Greetings, mentelgen! to my second "tips and tricks" guide! (first one was made for Red Orchestra 2)
after over 300 hours ot TF2'ing and seeing many people complain about how crappy/unplayble the spy is. i decided to make a guide to help everyone out.

Here i will be covering many tricks and useful moves as well as gameplay advice that newbies are unaware of, and veterans, forgot or overlooked.

such as: telefrag kills, disguise weapon-switching and priorities.

remember, this game in not just about being skilled, the game will test your knowledge and tactical a lot. outsmarting the enemy is a very sure way to defeat them
note, this guide will not be covering them fancy shmancy "trick stabs" which has a lore more to do with twitch-skills and exploting the game's hitboxes than actuall tactical thinking.
although i d recommend you practice these aganist bots in the Walkway custom map.

i hope that you will have fun reading the guide and will become a better or at least more knowledgeable player in the game, and will bring your team to victory!



Guide begins in ten seconds!
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BEGIN

big fat rule number (1)

CHECK YOUR BACK
this might seem like a no-brainer, but everyone at some point neglects this rule. and every time they do. they pay dearly for it.

every few seconds, even during a fire-fight with the enemy. always make sure to take a peek behind you. just turn sideways 90 degrees and and have a look with your mouse even for just half a second. this WILL save your life

as a spy its incredibly crucial to be aware of your surroundings, popping out of your cloak or blowing your disguise when enemies are near will spell your doom.
by knowing who's-where's you can reliably decide if you should continue fighting/pursuing the target or flee to find safer backstabs.

big fat rule number (2)
KILL THE MEDIC.


- you do that and you have area a true credit to the team

Why do you think the allies in WW2 made a rule to not shoot medics?
BECAUSE THEY KNEW MEDIC IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CLASS.
and they hoped to trick the silly nazis into not shooting them.

the Medic is the most important class in any team. they are the ones keeping the front line moving forward, and their Ubercharges are what wins games.
So make sure to always kill him first. without his healing the enemy front cannot be maintained as they are forced to run for healing. and their game-winning will be significantly delayed.

but you might be asking: "hol up dere mate, why not just stab the heavy or soldier that the medic is healing? they are much easier targets!"
excellent question my dear, strange=accented reader, the answer is simple - THE MEDIC CAN JUST KEEP HEALING OTHER CLASSES.
you might have slowed their advance for a minute by killing a teammate, but what does it matter if different one cat take his place? stab him too? but they already know your location and the medic managed to build up his uber!

No, don't shoot the big fat man that gets the healing, SHOOT THE HEALER.

as soon as you see the enemy medic, your prioritize him and try to kill him even if die in the process. yes, they are THAT important.

likewise. you must make sure that YOUR medic is protected and safe.
and if you see one in trouble, you have to go out of your way to ensure his survival: try to fight alongside him until or distract the enemy by uncloaking right in front of them. all until your medic can safely retreat or find a med pack.

because if the medic is not safe. YOUR TEAM are not safe



2)B] no medic to be found? (because hopefull you killed him) GO FOR THE ENGINEER.
he is your 2nd biggest target: he holds the line, he also heals the team and even teleports them into the battle to boot.
as spy you have the best tools and the prime duty to kill the enemy engineer, destroy his buildings, or at the very least, disrupt his line of work, to the point where your team can easily destroy his base,

-if you do ths you also have fulfilled your duty as spy

(3)
Crouch jump

some new players apparently are unaware of this - you can reach higher platforms by crouching in mid-jump
if you try to jump to an elevated platform like a rock or a create, butit seems a bit to tall to clear it. try Crouch-Jumping and you might just be able to scale it

getting over these obstacles are sometimes what gives you the advantage over the enemy, allowing you to ambush them from unexpected angles or make a short-cut behind their lines

Its not always clear which objects can be scaled with Crouch-Jumping, but as a rule-of-thumb, if its shorter than your head, chances are you can crouch-jump on top of it.
test it on every map. and eventually you will learn by heart where it can be done.

(4)
Don't neglect the Crouch function

apart from crouch-jumping mentioned above. crouching in itself can be very useful in specific situations.

Crouching - at the cost of movement speed - cuts down your player model by nearly HALF.
which makes you a significantly smaller target..
this will definetly come in handy when trying to exploit short cover which especially comes in handy when you use the ambassador.. - these includes enemy dispensers as well.
crouch behind it, and the the sentry ad his owner cant damage you through it.

(5)
Help your local engineer!

you see a level 1 teleporter entrance at your spawn - your first instinct is either to sigh heavily and move on, being the impatient scoot that you are.
or sit on you fat ugly russian butt and wait for it to recharge.

WRONG

what you have to do, is quickly switch to an engineer. -preferably with the jag- and upgrade the teleporter(s) straight to level 3!
now you have spent 10 seconds of your life to make your team great again: your engineer is thankful that doesn't need to waste metal and time on the teleporter and focus on the sentry and dispenser
your team is thankful that it can reach the front line faster.

do the same thing if you see the teleporter entrance being sapped - quickly switch to engineer or pyro with homewrecker/neon sign and save your precious teleporter. you know what horrid pain it is for your engie to waddle all the way back to the spawn to make a new teleport entrance.

SO MAKE SURE YOUR LOCAL LABOR CLASS GETS THE CARE IT DESERVES

the the ability to disguise is one of the Spy's primary utilities apart fron cloaking. being able to fool the enemy into accepting you into their ranks is key for optimal performance.
any hatless poor irishman can just cloak behind a sniper and stab him.


a true spy worth his salt. should be able to stroll by the enemy team members, in order to get the key targets. or to able to get to that ammo box to refill your cloak.

after all, thats the point of being a spy - to blend in.

never stick to one disguise.

Too many spies only rely on their scout and pyro disguises. it is so common that everyone already automatically shoot any scout of pyro they see behind them.

be smart. and know which disguise to apply to which situation.

disguise as a sniper when hanging around in the enemy's battlements or other popular sniping locations you can blend in very well to wait for an opportunity to strike

disguise as an engineer with a wrench in you are planning to harass amassed sentry nests or their teleporter entrance, it will be rather difficult for everyone to realize who is the real engie causing the havoc. as you will be running around from building to building just as they would.


disguise as a medic with a medigun, especially around the front line. the enemy will be happy to see a medic and won't think twice to allow you to get behind them for a quick "heal"

disguise as a spy if you are planning to be seen in the open around your own team so the enemy won't be alert when they see you.

disguise as a heavy near their spawn. rarely would anyone suspect you since its an unpopular disguise and heavy's always end up being behind their teammates anyway.
-even better, cry for medic and you are likely to attract one to you. wasting his time from actually doing real healing. and even lead him into a death trap by your teammates.
-EVEN BETTER. if you find a medic with a full charge try to pretend you are going to push to waste his uber!

switch weapons for your disguise! it is very crucial to make it believable. it will be very strange and out-of-place if the enemy will see a medic running around with a syringe gun, or an engineer with the shotgun.

to do this: choose the appropriate weapon slot. and then press B - and your disguise will switch weapons based off the slot you equipped. for example.
if you had your knife equipped while disguised as engineer and pressed B. your costume will wield a wrench
if you had the sapper equipped and pressed B your costume will wield the pistol.

with the right weapon drawn, you can make for some convincing acting. if you are around the enemy team disguised as a sniper. you can have the kukri drawn and pretend you are searching for a spy, or when you are disguised as a soldier, draw out the escape plan/equlizer if the enemy has it equipped.

using the engineer disguise you can also walk into the enemy base pretending you are searching for metal.

as a final note for this tip. try drawing out weapons that no normal player would usually do, yet not predictable for spies.
for instance - heavy with fists, pyro with axe, scout/engineer with pistol or soldier with tumpet.
-your enemies, could easily assume you are just a none-serious team member, or just fooling around with your loadout while reaching the front line.

so always make sure your disguise is wielding the right weapon to be as believable as possible.

Disguise as a friendly class
]a feature i see very rarely being used - being able disguise a friendly class, and not just as the enemy.
- as you can see, this is the prospective of a red spy. yet his disguise options are red as well.

the activate the friendly disguise menu, press the " - " key when the disuise kit is deployed.
"
"why would i want to disguise someone the enemy would want to shoot either way?" you might ask in a poor-and-irish manner

it is a very silly question to ask. because everyone knows the russians won the battle of stalingrad when a RED spy disguised himself as a RED heavy to scare the nazis away from the control point in TE_Pavlov's, untill reinforcements came.

But the real use of this feature is: THE DEAD RINGER!
feigning a death when the enemy knows you were a spy. will almost always guarantee they will keep searching to kill the real you.
now while its nice to waste the enemy's time and mental resolve by getting them to chase you. its far more effective to kill them since they didn't know there was a spy at all.

Disguise as friendly pyro, demoman, or even scout. and when the enemy will trigger your feign death. they will never suspect it was actually a spy that is about to de-cloak behind them. greatly reducing their alertness and increasing your chance to get a backstab

And finally, disguising as a friendly class when you want to save on your cloak energy, and know you will be seen by the enemy while uncloaked. again this will reduce their alertness level and be less likley to check their backs and spy-check.

avoid using voice commands unless you are sure about it

when you use voice command as a disguised spy ("MEDIC!" "move up" "help!" "go go go" "move up") your command will also appear in the enemy's chat box AS THE PLAYER YOU ARE DISGUISED AS.

that player will literally see himself in the chat box, saying whatever chat command you issued. which will insnatly allow him to alert his team about your disguise and rise the enemy of alertness of the whole team.
its even worse when said player is near - he could easily let the voice lead him to you, and hunt you down.

so try NOT to issue any voice commands. unless you are sure, that the player you are disguised as is dead. or very far from you.

IMPORTANT NOTE: make sure that the advanced multiplayer option to "automatically call for medic when on low health" be turned OFF. to make sure you won't give yourself away when not needed.

final note: disguises are never 100% reliable
yes. it contradicts the whole section. but it must be said. the way disguises work vary from team to team and player to player. you cannot expect for every disguise to work the way its intended to.
some players suspect some disguises more than others, some are just plain paranoid(and for good reason) and some can be fooled by anything.

in the end of the day its YOUR job to understand what disguise does the job for the appropriate map, player and situation. and the section here is guildelines to help you make the better judgement. not strict rules or insturctions of how they always succeed.
(good, now my arse is covered and no one can sue me for failing after reading this guide)

Don't neglect your revolver!
James bond would never had gone far if he relied purely on backstabs and Judo chops. thats why he always used his hand gun!


many times i see spies who upon failing their stab, will try to fight in melee or just run. is is simply wrong and counter-productive as the spy's revolver, are a very effective weapon. which should be used often when a backstab is beyond reach.

the default revolver have a great base damage of 60 in short range - allowing you to kill all the rear classes in just 3 quick shots - all while not having to take buckshot spread into account like other secondary weapons.
And 40 damage in medium range. still effective and punishing against enemy's who try to chase you for too long.

Don't hesitate to break your disguise if you are confident of getting a kill with the revolver, especially when trying to get the valuable enemy medic - a kill is a kill no matter what. spies are not only for backstabs, you know.

-even better: use the Ambassador or Diamondback (provided it is loaded with crits) to snipe enemies from unexpected places!
you could even consider this as a "longe-range backstab" since you kill effectively enemies from behind but without having to be near them.
this is best achieved against ENGINEERS as they tend to stand still out of reach for the rest of your teammates.
since they usually stand still behind their sentry guns. you can easily headshot them out of their automaton's reach. and then sap their nest with impunity.

when being chased, never be predictable!
while not being predictable is pretty much all what the spy is about, it is of greatest importance when you are being chased.
if the enemy knows where you are going, or who you are always disguising as. they could easily hunt you down and horribly unjustfyingly kill you.

-while in the middle of being cloaked, always go to a different direction you actually want to go.
there is about half a second of shimmering before you become completely invisible. and during that shimmer, the enemy can see which direction you are heading.
so make sure that during that intial shimmer you do NOT go where you need to. and instead go to a different direction for a second or so. to throw your enemy's vile pursuit. and cause them to fire at thin air like the mubling idiots that they are.
-while being chased and invisible. avoid picking up med-packs or ammo. it will be a clear comfirmation for the enemy that they are knowing where you are going. and will continue to run in your general direction.


the engineer is usually the top priority for the spy. sometimes, even more important than medics. as the engineers give crucial support and defense for the team which are quite difficult to disrupt, unless you are a spy:perfectly suited for the job

shoot the building with the revolver while its being sapped!
incredibly cruscial for taking down engie buildings fast.
a lot of players simply forget that buildings take damage from the revolver/knife too.
simply shoot at the poor crippled building and it wil come down almost twice as fast.
just remember - this will break your disguise so if the enemy is around and can soo you do this. it might be better to just stick to your disguise.

Use the engineer's buildings against him!
when disguised, not only you are immune to the Sentry gun's fire. but you can also use his dispenser and teleporter.

The dispenser will heal you and even restore you cloak energy. you can become invisible for as long as you want by standing next to the enemy dispenser, allowing you to plan as much as you want.
Thier dispenser can also provide you with a much needed elavation. after standing it, you can jump on top of the engineers head and backstab him from above, which means he is not safe even if he has his back to the wall.

The enemy teleporters will transport you just as though you were a member of the enemy team.
not only will this waste them precious time waiting for a real team member to use it. but it lets you blend in perfectly in the enemy team, and won't invoke suspicion until you reach the front line. give you plenty of opportunity for backstabs
this is often far more preferable than sapping the teleporter entrance as the engineer can easily repair it by hitting the exit.

Bait their sentry to kill the engineer!
if the engineer is too well protected you can always try to kill him using his own turret.
1]Make sure the victim stands right next to the sentry gun
2] Break your disguise (just a random knife swing will do)
3]The sentry will now try to shoot you but its bullets will hit the engineer instead beecause he is is standing in the line of fire -the texan problem solver will die in about 1 secnd
4] Quickly cloak before the sentry kills you, put on a disguise and emerge. without him to fix his his stuff you can now destroy his nest with 0 effort

and finally:
THE TELEFRAG TRICK
its dirty as hell. i avoid using it because of how cheap i feel it is. but boy is it effective.
how to apply:

1)get to the enemy teleport entrance, disguised as the enemy
2)use sapper, and and on top of it.
3)the moment the enemy engineer will brake the sapping, the teleport will instantly activate and will teleport you.
4)chances are the engie was standing right on top of the exit. so as soon as you will teleport. you will telefrag him, killing him instantly.
5) unless a pybro with a homewrecker/neon sign is around NOTHING stops you from destroying the whole engie nest and easily get backstabs on the unsuspecting enemies.

the telefrag can also you kill you as well. - NEVER STAND ON A SAPPED TELEPORTER EXIT. that is basically the same mistake as the engineer's only backwards.
because as soon as that teleporter will be fixed on the other side, it will transport anyone standing on it instantly, telefragging you.
so if you have to destroy a teleporter exist, make sure you do not stand on it.

That concludes my general tips for spy, now lets move on to his aresenal and what weapons should be used more

fortunately, all of the spy's weapons are viable and widely used. all except for two misunderstood wonders: the Kuniver's Kunai and Your Eternal Reward, the enforcer will also get a mention.

"oi, what's bloody point for a spy that can't disguise??" i can hear you ask.
the silent kills and instant disguise upon backstab can lead to epic chain- wreck havoc upon the enemy team.
the silent backstab - any competent player will quickl turn around when they hear the very loud death scream that follows a successful backstab, and can easily kill you or just force you to retreat.
slilent backstabs will allow you to avoid all this hassle as the enemy team will never notice their teammates are being picked apart until it too late. especially considering that your kills DONT SHOW UP IN THE KILL FEED FOR THE ENEMY.
that's right! the Eternal reward lets you hack the game!

The other benefit is even greater - the instant disguise upon backstab.
you are literally wearing the skin of your enemy. and the enemy totally falls for it.
if the enemy didn't witness the actual stab with their own eyes. they will never suspect a thing.
they have certified knowledge that they are surrounded by their teammates and won't be any wiser about a pyro that just came out of a spawn with them.
little to they actually know is that during just one moment of looking elsewear, that pyro died, and is now an enemy spy.

to make this effect even more powerful, stabbing enemies who were being healed by a medic, will automatically make the mediguns heal you in their place!
if the medic didn't pay close attention, he will just keep on healing you, wasting both his time and completely fooling everyone else to allow more backstabs.

the final and most deadly application of the Eternal Reward is destroying Engineer bases. -
The instant disguise allows you to completely avoid fire from enemy sentry guns.
in many cases. backstabbing the engie will result in instant death due to their sentry gun(s)
but with instant disguise - you don't have to think twice. backstab the poor bugger and the sentry won't notice a thing!

it is highly recommended you do not use the Dead Ringer together with this knife as enemies can usually know that an undisguised spy coming at them is feigning death.

"oi, what the bloody hell the overheal is good for if i only have 70 base HP??" you might be wondering.
however. getting that whopping 185 overheal in an instant. can greatly increase your sustainability!

there are many cases that the enemy team is clustered up and watch each others' backs. most common examples are when they are pushing the payload of capturing a point. in these cases the chance of survival after the first backstab is very slim.

the Kunai's health absorption allows you to suvive the enemy counterattack and cloak back to safety, or even get even more backstabs while you are under fire!
the massive overheal suddenly turns you into an intimidating 185 health power-class. use this to turn back on your pursuers and shoot then down with your revolver.

being spy-checked? no problem! the overheal is more than enough to let survive the damage the enemy deals while spy checking. after seeing you survived two shotgun blasts, they will usually be convinced you are a teammate. unless you are on fire...

...pyro set you on fire? no problem! if you manage to get a backstab while on fire, not only will you have enough health to survive and even fight the pyro but it also EXTIGUISHES THE FIRE.
dying and on the last drops of hp? no problem! quickly backstab a stupid heavy and get back to full hp and to fighting strength!

it even allows you to backstab engineers with little fear as you will have more than enough health to survive the sentry's furious revenge

with the kunai, you won't have to think twice and be afraid of fighting clustered teams and at capture zones! instead, you will make THEM think twice before engaging you!

just remember that your starting HP is indeed horrible and even a stray rocket can spell your doom. try using detours and the less traveled areas to reach the enemy's behind.

this knife works best with the dead ringer, as even when your disguise is blown, the enemy will have less suspicion about a Kunai spy since they have low base HP and more likely to die to single rockets/bombs/shotugun blasts.

the enforcer

"oi what the bloody hell! whats the point of using this gun if its only advantage is just one lousy shot while disguised?"

a very good question asked by many.

at first glance the-20% firing speed makes the gun a whole pretty weaker DPS-wise. and for what benefit? just 20% extra damage for just ONE BULLET that you shot while being disguised.
not worth it right? not quite!

that extra powered bullet can deal up to 72 damage at close range
shooting that bullet at a soft class like engineer or scout will ensure that the next shot will kill them. generally, other classes will need more shots, but will always require 1 less if they first took damage from a close-range enforcer shot.
giving you the same 2-shot kill capacity of the almighty Ambassador without needed any aim or twitch skills at all.

destroying sentry nests is now a breeze - disguise yourself, start sapping the sentry, and when the engineer will unjustly attack you, you can just shoot him down in two quick shots.

this allows for more fast and aggressive approach. now when an enemy sees through your disguise or accidentally bumped into you,, instead of running away or trying to circle around him to get a lucky backstab - you can fight back without fear!
this ties in perfectly with the other weapon in the set - the big earner, which is all about speed and maneuverability.

this is revolver is perfect when you always have thorns in your butt and want to always be on the move.

the fire rate penalty isn't that problematic, as it is barely noticable and more often than not, more space between shots helps you to land more your bullets on the target before the magazine gets emptied.

and note - disgusing as a friendly class is 3x faster than disgusing as the enemy. you can land a +20% damage round almost every time oyu hit B to disguise yourself as a fellow teammate.
this works best when you have a corner or a piece of cover to abuse, to maximize the potential

this weapon also have a seemingly useless stat - it goes through damage reduction.
this can be useful but only in three distinct situations - a medic using the Vaccinator with the bullet-shield. a heavy below 50% health using the natasha/brass beast. andf the sniper equipped withe Danger Shield.
all of these are much easier to deal with by simply backstabbing them. but it is useful to use the enforcer against them when in a pinch.
especially when the medic activates the vaccinator's uber, feeling completley safe from incoming bullets.

just remember, the -20% firing speed does make you a bit weaker than with the default revolver, so try not to engage a firefight on the enemy's terms. just retreat unless you are sure you can get the kill.


"wot de ell? that weapon is not underused it all! it why is it even in this section at all?"
a good question as always.
the answer: its not underused, its misused!

i see too many 420-noscope-blaze-it wannabes who try to snipe with this gun, try to have direct engagements with it, and generally be useless who just give free points to the enemy.

while the Ambassador is great in firefight -PROVIDED YOU CAN SCORE A HEADSHOT- its main use is against unsuspecting enemies. as i said in the earlier section - as long ranged backstabs.
enemies that could otherwise take too long to reach behind them, or too protected by their nearby teammates.

stock spy

pure versitility

• revolver
  
• knife
  
• invisibility watch

pretty much the Go-to spy. you are prepared for every situation but do not excel at anything particular. great for most cases.

• Amassador
  
• knife/spicicle
  
• Cloak & Dagger

this loadout is for situations when you want to carefully observe the battlefield and wait for that great moment to strike.
with the cloak and dagger you can always decloak at the right time, and with the ambassador you can eliminate any far, unsuspecting weak enemies. before you go for the backstab or cloak again, waiting for another opportunity

just remenber that getting behind the enemy line will be a bit slower since the cloak&dagger depletes faster.

• Diamondback
  
• Kuniver's Kunai
  
• Dead Ringer

getting damaged for using the dead ringer is a none-issue for this loadout. for as soon as you get your first backstab, you will get all that lost health back.
and after accumulating enough crits for the diamondback from the aforementioned backstabs, and you could suddenly turn around and start shooting at enemies who were just chasing you. dealing with a 180 hp fast class that odes 102 damage per shot is something threatening indeed.
dont forget the friendly-disguise trick discussed earlier

the Saharan spy

• le'tranger
  
• Eternal Reward
  
• invisiblity watch/cloak & dagger
  
• the familar fez

as explained before, the etarnal reward is amazing. and the le'tranger revolver will help you get more cloak - a recource now far more valuble since you must rely on your cloak a lot more before you get the initial backstab
stock invisiblity watch is better when you are defense, since you can get behind the enemy team easier.
cloak & dagger is better when you are on offense since getting behind the enemy line is only half the problem - with the other half being finding the right moment to expose yourself without being blown to bits by the enemies constantly patrolling the battlements
the hat is an added bonus, since wearing together with your set will make you leave a Cool Calling Card (a CCC if you will) on the enemy corpses and and add a Swirly Sand Show (an SSS if you will) when taunting.

so that concludes my guide for the spy class.
originally it was just supposed to have one section in a guide dedicated to all of the TF2 classes. but after having to right so much about the spy. i had to make it a stand-alone guide.

please tell me what you think, whether i missed anything and what i need to add.
any kind of criticsm will be appreciated

and now that you know the ins and outs of the spy - go backstab some people you glorious rat!.