The best skills in Spider-Man 2 for PS5

Skills are your keys to success in Spider-Man 2. Each time you level up in Spider-Man 2 (up to the level cap of 60), you’ll earn at least one skill point that you can allocate in one of three skill trees: Shared, Peter, or Miles. In this guide, we’ll break down the best skills in Spider-Man 2 for each skill tree.

[Spoiler Warning: This guide shows off the completed skill tree, including some skills that are initially locked and therefore minor spoilers.]

Best Shared skills in Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man 2 is a tale of two Spider-Mans, and you’ll be swapping between them pretty frequently. Therefore it makes perfect sense to invest heavily in both of their futures — especially at the start of the campaign. At a glance, here are the best skills to get in the Shared tree:

• Web Whip
• Web Throw
• Directional Yank
• Web Slam
• Heavy Lifting
• Web Line Double Takedown
• Wall Thrash
• KO Takedown
• Ultimate Assist

Here’s why these skills are worth investing in.

Web Whip through Heavy Lifting

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

The Web Whip portion of the Shared skill tree offers the biggest bang for your buck that you can find. And while I won’t be recommending a skill purchase order in this guide, I feel very comfortable suggesting you start with this block of five skills.

Starting with Web Whip, you’ll get a skill that allows you to easily disarm targets, which is especially useful for enemies that use shields or heavy weapons.

Web Throw is an extremely useful tool for dispatching an enemy instantly, as you can web throw them into a surface to instantly knock them out.

The Directional Yank and Web Slam might not look like much, but both are extremely powerful tools when used to slam enemies into things or throw them off of buildings for an instant KO.

Finally, Heavy Lifting allows you to dispatch Brute enemies with Web Throw, which should significantly simplify combat.

As if these skills couldn’t get better, they lead to one of the best skills in the game ...

Web Line Double Takedown

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

The Web Line Double Takedown is an incredible stealth tool for both Miles and Peter. The Web Line allows you to make your own perch anywhere, and this upgrade allows you to take out two enemies at once as long as you’re on your line.

Not only does this kill KO two birds with one stone, it lets you down enemies that would otherwise be tough to get because they always hang out in pairs.

Rush this upgrade as early as possible and you’ll trivialize some of the game’s more complex stealth encounters.

Wall Thrash

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Wall Thrash comes at the end of what is, unfortunately, a pretty underwhelming set of upgrades. However, do not sleep on this upgrade because of what comes before. Wall Thrash does so much damage that it might as well be a finishing move, and it’s extremely easy to execute in most combat encounters as there are always walls nearby.

KO Recharge

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Abilities are very powerful in Spider-Man 2, which is why they come with very long cooldowns. Anything that allows you to use your abilities more often is a must-get skill, and KO Recharge is one of the best skills in the Shared tree for that reason.

Ultimate Assist

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Ultimate Assist sounds extremely boring on paper, as it just lets you get your Ultimate back faster. However, when paired with some of the skills in the individual trees for Miles and Peter, this skill becomes extremely powerful.

Best Peter skills in Spider-Man 2

Peter may start out with his nifty robo-spider arms, but he’ll eventually come into possession of the Black Suit and all the sweet symbiote powers that come with it. Here are the best skills in the Peter skill tree:

• Spider Whiplash
• Spider Rush
• Spider Shock
• Symbiote Strike
• Symbiote Yank
• Symbiote Yank: Empowered
• Surge: Ready to Glow

What follows is an explanation as to why each skill is worth investing in.

Spider Whiplash, Spider Rush, and other ability unlocks

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Unlike Miles, you’ll end up buying about half of Peter’s abilities from the skill tree itself. Even if the skills don’t sound too interesting to you, they’re absolutely worth picking up as all of them do great damage. The game will force you to buy the Spider Whiplash upgrade during the tutorial, but make sure you go on to get the Spider Rush and Spider Shock abilities shortly after (otherwise you’ll spend your first few hours in the game with only two abilities). Then, once you have the Black Suit, grab the Symbiote Strike and Symbiote Yank abilities as well.

Symbiote Yank: Empowered

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

All of the ability upgrade nodes in the skill trees are excellent. However, for Peter, one stands out above all the others: Symbiote Yank. The Empowered version of this skill allows you to grab basically all enemies on screen with a single cast of the ability. This turns Symbiote Yank into one of the best abilities in the game, capable of clearing entire arenas in an instant.

Surge: Ready to Glow

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

As I’ve said before, anything that allows you to regain energy for your abilities is amazing in Spider-Man 2, and that includes Surge: Ready to Glow. This ability refunds every skill cooldown the moment your Symbiote Surge ends. This is an awesome reset on its own, but when paired with Peter’s other Surge upgrades and Ultimate Assist from the Shared skill tree, it turns Peter into a monster befitting the Symbiote Suit.

Best Miles skills in Spider-Man 2

Miles doesn’t get a cool alien spacesuit in Spider-Man 2, but he does get his rad venom powers. Here are the best upgrades in the Miles skill tree.

• Venom Dash
• Venom Jump
• Venom Clouds
• Mega Venom Blast: Self Care

And — you know how this goes — here’s why these skills are worth it.

Venom Dash and Venom Jump

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Thankfully you won’t need to burn as many skill points getting Miles’ packed with skills as you do Peter. However, you will still need to buy Venom Dash and Venom Jump, both of which are great tools in Miles’ toolkit. Grab them early to drastically increase the younger Spider-Man’s combat potential.

Venom Clouds

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Venom Clouds is a really interesting skill, and operates differently from other abilities in the game. By collecting the clouds of venom energy left behind in the wake of your abilities, you can not only refund ability energy (and you know how I feel about that), but you can even heal yourself or stun enemies. It’s an excellent tool and provides a ton of power for your skill point investments. Plus it makes for a fun mini-game during combat and further differentiates Miles from Peter.

Mega Venom Blast: Self-Care

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

This is, perhaps, the best skill in the game. Once you have three Focus meters, you can essentially have six Focus bars at once (assuming your Mega Venom Blast is charged), as you can do three Finishers in a row, Mega Venom Blast, and then do three more. This makes end-game Miles almost feel broken, and clearly makes him the superior Spider-Man for combat challenges.