Control Resonant Living Shards: Free Sources and Vendor Prices

Map Master’s chief editor and mapper, Vlad Susanu, recorded every shard source on his run, and the Control Resonant 100% route map ties them to the rest of the game. Each source is in the list below. The real questions are how many you get for free, what buying the rest costs, and where to spend them first.

What Living Shards Are For: Aberrant Forms, Combo Finishers, and Final Upgrades

Shards are spent at the Gap, never on crafting. Unlocking a new Aberrant attack costs up to three, and the final upgrade in a skill tree takes another one or two. Your first Primary and Secondary forms are free, which leaves four locked forms plus the Combo Finishers competing for the same supply.

Put your first shards into the Secondary form you passed on. Secondaries are the forms that stagger enemies, and that pays off most in boss fights. The Aberrant Form unlock costs compare all six forms, so you can decide which ones deserve their final upgrades before the supply runs out.

How to Get Living Shards for Free: Story Missions and Faults

Eighteen shards cost nothing. Four arrive at the start, one follows the Artist, and one comes with the Level 1 Keycard in Welcome to Manhattan. Each of the three Faults pays one, and the Evacuation Zone map of the Evac Building is where the first of them, The Subway Fault, begins.

Missions add the rest. Evacuation Procedures and Into the Sinkhole pay one each, the Central map of the Power Lines stations traces the quest that pays another, and the Underpass map of the Research Sites follows Recursions and Iterations to one more. The House in Distress also pays one, alongside the Dr. Darling files from The House in Distress.

Buying Living Shards: Seven Vendors at 4,000 Source and One Discount

All seven zone Vendors sell two, at 4,000 Source each, with the second unlocking as the zone levels up. The Vendor stock by zone shows where each van is, and the Park map with the parking garage Vendor marks the van selling the only two shards in that zone.

One shard costs half price. A Vendor on the 15th floor of the Evac Building sells one for 2,000 Source, so buy that one first. Buying all 15 costs 58,000 Source, so spread the purchases across your visits, and the West Incursion Zone map with the Vendor van shows that zone’s van in the parking lot north of the garage.

The Last Living Shards: The Unknown and the Final Missions

Five shards wait in the Unknown. Sever the Hedron Links, Rebuild, and Fight to the Core pay one each, and the Unknown Vendor sells two, all reachable from the Unknown map of the Patterned Field Office. The Hedron Link quest adds one more back in Downtown, so the final hours give six shards in total.

That timing matters. Four of the 18 free shards come from the final missions, so an early form that doesn’t click isn’t a lasting mistake: the late rewards refill the supply, and Reset Items let you undo a form’s upgrades.

Living Shard Totals: 33 per Playthrough

There are 33 Living Shards: nine in Downtown, six in the Evacuation Zone, five in the Unknown, four each in Central and the Underpass, three in the West Incursion Zone, and two in The Park. Eighteen are free, and 15 are bought, and the Watchtower has none.

None are missable, because every mission reward lands when you finish it and every Vendor stays open after the credits. If you’re short of Source, the free 18 are enough to unlock the four locked forms, with shards to spare for a few finishers.