Control Resonant: How to Beat The Physicist

There are a handful of powerful bosses scattered across Control Resonant's open map. As part of the story progression, players will need to find and defeat these powerful Resonants that have taken over certain areas.

The Physicist is one of the six bosses in the game and one of the later ones you will face in an area known as The Underpass. If you're wondering how to reach and defeat The Physicist in Control Resonant, and which reward power to choose, all relevant information is included in the guide below.

Quick Links

• How to Find The Physicist in Control Resonant
• • All Astral Key Locations
• How to Beat The Physicist in Control Resonant
• Which Power Should You Choose After Beating The Physicist?

How to Find The Physicist in Control Resonant

The Physicist can be found in the Astral Plane, located in The Underpass. To find The Physicist, you need to explore the Astral Plane, using your shift ability to traverse over the different surfaces until you locate the entrance to the Astral Plane.

Here's how to do so:

1. Locate "The Spire" in The Underpass. The Spire's location is referenced in the map screenshot below:
2. Use your traversal abilities (Shift) to run up walls as needed and climb The Spire.
3. At the top of The Spire, there will be waves of enemies and a door blockade. Clear all of the enemies to remove the blockage.
4. Go through the door/entrance, and you will reach the Astral Plane.
5. Climb up the platforms to position yourself on the main path of the Astral Plane. Look for the sections of brown household items on the terrain, as this indicates which pillars you will be able to jump, dash, and float towards before gravity shifts over.

After you get inside the Astral Plane, following the main path will lead you to a locked door. You need to find the key to unlock it, but behind this door are two more locked doors, so you will need to get three keys in total. Luckily, now that you know this in advance, you can collect them all in one sweep.

All Astral Key Locations

One of the three Astral Keys can be found on each of the "islands" connected to the main stretch of path. To make it easy, we will refer to them as the Western, Eastern, and Southern sections (from the POV of facing the locked door).

Western Astral Key Location

1. Turn and head over to the island in the westernmost location and open the crate.
2. This island has moving walls and floor panels that can reveal additional enemies and harm you, so keep that in mind. Pull the lever to drop the wall in front of you.
3. After the first wall goes down, progress forward and then turn left.
4. Jump across to the next platform without using shift. Grab the next lever, and the next wall will drop, revealing a section of flooring with spikes that can activate and damage you.
   
5. Turn to face where this wall was and progress forward, then turn right.
6. Jump and shift to the pillar in front of you with brown furniture and then shift over to the topside of this pillar again.
7. The Astral Key can be found in a cube sitting on a wooden table with chairs.

Eastern Astral Key Location

1. Turn and float over to the easternmost floating island and then shift to the pillar leading up.
2. Shift up again and then turn left and jump the next two gaps.
3. Jump across onto the last pillar with brown furniture on it, then use it to jump off and float towards the left wall with brown furniture. Use shift to stick to it.
4. Jump across the gap heading North. Make the final jump, and gravity will shift, so you'll need to stick to the next pillar with your ability as you fall.
5. Walk up and shift to the next floor, then continue following the steps up.
6. Jump and float across the pillar to your right, and then jump again and float over to the next platform in your right-hand line of sight.
7. Land on this platform and snag the crate. Now turn and walk left, then jump the next gap.
8. The Astral Key will be sitting in a cube on a random bed in the middle of this terrain piece.

Southern Astral Key Location

1. Head all the way south and then jump and float across all remaining gaps so that you cannot go any further.
2. Look up, and you will see that there is another section of flooring above you that you can shift to. However, this jump is impossible to make from the ground.
3. Now turn and face the nearby island of terrain on your right-hand side and float over to it.
4. Climb all the way up to the top of the tall pillar.
5. Jump and float across, aiming to get close enough to the top section to shift to it.
6. Now turn and jump the gap, and you will find the third and final Astral Key sitting on the desk.

Return to the locked door on the main path and unlock all three doors. Progress all the way forward to the end of the room and hold the interact button (L1/LB) in front of the mirror. You will now be transported into the boss arena with the Physicist, a Resonant resembling a giant version of the smaller enemies you faced earlier.

How to Beat The Physicist in Control Resonant

The Physicist can hover either way up in the sky as well as close to the ground, so you may need to use your dashes and traversal abilities to get and stay in range, especially if you have a mostly melee build. It's quite a fast thing when it zips away into the air, and it can throw projectiles down at you just as quickly, so be ready. It has a sweeping attack where it will form a log or 'arm' to try and hit you.

When The Physicist uses this attack, jump into the air and use attack combos from above. Any time that The Physicist comes close to the ground, play with aggression on offense and try to get as many hits in as possible. You can also deploy any minion abilities you may have taken prior to help apply pressure during these moments and even contribute towards chip damage when The Physicist darts out of range. Growth and Volatile Anomaly both works here.

You'll need to be careful and dash in and out between your attacks in quick repetition, as The Physicist sends out pulses and explosions that can knock you back and heavily damage you. Use these patterns to wither the boss down past the first tick, and the Physicist will hover before doing a slam attack and speeding away to another section of terrain further down The Abyss. Chase the Pharmacist, using your traversal abilities to get to the second arena zone and continue the fight.

The Physicist will now break apart into several smaller enemies, so kill them all off to force it to rebuild itself whole. If you have a Glaive build, then it comes in particularly handy at moments like this.

Continue attacking the boss as it takes itself apart and rebuilds until it reaches over the second tick of HP depletion. The Physicist will now take off and fly to another section of arena terrain again, so chase it down.It will use a combination of sweep attacks, aggressive projectiles, and extra damaging hazards, so keep dodging and be patient with your attacks. After depleting this final section of health, you will finally get a prompt to falter the Physicist and kill it off for good.

Which Power Should You Choose After Beating The Physicist?

After defeating the Physicist, you will have a choice between two different abilities: Spike and Astral Rebuke. Here's exactly what both of them do, and which one you should consider as the best choice for your build.

• Spike: Summon an astral spike to attack enemies. It can also be directed to attack and knock down an opponent. Builds up Astralized. 37-367 damage, 11-78 falter, 305 power cost.
• Astral Rebuke: Unleash a homing spike that erupts beneath enemies and throws them up in the air. Applies Lifted and builds up Astralized. 459 damage, 69 falter, 155 power cost.

In most cases, Astral Rebuke is the better option. It has solid range that you can stand from and is a homing attack, which makes it incredibly reliable. As it throws enemies up into the air, it's also perfect for displacing them, making it easier to get behind for a melee combo or bonus Glaive damage. Astral Rebuke is also quite reliable and versatile across the board. It does heavy damage, has a generous power cost, and is one of the few lock-on attacks available.

Spike may work well for more ranged builds, especially if you have other summons that you can spam with it, such as Volatile Anomaly and Growth. It also has a higher power cost and offers damage over time rather than burst damage, so it all comes down to personal preference.