resource economy. Some have conditions or tradeoffs, so read the whole effect before equipping. |
Assemble and Test a Loadout in the Gap
- Choose a combat goal: sustained aggression, crowd control or survivability. Describe what is going wrong in your fights so that each later choice has a clear job.
- Pair your Aberrant forms around the speed, range and role you want. Include your Combo Ender in that decision, then consider how comfortably the moves fit your preferred fighting rhythm.
- Add Combat Abilities that complement that weapon plan. For a tactical alternative, consider Mold Turrets if available: they attack independently and apply harmful status effects.
- Select Talents that reinforce the interaction between those forms and abilities. Read their conditions against the attacks you actually use, and favor effects that support your intended combat rhythm.
- Craft and equip Artifacts that address your chosen goal. Check whether their passive effects concern combat, survivability, exploration or resources, and account for any conditions or tradeoffs.
- Test the setup in the Gap, where you can unlock upgrades, craft Artifacts and try builds. Use the detailed stat breakdowns alongside how the setup feels, then adjust the part that is failing.
Run the Melee and Ability Loop
- Land melee hits to restore the resource used by your Combat Abilities. Build your approach around attacks you can reliably connect.
- Spend Power on Combat Abilities and use their stun potential to create execution opportunities. Keep the resource cost in mind when planning your next attack.
- Execute stunned enemies to gain a temporary melee damage boost. Follow that opening with melee pressure to feed your abilities again.
Adapt for Aggression, Control or Survival
For aggression, prioritize a weapon rhythm that lets you keep landing melee hits and capitalize on execution damage boosts. A heavy close-range setup is a supported approach, while Mold Turrets offer an alternative built around independent attacks and harmful status effects. Treat these as different starting points for experimentation.
For crowd control, judge your setup by how consistently it creates stuns and execution openings. For survivability, review your Artifact modifiers and how safely you can maintain melee pressure. Combat also demands reading attacks, managing status effects and timing dodges, so practice those alongside changing equipment.
Plan around the limits of your current run: you cannot unlock everything during a single playthrough. Branching boss rewards and Artifact conditions make specialization meaningful. If a desired combination needs options you do not yet have, keep a workable alternative instead of forcing the whole setup around it.
Read Build Power and Plan Missing Upgrades
Build Power comes from unlocked Combat Abilities, Aberrant forms and upgrades, Talents, and Core Upgrades. Launch hotfix 1.3.3 clarified that wording in English; Aberrant Strength describes Damage and Falter. Use Build Power to assess progression, then examine your chosen components when judging how the setup plays.
Game Update 1.4.0 added Build Power to the bottom-left of the Loadout screen, alongside its existing place in Stats & Effects. It also added a HUD notification for new Gap purchases or upgrades. Pin materials needed for an upgrade, then inspect the Vendor icon on the map to see whether those materials are available there.
If your level is below the enemy level, combat becomes tougher. Continue side quests and explore Manhattan to support further progression, then return to the Gap to review your upgrade options. Reassess the loadout after those improvements before abandoning a combat style you otherwise enjoy.
Respec Affordably and Check the Wallet Fix
Launch hotfix 1.3.3 permanently reduced respec costs and increased Reset Item stock across vendors. The Artist, the first Resonant boss, now drops two Reset Items instead of one. Decide which investments you want to change before spending a Reset Item.
Hotfix 1.4.2 corrected excessive Burn damage to Dylan when using the Wallet Artifact and running out of Power. This correction does not grant Burn immunity or remove Artifact tradeoffs. If Wallet is part of your setup, account for that interaction when comparing older build advice with your updated game.