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Spy guide

Spy guide Courtesy of Crovax

Role: Support

Don't think you can go on massive killing spree's all the time! While you might get 4-7 backstabs in a row sometimes, this is more of a rarity. The spy main purpose is to play mindtricks on the enemy, kill slower classes and kill lonely engineers. Don't ever try to take down multiple engineers on your own, this task while possible will 99% of the time end with you dead and get the engineers a couple of free points from your sappers and killing you. The demoman is far better for it. You will probably hate it when you turn a corner, and some enemy teammember just happens to run into you, you will cry when you will get blown apart by the splash damage of a rocket that wasn't even aimed at you, you will quit in rage when you just can't seem to get a backstab in at all... Anyways, the spy is a fun class to play, but to play it to its best qualities you require the following:

  1. Knowledge of the map, do you know where the crooks and crannies are, where you can unstealth without being seen or change disguise?
  2. Knowledge of the classes, you are wearing their disguise, so act like the class! Sometimes there is a situation where a friendly runs in and you are mixed in with enemies who start firing at him. The best thing to do at this moment is either strike, get out of there, or act like a n00b. Act like a n00b involves the following, act like you are trying to hit your team mate with a weapon, but because you are a girl who plays a FPS for the first time of your life, you are wildly spinning around unable to even take proper aim at the target (the friendly). The enemy will usually think... OMG N00B can't even aim yet, or they will assume you got spooked because of your inexpierence (little do they know) and your cover will be okay. This won't always work of course, but it has worked for me plenty of times.
  3. Knowledge of the people. If possible know who you are playing against, some people are easier to trick then others. I attack a random heavy medic pair differently then a W3s and Mruler pair (take less risk with them, or only go for the heavy). You really have to develop some basic knowledge about how people think.
  4. Patience. Patience is a virtue.
  5. Able to judge and interpret situations fast.
  6. Willing to take one for the team (take down that heavy so the assault has an easier time, but gets me killed..)

So how would the average advance of a spy look like?
Pick a disguise, demoman is usually a much used class on any map so makes a good first pick. You can also use the pyro to keep your maximum speed. When you are close to the front line, you should know this by experience, cloak yourself and get past the frontline. Take your time getting to the frontline and past it, because you will go faster then the slower classes, so you might find yourself facing a heavy if you are too fast. Anyways find a spot that is out of sight, sitting in a corner near a door usually works. People run around the corner but don't look to the left, since the main fight is on the right (take the granary middle point by example). So now you are behind the lines and its time to see what you should do. First are there any slower classes, like heavy/soldier/demoman, or are there fast and agile classes like the pyro and the scout? You can try your stabbing luck with either, but I prefer to try it on the slower ones they are less likely to bump you. If there are faster classes you can choose to start looking for an engie or a slower class to kill, or if your team has engaged the enemy you can try to get some kills with the revolver from medium distance. Basically you repeat this process over and over again, i've written more about class matchups later on in the guide.

    The best disguise for the job
  • Pyro
    This has to be the best disguise, you move at exactly the same speed as undisguised. People don't expect you to fire your gun when there are enemies that are at range. Even if they usually expect a pyro to pull out his shotgun to do a little bit of damage at long range, it doesn't really bother team mates and they will blame it on inexperience or lazyness. Downside is that everyone knows (or at least now does) that this disguise gets used a lot.
  • Demoman
    This is another great disguise, you move at nearly full speed! Of course the drawback is that people know (or at least now) that this is a spy disguise and will spycheck it more often.
  • Soldier
    This disguise, while lacking in mobility makes up for it in credibility. People dont expect a spy to be a soldier! I mean why would a spy want to go soooo slow?! A nice disguise for wacking heavies when the demoman and pyro disguise have become too hot (Hot = people are very suspicious about them)
  • Heavy
    This disguise has even more credibility, however its soooo slow that other people will bump into you and know you are a spy. Only use this one once or twice, people don't think heavies are spies usually.
  • Medic
    Can do, but I'd advice against it, people expect the medic to heal and you don't have an ubercharge meter below your name. DEAD GIVE AWAY SPY.
  • Engineer
    Reasonable disguise, but doesn't work that well in my opinion. People are suspicious of engies who are at the front and not planting sentry/dispenser immediately. People in the back are usually engies and they are very suspicious of everyone and you might have one of their names.
  • Sniper
    Reasonable disguise, has reasonable credibility as well. However lot of people get suspicious if you are in the front line running around with a sniper rifle and not with the machine gun. Also snipers are usually not on the move much, so if you are seen running around people will spy check you.
  • Spy
    Ha, this can work, but most spies have 99% of the time a disguise on and the knife out. So use at your own risk.
  • Scout
    The problem with this disguise is your speed, you simply move too slow and any keen observer will know you are a spy.
    Spy vs. ...
    The following pairings are assuming you haven't been noticed. When you are noticed its usually best to pull out your revolver, since it can pack a punch or try and stealth to get away.
  • Spy vs Engineer
    This is a game of cat and mouse, like I said earlier the spy struggles with more then 1 engineer, and even 1 engineer can prove to be a bit of a hassle if played right. Considering engies are the most paranoid class in the game, make sure you always aproach them from an angle they can't see you. They will ALWAYS spy check if they see you (unless newbie), regardless of disguise. If possible I prefer to unstealth right behind them, usually you can't because of other troops looking. But try to approach the engie from behind, after all spies like doing it from behind. Now don't worry about his dispenser or turret, only worry about the engineer. Run up behind him, stab (make sure the animation finishes) and immediately pull out your sapper and sap the turret and the dispenser afterwards. This will net you some nice points and the engineer doesn't have a chance. Some engineers stand a little bit away from their turret so they can see anyone who is walking up to it. This usually happens when there is no direct battle going on, and the engineer doesn't need to smack his turret all the time. This poses a problem for the spy, since he can't stab the engineer and immediately sap the turret. You can either choose to wait for a fight to start and the engineer moves into position to repair his turret, or you can try sapping the turret, whipping out your revolver and take the engineer on. The revolver is a much underused tool for the spy (more about the revolver later). Of course you are likely to attract unwanted attention of his team members, so you'll have to decide if its worth the risk. Also, sometimes the engineer will build his stuff so that a pathway gets blocked, this is not true!!! You can jump onto his turret/dispenser and get past the roadblock, or get yourself in a better position to rape the engi. On a final note, it can pay off to win the engineers trust, when you spot the engineer don't immediately try and go for him, instead make sure he sees you, but you are not getting close to his stuff, you shouldn't even be able to see him in your field of view. A lot of engies assume you aren't a spy because they have seen you run around a bit, and you can get into position more easily. (the times I've stood right next to the engi and his dispenser with about 4 other enemies are countless by now )
  • Spy vs Soldier
    This is easy, soldiers don't spycheck as much since they only have 4 rockets in their rocketlauncher and not much spare ammo for it. Some soldiers will pull out shotgun to spycheck, but usually this only happens if there are other team mates screaming spy! Just run up behind the soldier and stab. And if you somehow miss and your cover is blown, DON"T keep using the knife, instead use the revolver... provided he has noticed you (it crits for 120 or so!). If he hasn't noticed you, nor enemy team mates of him, you can try stabbing again.
  • Spy vs Pyro
    Stay far far away from them. This has 2 advantages, first the best disguise is the pyro second if you aren't near the enemy pyro nobody will notice the double name! Of course sometimes you get a chance to backstab one, and you should take it. But try to stay away from them, since their flames will give you away easy. Pyro's are spy checking monkeys. Also, when a pyro set you on fire, don't cloak.. or well you can cloak but you will still be visible. The main problem with you being in cloak is that the medic who is trying his best to put out your flames (provided you make it to a friendly medic) can't heal you. Medics can only heal visible people, and even though friendlies can see you they can't heal you if you are in cloak. So if your first reaction is cloak, be sure to uncloak to get healed.
  • Spy vs Scout
    Sometimes a scout will dart right past you, always a nice way to get a backstab kill! Requires a bit of fast reaction time. Otherwise don't bother with the scout, unless he knows you are a spy. In that case whip out the revolver and hope you can hit him a couple of times and kill him. If you get a crit, you win the fight anyhow.
  • Spy vs Sniper
    Run up behind him, stab and run away. Snipers are a piece of cake.
  • Spy vs Spy
    Shouldn't happen very often, but sometimes you can see an enemy spy moving away from his team area (hey a blu pyro heading towards blu base from red base?) you can follow him and get a backstab kill. Since the spy will most likely take a less traveled route, it shouldn't be too hard. Revolver is key here, since catching up is usually unlikely.
  • Spy vs Heavy
    Heavies have a heavy case of tunnel vision. They are very unaware of their surroundings, especially when they are locked in battle. Run up behind him and you get a kill, run immediately to the safety of your team as usual.
  • Spy vs Demoman
    Much the same as the soldier, but if they know you are a spy, they might use the sticky bombs. In that case, start running away while shooting with the revolver. The normal pipebombs are hard to aim, so you can afford to stay a bit closer to the demoman, to try and finish him off.
  • Spy vs Medic
    A good medic is always strafing around like a madman, and has a habit to run at you with his bonesaw. These medics are hard to kill, and I've had more succes with my revolver than with my knife (usually they strafe just out of your stab). Easy medics, are the fools who stand still behind their target at a corner etc. Just stab em and stab their patient afterwards.
  • Spy vs your own team
    I've saved the most difficult matchup for last. Your own team is your worsed enemy usually. You try to sneak in, but some scout runs straight past you and gets shot.. you get hit by collateral damage and people know you are there and kill you as well. You are close to backstabbing someone, but another class further away behind you starts shooting as well. Your target turns around and blows you to hell. You have just mixed in with the enemy and a friendly uber runs in. Damnit! Anyways, your own team can be the most annoying thing in the game, they can and will ruin your perfect plan to stab some enemies, you will miss backstabs because your target tries to dodge an incoming rocket etc. It all happens and you will hate it. On the other hand, your team also helps you, since opponents who are to busy shooting at your team, won't have time to spycheck you. You might be discovered but luckily your team arrives to aid you! Still its best to know where your team is, and what classes you have on your team. A team with many pyro's will play different then a team with mostly heavies. Try to know where your team is, and you will do a lot better as well.
    Your weaponry
  • The revolver
    This weapon should be used more by any spy. I see so many spies who are wildly flailing their knife around while the revolver is so much better when you are out in the open. It has pretty good accuracy and it crits quite a bit! 1 shot from the revolver at close range will do around 30-40 damage, 1 crit shot will do 120 damage regardless of range. If only spies could see their enemies health, then you could just pop low health targets from a distance . Anyways good tool, use it when your cover is blown.
  • The knife
    Backstabbing, only use it for this its pretty much useless for anything else. You might get a lucky facestab, but remember that this melee weapon has the lowest damage of all!
  • The sapper
    You can knock out engi stuff with it, and kill the engi afterwards.. or the other way around.
  • The disguise kit
    Press G, for a taunt.. too bad you can't slam it with the opponents nose inbetween it!

Version 1.0
Version 1.1 of teh guide. (added weapon section)
Version 1.2 of teh guide (Added a small extra part to the vs pyro situation, little restructuring and a small bit of clarification about the acting as n00b)