Skip to main content

The best skills in Spider-Man 2

Now that Peter and Miles are sharing the spotlight as dual Spider-Men in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, you probably expect each to come with their own skill trees. You wouldn’t be wrong for thinking that, but it isn’t just two sets of abilities you need to juggle — it’s three. Not only do Peter and Miles each have their own bespoke skill trees to upgrade their specific abilities and powers, such as Miles’ Venom abilities and Peter’s Symbiote ones, but there is a shared tree that grants both Spider-Men new attacks and moves. This gives you more skills to choose than ever, but not necessarily more skill points to spend on them. Unlike Hero or City Tokens and Tech Parts, you only get new skill points when you level up. Here are the best skills on these new skill webs that you should unlock in Spider-Man 2.

The best shared skills

For the most part, all three skill trees are linear. However, unlike the Suit Tech upgrades, the points where there are branches are not mutually exclusive. If you’ve got the skill points to spend, you can fill out an entire branch without having to pick and choose between abilities.

The skill tree in spider-man 2.
Sony Interactive Entertainment

Web Whip

We can’t really blame enemies for packing ranged weapons when the alternative would be to duke it out face-to-face with a superhero, but it doesn’t make them any less annoying when you have to interrupt your combo to dodge a shot from far off. By hitting triangle and R1, you can snag that pesky gun and throw it back at your attacker to even the playing field.

Recommended Videos

Bounce Up

It isn’t super realistic, but you can’t deny how fun air combos are in Spider-Man 2. If you want to really juggle your prey for as long as possible, adding the Bounce Up skill lets you slam an enemy down with triangle and bounce them back up into the air to reset your air combo.

KO Recharge

Abilities take a long time to come back, but there are a few skills that can speed things up. The best of the bunch is KO Recharge, which restores some of your abilities for every KO, finisher, or stealth takedown you pull off. There are other ability recharging skills you could invest in, but you will always be KOing enemies, so this is the most reliable.

Web Line Double Takedown

Speaking of stealth takedowns, the only downside to stealth is that it can be a little tedious webbing up criminals one at a time. This is especially true when multiple goons are hanging out near each other and will notice if you try and snag their buddies. This move only works when you’re on a web line, but does let you stealth takedown two enemies at once rather than just one.

The best Peter Parker skills

Peter's skill tree in spider-man 2.
Sony Interactive Entertainment

Symbiote Yank: Empowered

Of all the Symbiote powers you get as Peter, we love Yank the most. By default, you shoot out your black, gooey tentacles to snag enemies and ruthlessly slam them to the ground. The only downside is that it can only grab so many people at once. Well, no more. This upgrade removes any limitations on how many targets you can snatch up for some serious crowd control.

Spider Shock: Overload

You don’t have a lot of powerful ranged options in Spider-Man 2, but the Spider Shock blast is perhaps your best. This upgrade makes it a little stronger, but is focused more on increasing how many times the electricity you shoot out chains to more enemies, making it a perfect opener for a fight when enemies tend to be grouped up more.

The best Miles Morales skills

Miles' skill tree in spider-man 2.
Sony Interactive Entertainment

Venom Jump

Surrounded? Not a problem with Venom Jump. Hitting this ability will cause Miles to leap up with a surge of Venom energy that pulls all enemies around him up as well. This opens up all your foes to air combos, but also stuns them so the ones you aren’t able to smack around right away will be occupied for a little bit while you pummel the others.

Chain Lightning: Power Overwhelming

What can we say, we love better chain attacks. This buffs up your Chain Lightning power that normally can only bounce up to three times to now hit up to six targets with a single bolt.

Venom Clouds

This will take a while to unlock, but Venom Clouds is almost too overpowered to be left off. This is a passive ability that makes it so any Venom ability you use will also emit a cloud around Miles. While in this cloud, you will not only heal and get a buff to your ability recharge rate, but also stun any enemies who are in range as well.

Jesse Lennox
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
Death Stranding 2: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more
Sam Bridges walks on a ridge in front of the moon.

There were plenty of hints along the way, and even some leaks by the leading man himself, but it was only made official at the Game Awards 2022 that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is an upcoming PS5 game. Coming from the same influential and creative mind as the original, as well as the Metal Gear franchise before it, Hideo Kojima introduced the game himself. Of course, nothing about Kojima's games are straight forward, and what was revealed about Death Stranding 2 probably raised more questions than it answered. This game will be going head to head with Metal Gear Solid Delta and Ghost of Yotei this year, so competition is high. We're strapping on our boots, connecting to our BBs, and are ready to make the trek to find out everything there is about Death Stranding 2.

Don't forget to get a complete look at all the upcoming video games, upcoming Xbox Series X games, and upcoming PC games to plan out your 2025.
Release date

Read more
One of the best games of the year is coming to PlayStation
A man holds a gun in Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.

If you're a sicko for challenging puzzle games with a striking art style and a dreamlike setting, you'll like Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. Players just got a new opportunity to play it too, as The Game Awards-nominated title is set to launch on PlayStation.

Publisher Annapurna Interactive announced Tuesday that the game will be releasing on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on December 3, so you'll only have to wait a couple of weeks to play it. It's already available on Steam and Nintendo Switch.

Read more
Your video game consoles could become much more expensive soon
A PS5 Pro sits on a table with a DualSense.

People have a lot of questions about what a second Donald Trump presidential administration will look like, and one of the big concerns surrounds proposed tariffs on foreign imports, with larger ones targeted for China. If these are passed, it could signal a big change in how video game hardware and software is manufactured and could lead to increased costs for players.

Digital Trends spoke to analysts about the potential impact that tariffs could have on tech like game consoles. As of this writing, the proposal is to implement a 10% or 20% tariff on all imports, but a specific 60% tariff on Chinese imports. Some analysts we reached out to declined to comment on the impact of the tariffs because while Trump has discussed a plan, it hasn't gone into effect and might not. Others, like Serkan Toto of Japanese games industry consulting firm Kantan, warned that consumers could be the ones paying the cost if plans go into effect.

Read more