What and how to upgrade for a quick(er) Platinum?On one side, nothing is missable, so Platinum is only a question of time and dedication. There are good tips for the more difficult trophies on this page. On the other hand, one needs to progress also with the story, and a number of trophies needs fighting bosses or complete a range of missions.
Therefore this is not really a guide, but rather tips on how to achieve faster the platinum as the game gets gradually harder. Some of it I discovered myself, some of it I also got as an advice from others. I guess most of it you find it spread on the net anyway, buy I thought grouping it together can be useful.
First, if you don't have the DLCs yet, I recommend to get them both. They are really fun, give a new twist/aspect to the whole ambiance, and enable getting the Platinum of the base game much faster.
Whatever you earn in the DLCs also count towards the base game, and the upgrade in skills and weapons helps a lot for the side mission (boss fights), countermeasures and alerts related trophies.
The AWE DLC brings the Surge weapon, plus unique mods for the other five, and helps gain a lot of ability points. Therefore, I recommend to
do the AWE DLC first, and The Foundations second.
If you find that you don't manage a number of bosses and enemies because it seems you are not enough to evade or to shoot, it can be that your framerate/screen response time is not up to the task. This often happens when playing on the PS4 with a TV or average screen (vs on a gaming PC with a dedicated gaming monitor).
If this is the case the only thing you can do without hardware upgrade is to progress come back wiht more skills and better weapons so response time doesn't matter as much.
Spoilers: I assume if you read this post, you don't care by spoilers anymore. If you do, stop reading here...
1. Skill tree - upgrade first:Health - max out
Launch, both streams - max out
Energy - max out
I have reshuffled like three times to experiment with different builds, but these maxed out were the best. You can max out these in the order you prefer. Then:
ShieldThen I would go for Shiled as the last upgrade in the Shield tree lets Energy regenerate while shielded. Of course this is only useful if you have already Shield and you use it often.
SeizeSeize upgrade for large enemies: useful to clear out smaller enemies, and to heal. Best is to seize the
Hiss Orb (the glowing sphere that heals), which will heal you/allies instead of the enemy. So don't kill it fully, go nearby, and seize it. If you manage to seize two Hiss Orbs, they will heal each other, too. That is really fun. Also this is useful for the "Protect the personnel" alerts.
Otherwise, I found the AI for seized enemies is quite poor, sometimes they don't shoot just wait, or go away or whatever.
The rest can be added gradually. For example, I rarely ever used melee during the game, and used shield only sporadically, levitation is good even on basic.
To max out the skill tree, you need to do lieterally everything in the full game plus two DLCs.
I think there is only 4 extra ability points as leftover in the end, after doing everything.
Here's the full skill tree for recap:
2. Ability pointsComplete these first to collect ability points:
- easy side missions (collecting items),
- hidden locations
- progession in the main story line
Leave difficult side mission bosses like Tomassi, Former, for later to come back more powerful.
3. Personal mods
I mostly used mods to increase health, improve launch (either faster energy recovery, or decrease cost), and earn back health on launch hits.
Aerobics Personal mod: Clock puzzle, behind the breakable wall in the Twisted Hallway (AWE DLC).
It can give 50hp, however by the time I got it, I didn't find it useful anymore.
There are a number of special and exocitc mods later in the game, which I didn't find very useful.I tried many different special and exotic combos for fun, but in the end health, energy, launch worked the best.
4. WeaponsI found useful to change weapons flexibly, with the attack style, depending on enemies. If an enemy feels slow or difficult to deal with, change to a different weapon or strategy.
For example, if Grip doesn't work on shield damage, try using Lauch first, or go close (if possible) to give melee hits to reduce the shield and use Shatter.
The best I think is always faster to kill an enemy by using a "plain" damage mod and hit 2-3 times, but I give some alternatives if you have only few of those..
Grip useful in boss figths as it can shoot repeatedly fast to the distance, and can deal big damage if modified. Ex. "Former" side boss - to hit in the eye repeatedly, and to shoot down the flying balls.
If you are precise (I am not), headshot damage upgrades can make it powerful.
Useful to add: Ammo recovery on hit + Firing speed + Damage
Alternative: Headshot damage + Headshot damage + Headshot damage
Charge good with the special mod increasing projectile speed, so enemies don't move away while it is flying.
With blast boost, it can deal damage to groups, and can be aimed less precise, this way also useful for groups of flying enemies.
However, many enemies are shielded against charge, if it doesn't do damage, simply change to Pierce, or add a Shield Damage mod.
Good also against the disappearing/invisible enemies.
Useful to add: Projectile speed + Blast radius + Damage/Spread
Alternative: Shield Damage + Reload + Spread
Pierce can break away enemy shield, best to use with Launch, ex. Tomassi side boss, then switch back to Grip to finish off.
Useful to add: Shield damage + Damage
Alternative: Reload + Reload + Reload
Spin was useful for non-shielded and low level enemies, also in close range so all of the bullets can hit.
It is not useful for long range, as the bullets fly around the target.
Reducing spread was not so useful, I rather aimed from close so it doesn't matter.
I found it mose useful for the half-naked cavemen type of enemy in the AWE DLC.
Useful to add: Fire rate + Ammo recovery on hit + Damage
Alternative: Fire rate + Fire rate + Reload
Shatter was useful when enemies were close.
Otherwise, I had mediocre success with it, my play style was to rather attack enemies from far away.
Useful to add: Rate of Fire + Rate of Fire + Return Ammo on Hit
Alternative: Damage + Damage + Damage
Surge was useful to come back to side bosses (available in the AWE DLC).
I found it better than charge as it magentically sticks to enemies, or the environment, while charge sometimes just flies into the background.
Can be used pro-actively for hard to hit flying enemies, to explode it when the enemy flies over/near a spot.
I used it also to combine it with launch for an initial high damage: stick three surge bombs on three objects, and pick up all three, and fire all this at once at the start of the fight before the enemy starts to shoot.
It can explode walls, if the wall is "explode-able", it is need for a few hidden locations or get extra loot that is locked away.
Useful to add: Damage + Damage + Blast radius
Alternative: Shield damage + Shiled damage + Damage
5. About Weapon ModsI mostly used the mods for increase of general damage and shield damage, for all weapons.
These fall only rarely, so I had to swap them between weapons quite often. After like 70h of gameplay, without farming, I had one level VI +100% damage, and about 5 other lower level damage, and alltogether I earned 4 shield damage mods.
I found damage boost more useful than the "special scenario modifications", for example I preferred 30% damage all the time with three quick hits with grip, vs. 80% damage headshot which either worked or not.
Best ways to get weapon mods are:
- Big boss fights (if you see something good, better pick it up and sacrifice the fight - what you look for might not fall again soon)
- Altered Vending machines (AWE DLC), there are six and they spread mods like a christmas tree
- Shüm arcade game, one can really farm a lot of mods by repeating the challenges here
- Board countermeasures (you can accept and abandon freely)
A good place to "farm" infinte weapon mods is doing Board Countermeasures in the Foundations DLC. Simply accept and abandon those that offer lower level things or personal mods, or seem to be difficult for you. There can be three going on in parallel, make sure they are all the right ones.
The best are the 100% and 99% damage mods (Level VI), but after 70h of gameplay, I only have one of these, it can take a lot of time to fill all thirteen slots of these (assume you fill five slots with the unique mods).
"Buying" weapon mods was not so useful. I could afford buying mode when I was already overpowered and had a lot to spend, and even then I mostly got something I had already three copies of, or was not needed at all.
Anyway, if you want to use this feature, I rather recommend to upgrade the "Constructs Level" to V or VI, and get a few high level mods, vs. a lot of low level mods that you discard anyway because you get better ones from figths.
Upgrading the constructs level is not so expensive anyway, but a few rare elements are needed, which are better used to upgrade a level then spending on a random mod:
Level II: 5000 Source Energy + 3 House Memory + 1 Threshold Remnant
Level III: 7500 Source Energy + 5 Threshold Remnant + 1 Astral Blip
Level IV: 10,000 Source Energy + 5 Astral Blip + 1 Entropic Echo
Level V: 20,000 Source Energy + 5 Entropic Echo + 1 Corrupted Sample
Level VI: [I didn't look up again, add comments if you know]
In the DLCs, a lot of special mods appear - I didn't find them very useful, but they are certainly fun to try.
6. Weapons - Unique one time to earn modsYou can get these only once, so if you deconstruct, they are gone for good. They come from easy side missions to collect things, which also earn ability points, so it is a double win.
I found these unique mods for Grip and Pierce essential. The other three not so much. Because Eternal Fire is part of the base game, I would do it immediately after getting levitation (it doesn't work without levitation, I tried...).
1. Grip: Eternal Fire - Ammo Refund Chance on Hit 100%
Throw six TVs into the Furnace found in the NSC Power Plant (needs levitation).
2. Charge: Thin Space - Projectile speed 1000%
Side mission "Gerbil Took The Top Head" in Fra Mauro AWE in AWE DLC (easy, but pops only after the fight to drive Hartman away)
3. Pierce: Custodial Readiness - Shot charge time -100
Complete janitor Athi's three quests in AWE DLC:
Another Fine Mess: Burn the Dark (easy)
Another Fine Mess: Clear the Mold (easy)
Another Fine Miss: Nourish the Plants (easy)
4. Spin: Spam Mail - Weapon damage after kills +100%
Side mission "Return to Sender" in AWE DLC (very easy).
I think a Damage VI +100% is actually better as it has no timer on it.
5. Shatter: One-Way Track - Projectile spread -100
Side mission "Dead In It's Tracks" in Eagle Limited in AWE DLC (easy).
6. Surge - I didn't find the special mod yet...
7. General TipsImprove health, energy and launch first.
Improve the Grip weapon with mods of increased damage mainly.
Side missions: do it first to acquire powers evade and shield, and to collect ability points. Come back later for difficult boss fights.
Enemies:
White bar = armor -> launch, melee, pierce, weapon mod for shield damage
Orange bar = health -> launch, weapons
In combat:
Be constantly on the move, from cover to cover.
Aim at the head.
Be aggressive, don't wait for enemies.
Pre-load Launch before boss fights, and for Hiss Distorted (the thing that can go invisible and looks like a red angel).
Levitation in combat makes you an easy target for hits from far away, if you use it, combine it with Shield.
Melee does good damage, but risky and enemies can also kill with one hit or one shot when close.
Position yourself above enemies, and shoot downwards.
Seems to be the smae precision shooting with and without zoom.
Hiss Orb (glowing sphere that heals enemies) - it is obvious, you need to kill this first, otherwise enemies heal back from the damage taken.
Builds
A slightly specific build seems more potent than a generalist one. I wish there would be a possibility to swap builds fast (like Ghost of Tsushima's charm loadout), and not to do click through the personal and weapon mods one by one each time. I spend more time swapping mods than playing the game...
Then, building up with situational mods for specific fights would be extremely useful, however there is no place to store them. So either I delete all the time, to free up slots to be able to pick up from drops, or I have to overflow by getting mods from completing expeditions, Board countermeasures and Schüm quests, and then I cannot pick up from fights.
Examples:
Spin VI - Enraged Ammo Refund = Ammo recovery on taking Hiss Charged damage +35%. (Hiss Charged are the flying red bodies that explode near to you.)
This would necessite to change to Spin, load it with this mod, when fighting a lot of Hiss Charged.
Seized Reload Efficiency = +45% Weapon Reload after Seizing Enemy
This has a timer, and only works for after seizing an enemy. That is very little use. Is it really worth to pause play, put this mod on, play a bit, and then take it off when expired?!
I recommend to try these special mods, and if you don't find it very useful, like me, just ignore or deconstruct these mods as they come.
I found it was easier to complete the full game, then complete the two DLCs, and come back to fight bosses in side missions and in special quests faster/easier.
The ability points and weapons naturally got upgraded, there is Spurge from the AWE DLC and mods can go up to tier VI (instead of just V).
The boss fights all can be eased by shooting or hiding in special spot or using a special method. If you have the right power or use the right approach, they should all complete in 3-4 tries at max. If you don't manage after 6-7 tries, I recommend to come back later, or look up how to do it easy.
The
Jukebox expeditions are difficult.
I found better to do it after the DLCs.
Count at least 3-4 tries to learn how it works.
Also they need some trial and error to learn the possible six and six locations of the elements to find on the third and fourth island. This can take the whole time and needs iterations, so I would start exploring these first.
Otherwise my general strategy for the expeditions: complete first island 1 (stand in the middle of the circles), then island 2 (clear waves of enemies), as enemies get stronger after each island and better finish them when they are at lower levels (if you start with island 3 or 4, then enemies are much harder on island 1 and 2.
On island 3 and 4 I recommend not wasting time killing enemies, just when necessary, pick up what is needed and go.
If you have maxed out levitation, and have fast energy recovery, you can fly over to the islands without touching the ground, to gain time.
After some practice and good level of mods, at least 5-7 minutes should be left in the end.
Some guides I found useful, that are not trophy specific, but useful for platinumMaximum mod stats:https://www.reddit.com/r/controlgame/comments/fsrt3a/maximum...Grip Eternal Fire TV LocationsWeapons All Unique Mods - click-throughA few boss fight tutorials For those that I still found difficult, even doing AWE DLC first and The Foundations second.
I find these are needed for progression and to build up personal and weapon mods for completing fight related trophies.
It seems to me the game was made harder with the patches, at least some of the videos I have seen show a much easier combat and fewer enemies that I had.
I recommend to give it a try, and if you are still stuck after 10-15 times, watch the videos for inspiration - I found these the most helpful (those which are made really overpowered, are not very useful when I have lower level skills...).
If you do the AWE DLC first, the base game and The Foundations 's fights are much easier, and getting the fight related trophies is faster.
Mold 1 May way:
- hide behind the rock
- move away fast from the projectiles
- launch the glowing red moldy formations for better launch damage
TomassiMy way:
- use pierce to remove shield, grip for fast damage
- take cover in the corners
- pre-charge launch to deal with the invisible hiss, and take cover in both corners
SalvadorMy way:
- here I found Seize helpful
- pierce to break away the shield
- hide behind cover on both sides in the distance
- Shield to take more cover
Hartman final fight (AWE)As I did this before making the Foundations, and missing many of the side quests in the base game, I did with relatively low level of mods and abilities.
Quoted from my own reddit post:
- health, and launch maxed out, shield was on level three.
- I started by calling the ranger to help,
- surge modified two slots for extra damage
- stick three surge bombs to a chair before starting to levitate out
- pick up the chair and two other objects for a triple launch
- levitate and fire the three objects with bombs, this gives initial big damage
- then rapid fire with grip
- grip with eternal mod from Furnace TV hidden challenge, and two mods to increase damage
- get under one of the light and constantly firing at himwith grip, all must be hits
- occasionally put up shield when he fired
- put the power core for the light back fast, and kill the rangers with launch quickly while standing under the light
- keep on constantly firing at him with grip
If you have less mods to increase damage, you can pause and swap them from surge to the grip.
Shield and evade if he gets nearby. Take cover if he fires. Levitate helps to fire.
I also tried with launch, pierce, but launch didn't do enough damage, and pierce was too slow to fire.
Launching three objects repeatedly did a lot of damage but I didn't had energy left to evade and for using the shield.
Levitation and shooting from the air was not so useful, as cannot take cover (only use shield), and reaching the light took extra time.