Basic Spy strategy

The Spy is a fragile class specializing in sneak attacks. He can backstab, Cloak, disguise, and sap buildings. His role is to eliminate dangerous or important targets, ruin Engineer nests, and pick off targets of opportunity.

General

• Your Cloak and Disguises take one second to become fully effective. A common error is to step into an enemy's line of sight before the change is complete.

• Disguises matter; for example, do not disguise as a sniper when you are deep in their base. Try to adjust to where you currently are on the map and which class would make the most sense to be there.

• Disguising while cloaked doesn't produce any smoke visible to the enemy team. Don't be afraid to change your disguise while invisible.

• After uncloaking, there is a cooldown period where you cannot use any equipment. Always take this into consideration before uncloaking to start a sap or attack.

• Any source of ammunition, including metal from destroyed buildings, will recharge Cloak time for the default Invisibility Watch and the Dead Ringer, even if they are active.

• Never count on Disguises. Spy-checking is easy and everyone does it constantly. Only your Cloak keeps you safe.

• Your most dangerous counter-class is the Pyro. When given the opportunity, avoid or take him out first.

• It's easiest to stab enemies distracted by a fight with your teammates. Don't approach idle players who'll take the opportunity to Spy check you.

• Spies can see enemy names and health. Use this to pick off weak foes.

• If you're behaving like a Spy, they'll know you're a Spy. For example, following people without good reason, staring at them, or standing somewhere unusual will make others suspect you.

• The more damage you do to the enemy team, the more they will become paranoid of Spies.

• Avoid running into enemies while cloaked.

• A good spy knows when to switch to another class for a while. If the other team is overly paranoid (i.e. Pyro's randomly spychecking everywhere) it is best to take a break and come back a little bit later once the dust has settled.

Weapon Specifics

A list of useful tidbits about the Spy's tools.

Revolver / Big Kill

• While not as useful as the Knife, the Revolver is an integral part of the Spy's arsenal. Most hits do similar damage to the Shotgun, and Critical hits are 120 damage.

• Use the Revolver for killing damaged enemies when backstabs are not easy or possible.

• A good scenario for using the Revolver is to sap a lone building, then shoot the Engineer when he comes to save his Building. You can also shoot the building after sapping to destroy it quicker.

• The Revolver is always 100% accurate (as accurate as a Sniper Rifle bullet) when putting a delay of 1.25 seconds between shots. Use this feature to snipe at foes.

Ambassador

• The Ambassador makes the Razorback almost entirely useless. Assuming that the Sniper is not overhealed, a single headshot followed by a regular shot is enough to kill him.

• The ability to see enemy health is invaluable with the Ambassador. When it drops below half of its base value, the health meter is shown in red. Against all classes except Heavy, this is a guaranteed headshot kill.

• A lonely Engineer building a Sentry Gun can be easily killed by the Ambassador. Shooting him first in the head and then on any body part will kill him; afterward, you simply sap the building.

• A similar tactic is to find an enemy building outside of the Sentry Gun's field of vision and sap that, then pull out the Ambassador and wait.

L'Etranger

• L'Etranger converts fire-power into potential fleeing power.

• The +15% Cloak per hit is applied regardless of the amount of damage you do to the opponent or your distance from him. A clever Spy can recharge his Cloak safely from a distance.

• Don't get too greedy. Three shots is more than enough as it gives almost half your Cloak back.

• As the Cloak and Dagger cannot be recharged by sources of ammo, the L'Etranger can be very useful in providing another source of Cloak.

• The L'Etranger pairs well with the Dead Ringer as another source to refill the Cloak quickly.

Electro Sapper

• The Electro Sapper is a tool used to take down an Engineer's buildings. There is an unlimited supply of Sappers, and there is no "reload" delay between placing them. Place them as quickly as possible.

• The Electro Sapper has a significant vertical range in addition to its horizontal range. In many instances, the Spy may be able to sap a building from well below or above it, allowing him to confuse the building's Engineer.

• The Homewrecker allows the Pyro to remove Electro Sappers from Engineer buildings. This, combined with their Flamethrower's Spy-checking ability, will make the Spy's job much harder.

• When sneaking up on an Engineer using the Wrangler, stab first, then sap. Killing the Engineer will cause his Sentry Gun to become disabled for a few precious seconds, which will be more than enough time to place an Electro Sapper.

• As a Spy, sneak up behind an Engineer repairing his Sentry Gun, backstab him, and quickly sap the gun. The Sentry takes a couple seconds to turn around, giving the Spy an ample amount of time to sap it.

• Another method would be to sap first, then stab. The average Engineer will immediately run to save his buildings before searching for the culprit, leaving himself vulnerable.

• Shooting or stabbing a Sapped building will speed up the destruction, but your weapons will do reduced damage as long as the Electro Sapper is in place.

• Holding the Mouse 1 key will allow the Spy to place an Electro Sapper faster than an Engineer can remove it. If an Engineer continues to prioritize saving his buildings instead of taking out the Spy, the Spy can successfully sap the building with ease.

• In the heat of a battle you can easily blend in and quickly sap all the engineers buildings, creating chaos and a free backstab(s) if the engineer will prioritize his buildings first.

Knife

• Always remember the Knife does pitiful damage and cannot Crit outside of backstabs and critboosts. In most scenarios, you should switch to the Revolver to fight enemies once you've been discovered.

• However, it's often easier to hit a dodging opponent with your Knife than with your gun. If only a little more damage is required to kill your enemy, the Knife makes a reliable finisher.

• While you can use disguises or binds to remove an enemy disguise, a quick swipe of the Knife into thin air is usually the fastest way to silently drop your disguise.

Your Eternal Reward

• The lack of easy disguises while using this weapon means a greater reliance upon cloaking efficiently and choosing good hiding places.

• This weapon is extremely well-suited for taking out Sentry Gun placements when you already have a disguise. You can backstab the Engineer and the Sentry Gun won't detect your presence between disguises.

• If you do not have the full Polycount set, it is a good idea to use the original default Cloak, because it produces less noise than the Cloak & Dagger. However, if you have the full Polycount set, it is a good idea to use Cloak & Dagger or Dead Ringer.

• Prior to obtaining your first disguise, look for enemies who are separated from the rest of their team. Once you stab them and obtain their identity, approach their front lines from behind.

• If you're stuck with a slower disguise (Soldier, Heavy, Demoman), remember that you can Cloak at any time to move at normal walking speed. Your disguised speed will resume when you uncloak.

• The Cloak and Dagger works well with this knife, since you can search for people to backstab and disguise without having fear of being exposed.

• Use your current disguise to your advantage and act them appropriately. Strike when appropriate and make a quick escape, greediness may result in death!

Disguise Kit

• The Disguise Kit is the Spy's major infiltration tool. See the Disguise page for more details on its use.

Invisibility Watch / Enthusiast's Timepiece

• Compared with the Dead Ringer and the Cloak and Dagger, the Invisibility Watch uses the least amount of energy and allows the furthest amount of distance while invisible.

• The margin of error with the Invisibility Watch is small given that you cannot feign your demise as with the Dead Ringer nor hide in plain sight as with the Cloak and Dagger.

• Maintain movement to decrease the likelihood of being detected and cornered.

• When detected, attempt to feign the direction in which you will retreat; begin cloaking while running in one direction, then change your heading the moment you're fully invisible.

• Grab metal where you can, when you can while cloaked. More observant enemies may detect an ammo box inexplicably disappearing but more often than not they will be too preoccupied to notice.

• When your team destroys an enemy sentry, use the fallen metal to your advantage in order to refill your cloak meter.

Cloak and Dagger

• Despite being less focused on movement, the Cloak and Dagger can be preferable to take on maps with not enough ammo boxes to get you past a large enemy front.

• The Cloak drain is based on how fast you are moving.

• Don't haunt the same area too long. It encourages enemies to Spy check for you.

• Be patient: if your cloak meter is running low, it is best to wait for a couple of seconds for it to recuperate.

• When recharging your cloak, try to find isolated corners or seek higher ground such as crates, etc. This allows you to be safe even when in a heated situation while recharging.

Dead Ringer

• The Dead Ringer makes a distinctive sound that lets all the enemies in the vicinity know that you are using the item. Try to uncloak in a safe location, then move in for the kill.

• While cloaked with the Dead Ringer, you take 90% less damage, and you do not flicker from enemy shots. Use this to your advantage when crossing chokepoints with a large amount of enemy fire.

• You can recharge your Cloak with ammo, even while cloaked. However, after 5 seconds you no longer take a reduced 90% damage.

• When on fire, don't immediately pull out the Dead Ringer. Unless you were at extremely low health, an immediate death due to fire will look suspicious, and Pyros will more than likely set you on fire again while cloaked.

• When you're bleeding with the Dead Ringer active, you won't flicker from the damage. However, the bleeding effect will still show, revealing your location to enemies.

• When falling short distances that you can survive, don't ready the Ringer. If it activates, most people will realize that you're a Spy.

The Saharan Spy

• The uncloak volume reduction this set grants you is invaluable when using the Dead Ringer.

• If an enemy sees you undisguised with the Familiar Fez equipped, they may assume you are using the full set, and they usually assume you are using the Dead Ringer or Your Eternal Reward.

• When using the Dead Ringer in conjunction with the Saharan Spy Set, an easy way to get behind enemy lines is take fall damage to activate the Dead Ringer, then move from ammo source to ammo source until a suitable backstab target can be found.

• When approaching a group of targets from behind, try to stab a faster moving class such as a Pyro, Demoman, Medic, or Sniper first. This will maintain your speed and allow you to chase down slower classes without having to drop your disguise.

See also

• Team strategy