Backstab

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Spy 
Killicon backstab.png
 Victim
Surprise.
So, your deadly skill is jogging? Mine is murdering people.
The Spy to the Scout

A Backstab is a context-sensitive attack with the Spy's Knife that results in a one-hit kill. A Spy may backstab an enemy as long as the enemy is close enough to be hit with a melee attack, and as long as the Spy is within a 180° range of the enemy's back. To indicate that a Spy is within the required range to perform a backstab, his Knife will become primed, with its tip facing downwards. The Knife will remain in this position until the target is no longer in reach, or the Spy attempts a backstab by attacking.

A backstab can be performed while you are disguised, although your disguise will be removed upon attacking, regardless of whether the attack connects with the enemy or not. A backstab cannot kill targets who have the Dead Ringer activated, Scouts using the Bonk! Atomic Punch or players who are being ÜberCharged. The Sniper's unlockable Secondary weapon, the Razorback, prevents one backstab per life and stuns the offending Spy momentarily. This weapon makes Snipers less susceptible to backstabs, and forces Spies to use other methods of attack.

Killing a player with a backstab will sometimes cause a special death animation for that class. This animation has a 25% chance of occurring.

Issues

See also: Lag compensation

Due to an in-game glitch, a stab that has appeared to have occurred from the front can sometimes be rendered as a backstab. Known more commonly as a facestab, these kills are now mostly the result of lag compensation by the game engine itself. Prior to many game patches, facestabs were more common due to bugs in the way the game detects a backstab.

Another community-coined term, is the failstab, which refers to a backstab which should have succeeded but instead did only normal Knife damage, despite the backstab animation playing fully and the Knife connecting. These stabs are almost always linked to the latency conditions between the server and the player.

Servers with the command tf_weapon_criticals 0 enabled have reported issues with the backstab animation that normally plays when the player is in a prime position for a backstab, not playing at all.

Related Achievements

Soldier

Tf soldier war crime spybunal.png War Crime Spybunal

Kill a Spy who just backstabbed a teammate.

Sniper

Tf sniper shock treatment.png Shock Treatment

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

Tf sniper consolation prize.png Consolation Prize

Get Backstabbed 50 times.

Spy

Tf spy agent provocateur.png Agent Provocateur

Backstab your Steam Community friends 10 times.

Tf spy come in from the cold.png Come In From The Cold

Get a Revenge kill with a backstab.

Tf spy counter espionage.png Counter Espionage

Backstab a disguised Spy.

Tf spy die another way.png Die Another Way

Kill a Sniper after your backstab breaks his Razorback.

Tf spy dr nooooo.png Dr. Nooooo

Backstab a Medic that is ready to deploy an ÜberCharge.

Tf spy fyi i am a spy.png FYI I am a Spy

Backstab a Medic who has healed you in the last 5 seconds.

Tf spy high value target.png High Value Target

Backstab an enemy who is dominating 3 or more of your teammates.

Tf spy identity theft.png Identity Theft

Backstab the enemy that you're currently disguised as.

Tf spy is it safe.png Is It Safe?

Backstab 50 enemies who are capturing control points.

Tf spy may i cut in.png May I Cut In?

Backstab an enemy and the Medic healing him within 10 seconds of each other.

Tf spy sapsucker.png Sapsucker

Sap an enemy building, then backstab the Engineer who built it within 5 seconds.

Tf spy slash and burn.png Slash and Burn

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

Tf spy spymaster.png Spymaster

Backstab 1000 enemies.

Tf spy the man with the broken guns.png The Man with the Broken Guns

Backstab an Engineer, then sap 3 of his buildings within 10 seconds.

Tf spy triple crossed.png Triplecrossed

Backstab 3 Snipers in a single life.

Tf spy you only shiv thrice.png You Only Shiv Thrice

Backstab 3 enemies within 10 seconds.

Backstabbing Techniques

  • Stab-and-Sap: Stab a (turtling) Engineer, before switching to your Electro Sapper and sapping the Engineer’s Sentry Gun. This must be done fast enough that the Sentry Gun doesn't have time to turn around and kill you. Usually an experienced Spy will track the Sentry Gun's turning direction and move against it after he stabs (as it will follow him, this will buy him more time).
  • Sap-and-Stab: Sap an Engineer's unattended building as bait, hide, then stab him when he returns to remove the Electro Sapper.
  • Stairstab: Stand at the top of the stairs, facing down at an enemy approaching you. Run forward and jump, turning in mid-air to stab them in the back. This technique can be difficult to master, but it is also difficult to protect against, as the enemy has to turn almost completely around to avoid it.
  • Spinstab: While an enemy is running towards you, let them run past you before spinning and stabbing their retreating back. This is one of the only reliable methods of backstabbing Scouts.

Trivia

  • Originally the Spy's backstab animation was just over a second long and manifested as the current animation but slowed down. This was changed to the current, sped up version used today in the interests of balance.
  • The 180° range is notoriously unreliable. This is likely due to occasional mismatches between the model and the hitboxes. These glitched attacks are known as Facestabs.

External links