A Perfect Spy 007

[BIG Mike 0]

One of my TF2 friends asked me some tips for becoming a good spy since a i was dominating everyone on the opposing team. So i thought somebody on this forum should be interested using this tips in their gameplay style.

1) When going disguised, pick a class where there are a lot of those players

on the opposing team. This will help you blend in with the enemy. Two classes

to always avoid - they are easiest to spot as spies - Scouts and Heavies. A

real Scout is extremely quick and a real Heavy is noticeably slow. As a Spy,

you still travel at your Spy speed which is much slower than a Scout and

significantly faster than a Heavy. The enemy will see a Scout running the same

speed as most other classes and start opening up fire on you knowing without a

doubt that you are a Spy. Same goes for the Heavy.

Additionally, choose a defensive class that wouldn't look out of place hanging

around near the back lines such as a Pyro, Engineer, Sniper or even a Medic.

2) Disguise is not enough... you'll need to act the part. How many scouts do

you see running empty handed back to your own spawn? It's a dead giveaway.

Always be asking yourself, is this what I would be doing if I was really this

enemy player?

3) Use your cloaking properly. Use it to get past choke points and to run away

after a timely stab or electro sapper. Get behind cover before uncloaking and

change classes after you've been discovered or taken offensive action. Also,

try to use your cloak to get as deep into enemy territory as possible, uncloak

and then start running back to the front lines. You'll be heading in the same

direction as the enemy and it's much easier to come up from behind a player

than way for a quick knife in the back.

Hope it will help you not to get owned and pawned as being a spy. Now you can imagine you are James Bond.

[Dovi 3]

Also do not be a medic, as medic spy it will not even say Uber-Charge 0% it just won't be there at all and it is a giveaway.

If there is an engie by a sentry try sapping it and very quickly switching to knife and back stabbing him, it only takes 2 hits of wrench to unsap and even if you backstab him the sentry will toast you. Also if the guy is real good with unsapping try this, it takes an advanced spy and quick finger control for switching weapons. If the engie doesnt have his sentry in a good position and hes behind it but there is even room to go behind him and the sentry backstab him, very quickly switch to sap and if you're good enough you can sap it before it turns around to kill you. Maybe have it hotkey'd with Q as the last thing you had sapper and knife. Works like a charm.

Cloak is key, if you are disguised 90% of people will check, it is very hard to get passed a player without having him check. Always have claok charged and ready to get behind the lines. Uncloak once you are behind them for minimun suspicion.

[BIG Mike 0]

Thanks to Dovi as he provided the topic with a surplus of information regarding the spy

tactics.

[Malleus 0]

Following breakdown of disguises.

Medic - As Dovi mentioned, no ubercharge.

Sniper - Very suspicious as you will never bring the rifle up to aim.

Pyro- A pyro that is not spychecking everyone, everytime, everywhere... is probably a spy. (or a bad pyro)

Scout - Speed issue ( however it can be difficult to detect in the midst of a big shootout so it's a maybe)

Heavy - I actually use this one time to time. If I know the opposing medic is clueless I'll lead him with me into our base where he is promptly killed. Otherwise it's normally avoided.

Demo- Pretty standard, and decent enough overall disguise. However you WILL be spychecked no matter what though as Demo has become the unfortunate "gold" standard for disguises.

Soldier - Again pretty decent but speed can be somewhat of an issue if you're trying to catch up to others for the backstab.

Engi- Probably your best bet when not around other engi's. There are few places on a map where a sole engi doesn't look too suspicious. Only issue is that fellow engi's usually tend to keep in good communication with one another and will almost instantly know if you're a spy or not.

Spy- A spy disguised as another spy is flat out retarded. You're undisguised, uncloaked, around half health, and just milling around your team base. BEGGING for a wrench to the face.

If you ARE discovered and cover blown you have several options.

Re-cloak, double back, try to lose your tail, pick a new disguise and try again.

Whip out your hand-cannon and take him out while strafing side to side/moving

backwards. (works really well)

Re-cloak, feign moving one way and then just continue into the enemy base.

On the subject of sapping.

Sapping can be a tricky depending on the situation. If it's just you against a lone engi babysitting with a full setup the cards are already not in your favor. Any engi with half a brain can and will thwart your every attempt to sap his gear.

What it all comes down to are three basic things to consider.

(Dovi already covered some of this but it bears repeating)

1. What's the positioning of the sentry in relation to the engi?

2. Is the engi or other engis close enough by to remove your sapper and alert the team that a spy around?

3. Are you quick enough to do a sap/stab? (Q is your friend.)

First off, if the engi leaves enough room behind himself and his sentry he's begging for a sap/stab.

Secondly, is it worth sapping something and then running away only to have the engi remove it in two whacks and now broadcast your whereabouts/disguise?

Finally, are you a bad enough dude to pull off the ultimate humiliation with a sap/stab?

My final piece of advice would be to USE THE REVOLVER. Nothing angers me more than to see fellow spies try and take down people with the knife.

Believe it or not, you can actually do some medium-long range sniping with the revolver if you got a decent enough aim. Find a good hiding spot and just unload on people as they pass by.

Hope my advice helps and best of luck to all.

[Bane 0]

Just something i noticed while playing engie and while playing spy.

Once a SG is saped it starts losing life until it's destroyed, it takes 2 swings of a wrench for the engie to take off your sap but it takes a 3rd wrench to heal it back up.

If the engie is just standing there wrenching his sentry and not focusing on taking out the spy before unsapping, then try this, it works. Stand next to the SG after you've sapped it, the engie will then proceed to unsapping it, if you time it well you can sap it again after the 2nd wrench and before the 3rd wrench (before he heals the damage caused by your sap) 2 consecutive saped will always destroy a LV1 or LV 2 SG, if the engie is slow 2 saps might even destroy the LV3 SG, but more often then not you will most probably have to repeat this 3 times.

If the Engie catches on to what you are doing and reconsiders his strategy and starts attacking you before he unsapes his SG then he fell into your trap since his SG is now almost certainly dead, evade him, buy some time so your saps can do their job and don't be afraid to take out that canon of yours.

[Dovi 3]

Theres only 1 problem Bane, it would only work sapping and standing around to start second sap if there were no other enemies there. If there are they'll come and help killing you while hes busily unsapping.

[DarkClaw 0]

Watch this from Youtube. It shows great strategies with the spy, and since he gives a demonstration, it sticks in your head more. I got some of my strategies from his, but I'm still working on applying a few.

[BIG Mike 0]

Thanks for the video DarkClaw

[CaUse.[Drama] 0]

This is pretty helpful But its funny Ive considered all of this previously its like Common sense ya know?

[DarkClaw 0]

It may be common sense, but you need to be able to put it into action when your playing, and be able to think fast enough to be able to do it (I'm no master at this... I still need to work on it!). Like yesterday, (no offence Mana), Mana tried to knife a sentry . It might have been by accident, I know I've done it before because my scroll wheel didn't pick the right weapon and I didn't notice, but yeah, that's how the cookie crumbles. Plus, common sense is usually obstructed by pure habit, such as always using your rocket laucher as a soldier, even if he's close up and your gonna die from it . Actually, that's something I do quite often myself .

[friedrice 8]

Could always sap it and then shoot the sentry

[Plasma Waffle 0]

There is already a thread with spy strategies. http://forums.gamingterritory.com/index.php?showtopic=6196

[Melissia 7]

Besides that, a lot of what it takes to play the spy is intuition; the ability to feel when the time is right to move in, etc. To play the spy properly you have to be a naturally good spy player or you need a lot of practice to "get into the groove" so to speak. Unlike other classes, it's a class that requires you to have good intuition, good ability to guess, to get a sense for how the other team is doing, and to know when to take the risk to get out of your disguise and stab that fucker in the back.

I would go so far as to say a half-decent spy may be taught, sure, but a good spy, or a great one, really needs the natural talent or raw experience levels with the class. Some things are just hard to teach and must be learned.

Edited February 27, 2009 by Melissia

[h3gi 5]

There is already a thread with spy strategies. http://forums.gamingterritory.com/index.php?showtopic=6196

Appreciate it, but it's out of date. Maybe if people bump it enough it won't be.

The Spy, simply put, exploits weaknesses in the enemy team. A Spy's level of success [usually] depends on the level of competence by the other team, more so than any other class. On the other hand, if the other team is very organized, you can use predictability to your advantage. Reconnaissance is the Spy's game; knowing where the threats are, knowing how many people are alive on both teams, knowing where enemy sentries are, knowing where you can and cannot uncloak. But even when you're this dependent on information, you still have to take risks. In my opinion, the Spy relies most on both luck AND skill.

Also, I found $5.

[friedrice 8]

Appreciate it, but it's out of date. Maybe if people bump it enough it won't be.

The Spy, simply put, exploits weaknesses in the enemy team. A Spy's level of success [usually] depends on the level of competence by the other team, more so than any other class. On the other hand, if the other team is very organized, you can use predictability to your advantage. Reconnaissance is the Spy's game; knowing where the threats are, knowing how many people are alive on both teams, knowing where enemy sentries are, knowing where you can and cannot uncloak. But even when you're this dependent on information, you still have to take risks. In my opinion, the Spy relies most on both luck AND skill.

Also, I found $5.

Lol, $5

[Mana 3,867]

Could always sap it and then shoot the sentry

Last post: Mar 19 2008, 03:02 PM

Learn to read dates.