Class DescriptionThe spy class excels at thinning out the enemies numbers from behind the front line before they even expect it. By using his ability to instantly kill players with backstab attacks and by using his sapper device to disable engineer equipment, the spy can become one of the most useful support classes for increasing the effectiveness of his team’s offense. They are able to do this by disguising themselves as the enemy or as one of their own teammates. They can also do this by cloaking through a dangerous area and by traveling via alternate routes. I consider the spy to be one of the “S classes” (scout, sniper, pyro), because they require a lot of skill to play to their fullest potential. It's also worth mentioning that the spy can be the best class to "solo" with. Considering they have the means to escape and avoid damage, they can been seen as that class that's the least dependent on medics to heal them.
Having good reflexes and or precise accuracy aren’t the only traits a good spy player needs, in fact, they both make up a lesser portion of the pie. The player’s intelligence, common sense and them being able to adapt to situations very quickly make up the biggest portion of that pie. Unlike every other class in TF2, the spy has a very awkward learning curve. There aren’t really any other classes or roles in other shooter games that come close to what the spy is in TF2, and the TF2 spy is different than its previous incarnation in TFC as well. When it comes to learning and mastering the spy class, many new players will feel like they are hitting a brick wall. They feel as though they are unable to understand how to “make the spy work” when first trying it out. Learning the spy class can be like learning certain real life occupations, in a sense that something has to “click” in order for all of it to make sense. Once that light switch in your head flips on, you will say “Oh! So that’s how you do it!”
In order to make this happen for new spy players, you need to appeal to their strongest learning style. Setting all of my nonsense aside, I would say the best way for any FPS gamer to understand this class is to go to the one place on the internet where everybody goes to waste their time… Youtube!
Evil Daedalus’ Spy Tutorial –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGIISxhYRYE&NR=1
Zarcath’s Spy Gameplay Videos-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2sau7D1byE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=353uPtu87o4
This tutorial from Daedalus and these early gameplay videos from Zarcath of FoH will cover all you need to know about how pro spies do their business. Just by watching these videos, something might “click” for you, and you can start playing the spy class on your own without any more help and become better at it with time and practice. If I didn’t go out of my way to write 8 other TF2 Class guides already, then I probably would have just linked these Youtubes and I would have called it a day. Lol. :) But since I already put this much time into these guides, I might as well be stubborn and finish this spy guide properly!
On a side note, Daedalus has a more passive style when it comes to playing a spy. He plays the spy similar to how he plays the pyro and he’s a big fan of “Tag and Shoot” and his own “Blazing” technique (the act of spreading out the flamethrower’s damage.) As I mentioned in my pyro guide (before it got crapped on by nonsensical pyro haters, lol,) Daedalus plays on the primary strengths of the pyro by setting the enemy on fire and quickly retreating while his enemies take some damage over time. He stays true to his own playing style while playing the spy, by making smart stabs while ignoring his misses, all before he continues to retreat while dodging counter-attack damage. After retreating, he changes his gameplan to prepare for another rapid approach, passing through that same group of enemies a second time.
Zarcath plays a spy very well, just like Daedalus. This guy is known for being the old school spy lover, but he also played every other class as well during the beta phase. He protested in favor of fixing a few “problems” with the spy class and even got his account hacked once, probably because of his own popularity. He tends to make an extra effort to try and eliminate an enemy group the first time around by not ignoring his misses and not risk making another rapid attack afterwards. By doing this and strafing constantly to make his backstabs happen, he plays more aggressively so that the enemy will be dead the first time around and not even be given the chance to be extra cautious of a second spy attack.
I mention these player’s styles early on in the guide to show you that the spy class can be complex and also slightly driven by a player’s preference. You can make small-scale attacks in rapid succession while remaining the most evasive. You can also stay in the general area, being able to harass an enemy offensive or defense force more often while putting yourself at more risk, thus giving your team more changes to attack while the enemy team is weakened. I’ll be going over some of the concepts I’ve already mentioned over the course of this guide.
The Spy is...
-A stealth-driven class that thins out the enemy numbers by attacking them from behind.
-A class with an awkward learning curve and a very unique playstyle.
-Able to instantly kill enemies with one backstab from his knife and also carries a formidible revolver pistol.
-Able to disguise himself as one of his teammates or as one of his enemies.
-Able to sap enemy engineer buildings (disable them and damage them over time) with his sapper device while remaining disguised.
-Able to cloak.
-A class that can either assassinate key targets or greatly weaken an enemy's defensive force for his offensive teammates.
Class Purpose
The spy’s purpose is to thin out the enemy’s number from behind their front using stealth and deceit in the process. I say thin instead of “murder the entire team on his own”, only because even a good spy cannot assassinate an entire team of decent players, only because of their natural perception and awareness. A spy can instantly kill a player with a single backstab, which some players think is simply too powerful. On the flip side, a spy’s chance of survival is determined by bad luck, the enemy’s perception, the spy’s timing, and also by the amount of time they stay out in the open while commencing his attack. The longer a spy continues his attack, his chances of survival will drop at an exponential rate. Because of this and the amount of time it might take to get into a good position, the power of the backstab is justified.
It’s also worth mentioning that the spy is one of the three best counters against an enemy’s defense (next to medics and demomen.) His ability to sap enemy buildings while not getting ripped apart by SG’s and remain somewhat disguised to enemy players is unique. By using his sapper, a spy can either destroy an entire defense or at least greatly weaken it for the spy’s teammates to attack it more effectively at the right moment by using some timing and co-ordination.
Offense and Defense
Offense- Spies become somewhat stronger in high number games, because defenses tend to be become bigger and more elaborate as more players join the game. Some players will tell you that the spy weakens when there are more enemies around, but I tend to disagree, only because the need for a spy will greaten when the enemy tries to turtle up at a specific location, even if his job is to temporarily disable a section littered with SG's. By moving in an enemy’s location through cloaking and appearing within the enemy’s blind spot, the spy can move in to either start disabling SG’s or try for a few kills to thin the enemy’s numbers. Spies can move directly past the front line and attack from behind, or they can attack from the sides, flanking an approaching group of enemies from their blind spot. Spies can also face off with a number of classes mano y mano by using their revolver. This magnum-like weapon does good damage when aimed properly, and is capable of taking out the lighter classes on its own.
Defense-
Spies are also great for defense, mostly because the enemy will generally not expect a spy on defense. While the enemy is focused on firing at your team’s defense, you can cloak or move in from the side or directly behind them to wreck havoc while their attention is diverted. By making hit and runs constantly, you can either thin the enemy’s numbers or completely assassinate an offensive group by using the element of surprise.
Class Weapons
Revolver-
This is one of the spy’s two weapons and it stands on its own very well. Armed with 6 bullets, the revolver has an average rate of fire, pretty damn good accuracy and a fast reload time as well. The gun does anywhere from 20 to 60 damage, depending on range. It will crit for 120 damage at all ranges as well, so just from seeing the damage it can do with each of its 6 bullets, it’s actually a pretty good ranged weapon for what it is. You will rarely bother using this weapon for attacking targets at far ranges, only because you have much better options while playing a spy. At mid and close range, the revolver will do its job well as long as you don’t miss often. Similar to the sniper’s machine pistol, you can trail even the most evasive targets with relative ease if you’re fast enough.
Sapper-
The sapper device has ultimate charges and no cooldown, so to speak. You can essentially move up to an SG and sap it and all other buildings as often as you want. Your sappers will do gradual damage to the engineer’s building the longer it is on it, until they blow up. Your sappers also disable the building completely while it’s being sapped, so it won’t shoot, dispense ammo or health, or be able to teleport players unless the sapper is removed. You basically have infinite sappers at your disposal, and there’s a variety of ways you can use them:
Sapper Techniques Vs. Engineers 1. Stab & Sap- This is a popular technique used by many spies to take out an engineer and his SG. When the engineer is facing his sentry gun and the sentry gun is facing away from him, you can move in from behind him while disguised. You basically backstab him, then IMMEDIATELY bring out your sapper and sap the SG before it turns around to start shooting at you. By doing this, you can dispatch the engineer early on and also disable the SG, all with a single one-two punch. You won’t have to worry about him shooting you, wrenching you, or worry about him wrenching the sapper off in two hits for that matter either. Although this is a popular technique, you can only use this against an engineer that’s facing his SG while its facing the other way, and only when there are no other SG's nearby. If you stab the engineer and quickly try to sap his SG, another SG can start shooting at you the moment your disguise breaks after the stab. One way around this is by sapping the other nearby SG's if it’s unattended, before moving in to Stab & Sap the engineer next to his own SG. Be careful though, because you might alert him of your presence while attempting this.
2. Sap & Stab- This is a similar technique where you sap first and then stab afterwards instead. This technique is safer, yet also riskier in a different way than the other version. By moving in from behind the engineer, you can push up against him and essentially sap his SG from over his shoulder, and then quickly pull out the knife and backstab him. The only downside to this is having the engineer quickly whack off your sapper while you backstab him, allowing for the SG to quickly turn around and kill you. The advantage of doing this is that you don’t need to worry about where the SG is facing when you do this. You will disable it and quickly kill the engineer, so it doesn’t matter where it’s aimed. Still, watch out for other SG’s in the area if you try this.
3. Chain Sap- Chain sapping is the act of going around sapping as many buildings as possible when disguised. When an engineer (or engineers) try to whack your sappers off, immediately reapply it. By doing this, the engineers will not be able to get that 3rd wrench hit off after the sapper is removed to be able to repair it. By reapplying your sappers, you will slowly destroy the buildings until they explode. After doing your damage, you can cloak and escape to avoid being shot down or start fighting nearby enemies with your revolver and knife.
4. Sap and Shoot- If the enemy engineer is a short distance away from his SG for whatever reason, you can try this technique. If it is the only SG around, you can move up to it while disguised, sap it, then quickly switch to your revolver or knife (preferably your revolver) and start attacking it while it’s sapped. By doing this, you can destroy the SG as fast as possible while the enemy engineer is too far away to repair it in time. Even though the devs nerfed this technique, it still works to your advantage. It’s just not overpowered as it once was.
Knife-
In a way, the knife defines the spy class. The knife itself does below average melee damage when used from the front or sides (sometimes) and it is pretty weak for melee standards. You also CANNOT do critical damage with a normal knife attack. This is meant to balance out the weapon as a whole, because if you hit an enemy directly from above or from behind, it will instantly kill them. Using the knife is pretty straight forward. After moving behind or to the side of the enemy by either cloaking or taking an alternate route, you can approach the enemy from their blind spot and disguise yourself to increase your chance of survival. When chasing a target that’s moving away, try to cut corners and slowly gain on him without moving in off to his side and nail him when you’re in knife range.
In general, you can move in towards your closest target, which will most likely be a medic healing the others that are ahead of him. One by one, move close to their backs and stab them, moving from the next nearest target and then to another and then another. If none of them turn around and fire back, you have a chance at mowing through an entire enemy force by strafing and staying directly behind them and out of sight. Some spies prefer continuing to move forwards if they end up missing a stab. After missing, they just move to the next nearest target and keep stabbing. After he moves through the enemy force, he can either just run off and take cover or simply cloak to get away.
The best advice I can give you to improve your stabbing is to recommend trying to strafe against the backside of your targets in order to enhance your accuracy. When you move directly behind your target, the spy flips his knife downwards and does a “shanking” animation. When you attack by slightly strafing left or right against him, he will end up doing the normal fast “slash” animation and still do a end doing a “backstab,” instantly killing the target. I also recommend this, because the enemy might end up making a very sudden movements by slightly moving to his sides or backwards as well. Strafe stabbing helps preventing missing in those situations.
You can also hop on top of your enemy’s head if they don’t know you are there, to either stab them in the head or hurdle over them while cloaked. You can use higher ground to your advantage when ambushing, by hopping down an enemy that appears below you and pulling a Jeremy from episode 8 of Pure Pwnage!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6owQiGUl_Q (19:27-21:25)
Enemy Disguises-
You can change your disguise at anytime and it doesn’t have a cooldown, so change disguises often when needed. Disguising yourself only takes 2 seconds or so. In order to play the spy class really well, you need to memorize the key combos needed to disguise fast and also to switch your weapons fast as well. You should consider disguising yourself when approaching enemy territory, especially while you are cloaked. Some spies constantly change their disguises when walking around, just in case they are spotted by an enemy passerby. If you know you have been spotted, get into a blind spot and consider switching to a different disguise while you stay on the move. Also, when disguised, try to move and act like you would if you were that class. Try not to look so obvious by staring at your enemy or by recklessly trailing behind enemies while in front of others that are looking directly at you. If someone sees you moving directly behind his friend while disguised, he will react and react fast.
Also, I highly recommend switching to a fresh new disguise while escaping after you make your attack. Either start changing disguises after you cloak to get away or do so when you reach a blind spot. You want to see each of your attacks as crimes, so to speak. If you ended up destroying two SG’s with sappers in an engineer’s disguise, then you might want to disguise as a demoman while you are cloaked or an a blind spot and then assume the role of a totally new personality. Perhaps you could even consider moving out towards the front line looking like that demoman, while the enemy engineers are furious and waiting for you to attack them again. Meanwhile, you will be stabbing the backs of their friends fighting your team out on the front line. Remember, it’s almost like you just committed a crime and you’re cleaning up your tracks (escaping, disguising as something else, and trying something new right after,) right before you commit a new, yet very different crime that they don’t expect. On a side note, if you want to reapply the disguise you just used, the last disguise key is B by default. Even though the B button is convenient, I hardly think it’s worth using if you’ve already gotten used to using the disguise key combos, especially if you want to put on a new disguise that has a better chance of fooling them a second time around.
Some disguises are better than others. While some players may argue that all disguises can be good during certain situations, I tend to disagree. All things considered, some disguises are always a good choice and always a bad choice, regardless of the situation. It’s also worth mentioning that picking a specific disguise will sometimes not be of any help regardless, whether you encounter an enemy that spy checks you or thinks you are looking too suspicious for your own good. You should also make an effort to try and use a variety of disguises, as opposed to using the same one over and over again.
Before I go over each disguise and its effectiveness, I would also like to say that when an enemy looks at your disguise, you will have a name of someone on his team. If you disguise as an enemy player that’s playing as the only kind of his class on his team, you will have his name. A red light will go off if he looks at you directly and sees his own name. If you disguise as a class that nobody on the enemy team is playng, the name will be random and might have more of a chance of giving away your true identity. The main reason for disguising yourself is a really psychological one. Whenever an enemy sees you, the color of your disguise is the first thing that goes through his mind. Since he
s the same color as you, you will automatically be at a slight advantage, regardless of your choice. Also, when an enemy player tries to spy check you, remain casual and don’t make any weird movements that will give away the fact that you are reacting to his attack.
I will rank disguises from Great-Good-Bad-Awful, based on their overall effectiveness.
1. Scout Disguise [Push 4-1] (Awful)[/B] -
The scout disguise is a poor choice, because the scout is the fastest class in the game and you can’t run faster than your own natural run speed (the spy class runs at average run speed.) Because of this, nearby enemies might look at you and think to themselves “That scout of ours looks like he is running really slow…” and then shoot at you thinking that you are actually a spy. They also might notice that you’re not double jumping, but the speed is the real dead-giveaway.
2. Soldier Disguise [Push 4-2] (Good)[/B] -
The soldier disguise is good, because you can trick the enemy into thinking you’re moving forwards alongside them. You might also be a good candidate for an uber and the medic might accidentally waste his uber on you thinking you’re one of his buddies. The only disadvantage to using the disguise is having lower run speed, which means it will be harder to move in for that first backstab when everyone is pushing forwards. You also can’t use your fake rocket launcher or rocket jump for that matter, so it might look suspicious that a solider isn’t using his favorite toy.
3. Pyro Disguise [Push 4-3] (Great) [/B]-
Even though it may be obvious to more seasoned enemy players, the pyro is probably the best offensive disguise, because you don’t sacrifice your movement speed one bit. Using this disguise makes it a lot easier to gain on the three slower classes to backstab them and also makes it easier to gain on anything else (except the scout.) Plus, nobody will think it’s weird that you’re not using your flamethrower while approaching a battle alongside the enemy team, because it’s obviously a close ranged weapon and they see you more as a class that tries to flank and ambush the enemy.
4. Demoman Disguise [Push 4-4] (Good)[/B] -
Even though the demoman is slightly slower than average run speed, it makes for a good disguise, especially as a wildcard disguise to avoid dressing up as the same disguises over and over.
Edit- I agree with other spy players that the demoman disguise is better than the solider disguise, I just said they were both good choices because I only made 4 stupid categories. :( lol
5. Heavy Disguise [Push 4-5] (Bad) -
Even though the Heavy can work in some situations, especially when hanging around an objective that soon might be available to you (waiting for a flag cap in the enemy flag room, or standing at the following cap point while the previous one is about to be capped,) it has its drawbacks. It’s the slowest movement speed in the game. Even though you move at your natural run speed while cloaked, you literally won’t be able to catch up to anything other then an enemy Heavy. Also, you can’t fire your fake minigun, let alone warm it up. If the enemy sees an odd Heavy running around, not even warming up his gun, they will get suspicious. Also, if a medic ends up healing you, they will notice that you are extremely easy to heal fast if you are wounded, because you have a hell of a lot less HP’s than a real Heavy would have. Consider these things while trying to use this disguise in an enemy defensive area, and try your best to face yourself toward where the action might be coming from when idling.
6. Engineer Disguise [Push 4-6] (Great) -
The engineer disguise is the best disguise to use when pretending to be next to the enemy’s defense. You will only look a little weird running around with your shotgun, but you won’t look that unusual standing close to other SG's, let alone being on defense in the first place. Plus, the engineer sacrifices nothing in the speed department, which is very nice.
7. Medic Disguise [Push 4-7] (Awful) -
There are a number of reasons why the medic disguise just plain sucks. First off, you look like you have your needle gun out 24/7. Second off, if the enemy looks directly at you and your fake name, they won’t see your ubercharge percentage or anything else in its place. You will move slightly slower than a real medic would, which is a minor difference, but it’s still a drawback. Finally, the most obvious drawback which no one seems to ever mention is that YOU’RE NOT HEALING ANYTHING. Why the hell would a medic not be healing others or not charging up his uber on somebody close by? These are the reasons why you shouldn’t disguise as a medic, unless you're trying to fool the enemy by making them think that a real spy wouldn't use the least popular disguise!
8. Sniper Disguise [Push 4-8] (Good) -
The sniper disguise is good when your sitting near their defense. By standing where a sniper might stand, you can hang around and pretend that you are waiting to snipe one of your own teammates from the opposite direction. By staring towards your team’s position, and strafing some, you can try to fool the enemy into passing you by. The only disadvantage is that you can’t look like your scope is up like you’re really acting like a sniper. Still, you have your average movement speed and that’s more then you can ask for.
9. Spy Disguise [Push 4-9] (Bad) - This disguise might be confusing enough for some players not to fire at you during some situations, but most of the time it’s really not that convincing. Other spies will find themselves compelled to shoot at you as well, for whatever reason (don’t ask me why!) The main reason this disguise sucks is because nobody expects a spy on their team to be running around as himself on their side of the map when approaching a nearby firefight. They would expect a real spy on their team to cloak or disguise, and them seeing you without a mask on while disguising as one of your own teammates can be a dead giveaway right off the bat.
Friendly Disguises-
To be honest with you, the ability to disguise on your own teammates is a niche ability and that it’s more of a party trick than anything else. The purpose for disguising as your own team is to move forward while not allowing the enemy team to see that there’s a spy coming into their territory. They will think you are another offensive class and not expect you to be an incoming spy. But why should you even be seen in the first place? It’s not like the enemy won’t be tempted to shoot at you during a firefight and end up hurting you regardless. It’s not like their SG won’t fire at you just because you don’t look like an enemy spy, but disguised as an enemy soldier instead. Also, if the enemy sees you enter his base, then he approaches you, and then he realizes that “his soldier” had literally vanished into thin air, he’s going to know that you weren’t really a soldier afterall. He’s going to know that you are a cloaked spy that’s currently in his base. It’s even worse if that same enemy sees “his soldier” cloak directly in front of him.
Disguising as a teammate doesn’t make it easier to travel over certain areas, cloaking always does on its own. I’m guessing that the devs kept it in TF2 for the hell of it, because you were able to disguise in TFC and every kind of disguise was helpful in its own way. Back then, spies didn’t have cloaking in TFC, they only had feign death. You don’t need friendly disguises to be a good spy, so don’t worry yourself over learning how or when to use them.
Edit- A lot of spy players disagree with my opinions on friendly disguises, which is a very good thing. Like I said in the introduction, the spy is a class that's really driven by a player's preference. Because of this, I would suggest you all to read the Other Thoughts From Other Players section at the end of this guide to have some second opinions on friendly disguises.
Cloaking-
You can right click to toggle your cloaking. It takes a couple of seconds to fully cloak yourself, so hide behind cover until you are completely cloaked before you start running. You can only cloak for a short period of time (cloak energy is shown on the bar in the lower right hand corner.) When you’re not cloaked, your cloak energy will slowly recover. Usually the best thing to do is start your cloak, travel across an open area where enemies might spot you, then hide yourself off to the side, turn off your cloak and then let your cloak energy recover. Once you have enough cloak energy, you can make another push forwards and make it behind the enemy lines.
The basic rule of cloaking like a pro is to look at yourself from a 3rd person perspective and think about what the enemy can see. When you cloak, you need to be aware of your surroundings and see if anybody is watching you. Once you are fully cloaked, run to your destination and observe the area. Don’t forget to disguise while you are cloaked. You can start disguising or switch disguises at any time, just remember the process takes only a couple of seconds. While traveling through the area, DO NOT bump into enemies. When you push up against enemies, your cloaking field will shimmer when you touch them, and if they see you shimmer right next to them or if they feel resistance when they push against you, your cover can be blown. Once you reach a blind spot behind or to the side of the enemy, quickly uncloak. With some luck, you will fully uncloak before any of the enemies see your model appear gradually. You will then look like an average teammate that’s playing on the enemy team.
Also, there's one more thing to mention about traveling when cloaked. When you jump out of water and walk onto dry land while fully cloaked, little water droplets will drip off of your invisible body, moving or not. It’s possible for a nearby enemy to notice them and start attacking you. Consider this when exiting a body of water, like the pool of water underneath the bridge in 2fort.
When you attempt to attack a group of enemies, you should use cloak most of the time to exit the combat situation. Let’s say you approach a group of enemies and the enemy soldier in the group turns around and stares at you. Knowing that the soldier might start firing at you, you can quickly cloak and run off in an unpredictable direction to avoid getting killed. If you stay there and move towards the backside of his buddies, he might end up killing you before you even get a stab off. Using cloak to escape a failed ambush is smart and allows you to live to see another day.
When you stab as many people in front of you as possible while moving through the enemy group, you should immediately cloak and run off in an unexpected direction so you can evade their fire and reposition yourself for another attack. The ability to cloak is a great ability, even if you’re facing a group of enemies that’s looking in a number of directions (like most offensive teams do when they are standing on the center capture point on Well.) By selecting an easy target with his back turned to you, you can rush in, stab only him, the immediately cloak to evade his scattered teammates and their counter attacks. You don’t always have to try and nail every single enemy in a group, sometimes picking off one or two then cloaking away can be your best option. Also, whenever you cloak, try to run in an unexpected direction and then quickly switch directions when you’re fully cloaked. It’s possible to dodge any blind fire the enemy tries to nail you with. Just by knowing what angle they are shooting you from, you can throw them a curveball by randomly changing your direction during your escape. In short, don’t move off in a straight line when cloaking to escape.
Class Concepts & Tactics
- Learn All of Your Hotkeys! (For goodness sake, memorize all of your hotkeys and learn them by heart! Even if you’re not much of a typist, you can still train yourself to hit two key combos really fast to disguise on the fly and also train yourself to know which number equips which weapon. Techniques like Stab & Sap, along with disguising requires some fast button pushing. So familiarize yourself with your number keys right off the bat)
- Learn Your Disguises! (Learn what disguise is best for each situation and when to use them. Either disguise yourself in a blind spot or do it while your cloaking. Change disguises often and try not to use the same one over and over. Act like the class you are disguising as. Don’t stare at the enemy in an awkward fashion. Don’t react in a weird way when an enemy shoots you to spy check and finally, don’t move directly behind an enemy while another is looking directly at you.)
- Cloak Often and Cloak Well! (Fully cloak yourself behind cover or in a blind spot, uncloak yourself while in blind spots, don’t run into the enemy when traveling while cloaked and use cloak to exit combat or a situation gone bad. Move in a random unpredictable directions once fully cloaked to dodge counter-fire and escape to safety.)
- Flank or Sneak In! (Either wait to flank incoming groups of enemies from the side or use your cloak to travel deep within enemy territory and appear behind them disguised in their blind spot.
- Stabbity, Stab, Stab! (When stabbing, come from behind and backstab your closest target then switch to the next closest target and so forth and so on. The longer you stay visible during your attack, the faster your chances of survival will drop at an exponential rate. Stab as many as many as you can and then cloak to escape.)
- Learn Special Techniques! (Practice doing all sorts of spy tricks, like Stab & Sap, Sap & Stab, Sap & Shoot, Chain Sap, Strafe Stabbing, and stabbing the enemy’s head for a backstab from above.)
- Don't Use Teleporters! (Don't ever use your friendly engineer's teleporters. After you use a teleporter, it leaves a red/blue trail of color in your wake and enemies will realize that you are disguised as one of them by seeing the different color trails by your feet and attack you.)
- Use that Revolver! (When facing off someone mano y mano , use your revolver at all ranges if needed to fight back or finish them off. If you are losing, quickly cloak and escape in an unexpected direction to make your exit.)
VS. Other Classes
VS. Scout-
You can’t really do that much against scouts. They are usually too fast to backstab and they also have skinny models. You can face off with a fast scout by using your revolver and keeping your aim steady, but it will be easy for him to overpower you at all ranges. If you can’t pistol him down fast, just cloak and escape.
VS. Soldier-
Soldiers are slow and make easy backstab targets, but the problem is that they are a pain if they turnaround at the right time and rocket you in the face. If a solider ever turns and spots you approaching him or his group, it’s best to cloak and take cover nearby, waiting for the proper time to make your next move. It’s possible to nail him at mid range with 4-6 non-crit bullets, but remember, he does have a shotgun.
VS. Pyro-
Most professional spies will tell you to avoid a pyro at all costs. Pyros can easily spy check you or reveal you when they aren't even trying with their flamethrower whipping all over the place. Once you are on fire, the enemy will instantly know you are cloaked or disguised and that you aren’t their friend. If you catch on fire, run for the hills and hope there is a med kit nearby to douse the flames. As for taking them out, they are VERY risky backstabs and are probably not worth trying to backstab in the first place. Stay at mid to far ranges and pistol away if you think you can shoot him dead. Always remember, there’s no shame in cloaking to exit this match-up and it’s probably the smartest thing to do most of the time.
VS. Demoman-
Demoman are slower than most classes and make for easy backstabs. You will want to backstab these guys whenever possible, that way you can clear away any of their nearby stickies upon assassinating them. Pistol him if you’re spotted and stay at close and mid ranges while dodging his grenades and stickies if things get sloppy fast.
VS. Heavy-
Don’t ever bother with using your revolver against these big boys. Always push yourself to shank these guys whenever possible. They are the slowest class in the game, and they are as fast as a brick laying on the ground when firing at your own teammates with his minigun. Backstabbing their fat behinds will be easy for you and you will feel great doing it, especially if you end up killing the medic that was healing him before hand! If the enemy Heavy has his back against a corner, you can always risk it by cloaking out of his sight, jumping up on top of him, uncloaking on top of him, and then kill him by backstabing them with a stab to their head.
VS. Engineer-
Engineers are your common foes and you will fight them often. If you confront one on his own, either end him with a sneaky backstab or pit your revolver against his shotgun at mid range. As for dealing with engineers on defense next to their SG’s, refer to the Sapper Techniques Vs. Engineers subsection in the Class Weapons section above.
VS. Medic-
These guys move slightly faster than you, but they will usually be slowed down because they tend to stand behind their healing targets. Still, these guys aren’t harmless and they are probably the best class to check an offensive team’s six while still healing their teammates. If the medic spots you, either quickly cloak or move directly past him and stab his buddies one by one, as fast as possible. If it’s just you and the medic, pistol him down while dodging those needles.
VS. Sniper-
If you’re not breathing down his neck, it’s always best to cloak out of their sight in an evasive manner and see if you get the chance later on to move in and shank them. I always recommend fully cloaking before entering an area where a sniper is covering. Most snipers will always be preoccupied, even when sniping with their scopes down, so they are easy backstabs. If their backs are against the wall when you flank them, then move up close and pistol them down in 2-3 shots before they have the chance to react.
VS. Other Spies-
Since you are a class that tends to be the most knowledgeable of his surroundings, spotting enemy spies will come as second nature to you. You’ll mostly notice them when you make it into enemy territory and you see a guy that’s supposedly on your team, coming out of the enemy’s base and heading back towards the front line as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. You can also tell a genuine from a fake by pushing up against someone. If you getting pushed away or “bounced” back, then it’s really one of your teammates. If you feel like your pushing against a wall when you make contact, it’s an enemy spy in disguise. You can also ID an enemy spy if something is fishy about his name (maybe he'll have your name somehow or the name of someone on your team that’s in a totally different location.)
If you see one disguising, uncloaking, or if you see some goofy suspicious guy moving around you while you are on defense, either move in for a quick stab or start shooting him down without mercy. You’d also be surprised at how easy it can be to trail behind a guy that you know is a spy and maneuver yourself behind him to backstab him before he knows you are even there. Once you confront a spy and he starts fighting back, it’s pretty much a revolver fight, and revolver fights will always divide the good spies from the bad.
Closing Thoughts
The spy is really a class that’s just different from any class in any other class-based shooter game out there. It’s a lot different than the spy of the TFC age and it’s a fun and interesting class to play that uses your wits instead of using your reflexes in general. Once you either watch another player play the spy class or once you understand what they are capable of and how to use one properly, the sky is the limit. After that quirky learning curve, playing a spy can become smooth as silk as opposed to being confusing as heck. The spy is all about how well you understand the current situation around you and also how well your enemies will perceive you. All things considered, the spy is very different from his other TF2 counterparts, yet he is a well balanced class as well.
Still a handful of players feel that the spy class is limited in what it can do when pitted against experienced or paranoid players. While writing this guide, I came up with a possible and interesting new ability that could help give the spy an edge against more experienced players…
What if we gave the spy an innate ability to deal bonus damage with the first revolver shot to an enemy’s back when breaking out of his disguise? Think of it as “sneak attack” bonus damage that occurs when you fire an opponent in the back. The reason I suggest this is because if an enemy soldier sees you approaching his friend and moving directly behind him, it can seem really obvious that nothing other than a spy would move in like that. The soldier can warn everybody that you are approaching directly behind them and they have a good chance of killing you.
Well, if the spy does bonus damage with his first pistol shot to shoot any one of those enemies in the back, all while staying in that soldier’s blindspot, the spy can do some extra damage from a limited range. The bonus damage could be like a revolver shot that does around 90-110 damage, which is not enough damage to one shot a scout at full health, but it would still be a respectable amount of damage just for that first single shot. It could be an alternative option to moving in for a backstab when the spy is facing a risky situation. Also, the spy could continue to re-disguise constantly to keep firing off slower power shots at mid to close range. As long as that enemy doesn’t notice it occurring, they would allow the spy to do it over and over again.
It’s just an interesting idea I thought I would throw out there. I doubt this ability would be asking for too much, nor would it be overpowered either. Hell, it could introduce a whole new way of doing combat into the spy’s routine as well, making it a more involved class to play and ultimately master.
Other Thoughts From Other Players
[QUOTE=Fimiketal;7156234]
***In response to redisguising yourself while cloaked and supposedly leaving smoke puffs***
I can 100% confirm this to be absolutely, completely false. I tested it with a friend-- you can see the smoke puffs of spies on your team, yes, but the enemy team can't see them if the spy is cloaked.
You can hear the disguise sound though, in addition to footsteps and the uncloak sound. Beware people with sharp hearing.
As for the bit about friendly disguises, I disagree.
For me, one of the most useful disguises is friendly pyro. When you're infiltrating a enemy base and don't want to use your cloak, just charge in as friendly pyro. As soon as you're seen, duck behind the nearest corner. The enemy will probably hesitate a bit, because pyros are good at close range. After you're safely behind the corner, cloak and continue as per usual.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=TempestTenor;7156877]Using friendly disguises gives you a way of traversing friendly territory without garnering unwanted attention. It will prevent:
1) Enemy spies who have infiltrated your base from reporting your spy disguise to his team.
2) Prevent somebody who just died from catching a glimpse of you on the death-cam and reporting you to his team.
Note that while you're disguised as a friendly class, you can press the "last disguise" button to quickly switch to a disguise of the same class, but of your opponent's color.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=B||oodSire;7160521]i find the spy disguise to be one of the best
especially when Im on defense, Ill disguise as a spy then run backwards into the enemy as if im avoiding enemy fire
this gives the impression that i had just backstabbed or missed a backstab, thus why i have no mask on
furthermore, in the heat of battle, especially when time is running out, players arent so quick to notice the lack of a mask on a spy, if you pretend like your a friendly spy, slightly faking defense and not really playing attention to your real enemy team, players tend not to bother you
once again keeping your back to an enemy really helps and u can just back peddle past them, they wont think a thing, and then u can backstab
works great on dustbowl[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=AmishTechnology;7166943]Allied disguises still bait the enemy or fool them long enough for your team or yourself to pass through, and that itself is one of the greatest things about it. For example, you can fool an enemy into thinking you're a Medic and have their Scouts chase you to a certain path, while your team's real Medic goes through another way with the whole team. Particularly useful for matches with class restrictions. Most good players (including league-quality guys) do not have much experience against good Spies, even less so against ones that use allied disguises often, so they won't often understand what's going on until it's too late. Disguising as an allied Scout, believe it or not, can sometimes be the best disguise. Peeking out of a corner and suddenly "vanishing" gives the illusion that you ran away, while it can be understandable that if an enemy Heavy were to vanish, he was a Spy because he couldn't have possibly ran away that quickly if he were a legitimate Heavy. Allied disguises also make people target you less over for your Snipers, exposed Spies, Medics, and whatnot, giving you a few more seconds to penetrate their front lines. Allied Pyro is great for pubs, but not as much in matches since Pyros are kinda rare, so it'll blow your cover. Allied Medic can work on baiting, but is a bit risky since you're not healing anyone or holding out your medigun, another rare sight in scrims. You also can call out "I am fully charged!" while cloaked and whatnot to scare or confuse enemies. Allied Engineer and Sniper seem to make sense when you're in a defensive position (ie. Base in 2fort), so don't hesitate to use those when you plan on defending and peeking out.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=JohnGrimm;7277839]I felt the need to add that when you're waiting in an enemy blind spot or waiting for a large group of enemies to pass you when your cloak is on cooldown, the Spy disguise is gold. People will usually not think twice if they see a friendly Spy up against a corner crouched down like he's waiting for his cloak to recharge.
It's always a good idea to quickly disguise as a Spy whenever you're taking a cloak break or waiting for enemies to pass by, a Spy sitting around crouched is a lot less suspicious then some random Demoman. Sniper can also be effective in this situation depending on your break location, IE: a Sniper crouched down infront of the base sniping.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=omfgninja;7315126]Hey everyone. After badlands came out, I recored some of my games that first night, and then put together this video. Basicly it's me just spying around in Badlands...
I friggen love badlands, its an awesome map.
[URL="http://youtube.com/watch?v=p_HWP0vCFco"]http://youtube.com/watch?v=p_HWP0vCFco[/URL]
Enjoy![/QUOTE]
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