Highlights
- Slingshot Launch is a must-have early-game skill that improves traversal, increasing swinging momentum and speed through the city.
- Web Whip skill removes enemy weapons, stunning them in combat and improving gameplay experience.
- Combo Resupply allows you to replenish gadgets after consecutive melee attacks, enhancing combat skills and saving your life.
Spider-Man 2 has been in the hands of gamers long enough to cement itself as a worthy entry to Insomniac’s Spider-Verse. The follow-up to 2018’s Spider-Man and 2020’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales brings the two heroes together in a game that will go down as one of the best story-based action RPG’s of all time.
Whether you are starting Spider-Man 2 for the first time, or kicking off your New Game+, you’ll want to start thinking about where to place your skill points as you level up. The best early-game skills are those that improve your gameplay experience and let you practice with the game’s core mechanics before you push so far into the story that the basic enemy types have more options in combat than you do.
10 Slingshot Launch
Grab It Early In The Game
Slingshot Launch is a new traversal mechanic in Spider-Man 2 that can be found at the top of the shared skill tree. With Slingshot Launch unlocked, you’ll be able to gain an incredible amount of swinging momentum and move through the city at a much faster pace.
This specific skill will vastly improve your gameplay experience as you work to unlock fast travel around the map. Compared to other ground launching mechanics in the game, this one is by far the best, increasing your initial momentum and launching you nearly as high as the enhanced jump. After unlocking, simply hold down L2 and X at the same time to charge up your new skill and launch yourself into the air.
9 Loop De Loop
Swing In Style
Though it may be one of the more difficult traversal mechanics to pull off, Loop De Loop gives you the ability to turn your altitude into acceleration as you swing through New York City. This skill can be found on the skill tree that is shared between the Spider-Men and will make it easier to move through NYC until you unlock the fast travel mechanics.
Loop De Loop can only be activated outside of a dive, which you can initiate by pressing R3 while airborne. Once the dive animation begins, you’ll have to build up a bit of speed before hitting and holding the swing button. Hold the button down to make Spider-Man do a full 360-degree spin before launching yourself into the sky with an extra boost of momentum. This skill may take a while to familiarize yourself with, but once mastered, it will improve your gameplay experience by giving you a quick way to add momentum to your swing.
8 Web Whip
Take Their Weapons Away
Spider-Man 2 has dozens of unique enemy types, but none are quite as irritating as the ones carrying firearms. With the ability to disrupt your combo count from a distance, firearms can quickly turn the tide of battle if you don’t remove them from the equation.
Luckily, Spider-Man 2 allows players to unlock a skill called Web Whip as early as level 2. Web whip can be activated by attaching a web to an enemy with the triangle button and pressing the R1 button immediately after. This skill will remove an enemy’s weapon and fling it back at them, stunning them just long enough for you to take out the foes directly in front of you before taking out the gun-toting baddie himself. With this skill unlocked, your gameplay experience will vastly improve and the move itself will quickly become a core mechanic in combat encounters.
7 Combo Resupply
Never Ending Gadgets
If you played through Spider-Man 2018, there is a good chance you have grown accustomed to an extensive inventory of web-related gadgets that could be used to enhance your skills in combat. By simplifying the controls for Spider-Man 2, Insomniac reduced the number of unique items that can be used to web up foes and take them out of the fight.
This is where Combo Resupply earns its place in a list of the best early-game skills. After connecting 4 consecutive melee attacks, Combo Resupply gives you a chance to restock one of your gadgets. Until you are able to increase the base number of gadgets you can carry, this skill will be incredibly beneficial, vastly increase your gameplay experience, and may even save your life.
6 Spider Whiplash
Great Crowd-Control
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 makes it clear from the start of the game that both Miles and Peter will be able to pull from 4 unique special abilities and four unique gadgets while in combat. Unfortunately, you will start the game with only one special ability unlocked for each character.
This may not seem like that big of an issue, but when you realize just how powerful these abilities are, unlocking the corresponding skills will become an immediate priority. Spider Whiplash is the first skill you can unlock on Peter’s skill tree and gives you access to an incredible crowd control ability that immediately puts you out of harm’s way. With an extra grounded mobility option, your combat experience will vastly improve and your ability to take down big groups of enemies will also increase.
5 Spider Rush
Create Some Distance
The second skill that you should unlock on Peter’s skill tree is Spider Rush. Spider Rush is a damage-dealing attack, but its real strength is its ability to add extra mobility to Peter in combat. By pressing L1 and triangle at the same time, you will throw Peter forward in a rush that blasts enemies away and creates distance between you and the crowd of enemies that naturally forms up around you as combat progresses.
This ability may not be Peter’s strongest special, but it will add some extra mobility and versatility to your early-game arsenal. On top of this, it is important to familiarize yourself with Spider-Man’s special attacks as they will become more and more crucial in later missions.
4 Spider Shock
Stun Your Enemies
Spider Shock adds an extra projectile to Peter’s arsenal and can be unlocked as early as level 3 in Spider-Man 2. By pressing L1 and circle, Peter will fire 4 streams of electrified webs at his enemies, knocking them back and dealing damage. If you want to improve your gameplay experience and practice with one of Peter’s best special moves, unlock this ability as soon as possible.
The stun effect is incredibly useful when facing down large groups of foes and the fact that it is a ranged attack makes it one of the most useful skills in the game. This ability will improve your combat experience with Peter exponentially because it is one of the few abilities he has access to that can genuinely compete with Mile’s early-game abilities.
3 Venom Dash
Incapacitate Your Enemies
If you want to turn Mile’s into an electrically charged freight train, Venom Dash is the first skill that you should unlock in Spider-Man 2. By pressing L1 and triangle, you will launch miles forward at a single enemy where he will grab ahold of them and toss them forward like a dirty piece of laundry.
The throw will push the enemy away from the crowd and apply an electric debuff that keeps them incapacitated for a short period of time. This ability is a powerful offensive tool and a reliable mobility option if you ever find yourself in a tight spot while facing down the criminals of New York.
2 Venom Punch: Concentrated Force
Blow Them Away
Venom Punch is Mile’s strongest special ability, but it doesn’t earn this title until you unlock the enhanced version of the skill. Venom Punch: Concentrated Force adds a concussive cone of impact to the attack that allows you to take down an entire crowd of enemies with nothing more than the L1 and square buttons.
While you may think it is better to unlock all of Mile’s special abilities as early as possible, the power behind Venom Punch: Concentrated Force makes it well worth waiting to unlock his 4th ability. With this upgrade, Venom Punch is not just one of the best early-game skills, it is one of the best skills in general that will greatly improve your gameplay experience while moving through the city as Miles Morales.
1 Venom Dash: Double Dash
All-Around Best
For all the Mario Kart fans out there, Spider-Man 2 delivers a reference that marks one of the best entries in the Mario Kart franchise and one of the best skills in Spider-Man 2. Venom Dash: Double Dash is an incredibly powerful ability that can be unlocked as early as level 3 on Mile’s Skill Tree and will greatly improve your gameplay experience.
By enhancing one of Mile’s best special abilities, Venom Dash, this skill will turn you into a speeding freight train that is able to target two unique enemies, scatter a crowd of foes, apply multiple electric debuffs, and redirect your point of attack. If this weren’t enough, Double Dash also looks incredibly cool and its second input can be delayed just long enough to make it a reliable mobility option as well.
