Ready to swing into the thrilling world of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2? Before you dive into the action-packed streets of New York as Peter Parker and Miles Morales, arm yourself with these 11 essential beginner tips that will transform your gameplay-from mastering parries and upgrading shared abilities to choosing the right Spider-Man for each mission. Whether you’re on PC or PlayStation, these insider tricks will help you navigate combat, traversal, and upgrades like a true wall-crawler pro. Get ready to web-sling smarter, fight harder, and explore deeper in the ultimate Spider-Man experience!
In this Spider-Man 2 guide, we’ve outlined 11 beginner’s tips that will help you thrive as you swing (and web wing!) your way through Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn.
Spoiler warning: While this guide doesn’t discuss or allude to direct story spoilers, it does show the icons or names of some activities that appear in New York as a result of the story.
Pick the best Spider-Man for the job
In Spider-Man 2, both Peter Parker and Miles Morales are ready to protect the city, but they have different talents that can influence how you fight enemies. Some missions require you to play as a specific Spider-Man, but the game will automatically switch you to the correct character when needed. You can also switch between Peter and Miles by swiping left on the DualSense touchpad and holding down the square button. Each character has unique skills, with Peter utilizing his symbiote abilities and Miles having electric powers and camouflage.
Miles and Peter have very different abilities in Spider-Man 2 – one of the few things that separates how each plays – and they can affect how you approach enemies.
An early example here is Sandman’s reflections, who you’ll fight at the very start of the game and as part of the Marko’s Memories side activity. Peter can beat on these sand monsters like normal, but Miles’ venom attacks kill them in a single hit. Later in the game, you’ll encounter some enemies that Peter is able to handle better than Miles, but we’ll let you discover that for yourself.
The important thing is to remember that you can swap between each Spider-Man at will, especially for a lot of the side content. So weigh the pros and cons of each before diving into an activity.
Focus on the story as much as you can
For new players starting Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, it is highly recommended to focus on the main story as much as possible, especially during the early hours of gameplay. Sticking to the story missions helps unlock key abilities, such as the capacity to collect Spider-Bots and access side activities like the Cultural Museum. This approach ensures a smoother progression and a better understanding of the game mechanics before diving into the numerous side quests and open-world activities. Prioritizing the story also allows players to gradually upgrade skills and suits, which are essential for tackling tougher challenges later on.
Spider-Man 2’s story moves, and it’s packed with entertaining missions. But more importantly, playing through the story is how you unlock almost every main power and activity in the game.
We recommend sticking to the story for a while – especially in the early hours – as it’ll help you unlock the ability to pick up collectibles like the Spider-Bots or do side activities like the Cultural Museum. If you focus on side content instead, you’ll only have access to a handful of Peter’s and Miles’ abilities.
On the flip side, because Spider-Man 2 is more difficult than the first game, side content will give you the currency you need to keep pace with the game’s bosses. There’s a balance you’ll need to strike here, but overall, we recommend mainlining the story at the very least until Peter acquires the Black Suit.
Stop random crimes whenever they show up
To effectively stop random crimes whenever they show up in Spider-Man 2, keep moving swiftly through New York City while frequently using the R3 button to ping your radar for nearby criminal activities. This will help you spot spontaneous crimes such as robberies or assaults quickly, allowing you to intervene and earn extra XP and Tech Parts. Prioritize stopping these crimes as they not only provide valuable rewards but also keep the open world engaging with constant action. Being ready with your combat skills, especially parrying and using your gadgets, will make handling these encounters smoother and more rewarding.
Stopping crime is kind of your entire job when you’re Spider-Man, but the random crimes that appear in the world are purely optional in Spider-Man 2. These random crimes are extremely lucrative. They offer a ton of XP and Tech Parts, both of which you’ll need to upgrade the best skills for Peter and Miles.
These crimes typically take only a minute or two to complete, and are always well worth your time.
Practice parrying and dodging early
In Spider-Man 2, mastering the art of parrying and dodging early on is crucial. Parrying, executed by pressing L1 right before an attack lands, allows you to respond with an immediate counter, staggering the enemy and opening them up for follow-up attacks. Pay attention to your Spider-Sense; a red indicator signifies the perfect moment to parry, while a blue indicator means the attack is unparryable and must be dodged. While dodging is always a dependable option in combat, learning how to parry is equally important, especially when there are attacks meant to negate the webhead’s ability to get out of harm’s way. Practice parrying against normal mobs to learn the timing without severe punishment, and remember that while parrying early is safer, waiting until the last second before pressing L1 is more effective.
Spider-Man 2 is significantly more difficult than either Spider-Man (2018) or Spider-Man: Miles Morales. This is largely due to the addition of the parry mechanic and unblockable “crushing” attacks.
The game will introduce you to parrying very early, but crushing attacks won’t come in until later, shortly after you get the Black Suit. These attacks hit extremely hard, and have oddly similar warning signs.
Learn these signs as early as you can, and practice either parrying or dodging them, as later-game bosses will throw them around extremely frequently. If you’re not cautious, a boss can take either Miles or Peter down in just a few hits, so start practicing on enemies as early as you can.
Save combat-focused story challenges for later
When starting Spider-Man 2, it’s wise to save combat-focused story challenges for later in the game. Early on, you might find these challenges tough due to the increasing difficulty and enemy health as the story progresses. By postponing them, you give yourself time to upgrade your combat skills, suit tech, and gadgets, making these fights more manageable. Focusing first on exploration and story missions allows you to build up your abilities and resources, so when you return to combat-heavy challenges, you’ll be better equipped to handle tougher enemies and complex encounters effectively.
Spider-Man 2 is an action game, but it’s also an RPG, and each Spider-Man you control will grow more powerful as you level up and unlock new skills and gadgets. Some of the activities – like the timed Mysteriums – are clearly designed with a higher-level Spider-Man in mind. But there are no level requirements in the game, so it’s up to you to decide when you tackle side activities.
Some of these missions can be very tight or feel nearly impossible at low levels. However, when you have fully upgraded your suit tech and gadgets, the game is an absolute breeze. If you’re ever struggling with something (including a story boss), consider stepping away, leveling up, and coming back later.
Unlock fast travel for each neighborhood
To unlock fast travel for each neighborhood in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, you need to fill the District Progress bar to the second tier for that specific district. This is done by completing missions, side quests, and collecting items like Spider-Bots and Prowler Stashes within the district. Once you reach this level, fast travel becomes available, allowing you to instantly teleport to any location within that district by holding the Triangle button on the map. Keep in mind that you must unlock fast travel separately for each district by progressing through their respective activities and objectives.
New York is much bigger in Spider-Man 2, thanks to the addition of Brooklyn and Queens. And while there are quite a few ways to get around the world quickly (thanks, Web Wings), you can also use the lightning-fast fast travel to get from one side of New York to the other in literal seconds.
However, you do have to unlock fast travel by completing activities in each neighborhood. We recommend unlocking fast travel in at least one district in each borough (Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens), so you can speed around quickly when you don’t feel like gliding over the East River.
Spend your skill points equally
To get the most out of your skill points in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, it’s wise to spend them equally across the three skill trees: Peter’s, Miles’, and the shared Spider-MEN tree. Prioritizing the shared skill tree first is especially beneficial since its abilities enhance both Spider-Men, improving traversal and combat for both characters. This balanced investment ensures you unlock versatile skills early on, making swinging through New York and fighting enemies more dynamic and efficient. As you progress and develop your playstyle, you can then specialize more in either Peter’s or Miles’ unique abilities. Don’t worry about running out of skill points, as the game provides enough to eventually max out all three trees by the level cap.
There are three individual skill trees in Spider-Man 2: one for Miles, one for Peter, and one that’s shared between them. The shared skill tree is obviously where you should start out, as it allows you to unlock some basic abilities that will help you no matter who you’re playing as.
However, each individual Spider-Man tree houses a ton of power for Peter and Miles. It’s absolutely worth investing points to fully unlock all of Miles’ and Peter’s abilities as early as possible, so you’re able to fill all four of their slots.
Spread the love as you go with your skill points, and don’t make the same mistake we did, where we focused entirely too much on the shared tree at first and missed out on some of the best skills for Miles and Peter.
But invest in Peter’s Symbiote powers
But invest in Peter’s Symbiote powers
Unlocking and investing in Peter Parker’s Symbiote powers midway through Spider-Man 2 significantly enhances your combat capabilities. These powers include versatile moves like Symbiote Strike, Symbiote Yank, and Symbiote Blast, which allow you to control crowds and deal heavy damage. The standout feature is the Venom Surge mode, activated by pressing L3+R3, which puts Peter into a powerful state of invulnerability and unleashes a flurry of devastating attacks, similar to a rage mode in other games. Upgrading skills in Peter’s Symbiote skill tree not only increases the duration and effectiveness of Surge mode but also reduces cooldowns, allowing for more frequent and impactful use of Symbiote abilities. This investment transforms your playstyle, making fights more dynamic and rewarding.
We won’t tell you what happens in Spider-Man 2 regarding the Black Suit, but if you’re worried about investing in Peter’s symbiote powers only to lose them: don’t be.
Spider-Man 2 eventually offers some clever ways to reward you for investing in all of Peter’s skills, even the symbiote ones. No skill points will be wasted by the time you finish the campaign.
Don’t neglect your gadgets
Don’t neglect your gadgets in Spider-Man 2, as they are crucial for both combat and traversal. Upgrading your gadgets, such as Web-Shooters and Concussion Bursts, can significantly enhance your effectiveness in fights and help manage tougher enemies later in the game. It’s wise to save your Tech Parts until you unlock the Suit Tech upgrade trees, where these upgrades become especially powerful and impactful. Using gadgets strategically, like grouping enemies with the Web Grabber before unleashing powerful attacks, can make battles much easier and more enjoyable. Mastering and upgrading your gadgets early on will ensure you are well-prepared for the increasing challenges throughout the game.
With cool symbiote and venom powers, and mechanical spider arms to beat people down with, it can be easy to not want to invest in your web gadgets. But some of these items are extremely powerful, especially as you upgrade them.
For example, the Impact Web gadget from 2018 isn’t in the sequel, but the final upgrade for your web shooters causes your normal webs to launch enemies back if you web them up point-blank. The Ricochet Web upgrade is expensive if you’re not doing a lot of side content, but it’s well worth the cost.
Ultimately, these gadgets are meant to be used in tandem with your other Spidey abilities, so make sure you upgrade them whenever you can.
Level up your Focus meter as soon as possible
To level up your Focus meter as soon as possible in Spider-Man 2, prioritize chaining combo attacks and mastering parries during combat, as these actions rapidly fill your Focus bar. Equipping suits, gadgets, and unlocking Suit Tech upgrades that enhance Focus regeneration will further accelerate this process. Additionally, investing in skills from the Skill Trees that boost Focus gain can significantly reduce downtime between powerful finishing moves. Maintaining a high Focus meter allows you to execute devastating finishers and heal during battles, making it essential to develop these techniques early for a smoother gameplay experience.
Suit tech upgrades are critical for improving each Spider-Man. They let you deal more damage with every punch, swing faster, or just take a bigger beating before you go down. But one of the best Suit Tech upgrades you can get in Spider-Man 2 is for your Focus bar.
Focus is a resource you generate mid-combat, and you can use it to either do a finishing move that instantly KOs an enemy, or heal yourself. The second upgrade for your Focus meter actually gives you a second bar of Focus that you can generate, which is extremely useful.
Not only does this second bar let you generate enough focus to heal twice in a row, but it also allows you to deal finishing blows to heavy enemies and even bosses. Just be cautious that you don’t spend all your Focus finishing bosses, as you’ll be completely out of healing options until you generate more.
You can skip puzzles if you’re struggling
If you find yourself struggling with puzzles in Spider-Man 2, don’t worry-there is an option to make them much easier, effectively allowing you to skip the challenging parts. While the game doesn’t offer a direct puzzle skip feature, you can go to the gameplay settings from the pause menu and toggle the “simplify puzzles” option on. This reduces the difficulty of puzzle segments, letting you focus more on the action and swinging through the city rather than getting stuck on tricky puzzles. This accessibility feature helps keep the game enjoyable and lets you tailor the experience to your preference.
Spider-Man 2 doesn’t have an equivalent of Doctor Octavius’ lab where you can go do prism puzzles, or the circuit minigame that’s basically just the hacking interface from BioShock. Both of those puzzles are gone, replaced with a bonding puzzle and a molecule puzzle.
Each of these puzzle types is pretty simple to deal with, and I only found one that made me scratch my brain for a few seconds. However, if you don’t enjoy puzzles or you find yourself getting stuck, you can open the menu and hit the “Skip Puzzle” button at any time with absolutely no consequences.
What are the most crucial skills I should master before facing late-game enemies in Spider-Man 2
To effectively face late-game enemies in Spider-Man 2, mastering these crucial skills is essential:
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Parrying: Learn to parry early by tapping L1 at the right moment to block and counter enemy attacks. Many late-game foes require parrying to open them up for damage, especially those with hard-to-avoid attacks.
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Air Combat Mastery: Fight primarily in the air rather than on the ground. Aerial combat offers more combo options, safer positioning, faster ability recharge, and increased damage output, making it vital for tougher enemies.
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Damage Upgrades: Invest heavily in Suit Tech upgrades that increase your damage output. Late-game enemies have large health pools, and without these upgrades, your attacks will feel ineffective and drawn out.
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Shared Combat Skills: Prioritize unlocking shared combat abilities such as Web Strike Follow-Up, Web Whip (to disarm enemies), and Web Throw. These moves provide crowd control and tactical advantages in fights with multiple enemies.
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Use of Gadgets and Focus: Utilize gadgets like the Web Grabber and Ricochet Web effectively to control groups of enemies. Save Focus for healing and use finishers strategically to handle tougher enemies or bosses.
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Symbiote and Venom Powers: For Peter and Miles respectively, upgrading their unique powers like Surge Mode (Peter) and Venom abilities (Miles) greatly enhances combat effectiveness against strong enemies.
Mastering these skills and upgrading accordingly will prepare you to handle the difficulty spikes and tanky foes encountered in the late game of Spider-Man 2.
How important are damage upgrades for defeating tanky late-game enemies in Spider-Man 2
Damage upgrades are highly important for defeating tanky late-game enemies in Spider-Man 2. Many players report that enemies, especially late-game ones, have very high resistance and require numerous hits to defeat without damage upgrades. While some players can manage by focusing on dodging, parrying, and using gadgets, damage upgrades significantly speed up fights and reduce frustration, particularly against bosses and large enemies.
Upgrading damage not only boosts your raw attack power but also enhances the effectiveness of special abilities and combos, which is crucial as late-game enemies have large health pools and complex attack patterns. Neglecting damage upgrades can make fights feel unnecessarily long and difficult, whereas investing in them allows you to “annihilate” bosses more efficiently and maintain offensive pressure.
In summary, damage upgrades are a key factor in overcoming the toughness of late-game foes, making your attacks more potent and your combat flow smoother. Balancing damage upgrades with focus and health upgrades creates the best setup for sustained success against tanky enemies.
