As you explore Manhattan in Spider-Man on PlayStation 4, you’re going to find yourself doing a lot of things. However, one of the primary things you’ll spend your time doing is fighting bad guys—of both the big bad and normal garden variety. No matter which kind of enemies you’re taking on, knowing the ins and outs of combat in Spider-Man will make it much easier to cope with the dangerous foes you’ll come across. That’s why we’ve put together this handy Spider-Man combat guide to assist you in your journey.
Basic Fighting Techniques
As you take on foes in Spider-Man on PlayStation 4, you’ll focus on two main techniques, punching and dodging. Both are vital to your success as a combat expert, but there are some basic pointers we want to share about both.
First, punching is only your first line of offense. Thankfully you have a ton of different gadgets and items to assist you in taking down the slew of enemies that you’ll find yourself face to face with in Spider-Man. Because of this, you should make use of every gadget that you can, when the time is right. For example, you can often toss down things like Trip-Mines, Electric Web Charges and other useful gadgets during combat to throw your enemies for a loop, giving you an extra window of time to work with.
Secondly, make sure you’re constantly dodging. This is by far the most important technique you’ll need in Spider-Man’s combat system, as it is extremely easy to take lethal amounts of damage from your enemies—especially when you’re taking on large groups of them at one time. On top of dodging using the O button on your controller, you’ll also want to stick to the air, as being on the ground opens you up to far more attacks from your enemies. Instead, dodge their attacks and use the verticality of Spider-Man’s world to your advantage. Not only will this make fighting much easier, but you’ll take less damage in the end.
How to Get a Perfect Dodge
Still touching on the topic of dodging, your Spidey-Sense is by far the most important ability that you have in the game. Not only will this ability warn you around incoming attacks, but it has two distinct variations that you should be aware of. If you manage to learn each of these variations, and master dodging, you’ll become well versed in the Perfect Dodge, which can even allow you to stun and counterattack enemies automatically once you unlock new skills.
To master the Perfect Dodge, you’ll want to learn the two variations of the Spidey-Sense alert. The first variation is a warning, a white alert around Spider-Man’s head that warns that an attack is incoming. This can mean multiple things—the wind up for a punch, the aiming of a gun, or just the overall start of an attack by an enemy. When this alert flashes blue—a very quick flash—the second variation of the Spidey-Sense kicks in. This is when you want to dodge, as dodging during this time will score you the Perfect Dodge, which will make a huge difference in combat.
Combo Attacks Are King
When fighting in Spider-Man, try not to focus too much on picking your own targets. You’ll instead want to focus your attention on scoring as many combos as possible. This is important for two reasons. First, it helps to build up your Focus, allowing you to use finishing moves which take enemies down in one hit. Secondly, it automatically targets the enemies for you, allowing you to more easily keep up with the fluidity of combat. You can automatically web sling to the next target near you by pressing Triangle during combat. This is a great way to maneuver when fighting, and you should make use of it instead of trying to run around and change targets yourself.
Use Focus to Heal
While Focus can primarily be used to finish off enemies with your finishers, it’s also very useful for healing Spider-Man’s health. You can press down on the D-Pad at any point to heal up using the Focus you’ve built up so far, and you’ll want to learn how to balance these two things when fighting. While taking enemies out quickly can be rewarding, and makes fights easier, having the extra health to take a few hits from powerful enemies can also mean the difference between success and defeat.
Now that you know more about combat in Spider-Man, make sure you head back to our Spider-Man guide for more in-depth information like how to get more Crime tokens and how to solve the Shrine Puzzle.
