Spy

Spy
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Basic Information
Icon:
Type:	Support
Health:	125 /185 (See Health below for further details)
Speed:	107% (See Speed below for further details)
Meet the Spy

“

This Spy has already breached our defenses... You've seen what he's done to our colleagues! And worst of all: He could be any one of us. — The BLU Spy on the RED Spy

”

Hailing from an indeterminate region of France, the Spy is an enthusiast of sharp suits and even sharper knives. Using a unique array of cloaking watches, he can render himself invisible or even feign his own death, letting him infiltrate enemy lines with little chance of detection. His Disguise Kit lets him impersonate any class on either team. With enough skill in the art of deception, the Spy can momentarily fool enemies with his disguise, lulling them into a false sense of security. When the time is right, he can emerge from the woodwork to strike a killing blow, stabbing his unsuspecting "teammate" in the back. A backstab with any of the Spy's knives will kill most foes in a single hit — provided they are not under the effects of any type of invulnerability.

In addition to being able to swiftly assassinate key enemies, the Spy can disable and destroy Engineer-constructed buildings with his Sapper. Once attached, the Sapper disables and slowly drains health from the enemy building, eventually resulting in its destruction. However, a Sapper can be removed by an Engineer, or Pyro wielding the Homewrecker, Maul, or Neon Annihilator.

The Spy has the unique ability to use enemy Dispensers while disguised, and use enemy Teleporters at any time, enabling him to replenish his health and ammo behind enemy lines and enter Engineer nests undetected. Should any enemy be unfortunate enough to be standing on a Teleporter exit as the Spy teleports, they will be telefragged and die instantly. However, the Spy still collides with enemy buildings, even when disguised.

Medics can both heal and apply ÜberCharge effects to disguised enemy Spies. Particularly adept Spies can use this to their advantage by coercing enemy Medics into healing them, allowing him to more easily pull off stabs amidst a group of enemies.

Whereas most players can only see the names and health of their teammates, the Spy can observe the names and health of the enemy team as well (an ability unique to the Spy and a Medic carrying the Solemn Vow), allowing him to relay useful intelligence and coordinate team pushes. This synergizes well with his cloaking ability, which makes him ideal for identifying and calling out enemy positions and upcoming pushes. A skilled Spy can apply pressure from behind the enemy whilst the rest of his team pushes from the front, resulting in a pinch that any uncoordinated team will find difficult to escape from.

The Spy is voiced by Dennis Bateman.

Bio

Name: Unknown Location of origin: France Job: Uncloak & Dagger Motto: "..." Contraptions: Disguise Kit / Cloaking Watch Emblems:    Description: He is a puzzle, wrapped in an enigma, shrouded in riddles, lovingly sprinkled with intrigue, express mailed to Mystery, Alaska, and LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU! but it is too late. You're dead. For he is the Spy - globetrotting rogue, lady killer (metaphorically) and mankiller (for real).

Health

Main articles: Health, Overheal

Class	Health	Overheal	Quick-Fix Overheal
Spy	125	185	158
With the Big Earner equipped	100	150	126
With Conniver's Kunai equipped	70	105	89
Maximum overheal from Conniver's Kunai backstabs	N/A	210	N/A

Speed

Main article: Speed

Condition	Normal	Backward	Crouched	Swimming
Spy	107 %	96 %	36 %	85 %
Disguised as a Scout	107 %	96 %	36 %	85 %
Disguised as a Soldier	80 %	72 %	27 %	64 %
Disguised as a Pyro	100 %	90 %	33 %	80 %
Disguised as a Demoman	93 %	84 %	31 %	75 %
Disguised as a Heavy	77 %	69 %	26 %	61 %
Disguised as a Engineer	100 %	90 %	33 %	80 %
Disguised as a Medic	107 %	96 %	36 %	85 %
Disguised as a Sniper	100 %	90 %	33 %	80 %

Basic strategy

Main articles: Spy tips, Spy strategy

• Use your knife to backstab enemies from behind, killing them instantly.
• Disguise yourself as an enemy with your Disguise Kit. Beware; attacking will remove your disguise.
• Hit MOUSE2 to cloak and become fully invisible for a short period of time.
• Use your Cloak to get behind enemy lines, and your disguise to move around amongst them.
• Try to act like an enemy while disguised. Observe where enemy team members are, and disguise as one of them.
• Place your Electro Sappers on enemy Sentry Guns in order to destroy them. Note that disguises are not lost when placing Sappers.
• Your Electro Sappers disable Sentry Guns before destroying them. Sap a Sentry Gun before attacking the Engineer.
• Call for enemy Medics by hitting E while disguised.

Weapons

Main article: Weapons

Note: Weapon damage is approximate and listed at base value. See individual weapon pages for additional figures.

Secondary

Weapon	Kill icon	Ammo Loaded	Ammo Carried	Damage Range	Notes / Special Abilities
Stock Revolver		6	24	Base: 40 Crit: 120
Promotional Big Kill
Unlock Ambassador		6	24	Base: 34 Crit: 54-102	Critical hits are guaranteed for headshots.  Accuracy decreases after initial shot. Has a short 1 second cooldown during which it never crits.  –15% damage penalty.  20% slower firing speed.  No random critical hits.  Critical damage is affected by range.
Craft L'Etranger		6	24	Base: 32 Crit: 96	+40% cloak duration  On hit: adds 15% charge to cloak.  –20% damage penalty.
Craft Enforcer		6	24	Base: 40 Crit: 120	+20% damage bonus while disguised.  Attacks pierce damage resistance effects and bonuses.  20% slower firing speed.  No random critical hits.
Promotional Diamondback		6	24	Base: 34 Crit: 102	Earns 1 crit shot for each backstab kill and each building destroyed with a Sapper attached (can hold up to 35).  –15% damage penalty.  No random critical hits.

Melee

Weapon	Kill icon	Ammo Loaded	Ammo Carried	Damage Range	Notes / Special Abilities
Stock Knife		N/A	N/A	Base: 40 Backstab: 6× victim's health
Promotional Prinny Machete
Distributed Saxxy					Limited item from the Replay Update.  Killed enemies freeze into solid Australium statues (purely cosmetic feature).
Distributed Golden Frying Pan					Limited item from the Two Cities Update.  Killed enemies freeze into solid Australium statues (purely cosmetic feature).
Promotional Sharp Dresser
Promotional Black Rose
Craft Your Eternal Reward		N/A	N/A	Base: 40 Backstab: 6× victim's health	Upon a successful backstab, the Spy instantly disguises as the backstab victim.  Victims do not make any noise when dying.  Victims' bodies disappear after being stabbed.  If backstabbed, victims' death will not be shown in the killfeed for other enemies.  +33% cloak drain rate.  Normal disguises require (and consume) a full cloak meter.
Craft Wanga Prick
Promotional Conniver's Kunai		N/A	N/A	Base: 40 Backstab: 6× victim's health	On Backstab: Absorbs the health from your victim (minimum gain of 75 health points). Can overheal up to 300% of Spy's (reduced) health, i.e. up to 210 health points.  –55 max health on wearer.
Craft Big Earner		N/A	N/A	Base: 40 Backstab: 6× victim's health	Upon a kill, the Spy gains 30% of his cloak meter.  Gain a 3 second speed boost on kill.  –25 max health on wearer.
Craft Spy-cicle		N/A	N/A	Base: 40 Backstab: 6× victim's health	On Hit by Fire: Fireproof for 1 second and afterburn immunity for 10 seconds.  Backstab turns victim to ice.  Melts in fire, regenerates in 15 seconds and by picking up ammo.

Taunt attack

	Associated items	Description	Kill Icon
	Knife  Your Eternal Reward  Conniver's Kunai  Saxxy  Big Earner  Wanga Prick  Black Rose  Golden Frying Pan  Prinny Machete	Main article: Fencing The Spy puts his weapon to his other hand and assumes a Fencing position. He makes two quick slashes and one thrust while saying either: "I'm going to gut you like a Cornish game hen." "Just lay your weapons down and walk away."

Primary PDA

Weapon	Kill icon	Ammo Loaded	Ammo Carried	Damage Range	Notes / Special Abilities
Stock Primary PDA Disguise Kit	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Allows the Spy to disguise himself as an enemy or a friendly player.

Secondary PDA

Weapon	Kill icon	Ammo Loaded	Ammo Carried	Damage Range	Notes / Special Abilities
Stock Secondary PDA Invis Watch	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Cloak type: Timed  Cloaks Spy for 10 seconds.  Cloak meter can be refilled from ammo sources.
Promotional Secondary PDA Enthusiast's Timepiece
Promotional Secondary PDA Quäckenbirdt
Unlock Secondary PDA Cloak and Dagger	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Cloak type: Motion sensitive  While standing still, cloaks Spy indefinitely and slowly refills cloak meter .  Has +100 % cloak recharge rate.  Cloak meter can not be refilled by ammo boxes while invisible.  -35% cloak meter from ammo boxes.  Cloak consumption rate varies depending on the type of movement you use (see Function Times for more information).  User can still stay partially cloaked once the cloak meter runs out.
Unlock Secondary PDA Dead Ringer	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Cloak type: Feign death  Cloaks Spy for 7 seconds upon receiving damage, dropping a fake corpse.  Reduces initial damage by 75%, then upcoming damage by 65% to 20% after 3 seconds.  50% faster cloak recharge rate.  +40% cloak duration.  Grants a 3 second speed boost upon receiving damage.  Feign Death stealth has no bump shimmer for 3 seconds.  Ammo kits and dispensers do not refill the Spy's cloak meter.  Has a loud, distinctive decloak sound.  Triggering feign death will lower the cloak meter to 50%.  Cloak meter must be fully charged to use.

Building

Weapon	Kill icon	Ammo Loaded	Ammo Carried	Damage Range	Notes / Special Abilities
Stock Building Sapper		N/A	N/A	N/A	Disables and slowly destroys enemy Engineer buildings.
Promotional Building Ap-Sap
Uncrate Building Snack Attack
Promotional Building Red-Tape Recorder		N/A	N/A	N/A	Disables enemy Engineer buildings.  Reverses enemy building construction.  Does not damage buildings.  Takes longer than the stock Sapper to nullify an Engineer building (see Function Times for more information).

Item sets

Main article: Item sets

The Saharan Spy
	L'Etranger Your Eternal Reward Familiar Fez
Effect	Extra effects when taunting.

The Man of Honor
	Enforcer Big Earner Cosa Nostra Cap Made Man
Effect	No effect

The Invisible Rogue
	Under Cover Griffin's Gog Intangible Ascot
Effect	No effect

The Gravelpit Emperor
	Candyman's Cap Bountiful Bow Bozo's Brogues
Effect	No effect

The Automatic Pilot Pack
	Aviator Assassin Sky Captain
Effect	No effect

Cosmetic items

Main articles: Cosmetic items, List of Spy cosmetics, List of All class cosmetics

Official class avatars

Official class avatars
Original set	RED ÜberCharged set	BLU ÜberCharged set
Get TF2 avatars on Steam: Original

Achievements

Main article: Spy achievements Spy pack: 38 achievements, 3 milestones. 1 General achievement.

Update history

October 31, 2007 Patch

• Medi Gun no longer continues to heal enemy Spies who have lost their disguise.

February 19, 2008 Patch

• Fixed a case where a spy stabbing from the front of a player would score a backstab.

February 28, 2008 Patch

• [Undocumented] Added "Toggle Disguise Team" binding in Options->Keyboard to toggle the disguise team for the Spy's PDA.

May 21, 2009 Patch (Sniper vs. Spy Update)

• Added 70 Spy voice lines.
• Added 38 Spy achievements.

June 23, 2009 Patch

• [Undocumented] Fixed a bug where a fake Spy hand would appear on the screen of other players.

December 17, 2009 Patch (WAR! Update)

• Added more backstab animations.
• Alternative Spy disguise menu, which lets you choose disguises using just the 1-3 keys.

December 18, 2009 Patch

• Fixed Spies being able to build dispensers.

January 13, 2010 Patch

• Added backstab death animation.

April 29, 2010 Patch (119th Update)

• Fixed Engineers & Spies being able to circumvent build restrictions.

September 30, 2010 Patch (Mann-Conomy Update)

• [Undocumented] Added unused "Hi-five" taunt.

April 14, 2011 Patch (Hatless Update)

• Added training for the Spy.

August 18, 2011 Patch (Manno-Technology Bundle)

• Fixed disguised Spies showing their critboost status.

March 12, 2013 Patch

• Fixed the Spy not holding Sappers correctly in third person.

July 12, 2013 Patch

• Fixed the Spy getting the afterburn immunity while disguised as Demoman wielding the Chargin' Targe.

February 7, 2014 Patch

• Added missing payload audio for the Medic, Soldier, Demoman, and Spy.

June 11, 2014 Patch

• Fixed several cosmetic items not cloaking properly for the Spy
• Fixed bug where Spy was unable to taunt with the Disguise Kit

December 12, 2014 Patch

• Fixed Halloween footstep spells being displayed for disguised Spies.

December 23, 2014 Patch

• Fixed disguised Spies using the incorrect grapple color.
• Fixed the Resist powerup shield drawing for Spies while they are invisible.
• Fixed the Resist powerup shield using the wrong color for disguised Spies.
• Fixed not seeing the powerup icons for disguised Spies.

January 27, 2015 Patch

• Fixed a client crash related to Spies disguising as players and then switching their disguise weapon.

July 2, 2015 Patch (Gun Mettle Update)

• Spy no longer smacks himself in the face while reloading a revolver (New Spy revolver reload animation that does not block cross hair).
• Changing to a new disguise while already under a disguise takes 0.5 seconds instead of the normal disguise time of 2 seconds.
• In the disguise menu, pressing 'reload' will also toggle the disguise team.
• While invisible, Spy receives 20% less damage from all damage sources.
• While invisible, Spy has reduced timer on debuffs (fire, jarate, milk, bleed).
• Decreased the damage penalty on Sentries sapped by the Spy from -66% to -33% (i.e. shooting a Sentry the Spy sapped with a Revolver is now more effective).

July 7, 2016 Patch

• Max speed increased to 320 (from 300).

July 28, 2016 Patch

• Fixed Spy cloak causing the HUD 3D Character to cloak for the player the Spy is disguised as.

December 3, 2020 Patch (Smissmas 2020)

• Updated Spy invis materials with community fixes from Liam Stone (boba).

December 9, 2020 Patch

• Updated Spy invis materials with community fixes from Liam Stone (boba).

December 11, 2020 Patch

• Fixed the Spy's arms not cloaking.

June 21, 2022 Patch

• Fixed an exploit where a Spy could disguise and create an invisible bullet blocking shield at their feet.
• Fixed the Spy using incorrect disguise weapons when disguising as Soldier, Pyro, Heavy or Engineer with no member of the same class on the opposing team.

August 11, 2022 Patch

• Fixed the Spy being able to disguise after picking-up the intelligence.

Bugs

Image of a Spy disguised as an Engineer, holding an Ambassador

• Sometimes, the class the Spy is disguised as appears to be carrying invisible or transparent weapons to players on the enemy team. This also includes weapons worn on players, such as the Gunboats or Ali Baba's Wee Booties.
• When removing a disguise in third person, the cosmetic items of the player the Spy is disguised as appear on the Spy for a split second.
• Rarely, disguised Spies can have missing bodygroups. This can cause situations such as a headless Pyro, or a hatless Scout.
• When a Spy is disguised as a Sniper with the Huntsman or Fortified Compound equipped, arrows do not appear in the Sniper's quiver.
• If a disguised Spy dies, their player model goes into a reference pose when ragdolling.
• If a Spy disguises and then removes their disguise while wearing any item that goes in the bip_head bone (i.e. most items with the Hat equip region), the Spy's equipped hat becomes slightly out of sync with their movement, occasionally clipping on the character's player model.
• Sometimes, the Spy's left hand moving animation is faster than its default speed when the player is moving. This issue can be fixed by recording a demo (type "record x" in console, replacing x with the name of the demo) and quickly stopping it (typing "stop" in console).

Trivia

• The Spy's voice actor Dennis Bateman also voices the Pyro class.
• The idea of Spy originally came from a Quake glitch, which caused players of the enemy team to appear as allies.
• A common running joke and theory is that the Spy is the Scout's father.
  • This is inferred from official media such as the Meet the Spy short and in-game domination lines introducing Spy's liaisons with Scout's mother.
  • Official comics further play into this speculation, with the Heavy giving a passing comment that the Scout's father "disappears often", and "The Naked and the Dead" comic showing the Spy giving comfort to a dying Scout, even calling him "son" while disguised as Tom Jones, and grieving when Scout dies.
• The character has made some game crossovers:
  • The Spy makes an appearance in Worms: Reloaded as one of the forts; the rest of the fort is composed of Gravel Pit. In addition, the Spy's red balaclava is a selectable hat for the player's worms.
  • Just like the rest of the classes, the Spy makes an appearance in the Saints Row: The Third in the form of a wearable head mask.
  • The Assassin class of Monday Night Combat has a promotional item with the Spy's disguise mask and the Scout's headset named "Bonk! Slash!".
  • The Spy, together with the Heavy and Pyro, feature as a single character named "Team Fortress" in the PC version of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Spy flies the airplane.
  • In Poker Night at the Inventory, an image of the Spy makes a cameo as the Jack of Diamonds in the "Poker Night" and "Poker Night Alternative" decks.
• The Spy is known to speak phrases in French, Spanish and Italian.
• The Spy has an English accent in his French voice lines.
• The first BLU team Spy resembled Fu Manchu.
• According to the Ap-Sap's dialogue, the Spy keeps his knife, Revolver and Sapper in a pocket of his suit.
• According to the Spy, his tie is made of silk and costs US$9,000, while dialogue in The Naked and the Dead reveals the Spy's suit to be a US$10,000 custom-tailored Louis Crabbemarché jacket.
  • Crabbemarché loosely translates to "crab walking", a reference to the Spycrab fad.

Gallery

• 

  Concept art of the Spy.

• 

  Concept art of the Spy.

• 

  Trading card front.

• 

  Trading card back.

• 

  The Spy's Mafia Monday mugshot from the Über Update.

• 

  Steam Trading Card

• 

  Steam Profile Background

• 

  Updated Class Portrait BLU

• 

  Updated Class Portrait

• 

  Spy's Arsenal

• 

  Spy's Class Card

• 

  Spy's Appearance in the Main Menu

• 

  Spy's Appearance as a Zombie in the Main Menu during Halloween

• 

  The Spy Jack of Diamonds card from Poker Night at The Inventory.

• 

  The Spy Jack of Diamonds card from Poker Night at The Inventory.

• 

  Contract drawer photo.

Related merchandise

• 

  Spy Poster As Shown In The Valve Store

• 

  T-Shirt Art of Assassination

• 

  Spy vs. Sniper poster

• 

  Spy Class Decal, White

• 

  Spy Class Decal, Black

See also

• Disguise
• Cloak
• Backstab
• Spy match-ups
• Anti-Spy strategy
• Spy taunts
• Spy responses
• Spy voice commands
• Basic Spy strategy
• Community Spy strategy
• Spy (Classic)

External links

• Spy page on the Official TF2 Website
• The Sniper vs. Spy Update
• TF2 Official Blog - Sniper vs. Spy Update, Day 5
• TF2 Official Blog - Day 6 Spy Update Hooray!
• TF2 Official Blog - Sniper vs. Spy Update, Day 7
• TF2 Official Blog - The Sniper vs. Spy Update
• TF2 Official Blog - Neat Community Creations (Spy Update Hoax)