diff --git a/go/flags/endtoend/vtorc.txt b/go/flags/endtoend/vtorc.txt
index 3917522a2f8..d34b4404df7 100644
--- a/go/flags/endtoend/vtorc.txt
+++ b/go/flags/endtoend/vtorc.txt
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ Flags:
       --topo_global_root string                                     the path of the global topology data in the global topology server
       --topo_global_server_address string                           the address of the global topology server
       --topo_implementation string                                  the topology implementation to use
+      --topo_read_concurrency int                                   Concurrency of topo reads. (default 32)
       --topo_zk_auth_file string                                    auth to use when connecting to the zk topo server, file contents should be <scheme>:<auth>, e.g., digest:user:pass
       --topo_zk_base_timeout duration                               zk base timeout (see zk.Connect) (default 30s)
       --topo_zk_max_concurrency int                                 maximum number of pending requests to send to a Zookeeper server. (default 64)
diff --git a/go/vt/topo/keyspace.go b/go/vt/topo/keyspace.go
index dced769ca78..08b1c59f4cc 100755
--- a/go/vt/topo/keyspace.go
+++ b/go/vt/topo/keyspace.go
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ func init() {
 	servenv.OnParseFor("vtcombo", registerFlags)
 	servenv.OnParseFor("vtctld", registerFlags)
 	servenv.OnParseFor("vtgate", registerFlags)
+	servenv.OnParseFor("vtorc", registerFlags)
 }
 
 // KeyspaceInfo is a meta struct that contains metadata to give the
diff --git a/go/vt/topo/shard.go b/go/vt/topo/shard.go
index ba3a02a68ca..eb4321f66d6 100644
--- a/go/vt/topo/shard.go
+++ b/go/vt/topo/shard.go
@@ -28,20 +28,20 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
-	"vitess.io/vitess/go/constants/sidecar"
-	"vitess.io/vitess/go/protoutil"
-	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/proto/vtrpc"
-	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vterrors"
+	"golang.org/x/sync/errgroup"
 
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/constants/sidecar"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/event"
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/protoutil"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/trace"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/concurrency"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/key"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/log"
+	topodatapb "vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/proto/topodata"
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/proto/vtrpc"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/topo/events"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/topo/topoproto"
-
-	topodatapb "vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/proto/topodata"
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vterrors"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -616,6 +616,71 @@ func (ts *Server) FindAllTabletAliasesInShardByCell(ctx context.Context, keyspac
 	return result, err
 }
 
+// GetTabletsByShard returns the tablets in the given shard using all cells.
+// It can return ErrPartialResult if it couldn't read all the cells, or all
+// the individual tablets, in which case the result is valid, but partial.
+func (ts *Server) GetTabletsByShard(ctx context.Context, keyspace, shard string) ([]*TabletInfo, error) {
+	return ts.GetTabletsByShardCell(ctx, keyspace, shard, nil)
+}
+
+// GetTabletsByShardCell returns the tablets in the given shard. It can return
+// ErrPartialResult if it couldn't read all the cells, or all the individual
+// tablets, in which case the result is valid, but partial.
+func (ts *Server) GetTabletsByShardCell(ctx context.Context, keyspace, shard string, cells []string) ([]*TabletInfo, error) {
+	span, ctx := trace.NewSpan(ctx, "topo.GetTabletsByShardCell")
+	span.Annotate("keyspace", keyspace)
+	span.Annotate("shard", shard)
+	span.Annotate("num_cells", len(cells))
+	defer span.Finish()
+	ctx = trace.NewContext(ctx, span)
+	var err error
+
+	if len(cells) == 0 {
+		cells, err = ts.GetCellInfoNames(ctx)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		if len(cells) == 0 { // Nothing to do
+			return nil, nil
+		}
+	}
+
+	// divide the concurrency limit by the number of cells. if there are more
+	// cells than the limit, default to concurrency of 1.
+	cellConcurrency := 1
+	if len(cells) < DefaultConcurrency {
+		cellConcurrency = DefaultConcurrency / len(cells)
+	}
+
+	mu := sync.Mutex{}
+	eg, ctx := errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
+	eg.SetLimit(DefaultConcurrency)
+
+	tablets := make([]*TabletInfo, 0, len(cells)*3)
+	for _, cell := range cells {
+		eg.Go(func() error {
+			t, err := ts.GetTabletsByCell(ctx, cell, &GetTabletsByCellOptions{
+				Concurrency: cellConcurrency,
+				Keyspace:    keyspace,
+				Shard:       shard,
+			})
+			if err != nil {
+				return vterrors.Wrap(err, fmt.Sprintf("GetTabletsByCell for %v failed.", cell))
+			}
+			mu.Lock()
+			tablets = append(tablets, t...)
+			mu.Unlock()
+			return nil
+		})
+	}
+	if err := eg.Wait(); err != nil {
+		log.Warningf("GetTabletsByShardCell(%v,%v): got partial result: %v", keyspace, shard, err)
+		return tablets, NewError(PartialResult, shard)
+	}
+
+	return tablets, nil
+}
+
 // GetTabletMapForShard returns the tablets for a shard. It can return
 // ErrPartialResult if it couldn't read all the cells, or all
 // the individual tablets, in which case the map is valid, but partial.
diff --git a/go/vt/topo/tablet.go b/go/vt/topo/tablet.go
index 671a0f43905..5c9c9b52463 100644
--- a/go/vt/topo/tablet.go
+++ b/go/vt/topo/tablet.go
@@ -236,6 +236,10 @@ func (ts *Server) GetTabletAliasesByCell(ctx context.Context, cell string) ([]*t
 type GetTabletsByCellOptions struct {
 	// Concurrency controls the maximum number of concurrent calls to GetTablet.
 	Concurrency int
+	// Keyspace is the optional keyspace tablets must match.
+	Keyspace string
+	// Shard is the optional shard tablets must match.
+	Shard string
 }
 
 // GetTabletsByCell returns all the tablets in the cell.
@@ -263,13 +267,21 @@ func (ts *Server) GetTabletsByCell(ctx context.Context, cellAlias string, opt *G
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	tablets := make([]*TabletInfo, len(listResults))
+	tablets := make([]*TabletInfo, 0)
 	for n := range listResults {
 		tablet := &topodatapb.Tablet{}
 		if err := tablet.UnmarshalVT(listResults[n].Value); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
-		tablets[n] = &TabletInfo{Tablet: tablet, version: listResults[n].Version}
+		if opt != nil && opt.Keyspace != "" {
+			if opt.Keyspace != tablet.Keyspace {
+				continue
+			}
+			if opt.Shard != "" && opt.Shard != tablet.Shard {
+				continue
+			}
+		}
+		tablets = append(tablets, &TabletInfo{Tablet: tablet, version: listResults[n].Version})
 	}
 
 	return tablets, nil
diff --git a/go/vt/topo/tablet_test.go b/go/vt/topo/tablet_test.go
index 3a0153a11b5..5359eac09c3 100644
--- a/go/vt/topo/tablet_test.go
+++ b/go/vt/topo/tablet_test.go
@@ -34,43 +34,63 @@ import (
 // GetTabletsByCell first tries to get all the tablets using List.
 // If the response is too large, we will get an error, and fall back to one tablet at a time.
 func TestServerGetTabletsByCell(t *testing.T) {
+	const cell = "zone1"
+	const keyspace = "keyspace"
+	const shard = "shard"
+
 	tests := []struct {
-		name      string
-		tablets   int
-		opt       *topo.GetTabletsByCellOptions
-		listError error
+		name               string
+		createShardTablets int
+		opt                *topo.GetTabletsByCellOptions
+		listError          error
+		keyspaceShards     map[string]string
 	}{
 		{
-			name:    "negative concurrency",
-			tablets: 1,
+			name:               "negative concurrency",
+			keyspaceShards:     map[string]string{keyspace: shard},
+			createShardTablets: 1,
 			// Ensure this doesn't panic.
 			opt: &topo.GetTabletsByCellOptions{Concurrency: -1},
 		},
 		{
-			name:    "single",
-			tablets: 1,
+			name:               "single",
+			keyspaceShards:     map[string]string{keyspace: shard},
+			createShardTablets: 1,
 			// Make sure the defaults apply as expected.
 			opt: nil,
 		},
 		{
-			name: "multiple",
+			name:           "multiple",
+			keyspaceShards: map[string]string{keyspace: shard},
 			// should work with more than 1 tablet
-			tablets: 32,
-			opt:     &topo.GetTabletsByCellOptions{Concurrency: 8},
+			createShardTablets: 32,
+			opt:                &topo.GetTabletsByCellOptions{Concurrency: 8},
 		},
 		{
-			name: "multiple with list error",
+			name:           "multiple with list error",
+			keyspaceShards: map[string]string{keyspace: shard},
 			// should work with more than 1 tablet when List returns an error
-			tablets:   32,
-			opt:       &topo.GetTabletsByCellOptions{Concurrency: 8},
-			listError: topo.NewError(topo.ResourceExhausted, ""),
+			createShardTablets: 32,
+			opt:                &topo.GetTabletsByCellOptions{Concurrency: 8},
+			listError:          topo.NewError(topo.ResourceExhausted, ""),
+		},
+		{
+			name: "filtered by keyspace and shard",
+			keyspaceShards: map[string]string{
+				keyspace:   shard,
+				"filtered": "-",
+			},
+			// should create 2 tablets in 2 different shards (4 total)
+			// but only a single shard is returned
+			createShardTablets: 2,
+			opt: &topo.GetTabletsByCellOptions{
+				Concurrency: 1,
+				Keyspace:    keyspace,
+				Shard:       shard,
+			},
 		},
 	}
 
-	const cell = "zone1"
-	const keyspace = "keyspace"
-	const shard = "shard"
-
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
@@ -84,38 +104,49 @@ func TestServerGetTabletsByCell(t *testing.T) {
 
 			// Create an ephemeral keyspace and generate shard records within
 			// the keyspace to fetch later.
-			require.NoError(t, ts.CreateKeyspace(ctx, keyspace, &topodatapb.Keyspace{}))
-			require.NoError(t, ts.CreateShard(ctx, keyspace, shard))
-
-			tablets := make([]*topo.TabletInfo, tt.tablets)
-
-			for i := 0; i < tt.tablets; i++ {
-				tablet := &topodatapb.Tablet{
-					Alias: &topodatapb.TabletAlias{
-						Cell: cell,
-						Uid:  uint32(i),
-					},
-					Hostname: "host1",
-					PortMap: map[string]int32{
-						"vt": int32(i),
-					},
-					Keyspace: keyspace,
-					Shard:    shard,
+			for k, s := range tt.keyspaceShards {
+				require.NoError(t, ts.CreateKeyspace(ctx, k, &topodatapb.Keyspace{}))
+				require.NoError(t, ts.CreateShard(ctx, k, s))
+			}
+
+			tablets := make([]*topo.TabletInfo, tt.createShardTablets)
+
+			var uid uint32 = 1
+			for k, s := range tt.keyspaceShards {
+				for i := 0; i < tt.createShardTablets; i++ {
+					tablet := &topodatapb.Tablet{
+						Alias: &topodatapb.TabletAlias{
+							Cell: cell,
+							Uid:  uid,
+						},
+						Hostname: "host1",
+						PortMap: map[string]int32{
+							"vt": int32(uid),
+						},
+						Keyspace: k,
+						Shard:    s,
+					}
+					tInfo := &topo.TabletInfo{Tablet: tablet}
+					tablets[i] = tInfo
+					require.NoError(t, ts.CreateTablet(ctx, tablet))
+					uid++
 				}
-				tInfo := &topo.TabletInfo{Tablet: tablet}
-				tablets[i] = tInfo
-				require.NoError(t, ts.CreateTablet(ctx, tablet))
 			}
 
 			// Verify that we return a complete list of tablets and that each
 			// tablet matches what we expect.
 			out, err := ts.GetTabletsByCell(ctx, cell, tt.opt)
 			require.NoError(t, err)
-			require.Len(t, out, tt.tablets)
+			require.Len(t, out, tt.createShardTablets)
 
 			for i, tab := range tablets {
 				require.Equal(t, tab.Tablet, tablets[i].Tablet)
 			}
+
+			for _, tablet := range out {
+				require.Equal(t, keyspace, tablet.Keyspace)
+				require.Equal(t, shard, tablet.Shard)
+			}
 		})
 	}
 }
diff --git a/go/vt/vtorc/logic/tablet_discovery.go b/go/vt/vtorc/logic/tablet_discovery.go
index 25820bc5184..e9bbcee35cb 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtorc/logic/tablet_discovery.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtorc/logic/tablet_discovery.go
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ import (
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/log"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/topo"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/topo/topoproto"
-	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/topotools"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vtorc/config"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vtorc/db"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vtorc/inst"
@@ -156,7 +155,7 @@ func refreshTabletsUsing(loader func(tabletAlias string), forceRefresh bool) {
 }
 
 func refreshTabletsInCell(ctx context.Context, cell string, loader func(tabletAlias string), forceRefresh bool) {
-	tablets, err := topotools.GetTabletMapForCell(ctx, ts, cell)
+	tablets, err := ts.GetTabletsByCell(ctx, cell, &topo.GetTabletsByCellOptions{Concurrency: topo.DefaultConcurrency})
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Errorf("Error fetching topo info for cell %v: %v", cell, err)
 		return
@@ -188,7 +187,7 @@ func refreshTabletInfoOfShard(ctx context.Context, keyspace, shard string) {
 }
 
 func refreshTabletsInKeyspaceShard(ctx context.Context, keyspace, shard string, loader func(tabletAlias string), forceRefresh bool, tabletsToIgnore []string) {
-	tablets, err := ts.GetTabletMapForShard(ctx, keyspace, shard)
+	tablets, err := ts.GetTabletsByShard(ctx, keyspace, shard)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Errorf("Error fetching tablets for keyspace/shard %v/%v: %v", keyspace, shard, err)
 		return
@@ -198,7 +197,7 @@ func refreshTabletsInKeyspaceShard(ctx context.Context, keyspace, shard string,
 	refreshTablets(tablets, query, args, loader, forceRefresh, tabletsToIgnore)
 }
 
-func refreshTablets(tablets map[string]*topo.TabletInfo, query string, args []any, loader func(tabletAlias string), forceRefresh bool, tabletsToIgnore []string) {
+func refreshTablets(tablets []*topo.TabletInfo, query string, args []any, loader func(tabletAlias string), forceRefresh bool, tabletsToIgnore []string) {
 	// Discover new tablets.
 	latestInstances := make(map[string]bool)
 	var wg sync.WaitGroup