diff --git a/go/vt/topo/wildcards.go b/go/vt/topo/wildcards.go
index c2921be1d19..d66baf1673f 100644
--- a/go/vt/topo/wildcards.go
+++ b/go/vt/topo/wildcards.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/proto/vtrpc"
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/topo/topoproto"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vterrors"
 
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/fileutil"
@@ -64,6 +65,10 @@ type KeyspaceShard struct {
 	Shard    string
 }
 
+func (ks KeyspaceShard) String() string {
+	return topoproto.KeyspaceShardString(ks.Keyspace, ks.Shard)
+}
+
 // ResolveShardWildcard will resolve shard wildcards. Both keyspace and shard
 // names can use wildcard. Errors talking to the topology server are returned.
 // ErrNoNode is ignored if it's the result of resolving a wildcard. Examples:
diff --git a/go/vt/vtorc/logic/tablet_discovery.go b/go/vt/vtorc/logic/tablet_discovery.go
index 73cd61676ca..fb2382e8493 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtorc/logic/tablet_discovery.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtorc/logic/tablet_discovery.go
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"maps"
 	"slices"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
@@ -29,11 +28,12 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 
+	"golang.org/x/sync/errgroup"
 	"google.golang.org/protobuf/encoding/prototext"
 	"google.golang.org/protobuf/proto"
 
-	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/discovery"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/external/golib/sqlutils"
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/key"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/log"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/topo"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/topo/topoproto"
@@ -82,71 +82,79 @@ func refreshAllTablets() {
 	}, false /* forceRefresh */)
 }
 
+// hasShardInKeyRanges returns true if a slice of key ranges contains the provided shard.
+func hasShardInKeyRanges(shard string, keyRanges []*topodatapb.KeyRange) (bool, error) {
+	_, shardKeyRange, err := topo.ValidateShardName(shard)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, err
+	}
+	for _, keyRange := range keyRanges {
+		if key.KeyRangeContainsKeyRange(keyRange, shardKeyRange) {
+			return true, nil
+		}
+	}
+	return false, nil
+}
+
 // getKeyspaceShardsToWatch converts the input clustersToWatch into a list of individual keyspace/shards.
-// This handles both individual shards or key ranges using TabletFilter from the discovery package.
 func getKeyspaceShardsToWatch() ([]*topo.KeyspaceShard, error) {
-	// Parse input and build list of keyspaces / shards
 	var keyspaceShards []*topo.KeyspaceShard
-
-	keyspaces := make(map[string]map[string]string)
-	filters := make(map[string][]string)
-
-	keyspaces["ranged"] = map[string]string{}
-	keyspaces["full"] = map[string]string{}
-
-	for _, ks := range clustersToWatch {
-		if strings.Contains(ks, "/") {
-			// This is a keyspace/shard specification
-			input := strings.Split(ks, "/")
-			keyspaces["ranged"][input[0]] = "ranged"
-			// filter creation expects a pipe separator between keyspace and shard
-			filters[input[0]] = append(filters[input[0]], fmt.Sprintf("%s|%s", input[0], input[1]))
-
-		} else {
-			keyspaces["full"][ks] = "full"
+	keyspaceWatchKeyRanges := make(map[string][]*topodatapb.KeyRange, 0)
+	for _, clusterToWatch := range clustersToWatch {
+		var err error
+		keyRange := &topodatapb.KeyRange{}
+		keyspace := clusterToWatch
+		if strings.Contains(clusterToWatch, "/") {
+			var shard string
+			keyspace, shard, err = topoproto.ParseKeyspaceShard(clusterToWatch)
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Errorf("Failed to parse keyspace/shard %q: %+v", clusterToWatch, err)
+				continue
+			}
+			shard, keyRange, err = topo.ValidateShardName(shard)
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Errorf("Failed to parse shard name %q: %+v", shard, err)
+				continue
+			}
 		}
+		keyspaceWatchKeyRanges[keyspace] = append(keyspaceWatchKeyRanges[keyspace], keyRange)
 	}
 
-	// Copy function will combine the two maps. It will override any keyspaces in ranged that also exist in full with the
-	// full designation because we assume that the full keyspace will take precedence over a keyspace/shard specification within the same input.
-	// e.g. If the clustersToWatch is `ks1,...ks1/10-20`, all tablets in ks1 should be watched.
-	maps.Copy(keyspaces["ranged"], keyspaces["full"])
-
-	if len(keyspaces["ranged"]) > 0 {
-		for ks, filterType := range keyspaces["ranged"] {
-			ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), topo.RemoteOperationTimeout)
-			defer cancel()
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), topo.RemoteOperationTimeout)
+	defer cancel()
+	eg, ctx := errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
 
-			shards, err := ts.GetShardNames(ctx, ks)
+	var keyspaceShardsMu sync.Mutex
+	for keyspace, watchKeyRanges := range keyspaceWatchKeyRanges {
+		eg.Go(func() error {
+			shards, err := ts.GetShardNames(ctx, keyspace)
 			if err != nil {
-				// Log the errr and continue
-				log.Errorf("Error fetching shards for keyspace: %v", ks)
-				continue
+				log.Errorf("Error fetching shards for keyspace: %v", keyspace)
+				return err
 			}
 
 			if len(shards) == 0 {
-				log.Errorf("Topo has no shards for ks: %v", ks)
-				continue
+				log.Errorf("Topo has no shards for keyspace %v", keyspace)
+				return nil
 			}
 
-			if filterType == "ranged" {
-				shardFilter, err := discovery.NewFilterByShard(filters[ks])
-				if err != nil {
-					log.Error(err)
-					return keyspaceShards, err
-				}
-
-				for _, s := range shards {
-					if shardFilter.IsIncluded(&topodatapb.Tablet{Keyspace: ks, Shard: s}) {
-						keyspaceShards = append(keyspaceShards, &topo.KeyspaceShard{Keyspace: ks, Shard: s})
-					}
-				}
-			} else {
-				for _, s := range shards {
-					keyspaceShards = append(keyspaceShards, &topo.KeyspaceShard{Keyspace: ks, Shard: s})
+			for _, s := range shards {
+				if found, err := hasShardInKeyRanges(s, watchKeyRanges); err != nil {
+					log.Errorf("Failed to parse key ranges for shard %q: %+v", s, err)
+				} else if found {
+					keyspaceShardsMu.Lock()
+					keyspaceShards = append(keyspaceShards, &topo.KeyspaceShard{
+						Keyspace: keyspace,
+						Shard:    s,
+					})
+					keyspaceShardsMu.Unlock()
 				}
 			}
-		}
+			return nil
+		})
+	}
+	if err := eg.Wait(); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	return keyspaceShards, nil
diff --git a/go/vt/vtorc/logic/tablet_discovery_test.go b/go/vt/vtorc/logic/tablet_discovery_test.go
index c4aef5ba0eb..fce721aac58 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtorc/logic/tablet_discovery_test.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtorc/logic/tablet_discovery_test.go
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ package logic
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"slices"
+	"strings"
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -396,6 +398,13 @@ func TestGetKeyspaceShardsToWatch(t *testing.T) {
 			clustersToWatch = testcase.clusters
 			res, err := getKeyspaceShardsToWatch()
 
+			slices.SortStableFunc(res, func(a, b *topo.KeyspaceShard) int {
+				return strings.Compare(a.String(), b.String())
+			})
+			slices.SortStableFunc(testcase.expected, func(a, b *topo.KeyspaceShard) int {
+				return strings.Compare(a.String(), b.String())
+			})
+
 			assert.NoError(t, err)
 			assert.ElementsMatch(t, testcase.expected, res)
 		})