Gadgets, suits, skills, abilities—Spider-Man 2 has so many means of progression that it’s easy to overlook Suit Tech, perhaps the most essential of them all. Both Spider-Men’s core attributes are handled through Suit Tech, making it vital to upgrade as early as possible.
While progression through each of the four Suit Tech paths—Health, Damage, Focus, and Traversal—is mostly linear, simply unlocking upgrades in a set order, twice per path you’ll be asked to choose one upgrade from a pair of them. Both of these upgrades are crafted at the same time, and you can switch anytime you wish. It’s just a question of which one you’d rather have equipped at any given moment.
Every Spider-Man 2 Suit Tech upgrade, explained
Below is a list of every Suit Tech upgrade in Spider-Man 2, as well as which choice to make when you’re faced with those aforementioned decision points.
Health
Amazing Health One increases your maximum health by 10 points, giving you a little boost as you come to grips with the revamped combat system.
Amazing Health Two also increases your maximum health by 10 points. This, as you may have guessed, is going to become a trend.
Confidence Boost and Rejuvenating Parry are the first two upgrades you’re going to have to choose from. The former will restore a small amount of health on a Perfect Dodge, while the latter will do the same on a successful parry. I’d opt for Confidence Boost, as you’re likely going to be dodging far more than parrying, but ultimately it’s up to playstyle.
Spectacular Health Three and Spectacular Health Four are straight health upgrades, but this time each one will up your maximum health by 15 instead of 20.
The Best Defense and Life Link are your options for the second and final choice on this path. The Best Defense will heal you slightly for every 10 uninterrupted hits you land on an enemy, while Life Link will heal you on successful Web Shooter hits. Life Link is probably the optimal choice here, as you’ll be using your Web Shooters constantly to give yourself some breathing room in combat.
Finally, Ultimate Health One will increase your max health by 20, and Ultimate Health Two will do the same by 30 for a doubled health bar.
Damage
As before, Amazing Damage One and Amazing Damage Two will both increase your damage output by 10 percent.
You’ll have to choose between Air Marshal, which increases your midair damage, and Focused Parry, which partially recharges your Abilities with every successful parry. Air Marshal is the way to go, as there are far more aerial enemies—and thus, far more aerial combat—in this game as opposed to the last two.
Spectacular Damage One and Spectacular Damage Two further increase all damage dealt by 10 percent each. The upgrades that just increase a single stat like this are good to have, but nothing to write home about.
Combo King and The Floor is Lava, which you’ll have to choose between, allowing for further specialization. Combo King slightly recharges your abilities with every ten hits of a combo, while The Floor Is Lava increases the damage of your airborne attacks with every hit, up to a cap of 50 percent. As mentioned before, given the prevalence of aerial combat, you should pick The Floor is Lava here.
Ultimate Damage One and Ultimate Damage Two are also straightforward damage boosts, this time by 15 percent each.
Focus
Webbed Focus increases the Focus you gain from attacking webbed-up enemies, which pairs excellently with Life Link from the Health path.
Double Focus adds an additional Focus bar, which is good for healing or dishing out Finishers more often. This is probably the upgrade you should strive for first, as Focus is immensely useful no matter how you play the game.
Focused Strike will increase the Focus you gain from using Abilities by 10 percent, while Target Acquisition will automatically tag nearby enemies when you scan your surroundings (by clicking the right stick). Between the two, Focused Strike is the better choice, if only because Target Acquisition doesn’t have much use—enemies are never hard to locate in this game, especially when they’re screaming and/or shooting at you constantly.
Stealth Focus will increase the Focus you gain from carrying out Stealth Takedowns. Triple Focus adds yet another Focus bar, to do with as you wish.
Perfect Sight will slow down time before taking an attack that would otherwise kill you once per fight. You’ll have to choose between it and Eyes on Target, which shows you which enemies are looking at your target in stealth encounters. The competition here isn’t even fair—Perfect Sight is far more useful in nearly every situation, and can narrowly save you from having to restart entire fights.
Healing Focus increases the amount healed by Focus, letting you bounce back from injuries more effectively. Aerial Focus lets you earn more Focus from Air Attacks, playing into the game’s focus (no pun intended) on aerial fighting.
Traversal
Amazing Wings extends the time you’re able to stay airborne with Web Wings, giving this new tool even more utility. Amazing Launch adds a boost to the Point Launch maneuver, letting you gain speed and distance far more quickly. This skill was also present in the prequel Spider-Man and is an absolute must-have.
Acrobat increases the Amazing Launch boost even further, while Charged adds more power to the Charge Jump and Slingshot Launch maneuvers. I personally opted for Acrobat, as the Point Launch is something you’ll be doing near-constantly and is far less situational.
Spectacular Swing increases swing speed, bringing Spider-Man 2‘s already impressive traversal to a whole new level. Spectacular Wings gives the Web Wings a faster turn speed, making them considerably more nimble.
All Seeing will alert you to Tech Crates on your minimap, and Active Spider improves the Spider-Jump and Spider-Dash abilities. As with Focused Strike, Active Spider is the optimal choice here simply because the other one is almost useless. Tech Crates already stand out from the scenery with a bright blue light by default, making them easy enough to spot even without this upgrade.
Ultimate Wings grants the ability to activate the Web Wings during a dive, giving your flight an impressive jumpstart. Finally, Ultimate Swing will crank your swing speed up to its maximum, making you the fastest thing on eight legs.
Grind out enough Tech Parts, and your suit will soon be the envy of superheroes everywhere… when it comes to functionality, that is. If you’re looking for a stylish exterior to match your souped-up interior, there are plenty of slick suits to discover on the mean streets of New York.
