Telefrag
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A Telefrag is a type of death that occurs when a player is standing on or near an Engineer's Teleporter exit as an enemy goes through it. This can either be from standing on an enemy Teleporter exit, or from standing on a friendly exit being used by an enemy spy. The player standing on the exit dies instantly, and the teleport completes successfully. It is not possible to telefrag allies unless friendly fire is enabled. Players can be telefragged regardless of whether they are ÜberCharged or not.
Telefrags are indicated with the "unspecified death" skull and crossbones icon, with the person teleporting being credited with the kill; since telefrags are relatively rare and have no signs as to one having taken place, many of them go unnoticed by bystanders.
A particularity devious Spy strategy involves sapping an Engineer's teleporter entrance and then standing on it. If the Engineer is careless and is standing on top of (or even too close to) the exit while removing the Electro Sapper, the Spy will instantly teleport the moment the sapper is removed, telefragging the Engineer and allowing the Spy to sap the Engineer's remaining buildings at his leisure. This tactic can also work in reverse; careless Spies sapping an exit may wind up being telefragged by an Engineer repairing the entrance. Similarly, Engineers can place their Teleporters at chokepoints and telefrag enemies as they walk over.
Update history
- Fixed server log not listing telefrag kills as weapon "telefrag"
Trivia
- Telefrags exist as a holdover of the old Quake/Team Fortress engine. In some maps teleportation was required to complete objectives, but a player teleporting into an enemy would result in them getting stuck inside each other. Telefrags were the solution to this problem, as the alternative - teleporters not working if an enemy is standing on the exit - was considered exploitable.
- Telefragging an enemy as a Soldier will fully charge the Buff Banner's Rage Meter. This is because it is the teleporting player, not the Teleporter itself, that deals damage to the telefragged player (approximately 1000 damage).
- In the past, telefrags were credited to the Teleporter Exit, not the player teleporting. Thus, one could have had a Deathcam that displays, "You have been killed by the Teleporter Exit of X".
- It is possible to telefrag multiple players if they are near enough to the exit.
