Control Resonant: Best Starting Aberrant Forms for Beginners

Control Resonant puts you in the driver’s seat from the start. The game makes you choose a Primary Aberrant Form right out of the gate, and then a Secondary one—a decision that shapes your entire combat approach. Developer Remedy Entertainment’s philosophy is straightforward: offense wins fights.

Choosing Your Primary Form

You’ve got three options, all attack-focused. For beginners, Glaive is the strongest pick. It’s a wide swing that hits multiple enemies and pushes them back, dealing 70–90 damage per hit. The real advantage isn’t raw power—it’s reach and breathing room. Early Hiss encounters and fights against The Artist Resonant throw enemy swarms at you, and Glaive lets you catch them before they close in, giving you space to dodge and survive. The trade-off: zero critical hits.

Strike tempts you with a 30% critical chance but dishes only 30–60 damage per swing. It’s fast and punishes singular targets hard, making it shine in one-on-one boss fights. Against hordes, though, you’ll wish you had range.

Cleave is the odd one out. It rewards hitting enemy backs with extra damage and deals 65 per hit—respectable, but no critical potential. It’s built for a specific playstyle that beginners rarely master early on, making it the least versatile choice.

Picking Your Secondary Form

Here, the recommendation order shifts slightly based on pacing.

Extend is the recommended starter. This long-range attack fires single or multiple shots (63–127 damage) and generates Falter (0–21), which fuels executions. Extend doesn’t lock you in place, making it ideal for the fast, chaotic fights you’ll face early. You can chip away at Falter safely from distance.

Drill charges into a continuous attack (95–280 damage, 0–21 Falter) and can stunlock enemies—incredibly useful against hard-hitting foes. The catch: charging requires standing still. Early-game combat moves too fast to safely rely on it, though it becomes more viable later.

Crush is the heaviest hitter (127–222 damage, 21–42 Falter) and can knock enemies down. It’s slow and cumbersome, though. Beginners lack the timing to use it without getting punished, so save it for when you’ve learned the rhythm.

Switching Later

Don’t panic about your choice. Unlocking new forms costs 5 Aberrant Strength points and 3 Living Shards per Primary Form (2 Shards for Secondary), but you can swap them anytime in the Gap once unlocked. If Extend feels wrong after an hour, respec and try Drill.