Avs

The Spy

The Short Version by Daedalus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-qD30EOO-o&NR=1

Comments about that video – Good engineers will always kill spies unless the spy initiates during a large fight where the engineer is forced to focus on his turrets. In particular some engineers will allow you to sap their turret then kill you, then save the turret as they have plenty of time to do so.

Description: This class is designed to take out priority targets such as heavies, medics, and engineers. They also excel at killing lone targets, such as snipers who might be unaware or scouts. The role of this class becomes less and less effective as the team's awareness and skill increases. Because FF will never be an issue due to the patch, the spy must take care to mimic the enemy. A great spy will do much to demoralize the enemy team as well as be #1 on the points list. I stress the points in the spy's case because each backstab is worth 2 points, thus enabling you to outscore your own team. Not being able to do so just means you have to work harder. All good spies should attempt to maintain the ratio of at least 2 kills per death. Suicide is NOT a valid tactic, as doing so wastes time when done often. Good spies can ALWAYS get away unless they attempt virtually impossible odds, or attempt to take out 7 guys on a CP capturing, etc. Try not to die unless you're simply trying to kill someone (ie, take out their medic and heavy, or medic to stop uber charge).

Weapons

The Butterfly Knife - This is the bread and butter of the spy. It instant kills anything you backstab, and only requires that you be within a 180 degree field when you initiate the backstab (though you still need to land it).. This means a spy can technically backstab someone while facing the front if he initiates within that 180 area. Update: Apparently there was an exploit with backstabbing from the front…it appears to not affect this method. The knife is only recommended when you are attacking from behind. Attacking anyone from the front is not recommended unless you gauge that they are already low on hp, and therefore killable with a frontal stab to the face. Note that the power of the knife here is very weak coming in from the front. You’re best option is to actually shoot him with the revolver unless attempting a backstab from the front. Important: The timing of the stab is key. Whether your target is moving or stationary, or sidestepping, you must time your initial swing and strike so that the target will be within hit distance. Note there is no difference in the different swings a spy does (or no real difference). However, there is a difference between swinging and someone walking into it immediately after, and swinging within distance. The timing and delay can mean the difference between life and death. As for the latter, use that cloak and get away instead of trying to stab the target repeatedly. You can also kill people instantly from above.

The Bull Roarer - This real life pistol packs a punch greater than your beloved desert eagle. With this pistol you can kill any class with its full clip at point blank, minus the fact that you want to be stabbing heavies and other particular classes rather than shooting. The issue with this pistol is that its accuracy at longer ranges are somewhat random. Truthfully though this pistol does not deal enough damage to warrant use at range. What you should be doing is closing in on a target while disguised then blasting him at close range for the kill if a backstab will be hard to pull off. I need to stress the point of using the pistol often. Should it be less or more used than the knife? It all depends on who you are playing against. The difference this shows is that a good spy can use both his weapons effectively, and know what to use and when. This pistol (or magnum) can kill turrets, engineers, and do many other things at a distance that would otherwise be dangerous to do as a spy. You can blow away a medic at range (about 1000) without having to weave into a group of enemies. Try it out if you haven’t. And if you're already great at being a spy and don’t use the magnum, you’ll find that you'll need it against top players who can tell who’s a spy a mile away.

Zap-o-tron - This funny device destroys electronics over time. Others have reported that it takes a single hit to destroy as an engineer but I have not been able to reproduce this. Once a sap or zap, or whatever you want to call it has been placed on the device, it is disabled and will take damage over time until it is destroyed. Engineers will have to wrench it twice to destroy the device, and hit it once more to fix. Repeated saps, there is no limit or charge time on it, means you can sap a device until it blows up while a engineer is attempting to destroy the sap. It does not remove disguise.

Cloaking

You cloak by right clicking your mouse button. It takes 2 seconds to cloak. Any contact with the enemy or taking damage will reveal you for a split second. Take care to avoid fire at all times unless in disguise and under pressure. Should you run into someone while cloaked or take fire, be sure to immediately change direction and run for cover. Also, when you initiate cloak, you will still be visible until you are completely cloaked. After coming out of a disguise to stab someone, it is a good rule of thumb to cloak if you can to live another day.
Disguising

The Basics: You move either at spy speed, or slower. If you are in a class that has faster speed, you move at that your spy speed. If you are in a class that has slower speed, you move at that class’ specific speed, ie. Heavy. When you are disguised, you have your primary weapon out (no exceptions). If you want to be smooth, take the disguise of people you kill. Therefore, you should stick to classes that rely on their primary weapon being out. Not medics or engineers (but they are good disguises depending on case). As a spy the enemy will not be able to walk through you. Avoid contact at all times. Quite often I don’t use a disguise or use it only for movement purposes as I attempt to get away with kills unnoticed.

Tips on using disguises:

1. If you are in your friendly territory, disguise as enemy spy. At a distance it will be hard to determine if you are an enemy spy or a friendly one. Of course, most teams run only one spy so this is not exactly a solid rule to go by. Additionally when you are disguised as a spy or as the enemy in your own territory, spies will recognize you quickly and may make short work of you.

2. If you know enemy spies are in your territory, try to use some obvious disguises to lure him to you so you can take him out.

3. Never disguise as a class that the enemy does not have. It’s too obvious. Never disguise as a class based on a player that has recently died. This second suggestion is pretty difficult to do unless you keep a good record of who’s who.

4. Never use the medic disguise frequently. Medic-spies don’t have uber charges. Dont heal, don't have the same title, etc. If a medic is running around with his gun out, chances are she is a spy.

5. Never disguse as a class that they have only 1 of, because more often than not you will be found out. Break this rule when you know where the other class is, and by using your good judgment to figure out if the enemy team is aware where that class is.

6. Be careful when using scout, you move slower, and cannot double jump. Other classes are less obvious in speed.

7. Remember, you cannot attack while disguised or you will lose it. Be sure to make your kills quick and to cloak after you attack. Even cloaking after you miss might be smarter as you live another day.

Target Priority

Generally speaking your main targets are Heavies, Medics, and Engineers (and their sentry guns). The better people you play against however, the more difficult it will be for you to take out an engineer or a medic as they will be very aware of their situation. Typically however, you should kill the medic and then heavy. Sometimes when there is a lot of pressure and multiple enemies, it might be a better idea to kill the heavy. This is particularly true when people are generally alert. You should attempt to kill what you can, instead of killing primary targets. The use of the pistol makes much more sense when you find everyone spy checking.

Strategies

Excellent espionage often involves getting to the enemy without being detect at all. Keep in mind that as you play against better and better players, spy checking will be routine so that you must kill without being seen.

1. Time your cloaking. Become familiar with the amount of time it takes to fully cloak so that you maximize the time you when moving at full invisibility. This is key so that you can get behind enemies without being detect at all. This is the first step becoming a good spy.

2. Know when to hide, when to use cloaking to hide, and when to actually move thorough a visible area (ie. Where people normally run through). Again, you can kill anyone as long as they don’t detect you. Use those corners, crawl spaces, overhangs to get behind people or recharge your cloak.

3. Understand that your pistol is a great tool to kill people if you’ve been spotted or when you are assisting your team.

4. Practice using different disguises. Never run straight at the enemy or act suspicious. Also try not to disguise as the players who are always catching you off guard. They see through their own fakes the easiest.

5. Do not be greedy, even killing the weaker players on the team makes a big difference if you can get away with it. Cloaking after a kill is a good practice as it greatly increases your getaway chances.

6. While sentries are priorities to kill sometimes, try to coordinate the attack with a friend so that the sentry will be sapped while your friendly soldier destroys it.

7. If you are alone, a quick way to kill a sentry is to sap it and then shoot the crap out of it. This is a great method to use when you need to be moving around and an engineer has just stepped out of the room but is within range to return and fix if not destroyed immediately.

8. When dealing with a engineer and a turret, if you can get behind him, sap the turret then backstab him while you are behind him. You can also shoot him and sap the turret.

9. You can sap a turret faster than an engineer can fix it. Sapping a turret repeatedly will destroy it.

10. There are tons more ways to combine cloaking and disguises to deal great damage to the enemy. Examples include tapping CPs and then cloaking/disguising to kill enemies that come running back, or killing sentry/engineer combos by backstabbing first instead of sapping for more control.

11. Remember the easiest way to avoid suspicion is to act like nothing is wrong. That means if you have to take some bullets during a spy check then do it. Cloaking or running away will only mean death unless you are fast on your feet and cloak while ducking around corners. In the future more maps will have more complex designs that will allow better coverage options for players to use.

12. Don’t use the medic call unless you are a heavy or are injured.

Counters

See Fenix’s post here: http://www.tacticalgamer.com/team-fo...tml#post817862

Remember enemies and your own turret as a engineer block you.

In general spy checking works. Fire at your teammates as most spies cant enduring taking damage and will react. Movement speed (if you can notice such a difference) works in telling when a disguised spy is a spy and not whatever class he is. Voice comms are the best as they allow you to know where people are so that you can tell if someone is in the wrong place.

Pyro checking is a great way to scope out spies. Using stickies to knock spies around while disguised also works, but require more accuracy. Melee checking saves ammo and usually results in a dead spy. Be sure to note what classes are more vulnerable to spies (slower ones) and always be aware of your situation. With FF removed, and ammo not being a problem, just shoot everything you see.