Every Control Resonant guide says the same thing: pick Strike for crits, pick Glaive for AoE, and treat Cleave as the compromise option nobody really loves. The community consensus is that Cleave sits in an awkward middle — slower than Strike, shorter reach than Glaive, and its backstab bonus sounds situational at best. Most players pick it, then immediately respec as soon as they unlock a living shard or two.
That advice is incomplete. It misses how Cleave’s specific upgrades and combos create a backstab loop that outperforms both alternatives once you build for it. Here are five reasons to ignore the conventional wisdom and give Cleave the respect it deserves.
That is not a small bonus — that is the equivalent of permanently having your dominance buff active for backstabs.
1. The Dodge Attack Launcher Changes Everything
Cleave’s first upgrade sets it apart. While Strike and Glaive simply deal more damage on their dodge attacks, Cleave’s dodge attack launches enemies into the air, applying the lifted status. This is a critical distinction.
The lifted status does more than look cool. Enemies caught in the air are helpless — they cannot attack or block. More importantly, hitting lifted enemies restores power (the resource for combat abilities). This opens a combat loop that no other primary weapon can match: dodge, launch, dash behind the enemy mid-air, and land a full backstab combo before they touch the ground.
Most guides overlook this because they evaluate primary forms on raw stats. They do not factor in how a single upgrade changes the weapon’s entire rhythm.
2. Backstab Damage Is Not Situational — It’s the Core Loop
The talent tree includes a node called Skilled Backstab, located a few notches up on the left side. It increases melee attack damage and falter damage by 50% when hitting an enemy from behind. That is not a small bonus — that is the equivalent of permanently having your dominance buff active for backstabs.
Cleave is the only primary weapon that can reliably position behind enemies without burning power or relying on terrain. The dodge attack launcher creates the opening. A single dodge, one launch, a quick dash, and you are behind the target. From there, every hit in your combo benefits from Skilled Backstab.
Players who default to Strike for its 30% crit chance assume crits scale better. But Skilled Backstab’s 50% flat damage increase applies to every hit landed from behind — including crits themselves, since the backstab bonus multiplies the base damage before crit is calculated. The effective damage per second can exceed Strike’s average by a significant margin.
3. The “Exchange Recents” Trick Lets You Test Before Committing
Here is a mechanic the game never explains and almost no guide mentions. When you unlock a new weapon form in the Gap, the screen shows a button labeled Exchange Recents in the bottom right. Pressing that instantly refunds the living shards you just spent, allowing you to test every form in the training arena without permanently losing resources.
If you are uncertain about Cleave, spend one living shard to unlock it, then use Exchange Recents to cycle through Strike and Glaive. Take each into the training dummy. Perform a dodge attack, then try to chain into a backstab combo. You will feel the difference immediately. Cleave’s lift + dash + backstab sequence is smooth and fast. Strike’s dodge attack does not lift, so you have to rely on positioning or the uppercut surge combo finisher, which costs more stamina and setup time.
That testing window — before you leave the Gap — is the only time you can reverse a purchase. Once you exit, your choice is locked. Most players never notice the Exchange Recents function at all, so they pick based on descriptions alone and miss Cleave’s true potential.
4. The Drill Secondary Weapon Creates a Devastating Synergy
Pair Cleave with the drill as your secondary weapon. Here is why: after you launch an enemy with Cleave’s dodge attack and dash behind them, switch to the drill’s held attack. The drill applies the weakened status, which causes enemies to take increased damage and falter buildup from combat abilities. More importantly, the drill’s sustained damage means every tick is a backstab hit if you are positioned correctly.
The combination works like this: dodge → launch (lifted) → dash behind → hold drill attack → enemy takes continuous backstab damage while airborne → enemy lands already weakened and low on health. Finish with a combo ender such as uppercut surge or concussive beatdown to trigger dominance.
Strike cannot sustain this loop because its dodge attack does not lift. Glaive can, but its slower attack speed makes it harder to land the full drill sequence before the enemy recovers. Cleave sits in the sweet spot.
5. The “Air Stalled” Backstab Loop Is Exclusive to Cleave
The most advanced technique possible with Cleave is the air stalled backstab loop. Launch an enemy, then use the drill’s held attack to keep them suspended mid-air while you strafe around to stay behind them. If you have the Extended Retaliation talent (which increases retaliation damage after a perfect dodge) and Skilled Backstab, every drill tick hits for increased damage.
This loop works because the drill’s third hit spins for multiple seconds. You can maintain the stall while dodging any other enemies that approach. No other primary weapon enables this — Strike’s combos are too fast, and Glaive’s swings push enemies away instead of holding them in place.
The practical result: you can kill a heavy-level enemy in a single combo without ever giving them a chance to attack. That is not situational. That is a repeatable strategy for any encounter with a large single target.
The One Situation Where Strike Still Wins
Strike’s 30% crit chance is real, and if you are not willing to learn positioning, it will serve you fine. Cleave demands that you be deliberate about where you stand relative to enemies. It also struggles against fast-moving groups that spread out, because launching one enemy leaves you vulnerable to the others. In those fights, Glaive’s wide sweeps are better.
But for any fight against a single threatening enemy — a resonant boss, a shield-heavy hiss, a mold tank — Cleave’s backstab loop will out-damage any other primary form. The conventional advice overlooks this because it tests weapons in a vacuum. The game’s combat is not fought in a vacuum. It is fought against enemies you can stagger, launch, and circle behind.
Stop treating Cleave as the compromise. It is the specialist tool that turns your positioning into the highest damage multiplier in the game.
- Why is Cleave better than Strike for backstab builds?Cleave's dodge attack launcher applies lifted status, allowing you to dash behind enemies and land backstabs that benefit from Skilled Backstab's 50% damage bonus, outperforming Strike's crit chance.
- What is the Exchange Recents trick?The Exchange Recents trick lets you test weapon forms without permanently spending resources by selecting the Exchange option when unlocking a new form in the Gap.
