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 only occur when standing on an enemy Teleporter exit or a friendly Teleporter 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 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 particularly 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 Electro 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.
Demonstration
Update history
[Unknown Date]
- Telefrags are now credited to the player teleporting, not to the Teleporter Exit.
- Fixed Spies not being telefragged when standing on an enemy teleporter exit with the Dead Ringer enabled.
- 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.
- The term "telefrag" itself was coined by the community of id Software's earlier title, Doom. "Frag" is the word used for the point awarded for a kill in the Doom and Quake series.
- Telefragging an enemy as a Soldier will fully charge the Buff Banner's rage meter and charge most of the Concheror's. This is because it is the teleporting player, not the Teleporter itself, that deals damage to the telefragged player (approximately 1000 damage).
- In fact it would load the Buff Banner rage meter one time and half, since it needs 600 damage to be done to be fully loaded.
- Telefrags must deal at least 1850 damage, as even fully overhealed Spies arming the Dead Ringer are killed instantly. Even with the Dead Ringer's 90% damage reduction, 1250 would still kill him instantly.
- 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"/"You have been killed by the Teleporter Exit of the late X".
- It is possible to telefrag multiple players if they are near enough to the exit.
