Every resonant boss you defeat in Control Resonant forces a choice between two or three unlockable combat abilities. You cannot get them all in one playthrough. And the wrong pick can make certain fights far harder than they need to be. After 50+ hours of testing every ability across all zones and resonant cycles, here is the ranking that actually matters.
The criteria: raw damage output, utility (crowd control, survivability, synergy), and how early you can obtain it. Some abilities are overpowered in specific situations but useless in others. The top picks earn their spot by being effective in most or all encounters.
Growth is the best ability in the game, and it is not close.
10. Ground Slam
You unlock Ground Slam from the Dancer resonant in the West Incursion Zone. It deals raw damage in a circle around you, with higher damage if you jump higher before slamming. In a vacuum, the numbers look decent — one source shows 543 to 1,087 damage depending on height. The problem: the wind-up is long, and enemies rarely stand still long enough to take the full hit. In practice, Ground Slam’s best use is opening horizontal doors on the ground that require blunt damage to break. You can also clear groups of weak grunts in a single hit, but that’s situational. If you want a reliable AoE, pick Push instead.
9. Volatile Anomaly
Volatile Anomaly is a summon that floats near an enemy and shoots projectiles before you can detonate it manually. It belongs to the first ability set (alongside Barrage and Shield). The summon itself does decent falter damage, and throwing it creates an explosion. Here is the detail most players miss: casting Ignite before Volatile Anomaly imbues the energy ball with fire, turning it into a floating turret that applies burn on its own. That synergy is real. On its own, though, Volatile Anomaly is clunky — you need to keep an eye on its health and position, and the explosion requires your power gauge to be high enough. It is good for a specific fire-summon build, but not a must-have.
8. Spore Burst
Spore Burst fires a rapid stream of mold projectiles that build the Infected status. It is obtained from the Collective resonant in the Park zone. The infected status drains enemy health over time and can be combined with burn to trigger an explosion (infected + burn = detonation). Spore Burst is a solid ranged option if you want to stay at distance. However, the projectiles have limited tracking, and against mold enemies (which are immune to infected), it is useless. The Growth summon is almost always the better pick from the same boss.
7. Barrage
Barrage is the first ability most players get — projectiles that fly forward, building falter and power. It is the safest choice from the first boss (the Artist) because it works at range and does not require positioning. Each projectile does modest falter, but charging it up increases damage. The issue: Barrage does not stagger enemies reliably, and you often need multiple full charges to fill a falter bar. It is a decent starting ability, but by mid-game you will want something that either locks enemies down (Shield) or summons distractions (Volatile Anomaly).
6. Inferno
Inferno is a fire punch attack that drains power with each hit. It does fire damage, which is exceptionally strong against mold enemies — the source material explicitly says “it absolutely melts them.” If you are fighting in the Park or any mold-heavy zone, Inferno is almost required. The tradeoff: each punch consumes a chunk of power, so you cannot spam it. And against non-mold enemies, its raw damage is unimpressive. Inferno’s strength is hyper-specific. That is why it lands at number 6.
5. Growth
Growth summons a mold turret that shoots at enemies and applies the Infected status. It is obtained from the Collective resonant. This ability is quietly overpowered for one reason: it gives you a second target for enemies to attack. In boss fights where you are solo, dropping two or three Growth turrets (if you have enough power) drastically reduces the pressure on you. The talent “Mold Colony” even lets you have +1 active turret. Combined with the talent “Restorative Summons” (kills by summons drop health elements), Growth becomes a sustain tool. The one caveat: you must unlock it fairly late, after defeating the Park resonant. But it is worth the wait.
4. Push
Push is a kinetic ability that sends enemies flying. It is cheap to use (low power cost) and has one huge advantage in Manhattan’s vertical environment: pushing enemies off ledges instantly kills them. You still get their drops. This makes Push the single best crowd-control ability for any zone with rooftops or edges. The Dancer boss fight becomes trivial if you push the smaller enemies off the arena. The downside: no damage against bosses that cannot be knocked back. But for clearing trash mobs and resetting dangerous situations, Push is unmatched.
3. Shield
Shield is the defensive choice from the first boss. You raise a barrier that absorbs damage using your power gauge as health. The shield has a hidden offensive use: you can dodge into enemies while it is active to perform a shield bash, which does high falter damage. One source notes that using the shield dash to instantly falter weaker enemies triggers the Dominance state — doubling your damage for 8 seconds. In the early game, when your health is low and you have no sustain talents, Shield keeps you alive through encounters that would otherwise kill you. It falls off later when you have better dodging and healing, but for the critical first few hours, it is the best survival tool.
2. Fire Element Synergy (Ignite + Inferno)
This entry is a combination, but it deserves its own rank because the whole is greater than the sum. Ignite imbues all your attacks (melee, secondary, even Volatile Anomaly and Shield) with fire damage for a power drain per second. Inferno is the fire punch. Together, they let you apply burn on every hit. The real power comes from the elemental detonation: if you apply both Infected (from mold abilities) and Burn on the same enemy, they explode for massive outward damage. This works on most enemies except mold. The source material explicitly calls this “the most important synergy.” Ignite alone at rank 2 because it enables so many builds.
1. Growth (Again — Yes, It Is That Good)
Growth at number 1 is not a mistake. In the late game, when you face multiple resonant cycles with tougher enemies and fewer world feats, sustain becomes the deciding factor in boss fights. Growth turrets do three things: they draw aggro, they apply Infected status (which combos with burn for explosions), and they drop health elements when they kill enemies or die themselves (with the right talents). One source mentions that you can have up to three turrets active simultaneously. That means three extra targets on the battlefield, three sources of infected buildup, and a constant stream of health orbs. No other ability gives you that much defensive and offensive value at once.
Growth is obtained mid-game from the Collective boss, but it stays relevant through the final boss. If you are struggling with any encounter, drop a turret. Then drop another. The game changes.
A Note on Timing and Respeccing
You can respec your combat abilities using Reset Items (obtained from defeating resonant bosses or buying from vendors for 1,500 source each). The source material notes that you will likely have 14-17 Reset Items by the end of a normal playthrough. Do not hoard them. If an ability you chose early (like Barrage or Ground Slam) is not working for your build, spec out. The gap arena lets you test abilities for free before locking them in when you leave. Use that feature.
The One Ability That Breaks This Ranking
There is a late-game ability not covered here — the Astral spike from the Underpass resonant. It applies the Astralized status, which compounds Burn and Infected buildup. If you have that ability, the entire synergy tree changes. The ranking above assumes a standard playthrough picking the most generally useful abilities. For the final boss specifically, many players swap to a full summon build (Volatile Anomaly, Growth, Spike) to maxmize distractions. Your mileage may vary.
- Which combat ability is the best in Control Resonant?Growth is the best ability, providing a turret that builds infected status and drops health orbs.
- How can you obtain Reset Items to respec abilities?You can get Reset Items by defeating resonant bosses or purchasing them for 1,500 source each.
- How do you activate the Volatile Anomaly synergy?Cast Ignite before using Volatile Anomaly to imbue it with fire, turning it into a turret that applies burn.
- What is the Astral spike ability and where is it obtained?The Astral spike is a late-game ability from the Underpass resonant that applies the Astralized status, compounding Burn and Infected buildup.
