Spider-Man Miles Morales - Tinkerer boss battle strategy and who is the Tinkerer in Miles Morales explained
Whose face lies behind the Tinkerer's mask?
The Tinkerer is one of the main antagonists Miles faces in Spider-Man Miles Morales, whose identity remains a mystery during the game's opening missions.
You'll finally fight the Tinkerer in the game's final mission, The Battle for Harlem, putting your superhero abilities up against their tech-based ones. Though, the Tinkerer still packs a mean punch if you find yourself at the wrong end of their fist.
Below you'll find the boss battle strategy for the Tinkerer, as well as an explanation about who the Tinkerer truly is and why.
On this page:
To avoid spoiling the plot of Spider-Man Miles Morales, we've referred to the Tinkerer using gender neutral pronouns throughout this guide, except in the section where we do purposely explain the reveal. This was done so that this guide can be read by people wanting to research the game without having it's major plot points spoiled.
Tinkerer boss battle in Spider-Man Miles Morales explained
The final battle against the Tinkerer in Spider-Man Miles Morales occurs during the final mission of the main campaign, The Battle For Harlem, though you will encounter the Tinkerer throughout multiple missions.
The Tinkerer battle is divided into four different stages, with each one being separated by a short cutscene.
If you die during the Tinkerer battle, you will restart at the beginning of whichever stage you died in, but you won't have to re-watch the cutscene.
Stage One of the Tinkerer boss battle
The battle against the Tinkerer will begin after you've fought your way through the streets of Harlem to the Roxxon plaza. As an opening move, the Tinkerer will charge towards you, so make sure you're ready to dodge.
During this opening stage, the Tinkerer will attack you using their sword. This weapon extends, they can attack you at both a close range and at distance by swinging the sword in a circle.
In-between sword attacks, the Tinkerer might also attack you physically, using either their fists or shield to both attack and defend. They may also perform a ground slam attack, which will cause a significant amount of damage to you, but, thankfully, a purple circle will appear on the floor before the attack lands, granting you the time to swing to safety.
The Tinkerer also has the ability to charge against the battle in a straight line, much like Miles' Venom charge ability, and will destroy the various parts of the building they come into contact with while doing so.
If you use Miles' camouflage ability, they will throw three grenades, which you can toss back at them. If you prefer to dodge these grenades, then pay attention to the purple circles that appear on the ground once these weapons have been thrown.
You will take damage if you're within one of these circles when the grenade detonates.
Stage Two of the Tinkerer boss battle
The second stage of the battle with the Tinkerer will now take place on a destroyed floor of the Roxxon building. It's a good idea to stay out of the patches of fire that you see about this floor to avoid taking any unnecessary damage.
The Tinkerer now has a gun and will fire it twice, before performing a ground slam attack.
They will also be able to move faster about the battlefield, zooming around you in short allotments, before performing a melee attack. Like in the previous stage, if the Tinkerer hits a part of the building structure, there's a chance that will be destroyed, giving you more items to throw.
The Tinkerer's sword and shield will also make a reappearance throughout this stage, though they will focus on melee or gun attacks.
Stage Three of the Tinkerer boss battle
The Tinkerer will open the third stage of the battle by throwing a cable that, if not dodged, will wrap itself around you. If you don't miss this cable, you'll have to break yourself free as the Tinkerer readies their next attack.
Depending on how close you get to the Tinkerer throughout this stage, you may find yourself caught in another of these cables.
Throughout this stage, the Tinkerer will place little gun turrets around the room. You can easily break these turrets using your web and then throw them back at the Tinkerer.
The Tinkerer's gun has also had an upgrade for this stage of the fight, gaining the ability to create small wormholes on the floor and shoot rockets at you. Like in the previous battle stage, the Tinkerer will also use the gun to shoot at you, firing at least three times in a row.
The Tinkerer will do their best to keep a large distance between you and them throughout this stage, making Venom Charge the best attack to use during this stage.
Stage Four of the Tinkerer boss battle
In the final stage of the fight, the Tinkerer will unleash their final surprise - death wheels.
These wheels will be launched towards you and the only way to avoid them is with a well timed dodge. At times the Tinkerer will send multiple wheels towards you, at others only one, but, either way, always make sure you're ready to jump out of the way.
Thankfully, like with other attacks, a purple circle will appear around the Tinkerer before they launch one of these death wheels, giving you enough time to jump out of the way.
The Tinkerer's sword will also make a reappearance during this fight, with them now using it as part of the ground slam attack. Again, make sure you're out of the radius of this attack, before quickly webbing over to take advantage of the Tinkerer being momentarily stunned.
The Tinkerer will also use their gun during this part of the fight, but, overall, they will rely more on melee and sword attacks, aside from the death wheels.
As the battle continues, the Tinkerer will begin to tire, giving you the opportunity to web over and get a number of good hits in. These opportunities will be highlighted by the triangle button appearing over the Tinkerer's head, so make sure you keep an eye out for that and unleash your Venom moves when you have the chance.
Tinkerer boss battle strategy in Spider-Man Miles Morales explained
The first thing to remember when battling the Tinkerer in Spider-Man Miles Morales is that they will not be affected by your Web-Shooters. This means you can't wrap them up in webbing, so that you can get some quick punches in or toss the Tinkerer around the battlefield.
Instead, you have to use your melee attacks and other abilities, from gadgets to Venom energy, to bring the Tinkerer down.
Success against the Tinkerer relies on your ability to dodge their attacks - be it on the ground or in the air. The Tinkerer is truly on the offensive, so, if you want to last till the end, you need to make sure you dodge as many attacks as possible.
As you dodge, watch out for any purple circles that appear on the battlefield. These circles signal an incoming attack from the Tinkerer and being hit by one of these will cost you a significant amount of health, so always make sure you dodge these attacks.
Not only will this strategy keep you alive, but each well time dodge will allow you to build up more Venom energy. These Venom attacks are the best way to cause damage to the Tinkerer, especially the Venom Charge, which will temporarily stun the Tinkerer.
You will also have to decide when, or even if, you wish to use Miles' camouflage ability.
Unlike other enemies, the Tinkerer won't become confused by your sudden disappearance and will instead start throwing out grenades, typically three at a time. For this reason, we suggest rarely using the camouflage ability, as it will prevent the battle from becoming too chaotic.
The best ways to attack the Tinkerer are either to wait until they're stunned or to throw various items, which will, occasionally, also stun them.
Thankfully, the Tinkerer will create a good amount of throwable items - from destroying the Roxxon building or utilising their own technology - so, if you're running out of ammo, you can always force the Tinkerer to hit a bit of scenery.
It's a good idea to utilises Miles' gadgets throughout this boss battle, as, depending on which gadget you use, they will give you the time to heal safely or cause a good amount of damage to the Tinkerer.
If you deploy a Holo-Drone, then it will automatically attack the Tinkerer, drawing their attention away from you, while also causing some damage. This is an excellent time to either find some new items to throw at your enemy or safely heal if needed.
Placing and then denoting a Remote Mine on the Tinkerer will momentarily stun them, giving you a good opening to cause a significant amount of damage, depending on whether you have enough Venom energy stored.
It's important to remember that switching between gadgets only slows the game down, it does not pause it. If you do want to have a short break during the Tinkerer boss battle, then you can do so by opening the main menu.
Who is the Tinkerer in Spider-Man Miles Morales?
A quick spoiler warning before we continue - this section does contain spoilers for the storyline of Spider-Man Miles Morales. If you wanted to have an idea on what the final boss battle is like, but don't want the identity of the Tinkerer spoiled, then don't read the following paragraphs.
Remember the spoiler warning? You do? Good.
The true identity of the Tinkerer in Spider-Man Miles Morales is Phin Mason, the childhood friend of our titular hero.
She took up the mantle of the Tinkerer and leadership of the Underground to get revenge on Roxxon, especially it's head of research and development Simon Krieger, after the death of her brother.
We won't go into the details around Rick's, Phin's brother, death (again - spoilers), but Phin's anger is what fuels her quest for revenge, leading her to clash with Miles multiple times throughout the game. Miles, however, wants to save both Phin and Harlem from the destruction that her vengeance might cause.
Phin's secret identity as the Tinkerer is a change from how the Tinkerer is depicted in the mainline Spider-Man comics and Marvel canon. There the Tinkerer is a man called Phineas Mason. Though their names are similar, Phineas is a supplier of weapons and gadgets that the other members of Spider-Man's rogues gallery use against him.
If you want to learn more about Miles and Phin's friendship, then we suggest collecting the Time Capsules that they hid together throughout Manhattan, as each one will reveal a little bit of their shared past.
We also have more Spider-Man Miles Morales guides for you to check out, including the main mission flow, all of the Spider-Man suits and the exact locations for each of the sound samples.