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The best ability upgrades to spend your points on in Control

Gabe Gurwin
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Control first came out in 2019 but is back again with the Ultimate Edition including all the DLC and performance boosts for the new consoles. What hasn’t changed is the fact that this paranormal third-person shooter is far from an easy game. You need to use your morphing Service Weapon and telekinetic abilities in tandem to be successful, and doing that is only possible if you make the most of your ability upgrades. Separate from the mods you can apply to Jesse and her weapon, ability upgrades allow you to enhance several attributes using points you acquire through normal play. But where should you spend these points? We’ll show you with our Control ability upgrades guide.

Further reading

Ability upgrades explained

Control Telekenisis
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Ability upgrades are essentially the “skill tree” of Control. As you progress through the story and complete key missions, you’ll be awarded upgrade points that can then be spent on enhancements for your statistics. These are not the same as mods, and they are tiered, meaning the fifth upgrade you get in a category can only be unlocked after unlocking the first four. You cannot unlock new ability upgrades everywhere. Instead, you will need to be visiting a control point, which acts as the fast travel destinations in Control.

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Unlike mods, you won’t require any additional resources to craft skill upgrades. This will make the ability enhancement process for Jessie much simpler and quicker if you are experiencing issues in a specific area. Still, upgrade points aren’t especially abundant. This indicates that you’ll need to prioritize which upgrades you desire, and identifying the most suitable ones to concentrate on will make that a whole lot easier.

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There is one other advantage to opening capability upgrades, and it includes your mods. As you proceed with spending points, a progress bar will fill up at the bottom of the upgrades screen. The first level of unlocks will provide you with an extra weapon form slot. Then, the second two will supplement another individual mod spot. We suggest you make sure that you have some excellent mods prepared for when you can equip them.

Which ability upgrades should you focus on?

Control Abilities
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If you operate using a distinct play-style that you’ll probably want to use in Control, you can easily customize your ability upgrades to accommodate it. We centered around a mobile and aggressive build for our play-through that seldom remained in the same place for more than a few seconds. Because of this, some upgrades to skills like the Shield weren’t beneficial. Below, we’ve listed some ability upgrades that we think you should unlock first in order to improve your chances of survival.

  • Health: Each unlocked tier gives you additional total health. Health upgrades are vital in Control and you can remove a health-focused mod if you have enough unlocked here.
  • Energy: Not quite as vital as health, but you use energy for everything from evading to throwing objects. Every little bit helps you beat enemies in fights.
  • Launch: Increases the amount of damage your Launch ability does. It is crucial to focus on this early, as it will allow you to kill weaker enemies without needing your gun as a follow-up attack. An optional unlock will also let you throw missiles back at enemies.
  • Seize: Increases the amount of time an enemy will be under your control and can take the pressure off of Jesse in a hectic fight.

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Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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