Respawn

“

I'm back, you subnormal halfwit! Click to listen — The Spy on coming back to life

”

The term respawn may be used to refer to either the act or event of respawning, the place in which it occurs, or the reappearance of map pickups after they have been used, such as Ammo and Health packs. The game respawns players in waves in order for them to appear together with other players who died at a similar time, thus forcing them to work together. Ammo and Health kits take around 10-20 seconds to respawn.

The initial entry in which you first join a map, as well as the creation of new entities (such as the appearance of Skeletons), simply goes by the term spawn.

In Arena Mode, or when matches turn to Sudden Death Mode, players that die will not respawn until the next round has begun.

Respawn times

For exact timing measurements on all official maps, see Respawn times.

The time it takes for the respawn wave to occur after being killed, or respawn time, is variable, and a countdown is shown at the top of your HUD when your character has died. Respawn waves occur at regular intervals and are based on the map settings. Most official maps use a 10-second respawn wave time. Those 10 seconds are then modified by the map state, generally reduced for the team that controls the most capture points. Each team's respawn wave time is then scaled down when the team has less than 8 players in it. The minimum respawn wave time is 5 seconds, occurring when the team has 3 or less players in it. When you die, you are assigned to the respawn wave after the next one. Therefore, if the respawn wave time is currently 10 seconds for your team, you will respawn somewhere between 10 and 20 seconds after your death. Your individual performance does not affect the respawn wave time in any way.

Respawn wave time on a server can be altered by changing the mp_respawnwavetime variable.

Instant respawn times

Some servers feature instant respawn times where the waiting period for players to respawn is drastically reduced or even eliminated for all players. Servers can use either third-party custom plugins to enable this feature or the in-built command mp_disable_respawn_times. The amount of time between death and actual respawn can vary if the server forces the Deathcam to be displayed.

Areas

Respawn

The respawn area refers to where newly-joined and resurrected players are placed. On some maps, this may be a separate room from the resupply area. Frequently, the two areas overlap and there is no visible distinction between the two. The use of the respawn area as a separate room is frequently found on Capture the Flag maps. In this case, there are sometimes automatic double doors leading to the resupply area. These doors frequently may only be opened from the inside, and when present provide one of the few safe places during Humiliation.

You may change your class within the respawn area without committing suicide. On most maps, it is also safe to change class within the resupply area, even if they are separate rooms. The point where you respawn is randomly chosen, but on Control Point maps, it is often determined by which control points your team has control over. Note that changing classes may at times instantly place you in a different respawn area if more than one is present.

In the VPK files of Team Fortress 2, and in unused sound effects, there is a turret that may have been intended to guard the respawn area rather than the eventual invisible wall, similar to Team Fortress Classic.

Resupply

The resupply area is a room which is generally safe from opponents and provides you with Resupply lockers to replenish your health and ammunition. Depending on the map, this area may be adjacent, separate, or even overlapping to the respawn area. Most resupply areas contain one or more Resupply lockers which instantly provide full health, metal, and ammunition (including refilling all of your weapons' magazines) upon opening. They also are able to remove the effects of Jarate and Mad Milk, stop bleeding, and extinguish afterburn. Using a Resupply locker also allows players to switch between hats and/or weapons if they have already respawned, therefore eliminating the need to switch between classes in order to update your weapon loadout (unless you have the option 'Automatically respawning when you change your loadout' checked). As an honorbound Demoman or Soldier with the Half-Zatoichi out, touching a Resupply locker will allow you to switch weapons without losing health. Finally, using a Resupply locker will recharge the explosive in the Ullapool Caber, and give another Razorback to a Sniper who has been backstabbed while wearing one. To open a Resupply locker, the player must simply walk near it. Note that Resupply lockers cannot be opened during Sudden Death or by the losing team during Humiliation.

Other purely decorative objects within the resupply area may include lockers in which the various classes keep their personal belongings, free weights, and targets for practice.

Gallery

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  Resupply lockers, found in resupply areas, return players to full health and ammunition when used.

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  An open Resupply locker.

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  Resupply Locker, as seen in Pyroland.

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  An open Resupply Locker, as seen in Pyroland

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  The Medieval Mode Resupply locker used on Degroot Keep.

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  An open Medieval Mode Resupply locker.

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  The resupply locker used on Suijin.

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  An open resupply locker from Suijin.

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  The resupply locker on RED team used on Bread Space.

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  A RED team opened resupply locker from Bread Space.

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  The resupply locker on BLU team used on Bread Space.

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  A BLU team opened resupply locker from Bread Space.

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  The resupply locker used on Sinthetic.

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  An open resupply locker from Sinthetic.

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  The resupply locker used on Mannsylvania.

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  An open resupply locker from Mannsylvania.

Related achievements

 Spy

Slash and Burn Backstab an enemy, who then switches to Pyro before they respawn.

Update history

October 5, 2007 Patch

• Fixed teleporter/spawn doorway exploit.

November 15, 2007 Patch

• Fixed exploit where spectators could spawn into the world without actually joining a team.

December 31, 2007 Patch

• Fixed an exploit allowing players to spawn into the enemy territory at the start of a round.

June 25, 2009 Patch

• Fixed Bonk! ammo count exploit after using a regeneration locker.

July 14, 2009 Patch

• Fixed being able to respawn during the chat time before a level change.

September 30, 2010 Patch

• [Undocumented] Players will automatically be respawned with their loadouts if they switch weapons while in a spawn area.

March 11, 2011 Patch

• Fixed players not being able to fire their weapons right after spawning.

March 21, 2011 Patch

• Updated honor-bound weapons so they can be holstered within a second of touching a supply cabinet.

April 14, 2011 Patch (Hatless Update)

• Items in the action slot no longer swap before returning to a supply cabinet.

August 23, 2011 Patch

• Fixed supply closets regenerating players while they are taunting.

December 23, 2014 Patch

• Fixed the grapple still being connected to players after they die and respawn.

March 12, 2015 Patch

• Fixed an exploit related to Highlander mode and changing teams with instant respawn.

June 21, 2022 Patch

• Fixed an exploit where players could teleport back to their own spawn by changing loadout/class while touching the other team's No Entry gate.

Bugs

• Rarely, the player will be stuck in the respawn wave after dying. The time will reset whenever it reaches "Prepare to respawn". This can sometimes be fixed by re-selecting one's class.
• When joining a game, if the player selected a team, the player can be kicked out of the class selection. When going back to the class selection and choosing a class, the player will not respawn. Leaving the game and rejoin the server can fix this issue.
• It is possible to circumvent the disabled respawn after the round ends on the winning team by changing class after the respawn timer would have expired.
• In the PlayStation 3 version of Team Fortress 2, the spawnroom gates appear to go underground.

See also

• Death

External links

• TF2 Official Website, October 8, 2008 blog post – Explains the reasoning behind the respawn "waves" system.