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Crovax guide to the awesomeness that is spy
I’ll divide this guide into a couple of sections
1. Introduction to the spy
2. Weapons and Tools
3. What disguise?
4. How should I play
5. A class vs class battle
1. Introduction to the spy
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 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... well you might. Anyways, the spy is a fun class to play, but to play it to its best qualities you require the following:
A. Knowledge of the map, do you know where the nooks and crannies are, where you can unstealth without being seen or change disguise. Map knowledge can help a lot. Also try to create a picture for yourself of where the chokepoints are and what the best places are to strike.
B. 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.
C. 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. This is of course very tricky, because most of the time you’ll be playing against complete strangers. Still after a bit of playing you should have a good idea for who you should watch out.
D. Patience. Patience is a virtue. Sometimes you can backstab someone but it will be better to hang back and let more of the enemy rush up towards the frontline fighting. So if a heated battle takes place and they are all occupied you can strike and deal a devastating blow to their offense. The spy can really swing the tide of a battle, a couple of backstabs taking out some soldiers and heavies can make all the difference for your own team.
E. Able to judge and interpret situations fast
F. Willing to take one for the team (take down that heavy so the assault has an easier time, but gets me killed..)
2. Weapons and tools
- Revolver
You start out with this gun, and it’s a really good gun. A lot of spies make the fatal mistake of ignoring the revolver while it is a very awesome weapon. . 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.
- Knife
This is the weapon most people have out at all times, if you strike someone in the back with it you will instantly kill them. The melee range is shorter than other melee weapons and the damage is low though. So try to reserve it for backstabbingt only since 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!
- Sapper
Used to take down buildings that engineers build. It will not instantly kill the building, but slowly start destroying it. While the sapper is active the building will go inactive, thus turrets will deactivate. Engineers can destroy the sapper with two hits of the wrench though.
- Disguise Kit
This is the thing you use, to impersonate a member of the other team. You can select any of the classes, but some are better than others. You also have a taunt available on this item. Friendly team members will see you wearing a cardboard mask, the opponent team will see you as the class you picked from the disguise kit.
- Stealth watch
This little gadget is always available and it will make you disappear from the face of the earth. You’ll have limited time of invisibility, very useful to get behind lines or to make a retreat. Keep in mind that any shots that hit you or people that bump into you will make your stealth flicker. So try to avoid everything.
3.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 laziness. Downside is that everyone knows (or at least now does) that this disguise gets used a lot. The new flamethrower weapon doesn’t look that much different from the old one either, so even if everyone is using that it won’t be that noticeable.
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). Still the speed limit is a real downside, and faster classes might brush against you and notice that they can’t pass through you. That will be a dead give away you are a spy.
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 will be wearing a disguise and have their knife out. While you would be “undisguised†and walking around with a revolver. 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.
Now this might sound weird, but you should really view the disguise as your last defence against getting spotted as a spy. It is far better to stay out of sight completely and be on the fringes of people’s views. They won’t take as much notice, as people who are in sight and close by have a good chance of getting spychecked. The disguise is really usefull, but staying out of sight is even better.
4. How should I play?
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 and plain easier to stab. 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. Backstabbing faster classes is difficult in a fight, while it can be done you are better of killing the slower classes to maximize your effect on the battle. After all a heavy can take a load of rockets but only 1 stab, while a scout will die within 2 rockets. Medics are always nice to target as well, but hard to get proper backstabs on when there is a battle raging.
Anyhow, I usually play my spy like this.
1. Advance to the frontline
2. stealth past the frontline/â€no mans land†basically the contested area
3a. Strike your targets, if there are multiple enemies still in front of you keep trying to stab more but keep running towards your own side even if you fail the stab. While making your retreat, turn around and take out the revolver. Use this to fire away at anyone who still might be chasing you. Like I said earlier you should not underestimate the power of the gun. Once you get past “no mans land†you can heal up and redo the whole thing.
3b. Strike your targets, if none are left alive and nobody else saw you redisguise and stealth to a different location from where you can strike again.
5. The spy vs <insert class here>
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. 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 but that goes for all classes of course.
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 .
Once you get more experienced you can take on pyro’s quite easily as well. Try sneaking up behind and stabbing works like usual but sometimes that’s not a possibility. The revolver is again an awesome gun here, you move just as fast as the pyro so he won’t be able to catch you. Basically what happens is, you stabbed someone and a pyro noticed he starts coming for you. You start running away while backpedaling and fire your revolver just outside the range of his flamethrower. He might pull out the shotgun, but you’ll still have the advantage. The revolver always does full damage on a hit, while the shotgun will only do partial damage because pellets will miss.
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 (no pun intended) 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. Most of the time he will have other people behind him so it might be wise to immediately keep on running towards your own side.
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.
Okay thats it for now, perhaps if I think of some other stuff later I will add it.
Version 1.0
Version 1.1 of the guide. (added weapon section)
Version 1.2 of the guide (Added a small extra part to the vs pyro situation, little restructuring and a small bit of clarification about the acting as n00b)
Version 1.3 of the guide, changed structure and added some extra comments and advice.
_________________
Da boyz need themselves a Nob they do
Last edited by Crovax20 on 21 Jun 2008, 17:17, edited 6 times in total.
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