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How to beat The Lizard in Spider-Man 2

Tips, tricks and strategy for beating Dr. Curt Connors' alter ego.

spider-man 2 the lizard growling insomniac promo art
Image credit: Insomniac Games.

Beating The Lizard in Spider-Man 2 takes quite a bit of effort, even with your symbiote suit helping you out. Dr. Curt Connors' alter ego has quite literally made destructive return and it's once again up to Spider-Man to bring the doc back.

Your earlier efforts at catching up to Dr. Connors in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 may have ended in failure, but you finally have him. This fight happens in three phases and each one is more difficult than the last, so we've put together some tips to help you as well as a strategy to follow.

Without further ado, we're here to show you how to beat The Lizard in Spider-Man 2.

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Tips for fighting The Lizard in Spider-Man 2

Before embarking on this long-awaited boss battle after finally tracking down Curt Connors' scaly alter ego, we have a few tips for you to make the fast-paced battle a bit easier:

  • Equip Symbiote Abilities - If you've not got them equipped already for whatever reason, we strongly recommend equipping all of your slots with Peter's Symbiote abilities before fighting Lizard. It seems that these specific attacks will hurt them more than others.
  • Use Your Gadgets - Even a superhero like Spider-Man needs help and, when fighting a big angry scaly anthropomorphic reptile, a few gadgets can buy you some time. We recommend using them when you need to have a second to heal or if you want to distract Connors' long enough to get away to a safer distance.
  • Web, Web, Web - Lizard really doesn't seem to like being tangled in webs (and in all fairness, we don't either) but that definitely gives you an advantage! Use your Web-Shooters to repeatedly fire at Lizard and distract them at points to get a few hits in.
  • Patience - This fight isn't about going all in right away, fighting this boss is all about dodging at the right time, knowing when to parry and then striking at the opportune moment. At first, we went in webs blazing (simply because we were excited about the fight) and soon realised it was a mistake.
  • Use The Environment - There are a few pieces of debris laying around while you fight The Lizard, don't forget to use L1 and R1 to grab some and swing it around to hit Connors. This is especially useful if you're feeling backed into a corner and need a few seconds to find a way out.
  • Alter Difficulty - If you're really struggling in this fight, remember that it's completely fine to go into 'Gameplay' in the settings menu to alter the difficulty of combat to one that suits you. You're here to have fun, so don't feel bad if you need to lower the level slightly.
  • You're Spider-Man! - Remember you're Spider-Man! You can swing around the room, dodge incoming attacks and generally have the abilities to bring Connors back to his regular self. You've got this.
spider-man 2 symbiote peter parker crouching
Image credit: Eurogamer/Insomniac Games.

How to beat The Lizard in Spider-Man 2

The battle with Curt Connors' alter ego takes place in three parts, with a small chase section sandwiched between the middle and final sections of the battle. This small chase section isn't unwelcome, however, as it gives you a nice breather between the fighting sections.

We've broken down our guide on how to beat The Lizard in Spider-Man 2 step by step for each phase, but if you're stuck on a specific part then use the links below to skip ahead to the right section.

Phase One

The first phase of your fight with The Lizard will help you get used their ground-based attacks and how to dodge or parry them to avoid losing large chunks of your health quickly. We've listed the attacks below and how to avoid them:

  • Crush Attack - Now we've come face to face with The Lizard, their teeth look very pointy and not like something you want to get caught in! Luckily, this attack comes with a warning. When the lines appear around Connors' face and are a faint blue just as they begin to lunge close to you, they're about to do the Crush attack. This move cannot be parried so you must dodge it to survive.
  • Tail Whip - This is one of The Lizard's Heavy attacks. When they turn to the side and lift their tail up, get ready to use L1 and Square to dodge the incoming attack or use your webs to pull you up higher than the floor. This attack can be parried but if you get it wrong it will hurt and leave you vulnerable for a follow-up attack like the Crush attack.
  • Claw Swipes - Now, this attack can be parried or dodged depending on how you want to go about beating Lizard. When Connors gets close to you, they'll lift their arm up into the air briefly before bringing it down to swipe their claws at you. Watch your Spider-Sense and parry with L1 when it turns red to turn the tables on Connors. However, there are points we do recommend dodging this attack, especially if you're backed against a wall or into a corner.
spider-man 2 the lizard
Image credit: Eurogamer/Insomniac Games.

Beating The Lizard in Phase One

Now that we've gone over their attacks, we're going to show you how to beat The Lizard in phase one.

In the room you're in use pulse and look at the ground, you should see a few vents in the floor here. You need to lure Connors close to one of these vents, then use L1 and R1 when prompted to pull it open.

If Connors is close enough, the pressure released when opening the vent will daze them for a short period of time. When this happens, unleash every attack you can think of on Connors, but we've learned that any of Peter's symbiote attacks are the most effective.

spider-man 2 peter vs lizard arrows pointing to floor vent
Image credit: Eurogamer/Insomniac Games.

Also, when the meter in the top right corner of the screen is full, use Symbiote Surge to really damage them.

After you get a few hits in, The Lizard will regain themselves and start their attack pattern all over again. For this section, keep dodging their attacks and luring them to the vents to daze them before attacking them. Eventually, you will get their health bar down to zero but this is only the beginning.

Phase Two

Understandably, The Lizard isn't exactly in a better mood in phase two of this boss fight. In fact, their mood is considerably worse and now they will resort to clinging to the walls and throwing things at you alongside their original attacks.

For a few points in this fight, Lizard will cling to a wall and then rip chunks of the wall out (yes, actual chunks of the wall) then throw them at you. Dodge these because you really can't parry flying chunks of concrete.

While avoiding the flying pieces of wall, you need to find a way to get Lizard down from the wall because there's no safe way to attack them up there unless you want to become a spidey-snack.

spider-man 2 the lizard is clinging to a wall looking very angry.
Image credit: Eurogamer/Insomniac Games.

To bring Lizard down, use your Web-Shooters to repeatedly fire webbing at their face. Eventually, the Lizard will be distracted and wipe at their face which leaves them vulnerable for a few seconds. This is when you need to make your move.

Web-Strike Connors while their face is covered with webbing or zip yourself up to Lizard using L2 and R2, then attack. Either way, this will start a brief animation where Peter brings them back to the floor.

spider-man 2 peter pulling himself to lizard on wall
Image credit: Eurogamer/Insomniac Games.

Once you're back on the ground, they'll start to use exactly the same attacks as they did in phase one, they're just a bit faster now. Once you get a few more hits in, Lizard will return to the wall and the cycle will start again.

Rinse and repeat these steps until you bring their health bar down to zero again.

Chase Section

Time to catch a Lizard! In this chase section you will need to swing through the city after Connors' raging alter ego.

As you're chasing them watch your Spidey-Sense, as soon as it turns red you need to dodge out of the way of debris heading your way.

Eventually, after a while, you will catch up to The Lizard again and enter the final phase of this fight. Get ready, The Lizard is even angrier and has a new trick up their sleeve...

spider-man 2 symbiote peter on rooftop with lizard
Image credit: Eurogamer/Insomniac Games.

Phase Three

The final fight against Lizard will put everything you've learned so far to the test. All of the attacks used up until now will return, but they'll be a lot faster and stronger so you're going to have to stay on your toes.

Also, Lizard has learned a new trick to use against you - a roar (which does not go down well with your new suit). When they lean down and start to open their mouth to roar, we recommend dodging out of the way to avoid the worst of its impact.

spider-man two lizard using roar on symbiote peter
Image credit: Eurogamer/Insomniac Games.

Now, as you did before, you need to lure Lizard towards the many vents dotted around the floor and there are now a few on the walls too. If you need to get their attention or see an opportunity to attack from a distance using debris around the room we recommend doing so.

Once Lizard is near a vent, use L1 and R1 as before to pull it open to daze them. Again, we strongly advise using all of Peter's Symbiote attacks against them when they're down to take large chunks of their health while you can.

Also, when Lizard's health bar is down to its last third we recommend activating Symbiote Surge if it's charged as you can quickly beat down the Lizard with it at this point.

spider-man 2 symbiote peter defeating roaring lizard
Image credit: Eurogamer/Insomniac Games.

Once Connors' health bar is down to zero for the last time, you'll have finally won!

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