Team Fortress 2/Spy: Difference between revisions

===Primary Weapons===

====Revolver====

The Revolver, while not as useful as your Knife, is still an important weapon in the Spy's arsenal. It's accurate, reloads quickly and does a good amount of damage, with a critical hit capable of killing any wounded low health classes. It is good for killing low health classes where you cannot backstab, such as a Sniper with a Razorback, as you can usually bring them down in close range with a single clip. It is also useful when running from enemies such as Pyros, as the high damage can kill them or at least ward them off. Use the Revolver to speed up the demolition of buildings after you have sapped them, or kill the Engineer who comes to remove it. The Revolver is also useful for mid range sniping, as it is very accurate.

====Big Kill====

The Big Kill is completely similar to the Revolver in terms of gameplay, so refer to the Revolver's strategy on how to use this weapon.

====Ambassador====

The ambassador is the Spy's primary weapon unlockable. It has reduced damage and a slower firing speed but deals critical hits on a headshot. However, after any shot the reticule will expand making the gun more innacurate until it shrinks back to normal size. The headshots combined with it's accuracy makes it very useful for taking down distracted opponents without backstabbing, as two headshots can kill all classes bar the Heavy without accounting for overheals or health increasing items.

====L'Etranger====

The L'Etranger has deals 20% less damage, but gives you 15% more cloak on a successful shot. It trades long range damage with the ability to escape easier. However, it's loud and distinctive firing noice can alert enemies to your presence, your weapon and your current class. Try shooting at enemies from a hidden location when you need to recharge your cloak. It is useful for providing more cloak for the Invincibility Watch and the Dead Ringer without any ammo packs or dispensers nearby, as well as an alternative source of cloak for the Cloak and Dagger.

====Enforcer====

The Enforcer is effectively the opposite of the L'Etranger, dealing 20% more damage than a regular revolver but increasing time to get cloaked by half a second. This weapon trades stealth for more firepower. The 0.5 seconds of longer cloak entering time might not seem much, but it lengthens that time by almost 50%. The Dead Ringer enters cloak immediately and isn't affected by the penalty, so using it with the Enforcer is recommended. The damage dealt with the Enforcer is a lot, being able to take down low health classes at close range in merely two shots, and instantly killing low health classes with a critical hit.

====Diamondback====

The Diamondback is essentially the Spy's counterpart of the Frontier Justice. As long as your sapper is involved in the destruction of a building, you will get one guaranteed crtical hit for your next shot. However, it cannot randomly crit and has a 15% damage penalty. You can store up to 35 critical hits.

===Secondary Weapons===

====Electro Sapper====

The Electro Sapper is the Spy's most reliable tool for destroying buildings. Pressing the fire button while near enough the building will automatically attach it to the building. It will then disable the building until the Sapper or the building is destroyed. It has no reload delay, so you can quickly lay multiple Sappers. An Engineer can knock an Electro Sapper off with two hits of the Wrench. The vertical range to attach the Electro Sapper is quite large, alowing you to attach a Sapper to a building from below or above it, confusing the Engineer. Sap a building so that the Engineer comes and repair it, then backstab him is usually a reliable method of killing Engineers. If an Engineer is guarding his sentry nest, stab him first then quickly switch to your sapper and attach it to the nearest sentry. Sapping a teleporter places a sapper at either sides which can be removed by the Engineer. Fully sapping and destroying a teleporter destroys both the entrance and the exit. However, sometimes you would want to destroy only one part with the Revolver to avoid alerting the enemy to the presence of a Spy.

===Melee Weapons===

====Knife====

The weapon is one of the weakest weapons in the game, but with the backstab, it posseses the only reliable instant kill attack in the game. While holding this weapon out, the spy will hold it normally, but once you come into the range of backstabbing, the spy will automatically reverse his grip on the knife, and attacking during this time will register as a backstab. The backstab range is actually quite wide, in that you can get a backstab while facing to the side of the enemy.

====Your Enternal Reward====

This is the Spy's unlockable knife. It disables your ability to disguise, but upon a successful backstab you instantaneously disguise as your victim, and your victim will not scream upon death or drop the body, nor will the kill appear on the enemy's kill feed. The lack of a Disguise Kit means you must rely mostly on your cloak. Try infiltrating into a bunch of distracted enemies while cloaked. Then, as they're busy fighting your teammates, take them out one by one from behind. The silenced kills and instant diaguising can let you backstab multiple enemies unnoticed. Have a disguise already as you approach a Sentry nest guarded by an Engineer and you can backstab the Engineer there then easily sap his buildings, since the disguise is quick enough that sentries doesn't notice it.

====Conniver's Kunai====

The Conniver's Kunai leaves the Spy with 65 less health, but let's him take all the health of his enemy, being able to overheal up to 180 max health. The weapon makes you extremely fragile with just 60 health, so be careful of spycheckers and use cloak to infiltrate the enemy base. This weapon is useful for taking out high health classes like heavies, as backstabbing one instantly gives you the full overheal. Being able to backstab multiple enemies quickly can let you survive longer than conventional Spies, as the heal can negate the damage dealt and being in constant overheal is considerably higher than a normal Spy's 125 health, which is almost never overhealed. Still, be '''very''' careful when using this weapon, as a quick Flamethrower burn, a stray explosive or a melee attack can easily kill you in one hit unbuffed.

====Saxxy====

The Saxxy is similar to the Knife, but dead foes turn into Australium statues. This feature is merely cosmetic, thus all strategy for the Knife is also applicable here.

====Big Earner====

The Big Earner reduces your health to 100, but backstabbing enemies gives you 30% of your cloak back. This is a tradeoff weapon, as it allows you to escape better but with less health. Use this knife when you're going for aggresive and risky backstabbing, so that you can escape and find another victim easier. It is recommended that you use the Cloak and Dagger or the Dead Ringer, as these watches benefit from the increased cloak more.

===PDA 2===

====Invisibility Watch====

The cloak is another of the Spy's standard abilities. By default, right-clicking activates your cloak, which renders you fully invisible to the enemy while only partially visible to your teammates. When cloaked, you can't use any weapon. Taking damage or bumping into enemies reveal a faint outline which may give away your location. Taking ammo replenishes your cloak.

====Cloak and Dagger====

The Cloak and Dagger is more useful for situations where lots of movement is not necessary. Walking drains the cloak faster than the usual Watch, but standing still regenerates it. Your sillouette is visible to enemies when you move while cloaked, so try to limit your movement. You can't use ammo to replenish your cloak, so try staying still when your cloak is running out.

====Dead Ringer====

The Dead Ringer makes you feign death at the next attack when you have it out. A fake corpse will be produced and you will be fully cloaked upon activation. You have a 90% reduction in damage taken from the activation shot and 6 seconds after cloaking. That means you can survive normally lethal attacks like a critical rocket or a headshot. You will also not reveal a faint outline when bumping into enemies during these 6 seconds. Activating the Dead Ringer while already on fire extinguishes it. However, it's decloak noice is loud and distinct, which may enable the enemy to realise that you're using the Dead Ringer. You can recharge your cloak with ammo, allowing you to stay cloaked longer.

====Enthusiast's Timepiece====

This cloak has exactly the same attributes as the Invincibility Watch, so refer to it's strategy section. Do note that the timer on the watch itself isn't accurate, so check your HUD cloak meter to determine your cloak time left.

====The Saharan Spy====

This set eliminates the problem of Dead Ringer's loud decloak noise, as well as completely silencing his other watches. However, bumping into enemies, getting hit by enemy fire will make you vsible longer, so it is recommended that you take the Dead Ringer for this set. When using the Dead Ringer, it is useful to feign death to get behind enemy lines for your disguise. When discovered, you can quickly feign death and later fire your L'Etranger to regenerate your cloak quickly so that you can feign death again.

====The Man of Honor====

This weapon combination allows you to deal a lot of damage and escape easily. The Dead Ringer is the best watch for this set, as it negates the Enforcer's penalty, making it plainly a stronger Revolver. It also allows you to survive with your reduced health by reducing damage with feigned deaths.