Spy weapons (competitive)

This article is for competitive play, based on the standard community competitive format.
The community competitive scene changes frequently. Some or all info may be outdated.

Some Spy weapons may be banned in your league. For a list of banned weapons, please see the Weapon Ban List.

The Spy is a class highly dependent on his stealth abilities to take out enemies behind cover with a backstab.

Primary Weapons

The Spy's primary weapons provide him with his only long-range damage, and are mostly used to cover a retreat. All of the Spy's primary weapons will be perfectly accurate if unfired for 1.25 seconds.

Revolver

The stock Revolver deals decent amounts of damage, and can be good to pick off a low-health enemy at range.

The Big Kill has the same stats as the Revolver.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Revolver	Point-Blank: 60 512 units: 40 Over 1024 units: 21	Critical: 120 Point-Blank Mini-crit: 81 Over 512 units Mini-crit: 54	Attack: 0.58s Reload: 1.16s	Stock primary weapon.

The Ambassador

The Ambassador deals reduced damage alongside a slower firing speed, but deals critical damage on a Headshot.

Weapon	Damage	Critical hits|Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Ambassador	Point-Blank: 51 512 units: 34 Over 1024 units: 18	Critical: 102 Point-Blank Mini-crit: 69 Over 512 units Mini-crit: 46	Attack: 0.696 Reload: 1.16 Cooldown until perfect accuracy: 0.95s	Accuracy is based on the time since the last shot. Deals critical damage on an accurate headshot. 15% damage penalty. 20% slower firing speed.

L'Etranger

The L'Etranger deals -20% damage, but provides +40% more of the Spy's total cloak and refills 15% cloak on each successful hit.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
L'Etranger	Point-Blank: 48 512 units: 32 Over 1024 units: 17	Critical: 96 Point-Blank Mini-crit: 65 Over 512 units Mini-crit: 43	Attack: 0.58s Reload: 1.16s	Adds 15% Cloak on hit. Adds 40% total cloak. 20% damage penalty.

Diamondback

The Diamondback deals reduced damage, but stores and deals critical hits for every building sapped and every enemy you kill with a Backstab.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Diamondback	Point-Blank: 51 512 units: 34 Over 1024 units: 18	Critical: 102 Point-Blank Mini-crit: 69 Over 512 units Mini-crit: 46	Attack: 0.58s Reload: 1.16s	Gives one guaranteed critical hit for each building destroyed. 15% damage penalty. Gives one guaranteed critical hit for each backstab.

Enforcer

The Enforcer deals increased damage while disguised, at the cost of slower firing speed. The Enforcer is often banned in many leagues.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Enforcer	Point-Blank: 72 512 units: 48 Over 1024 units: 25	Critical: 144 Point-Blank Mini-crit: 97 Over 512 units Mini-crit: 65	Attack: 0.696s Reload: 1.16s	20% damage bonus while disguised. 20% slower firing speed.

Primary Weapon Usage

The stock Revolver can quickly deal with low-health players. The Ambassador can help put damage on, or even take out certain classes with a Headshot. The L'Etranger provides additional Cloak for a better get-away. The Diamondback is useful in the presence of Engineers. The Enforcer provides increased damage, useful for taking down classes with more health, but with a slower shooting speed. The Ambassador tends to be used, due to the possibility of increased damage with a Headshot, but the stock Revolver sees a lot of use due to consistent damage.

Secondary Weapons

The secondary weapons available to the Spy allow him to disable or destroy sentry nests to enable his teammates to help take out enemy buildings. This allows the team to push further and saves having other classes such as the Soldier risk their lives to destroy a troublesome Level 3 Sentry Gun when they are needed for the final stretch of the push.

Sapper

The Spy's stock Sapper gradually reduces the health of a building. When applied to a teleporter, it will sap both the entrance and the exit.

The Ap-Sap has the same stats as the stock Sapper.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Sapper	DPS: 25	N/A	Level 1 Building: 6.00s Level 2 Building: 7.20s Level 3 Building: 8.64s Combat Mini-sentry: 4s	Removed by two hits from a Wrench or Neon Annihilator. Removed by one hit from the Homewrecker or Maul. The Spy's revolvers deal less damage to a building which is being sapped. Buildings are disabled while being sapped.

Red-Tape Recorder

The Red-Tape Recorder rewinds the building process of buildings. It then reduces the level 1 building into a toolbox, and reduces its health. The toolbox can be collected as a large ammo pickup.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Red-Tape Recorder	DPS: 0	N/A	Level 3 Sentry Gun to Level 2: 3.4s Level 2 Sentry Gun to Level 1: 3.4s Level 1 Sentry Gun to Toolbox: 10.7s Combat Mini-sentry to Toolbox: 10.5s Level 3 Dispenser to Level 2: 3.4s Level 2 Dispenser to Level 1: 3.4s Level 1 Dispenser to Toolbox: 21.2s Level 3 Teleporter to Level 2: 3.0s Level 2 Teleporter to Level 1: 3.0s Level 1 Teleporter to Toolbox: 21.2s	Removed by two hits from a Wrench or Neon Annihilator. Removed by one hit from the Homewrecker or Maul. The Spy's revolvers deal less damage to a building which is being sapped. Buildings are disabled while being sapped. Sapper gibs can be collected for metal, 3 metal for 4 fragments (12 total).

Secondary Weapon Usage

The Spy's Sapper is useful for taking down or disabling an Engineer's buildings to allow the team to advance.

Melee Weapons

The Spy's melee weapons are his primary source of damage. Any hit within the 180º range behind an enemy will register a Backstab, dealing six times the player's health. They deal about 60% the damage of another stock melee weapon, (compare to Scout). All of the Spy's knives except for the Spy-cicle will perform the Fencing taunt.

Knife

The stock Knife deals low damage normally, but can backstab for an instant kill.

The Sharp Dresser and the Black Rose have the same stats as the Knife.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Knife	Melee: 40 Backstab: 6 times the target's health	Critical: 120 Mini-crit: 54	Attack: 0.8s	Stock melee weapon.

Your Eternal Reward

The Your Eternal Reward deals identical damage to the stock Knife, but will cause the death of an enemy to be silent, and disguises the Spy as the fallen teammate instantly. The Spy cannot otherwise disguise.

The Wanga Prick has the same stats as the Your Eternal Reward.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Your Eternal Reward	Melee: 40 Backstab: 6 times the target's health	Critical: 120 Mini-crit: 54	Attack: 0.8s	Disables the Disguise Kit. Backstabs are silent. Corpses are hidden. Instant disguise as the killed player.

Conniver's Kunai

The Conniver's Kunai grants the Spy health on kill, at the cost of initial health. The granted health can provide overheal.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Conniver's Kunai	Melee: 40 Backstab: 6 times the target's health	Critical: 120 Mini-crit: 54	Attack: 0.8s	On backstab, grants the Spy health equivalent to the target's health. Maximum health reduced to 75 from 125. Maximum overheal reduced from 185 to 115. Maximum overheal from backstab is 210. Health provided extinguishes fire and bleeding, similar to a health pack.

The Big Earner

The Big Earner provides the Spy with 30% Cloak on backstab and a temporary speed boost, but reduces his maximum health by 25.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Big Earner	Melee: 40 Backstab: 6 times the target's health	Critical: 120 Mini-crit: 54	Attack: 0.8s	30% Cloak granted on kill. Speed boost for 3 seconds on kill. Maximum health reduced to 100 from 125. Maximum overheal reduced from 185 to 150.

Spy-cicle

The Spy-cicle kills players silently, and freezes their bodies with the Jiggle Bones effect, which is similar to the Saxxy, the Golden Wrench, and the Golden Pan, but the frozen body is made of ice, instead of Australium. If the Spy is lit on fire, or taking afterburn with it active, it will extinguish the fire, prevent additional fire damage for 1 second and afterburn damage for 10 seconds, but disable the knife for 15 seconds.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Spy-cicle	Melee: 40 Backstab: 6 times the target's health	Critical: 120 Mini-crit: 54	Attack: 0.8s Fire prevention time: 1s Afterburn prevention time: 10s Recharge time: 15s	Kills silently. Leaves ice statues rather than corpses. Will stop and prevent fire damage for 1 second after it's active. Prevents after burn for 10 seconds afterwards. Disables the knife after doing so. Uses the Revovler taunt as opposed to the Fencing taunt.

Melee Weapon Usage

The stock Knife has no health penalty, and allows the Disguise Kit. The Your Eternal Reward allows for a Spy to take out enemies silently, but voice communication can supersede this. The Conniver's Kunai can help a Spy survive after a backstab, but makes the Spy highly vulnerable. The Big Earner is useful for a better getaway, and the Spy-cicle is helpful to avoid fire damage. The stock Knife tends to be a favorite choice for its lack of downsides, although some confident players may use the Conniver's Kunai to help extinguish fire damage.

PDA Items

Disguise Kit

The Disguise Kit allows the Spy to disguise as any other player in the game.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Disguise Kit	N/A	N/A	Disguise Time: 2s Smoke Duration: 3s	Smoke will be invisible if disguising while cloaked. Disguising as a friendly Spy will drop any disguise. Speed will be reduced to match a slower speed disguised class. This occurs when disguising as a Heavy, Demoman, or Soldier. Cannot speed up the Spy to match the speed of a Medic or Scout. Speed is not affected by weapons such as the Eyelander, Gloves of Running Urgently, or the Buffalo Steak Sandvich. By re-disguising as the same class, the Spy will adjust his apparently active weapon to match the slot of the one he is using. PDA items cannot be mimicked in this way.

Invisibility Watch

The stock Invisibility Watch provides a rudimentary Cloak which can be refueled with ammunition, and drains while active.

The Enthusiast's Timepiece and the Quackenbirdt have the same stats as the Invisibility Watch.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Invisibility Watch	N/A	N/A	Cloak duration: 10s Recharge time: 33.5s Cloak enable time: 1.2s Cloak disable time: 2.2s	Can be refilled with ammunition. If disguising while cloaked, the associated smoke will be hidden. Afterburn, bleeding, Jarate, Mad Milk, and water effects will be visible while cloaked. Cloak will flicker if the Spy bumps into an enemy player, or takes damage of any kind.

Cloak and Dagger

The Cloak and Dagger has less overall Cloak than the stock Invisibility Watch, but allows the Spy to regenerate Cloak by not moving and by picking up ammo while uncloaked.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Cloak and Dagger	N/A	N/A	Walking duration: 6.2s Crouch-walking duration: 60s Recharge time: 15s Cloak enable time: 1.2s Cloak disable time: 2.2s	Can only be refilled by ammunition while uncloaked. Cloak duration based on movement speed. Cloak will flash identically to the stock Invisibility Watch. If the Cloak meter runs out while cloaked, the Cloak will flash as if the Spy had been bumped.

Dead Ringer

The Dead Ringer can be a useful tool into tricking the enemy that they have killed you or have gotten an important pick. A pick can be attempted with the enemy fooled that they have killed you, making the second attempt very easy. The Dead Ringer's loud ring can sometimes be muffled down by voice communication, but can still be easily heard by anyone completely aware that a Spy is still around. A common tactic to use with the Dead Ringer is to disguise as an important pick target of your own team, such as a Demoman, or Medic, while playing Gravel Pit offense and run out the spawn gates with it activated to fool an enemy Demoman camping the gates at the start of the round to blow his stickies.

Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
Dead Ringer	N/A	N/A	Supercloak Duration: 6.5s Cloak enable time: 0s Cloak disable time: 2.2s Recharge time: 16s	Can only be activated at 100% charge. When activated, the Dead Ringer has no immediate effect, but prevents attacks by the Spy. If the Spy is damaged in any way while active, it triggers Cloak and drops a fake corpse. The first 6.5 seconds of the Cloak are a Supercloak. Supercloak is not subject to flashes, but it will show Jarate, Mad Milk, Afterburn, and water effects. Extinguishes afterburn when activated. Reduces damage taken by 90%. Cloak can be extended with ammunition, but will not be Supercloak. Cloak drains 60% faster. Decloaking reduces the overall Cloak amount to 40% or lower. Ammunition pickups cannot refill more than 35% charge. Large and Medium pickups will refill 35%. Small pickups will refill 25%. Cloak recharges 80% faster otherwise.

PDA Items Usage

The PDA items were the Spies' essential tool to do his trickery, especially his Disguise Kit, or to conceal himself temporarily (or indefinitely, with Cloak & Dagger).

• The Invisibility Watch travels furthest, but the duration is timed, so it's best to pick the route carefully before doing so, and pick up ammo boxes to travel even further, or to refill the Cloak meter.

• The Cloak & Dagger is best used to get past large stretches with limited ammunition. It allows the Spy to maintain Cloak for a theoretically infinite duration, but has reduced distance and cannot be refilled quickly. It can also be used for better reconnaissance, to get a read on health and Übercharge levels.

• The Dead Ringer allows a Spy to bypass an otherwise impassable wall, as the supercloak functionality is extremely useful. However, it has an even shorter Cloak duration, and makes a very loud decloak noise. It can be refilled only to a limited measure by ammo, but recharges naturally at an increased rate.

The Invisibility Watch is most commonly seen, as a Spy rarely has time to sit around, and the Dead Ringer has too many erroneous mechanics and is too suspicious to be viable.