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There is no single talent that is best for everyone early in CONTROL Resonant. Remedy designed talents to strengthen how your combat abilities and melee attacks work together, and a first playthrough only lets you unlock part of your arsenal. The best early talent is therefore the one that improves the combat loop you already have, not one that appears on a universal list.
Why there is no universal first talent
Remedy’s official combat deep dive describes talents as amplifying the synergy between abilities and melee attacks. A talent is only as useful as the actions it connects to, so its value depends on which abilities and melee options you have actually unlocked and how you fight with them.
Remedy’s Lead Gameplay Designer, Sergey Mohov, has described the first playthrough as a time for discovery: learning the world, shaping a build, and understanding what Dylan can become. Early in the game, your build is still forming, so the question to ask is not “which talent is strongest?” but “which talent supports the way I am playing right now?”
The official material explains how talents work, but it does not publish a list of individual talent nodes with their effects or an unlock order. Any fixed ranking of early nodes would therefore be guesswork, and this guide avoids one.
#1 Best Overall
- STEP INTO A WARPED REALITY: Explore multiple areas of a ravaged Manhattan in an expansive, unfamiliar, and exciting world. Traverse perception-bending locations and grapple with gravity anomalies that distort the vertical and horizontal plane, adding additional dimensions to puzzles and new tactical decisions to combat. Meet faces old and new on a path fraught with risk but rich in opportunity as the cityscape is reshaped and reality is redefined by a godlike force.
- MASTER THE PARANATURAL: Channel the raw experiences of Dylan’s past to help understand his present and dig deeper into the inner workings of the FBC and reveal the horrors threatening humankind. Tap into power he must learn to master and take choices to shape how his abilities manifest and grow. Explore a deep progression system to define how Dylan adapts to emerging dangers. Forge connections crucial to Dylan’s fight to retain his humanity as he journeys from former test subject to paranatural superweapon
- THE FIGHT SHIFTS. YOUR WEAPON SHIFTS WITH IT: Meet constantly evolving threats head-on, utilising the environment, deploying elemental abilities and using the raw force Dylan’s shapeshifting melee weapon, the Aberrant. Wield the Aberrant in its many deadly forms. Deliver bone-crunching blows with a two-handed hammer and flow seamlessly into the swift precision of dual-wielded blades as this paranatural weapon morphs on demand to meet each new challenge.
- SHARED LEGACY. NEW THREAT: FBC Director Jesse Faden's lockdown is no longer holding. A paranatural catastrophe has spilled beyond the Oldest House and onto the streets of Manhattan, and the Bureau's grip on containment is failing. Jesse Faden walked into the Oldest House to confront the threat within. Now Dylan must walk out of it to contain the threat beyond.
How to judge a talent before you spend a point
Use these four checks on each available node:
- Does it boost an ability you have unlocked and equipped? A talent for a power you never use adds little to your loop.
- Does it fit your Aberrant melee form and attack rhythm? If melee is your main way of dealing damage, prioritise talents that reinforce it.
- Does it help with survivability or combat control? If you are taking too much damage or losing control of enemy groups, a defensive or crowd-management talent may matter more than extra damage.
- Do you want focused investment or flexibility? Concentrated points usually pay off faster, while spreading them keeps options open for later builds.
Watch for talent points that arrive before their abilities
PC Gamer’s review reports that talent points can be available before the abilities they enhance. If a talent is tied to an ability you have not unlocked yet, its benefit will not appear until you have that ability. Before spending points on a path, check whether the ability it supports is already in your arsenal. If it is not, keep the points for a node that fits your current tools.
Early build directions compared
The table below compares broad directions by the criteria above. These are decision criteria drawn from how the systems are described, not measured performance figures.
| Direction | Best when | Trade-off early on |
|---|---|---|
| Ability-focused | You rely on one or two supernatural powers and want them stronger | Weak if your powers are still limited; a locked ability gives no benefit |
| Melee-focused | You fight up close and want the Aberrant melee form to hit harder or flow better | Depends on how often you can reach enemies safely |
| Survivability or control | Early fights are wearing down your health or your enemy-management is poor | Adds less raw damage, which can slow clearing encounters |
| Flexible spread | You want to try several playstyles before committing | Individual talents are less powerful than a focused path |
If early combat feels too hard
Separate build choices from difficulty settings. A talent can improve how you fight, but it is not the only lever available.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstall- Launch adjustment. A Steam announcement reports that early enemies could feel too tanky for some players and describes a launch adjustment to address it. This is a time-sensitive balance note, so check the current patch notes before relying on it.
- Combat settings. PC Gamer’s review describes adjustable outgoing damage and stagger settings. Review coverage is not an official build prescription, so confirm the options and their current names in the game’s settings menu.
If the fight is a difficulty problem rather than a build problem, adjusting these options may help more than swapping talents.
Rank #3
- The action RPG sequel to Control, developed and published by Remedy Entertainment.
What carries over in New Game Plus
New Game Plus is the main opportunity to try builds that the first run did not allow. Remedy’s official PlayStation Blog article lists what carries forward and what resets:
| Carries over to New Game Plus | Does not carry over |
|---|---|
| Aberrant upgrades | Traversal abilities, which remain tied to story progression and how the world unfolds |
| Health and combat ability resource improvements | Not applicable |
| Unlocked supernatural combat abilities | Not applicable |
| Talents | Not applicable |
| Artifacts | Not applicable |
Mohov explains the purpose of this carry-over in the same article: “One of the goals for New Game Plus is to give players more room to experiment with builds that weren’t possible during the first playthrough, as you cannot unlock everything in your arsenal in one go.” Early talent choices in your first run are therefore not permanent in the sense of locking you out of later experiments, but they do shape the run you are currently playing.
Quick Recap
What remains unverified
- The exact names, effects, and early availability of individual talent nodes are not listed in the official material reviewed for this guide.
- Patch status of the launch balance adjustment may have changed since it was announced.
- Current edition and platform details should be checked on the official store page before purchase.
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