Spider-Man 2 Suit Tech vs Gadgets: Which Should You Upgrade First?

Prioritise Health and Focus Suit Tech before heavily upgrading Gadgets in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, especially if you’re struggling to survive combat encounters. Both systems use valuable crafting materials, but Suit Tech provides lasting improvements to Peter Parker and Miles Morales, while Gadgets offer more specialised ways to control enemies.

As explained in NME’s upgrade guide, particular Gadget upgrades can still be excellent early investments, especially improvements to Web Shooters and Web Grabber.

The best approach is to upgrade the systems that address your immediate weaknesses rather than spend everything in one category.

Suit Tech vs Gadgets: Main Differences

Suit Tech	Gadgets
Improves both Spider-Men through shared upgrades	Improves individual combat tools
Covers Health, Damage, Focus and Traversal	Covers Web Shooters, Upshot, Web Grabber, Ricochet Web and Sonic Burst
Provides general benefits during combat and exploration	Provides specific attacks, crowd control and tactical options
Contains branching upgrade choices	Uses progression paths for individual Gadgets
Fully upgrading it unlocks the Fully Loaded trophy	Fully upgrading it unlocks the To the Max trophy

Both systems require combinations of Tech Parts, Rare Tech Parts, City Tokens and Hero Tokens. Their costs increase as players progress towards more advanced upgrades.

Which Suit Tech Upgrades Should You Get First?

Suit Tech becomes available during the early Amends story mission. Its upgrades are shared between Peter and Miles, making them especially useful when switching between the two heroes.

I would prioritise the following:

1. Health: Increasing maximum health makes encounters more forgiving, particularly when fighting bosses or groups of enemies. Confidence Boost and Rejuvenating Parry also offer ways to recover health through successful defensive actions.
2. Focus: Additional Focus Bars let players heal more frequently or use Finishers against difficult opponents. Double Focus is particularly useful because it expands these options.
3. Damage: Increasing attack damage reduces the time needed to defeat enemies, although survivability is generally more valuable if you’re still learning combat.
4. Traversal: Improves movement across New York through upgrades to swinging, Web Wings and other traversal abilities. These are useful but usually less urgent than combat improvements.

One important distinction is that some Suit Tech upgrades offer two selectable effects. You can purchase both options, but only one effect from the pair can be active at a time.

There is no need to upgrade every branch immediately. Focus on the improvements you can benefit from consistently.

Which Gadgets Should You Upgrade First?

Spider-Man 2 features five Gadgets, each supporting a different approach to combat.

Unlike Suit Tech, Gadget upgrades improve particular tools rather than increasing general character attributes.

My recommendations are:

1. Web Shooters: An excellent early investment because they are used frequently and replenish automatically. Increased Capacity provides additional web shots, making it easier to immobilise enemies.
2. Web Grabber: Pulls nearby enemies together, creating opportunities for area attacks and combinations with Peter’s or Miles’ abilities.
3. Upshot: Launches enemies into the air, providing breathing room and allowing players to extend aerial combinations.

Ricochet Web is useful for controlling several opponents, while Sonic Burst becomes especially valuable against symbiote enemies later in the campaign.

Players who favour aggressive combat may benefit from upgrading Web Grabber sooner, while those who frequently immobilise enemies should consider improving Web Shooters first.

The important point is to invest in Gadgets you regularly use rather than spreading materials evenly across all five.

Should You Upgrade Suit Tech or Gadgets First?

For most players, the strongest progression strategy is to establish a basic Health and Focus foundation, then upgrade your preferred Gadgets.

If enemies are defeating you quickly, prioritise Health. If you’re frequently running out of healing opportunities or want more Finishers, develop Focus.

However, if combat already feels manageable but you’re struggling with large groups, Gadget upgrades can provide more immediate benefits.

Both Peter and Miles use the same upgraded Gadgets, so investing in them doesn’t require choosing one protagonist over the other.

Your priorities can also change as the campaign progresses. Additional Damage upgrades become useful against tougher opponents, while specialised Gadgets can help handle particular enemy types.

The goal isn’t to complete one upgrade system before touching the other. It’s to improve the abilities and tools you actually need.

Is All Seeing Worth Unlocking?

One particularly useful Suit Tech upgrade is All Seeing, found in the Traversal category.

It becomes available at level 21, once you’ve purchased the preceding upgrades, and costs:

• 225 Tech Parts
• 6 Hero Tokens

Its description states that it reveals Tech Crates on the mini-map. However, it also reveals nearby Spider-Bots, making it valuable for players exploring New York.

Tech Crates provide the materials needed for additional Gadget and Suit Tech upgrades, so All Seeing can help replenish resources as you explore.

The upgrade is paired with Active Spider, which improves Spider-Jump height and Spider-Dash distance. Players can choose which benefit to equip depending on whether they favour finding resources or improving movement.

There are 42 Spider-Bots scattered throughout New York, and collecting them all also unlocks a separate side mission. They appear as purple icons on the mini-map when All Seeing is active, but they aren’t automatically marked across the main city map.

For players pursuing full completion, All Seeing is particularly worthwhile. However, it should not take priority over essential Health and Focus improvements if you’re struggling with the game’s combat.

My final recommendation would be to start with defensive Suit Tech, improve Web Shooters and Web Grabber as resources allow, then expand into Damage and specialised upgrades. Save All Seeing for when exploration and collecting additional materials become a priority.