Razorback

“

Backstab that, ya snake! Click to listen — The Sniper

”

The Razorback is an unlockable secondary weapon for the Sniper class. It is a hand-carved tribal shield, with a car battery taped to the back.

When equipped, this weapon grants the player resistance to a single backstab from a Spy, with said Spy being disabled for approximately 2 seconds and unable to switch weapons. During this period, the player will be alerted to this by a large electrical sound played, at which he can retaliate. Upon a single backstab, the Razorback will break and be unusable until respawn or the player going to a resupply cabinet.

Damage

See also: Damage

None. The Razorback instead blocks one backstab attempt.

Function times

• Knife 'Lock-up': 2

All times are in seconds. Times are approximate and determined by community testing.

Related Achievements

Sniper

Shock Treatment Kill a Spy whose backstab attempt was blocked by your Razorback.

Spy

Die Another Way Kill a Sniper after your backstab breaks his Razorback.

Previous Changes

• Originally, using the Razorback slowed the Sniper down to 85% of his original speed. This effect has subsequently been removed, as lacking a secondary weapon is a rather substantial downside.

Trivia

• The Razorback resembles a mid-20th Century Queensland Rainforest tribal shield.[1]
• 'Razorback' is also the name of a minor Spiderman villain who coincidentally enough, uses electricity to ward off foes who sneak up from behind. [2]
• It is also a term for a feral pig. Feral pigs are an environmental problem in Australia, giving the word a (somewhat tenuous) connection to the Sniper. A horror film of the same name was made too, about a gigantic version of one of these boars terrorizing the local outback.
• A bug exists to do with alt-tabbing (switching from TF2 to other windows and back) that renders some people's Razorbacks invisible to the player who has alt tabbed (this can also occur when a server's connection to the steam servers is faulty or sporadic). In this situation, it becomes impossible to tell if a Sniper has the Razorback equipped unless you previously see them use Jarate or the SMG.
• The Razorback is the only item in Team Fortress 2, aside from the Electro Sapper, that only has an effect on one class (The Spy).
• The Razorback always has a red colored stripe, whether the Sniper wearing it is on BLU or RED.
• The Razorback bears a scar caused by the Spy's unsuccessful attempt to backstab the Sniper on day three of the Sniper Vs Spy Update. This implies that a brand-new Razorback would be able to withstand two backstabs. Or, alternatively, the Sniper recharged the battery after day three of the update.

See also

• Razorback strategy