Spy (competitive)

This article is for competitive play, based on the standard community competitive format. For the generic article on this topic, see: Spy.
The community competitive scene changes frequently. Some or all info may be outdated.

The Spy is a situational utility class sometimes used in the standard competitive lineup, valued for his stalemate-breaking and picking capabilities. However, due to the amount of coordination and usual choice of classes amongst the other team (Scout, Demoman, Soldier, Medic), it is significantly more difficult to play Spy because disguises that don't instantly give away the Spy will usually have a discrepancy in speed which gives the spy away (Scout, Medic), or a handicap in speed (Demoman, Soldier).

Information

Health

Health State	Max Health	Overheal Max	Pill Bottle	First Aid Tin
Normal	125 hit points	185 hit points	+26 hit points	+63 hit points
With Conniver's Kunai	60 hit points	180 hit points	+13 hit points	+32 hit points

Speed

Running	Backpedaling	Swimming	Crouching
100% (300 u/s)	90% (270 u/s)	80% (240 u/s)	33.33% (100 u/s)

Speeds written in "u/s" refer to in-game units per second. When running in a certain direction causes slowness, rapidly switching between diagonals usually improves speed.

Weapons

Main article: Spy weapons (competitive)

See also: Disguise (competitive)

#	Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
1	Revolver	Point-Blank: 60 512u: 40 1024u+: 21	Critical: 120 Point-Blank Mini-Crit: 81 512u+ Mini-Crit: 54	Attack: 0.58s Reload: 1.16s	If unfired in the past 1.25 seconds, shot has perfect accuracy.
	Ambassador	Point-Blank: 51 512u: 34 1024u+: 18	Critical: 102 Point-Blank Mini-Crit: 69 512u+ Mini-Crit: 46	Attack: 0.696 Reload: 1.16 Cooldown: 0.95s	Accuracy based on time since last shot. Criticals on headshot when accuracy is perfect.
	L'Etranger	Point-Blank: 48 512u: 32 1024u+: 17	Critical: 96 Point-Blank Mini-Crit: 65 512u+ Mini-Crit: 43	Attack: 0.58s Reload: 1.16s	Banned in most leagues for acquisition time. If unfired in the past 1.25 seconds, shot has perfect accuracy. Fills Cloak meter 15% on hit.
	Big Kill	Point-Blank: 60 512u: 40 1024u+: 21	Critical: 120 Point-Blank Mini-Crit: 81 512u+ Mini-Crit: 54	Attack: 0.58s Reload: 1.16s	Identical to the Revolver
2	Electro Sapper	DPS on Buildings: 25	N/A	Lv1 Building: 6.00s Lv2 Building: 7.20s Lv3 Building: 8.64s	Removed by two Wrench hits or one hit by the Homewrecker. Reduces Spy's weapon damage to building.
3	Knife	Melee, Frontal: 40 Backstab: 600% target HP	Critical: 120 Mini-Crit: 54	Attack: 0.8s	Facestabs and failstabs cause some unpredictability. Without backstab, has lowest DPS of all non-unlock melee. A Dead Ringer-activated Spy cannot die to backstab.
	Your Eternal Reward	Melee, Frontal: 40 Backstab: 600% target HP	Critical: 120 Mini-Crit: 54	Attack: 0.8s	Banned in most leagues for acquisition time. Disables Disguise Kit. Backstabs are silent and grant user instant disguise of killed foe. Otherwise identical to Knife.
	Conniver's Kunai	Melee, Frontal: 40 Backstab: 600% target HP	Critical: 120 Mini-Crit: 54	Attack: 0.8s	Banned in most leagues for acquisition time. On backstab: absorbs the health from your victim. -65 max health on wearer.
4	Disguise Kit	N/A	N/A	Disguise Time: 2s Smoke Duration: 3s	Friendly Spy disguise drops any disguise instantly. Grants knockback immunity, even with friendly disguise. Reduces move speed to match disguise, but can't increase it.
5	Invisibility Watch	N/A	N/A	Cloak Duration: 10s Recharge Wait: 33.5s Cloak Initialize: 1.2s Decloak Time: 2.2s	Cloak flickers when damaged or touched by enemy. Can be refilled with ammo and metal. Cloak prevents new disguise smoke; doesn't hide old smoke. Revealed by fire and Jarate.
	Cloak and Dagger	N/A	N/A	Duration, Running: 6.8s Duration, Crawling: 66.5s Recharge Wait: 18.2s Cloak Initialize: 1.2s Decloak Time: 2.2s	Cannot be refilled with ammo or metal. Recharges based on lack of movement. Loses charge when moving while cloaked. Cloak flickers when moving while out of charge. Otherwise identical to Invisibility Watch and its Cloak.
	Dead Ringer	N/A	N/A	Supercloak Duration: 6.5s Decloak Time: 2.2s Recharge from 0%: 16s Recharge from 40%: 9.6s Recharge from 75%: 4s	Cloak triggers from any damage, which is subject to supercloak effects. Trigger fakes death (corpses drop enemy disguises), ending on decloak. Provides supercloak in normal duration and regular Cloak during extensions. Supercloak provides 90% damage reduction. Cloaking extinguishes fire but does not prevent additional fire. Decloaking reduces charge to 40% if higher. Pickups cannot refill more than 35% charge. Otherwise identical to Invisibility Watch and its Cloak.
	Enthusiast's Timepiece	N/A	N/A	Cloak Duration: 10s Recharge Wait: 33.5s Cloak Initialize: 1.2s Decloak Time: 2.2s	Identical stats to the Invisibility Watch.

"u" stands for "units of distance." "+" stands for "or more." "s" stands for "seconds." "Reload Start" refers to how long it takes for 1 ammo to be reloaded after beginning to reload, and "Reload More" refers to how long it takes for each additional ammo to reload after the first. Damages and times are approximate and determined by community testing.

Usage

The Spy generally depends on an uncoordinated team's mistakes to turn a game around. However, a highly efficient competitive team will make very few mistakes, and effective communication will reduce the chances of the Spy being useful in any way whatsoever. This makes the Spy one of the least played utilities in competitive games. 100% Speed classes are also not played with the normal setup of a competitive team (Pyro, Sniper, Spy, etc.) and if used will give away the identity of the Spy due to the coordination of competitive teams, so choosing a disguise usually is a problem for playing Spy in a competitive match because it will end up either slowing you down or moving slower than your disguise should be (Scout).

Common Tactics

The Spy has two main roles in competitive Team Fortress 2: Pick key members of the opposing team, such as their Demoman or Medic, and distract the enemy team to allow the Spy's own team to successfully push in. Both of these roles are performed more effectively by Spies than by Scouts during stalemates, where a highly alert team attacks at any opposition it sees. Spies playing in competitive games should try to avoid being seen, even when disguised, as a competitive team will keep track of its members and see right through any disguise. In addition, Spies should use the fact that they can see an the health of enemy players when disguised. Calling out enemies who are low on health and gunning down severely injured players with the Revolver can be very useful in breaking stalemates and helping the Spy's team make a successful push.

5-CP Push Strategies

If a team has the advantage but encounters a strong defense that stagnates the game, the team may choose to replace a Scout with a Spy. For the defending team that is turning the game into a stalemate, it may be best to keep both Utilities as classes that can actively contribute to the defense; Spies are far less capable of accomplishing this. A Spy's number one goal is to kill the enemy team's Medic. A successful pick will remove the enemy's source of health and can force a retreat if the Spy's team pushes. If the Medic is too well guarded, Spies are free to go for the team's Demoman, as he is also a very important contributor to the enemy's defense. Either of these picks will help the Spy's team push in and break the stalemate. If none of these options are available, the Soldier is also a valid target, because one less player raining rockets on your teammates greatly reduces the damage intake of your team; do note that however, challenging a Soldier or Scout is usually highly risky because the Soldier can easily take you out, and you cannot outrun the Scout as a spy,which leaves all chances on the ability to land shots with the revolver if your backstab fails. Using s Spy at the beginning of a 5-CP map is highly impractical due to the Spy's inability to get to the mid point quickly and weakness to spam. If a team does choose to use a Spy at the mid fight, then the Spy will have to focus on eliminating the enemy Medic and Demoman while carefully avoiding the enemy Scouts and Soldiers at all costs. If a team encounters a stalemate in which both teams have a strong defense and neither team is able to push, a team may use a Spy to prevent the possibility of the enemy team using their ÜberCharge and breaking the stalemate first. By eliminating a key defender, a Spy can allow his own team to successfully push in and break the stalemate.

Attack-Defend Strategies

A defending team on an Attack/Defend map such as Gravel Pit will almost never switch out one of their Utility players for a Spy. This is due to the fact that a Spy cannot contribute to spam and help defend an area like other utilities can, and their role is reduced to backstabbing key targets, something that is already very difficult in a setting where players constantly turn around and check their backs. Spies on defending teams are thus generally not the best use of player slots. The attacking team may use a Spy instead of a Scout if a strong defense that may be assisted by a well-placed Sentry Gun needs to be disrupted, without the use of an Über. The Spy will attempt to eliminate the Sentry Gun or a key player, and distract the enemy team to allow his own team to break the enemy's defense without spending the time to build up an ÜberCharge.

Capture-the-Flag Strategies

Many teams will run an Engineer at the beginning of a round of Capture-the-flag. The Engineer and his Sentry Gun help stall the enemy team and prevent Scouts from taking and escaping with the Intelligence. For this reason, a team may want to use a Spy to sap and lock down the Sentry Gun while teammates rush in and destroy it, saving their Medic's ÜberCharge for a later conflict and allowing a team member to run off with the enemy intelligence and capture it. Aside from helping a team attack an enemy team's Engineer, Spies can also try to score picks on other key players and weaken the enemy defense that way, but their ineffectiveness in direct combat makes Spies poor defenders of the friendly intelligence. One way to play defense indirectly as a Spy though is to slow down and distract the enemy team, and once your team has captured the intelligence, they can return with criticals to finish off the enemy team before they cap your intelligence.

See also

• Spy weapons (competitive)
• Pick
• Spy
• Classes (competitive)
• Standard competitive lineup