These are only a handfull of tips for the ever so complex class, the spy:
Always use this when there is more than 1 person around that you want to kill. Right before you get in range to backstab someone, hit fire and keep running towards them. You will do the normal stab animation, but you will backstab them. People have also been suggesting to strafe while doing it to prevent the backstab animation.
- Sentry guns and Engineers
1. Kill the engineer and then sap the sentry quickly. Make sure you have a previous weapon button bound so you can do this as quick as possible.
2. This one is harder, but will never fail to anything other than engineers that blocked themselves in a corner. Kill the engineer, then cloak as fast as possible and strafe away so you miss the sentry gun rockets and you can possibly avoid sentry gun fire. This one works very well in Sudden death where there are lots of engineers camping. It will not alert the others that a spy is near.
3. Engineers melee crit you more often than other classes so you do not want to get into a knife vs wrench battle.
- Groups of people with their backs behind you
Make sure no one is behind you. If there is a gate behind you, be ready to strafe left/right from incoming fire. Stay a few feet behind them. Move with them for a bit so they don't suspect anything and they won't spy check you. When you're ready to backstab them and are sure they won't turn back and kill you instantly, use the quick stab method for best results.
Kill order for groups -
1. Pyro (They will not let you get a second kill)
2. Medic (Especially when they are fully charged)
3. Soldier (Their rockets will 1 shot you and since you are in close range, if you give them time, they will find you in the back and kill you quickly)
4. Heavy (They move slow and fire slowly giving you time to either kill others or run away)
5. Demoman (They are very easy to avoid)
6. Engineer (Make a mental note of where they are to get them later)
7. Sniper (Make a mental note of where they are so get them later)
8. Spy (Just report to your team what disguise they have on asap)
9. Scout (Don't bother)
Never sap a teleporter if you plan on doing something more important (Such as killing the engineer). All this will do is alert him and everyone that a spy is in the base and you will soon die. Always sap teleporters when there is a bunch of them and no one near by. Solo teleporters in odd places are spy bait.
When there are a bunch of buildings nearby, sap the farthest one then quickly cloak and move closer to the other buildings, then uncloak in a safe spot and sap the rest quickly, but be sure to cloak after you sap them. Most likely, some will get knocked off. When this happens, use a different disguise and sap the rest.
If it is a lone engineer, or 2-3 engineers with no other defense (The latter is highly unlikely), then simply take out the engineer(s) one by one then get to sapping.
Keep in mind, sapping while there are many enemies around (Like say in dustbowl at the last cap) is a very bad idea. You will die very soon and accomplish nothing. In cases like those, work with another spy (One saps and then undisguises and distracts, while the other keeps sapping things) or simply take out people.
Pyro - The best disguise to use. Fast and if you are not firing things at random, no one will think twice.
Demo man - Also a good choice, same reasons as above(Keep in mind that if there are no sticky bombs around, you have a high chance of getting spy checked)
Heavy - Very bad choice for a lot of situations. Slow, if there are people in sight and you are not spinning your gun, it is very obvious you are a spy.
Engineer - You will get spy checked 24/7. Good disguise to use when your ally are near by. Act as if you're rushing with the engineer and keep moving back and forth as if you're shooting and retreating. It will fool a lot of people. Never stand still.
Sniper - Very good choice when you uncloak near their spawn and want to go up top to get a better view of the battle field. Also good for getting to those snipers/sentry guns that are placed up top (Such as in well, 2nd cap point).
Medic - Never a good choice. You will bring attention to yourself and basically get killed because of it. Your medigun is not equipped and your Ubercharge meter does not show which is a dead giveaway.
Scout - Never use this in open areas. Only use this in small areas such as 2fort bases. Always keep moving around in different directions. It will make it seem like you're moving faster than you actually are in closed places. In small areas, people will not notice you moving slower than you're supposed to. In big areas, it is very noticeable.
Spy - Never.
Soldier - This one is very good when the other team has 2 or more soldiers. You will get healed by medics more than with other disguises. You move slower, but that is okay as this disguise isn't supposed to be used for killing. It should be used for infiltrating the base when there is a lot going on and a lot of spy checking and you just want to bring little attention to yourself. Just try to stay in the front lines a bit.
Global disguise tips - Use your peripheral vision. Never directly look at someone. Try to stay in the middle/upper lines. Use a disguise for running in the middle of the map and another for infiltrating. It'll keep them guessing and make them look for a different class other than yourself. Do not use the same disguise over and over.
You should always be holding this weapon when moving in/infiltrating. It should always be on your quick switch/last used button. Once you learn to aim properly with this, it will be very effective for killing people at range. Learn to use cloak to gain range between you and your target, it will help you be more effective with it. Always rely on it to kill the person following you trying to spycheck you when no one is around. This weapon is very good at killing sentry guns as well. On maps such as well, if you manage to get on the attic and look down on CP2, you will usually see a few sentry guns. Use your revolver and crouch to avoid being hit/seen.
On most maps there will be spots for you to uncloak safely and recharge. Use these spots a lot. When you are inside the enemy base, wait for a full cloak before going in farther. You have to use your cloak to get behind enemy players. Do not rely on disguises as you will die to spy checking a lot.
During combat, be prepared to cloak out instead of simply trying to run away. Run one way, cloak, then run the other. This will fool the enemy.
If you are cloaked and an enemy sees you and keeps shooting at you, stop moving for 1 second. They will then either shoot the other way - Run past you - Give up. If they shoot the other way, go to where ever you were going before. If they run past you, get your revolver out, uncloak and shoot them in the back. If they give up (which most do), go and kill them. They will have thought you kept going forward.
Never do it unless they are really low on health/have bad aim.
If you manage to cloak past the entire team and get to their spawn, you can usually hear them spawning and hearing them walk to the gate. You can hear this on all Valve maps. Once you get the hang of knowing how close they are by how loud their footsteps are, you will be able to cloak right before they come out, then cloak behind them and either backstab them or shoot them with your revolver. This can easily win you a game by killing 3-4 people in a row just as they spawn.
This is what separates the good spies from the bad spies. As a spy, this is where you can truly destroy an entire team, literally. Always backstab then cloak. No exceptions. Always go for the engineers first. Backstab them and their sentrys and more importantly their dispensers go down. Many times I will be able to take out an entire team solo. Once you master all of the above, on SD, you should be able to take out at the very least 4 people.
Sudden death kill list -
1. Medic (By far the most important class in sudden death. Other than the dispensers, the only way to get health is from the medic)
2. Engineer (Just backstab them, do not sap, as their equipment self destructs once they are dead)
3. Sniper (They will headshot your team mates, so you better get them quick)
4. Soldier (Soldiers will usually kill a few of your team mates by ducking in and out and hoping for a crit rocket)
5. Spy (They will do what you are doing to their team if they are good enough)
6. Heavy/Demo/Pyro (Heavys usually sit with a medic trying to kill people from range. Demo will camp points with sticky bombs, if one is alone or has sticky bombs planted in important pathways, go ahead and kill them first. Pryos will camp unless ubered meaning they are harmless to your team, but very harmful to you.
7. Scout (Let your team mates worry about them)
- Stay out of everyone's way
If you do not want to die quickly, move out of everyone's way. Find a wall or a corner and stay near it. Less people will run into you. But do not sit in a corner and simply look around. That is very suspicious. Simply stand near it and strafe around looking at the entrances that your ally have to come through. This will ensure that you have less chance of being spychecked, you will not be found out by having someone bump into you, and most of all, you will be free to figure out who you need to kill and where everyone is.
- Capping the intel against a team with lots of defense
Many people do not realise how amazing the spy is for capping the intel. Unlike other classes, you can cloak past the entire enemy defense.
1. Infiltrate the enemy base
2. Check where all the sentry guns are
3. Get near the intel
4. Wait for full cloak
5. Cloak to the intel
6. Check for sentry guns/defenders
7. Run out
8. Wait for full cloak
9. If there are sentry guns, disguise and sap them
10. Quickly take the int
11. More than likely, you will die soon
12. From then on, get into the base and get the intel while cloaked (Pick it up while cloaked)
Do step 12 over and over till you actually cap it/get it far enough for someone on your team to cap it. Expect to die a lot, but this will work. I've won many games doing this on 2fort/custom maps. This is also a very good way to reset the timer on the int so it doesn't go back to their base.
Hopefully some of you learned from this. These simple tips will help you be a more successful spy after some practice. Some of these tips will take a lot of work to get the hang of. Others will be easy to get. If there's anything you feel to be added, post about it. Other than that, these are the most important things you need to know as a spy.
