Knife
| Knife | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Kill Icons | |
| Basic Information | |
| Used by: | Spy |
| Slot: | Melee |
| Availability: | Stock or Uncrate #24 (Strange) |
| Nameable: | Yes |
| Craft No.?: | No |
| Medieval: | Yes |
| Available Qualities | |
| Loadout Stats | |
 Knife |
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| “ | Let's settle this like gentlemen!
Click to listen
— The Spy
|
” |
The Knife, also known as the Butterfly Knife or Balisong, is the default melee weapon for the Spy. It is a foldable Template:W with a handle clip and drop point blade.
Arguably the most recognizable and important weapon of the class, the Knife is responsible for the majority of kills made by efficient Spies. Should the player equip the weapon while within a 180° radius behind an enemy, an animation will play wherein the Spy holds the Knife aloft in a striking position. Attacking at that point will cause the player to backstab the enemy, killing them in one hit.
In any other instance, such as when used from the side or front, the Knife is one of the weakest melee weapons in the game. From these angles, the Knife deals roughly as much damage as the Scout's Bat per hit, but attacks at a slower rate. In addition, random critical hits do not occur when using the Knife. Players would therefore be well-advised to use this weapon primarily for its backstabbing feature.
When affected by a crit boost, or some other means of ensuring critical hits, attacking with the Knife will always produce the backstab animation. This weapon will only deal normal critical hit damage, as opposed to killing the victim outright, if the attack does not land within the backstab radius.
Taunting with the Knife equipped makes the Spy perform a deadly Fencing maneuver.
Contents
Damage and function times
| Damage and function times | ||
|---|---|---|
| Damage | ||
| Base damage | 100% | 40 |
| Point blank | 34-46 | |
| Backstab | 600% | |
| Critical | 120 | |
| Mini-crit | 46-62 | |
| Function times | ||
| Attack interval | 0.8 | |
| Values are approximate and determined by community testing. | ||
Demonstration
Related achievements
Soldier
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Sniper
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Spy
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Update history
- Fixed a case where a Spy stabbing from the front of a player would score a backstab.
May 21, 2009 Patch (Sniper vs. Spy Update)
- [Undocumented] Fencing now injures enemy players.
- Fixed cloaked Spies being able to taunt attack.
- Fixed a couple of issues with the way critboosts affected this weapon.
- Spies can no longer perform Fencing whilst Cloaked (with any watch).
- Fixed melee attacks not destroying remote detonation pipes (Stickybombs).
April 14, 2011 Patch (Hatless Update)
- Spies now speak their Domination or Revenge lines correctly when using the Knife or Conniver's Kunai.
July 12, 2011
- [Item schema update] Added Strange Quality.
Bugs
- If the player raises the Knife to stab and then switches their view to any world model, the Knife will remain raised.
- When the Knife is trusted forward during an attack, a stray polygon can be seen coming out of the his wrist.
Trivia
- The original drawing animation for the Knife featured a much more elaborate spin. It was cut, however, for being too long and complicated. Valve feared that this would draw the player's eye away from their target during a fight. This animation can, however, still be seen in the teaser trailer for Team Fortress 2 (from 1:33 to 1:35).
Gallery
RED first-person view
RED first-person view, ready to backstab.
BLU first-person view
BLU first-person view, ready to backstab.
