How to reach the area right outside BLU's final spawn point in Barnblitz as a RED spy?

Question

I've had multiple times my teleport entrances sapped when I built them on BLU's final spawn point, but when I play spy, there's no obvious way to get there, so I have to resort to the revolvers. While it's still effective, it's just not the same thing.

How do you reach that ledge as a spy?

Answer

It's a fairly long, but mostly hidden process requiring a crouch jump.

The first two jumps are fairly obvious. The ledge 3 is a bit less obvious; it looks like decoration, but it's actually a platform you can land on. It's even less obvious that this ledge actually expands in the area marked 4. Once you are against the 'protection', check the leaderboard for respawn vaves, and crouch jump (tap jump and crouch at the same time). Sap to your heart's desire.

Here's a video demonstration, too.

Actually there's an exploitable oversight right here, as this particular spawn door is not protected and enemies can go through while it's open (but not open it themselves). Be careful and don't be lame!

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With proper aim can an Ambassador always one-shot a sniper?

Question

I'm working on my Skullpluggery achievement for Spy. For a while I thought it was straight-forward -- just point, pause (for accuracy), and fire. Worked everytime, until lately, where my lucky streak (as it would turn out to be such) ended. Now it's hit or miss (no pun intended) whether the headshot succeeds.

Either:

1. The headshot doesn't register as a headshot at all (no crit), though clearly (on my screen) I was pointing directly at their head, both sniper and myself stationary.
2. The headshot registers as a headshot (crit), but only takes the sniper down to about 20% HP, even having not likely been in an overhealed state given how long I was stalking.

I've now gotten suspicious of factors such as angle of attack, distance from target, duration of pause (to reach maximal accuracy), etc.; but these are just suspicions.

Are there any techniques to guarantee a single headshot kill (with the Ambassador) vs. a sniper? or will this always be limited by chance (random variables) in the game?

(Assume a stationary, non-overhealed sniper.)

Answer

The ambassador does 102 damage with a crit (headshot only). If you shoot and don't wait for the target receptacle to shrink back down your next shot won't crit, even if it hits in the head. So in short, you can't kill a sniper in one hit with a headshot unless he has 102 health or less.

So if you want your achievement you have to pick on snipers with low health, shoot from a far distance where they won't see/look for you (like behind them) or soften them up with a body shot, wait for the target receptacle to shrink back down to normal and headshot them that way. The third option is the hardest because a good sniper when shot once will generally move and look around.

My suggestion, go cloak and dagger and get behind their lines. Find a sniper off on his own and shoot him in the head from a far distance. There is no damage drop off over distance for crits (like a headshot with the ambassador). A second option is to find the hurt snipers and shoot them that way.

For a good read: http://tf2wiki.net/wiki/Ambassador

Long range ambassador headshot:

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Can you manually change your health as a disguised spy?

Question

I just got the Dead Ringer, and one of its effects is that you cannot cloak on demand.

What I like to do to get behind enemy lines and start backstabbing my way forward is to run screaming medic, in an effort to justify my returning from the other team side.

I know that you can toggle which weapon your disguise is holding (by pressing B), so I was wondering if you could also lower your health in some fashion as to make this tactic seem more believable (screaming for medic when you're at full health is not)

Answer

Health cannot be set manually.

When you disguise, what happens depends on certain factors:

1. If the team you're disguising as has a person playing that class:
   • You take on one of their names
   • You take on that player's current health, including any overheal, or 100% health if they're dead (this is most noticable when using the YER)
   • You take on that player's weapon loadout
     • Exceptions: Bonk! Atomic Punch or Crit-a-Cola show as Pistol, Mantreads or Gunboats show as Shotgun, Ali Baba's Wee Booties show as Grenade Launcher, Chargin' Targe or Splendid Screen show as Stickybomb Launcher, and Razorback or Darwin's Danger Shield show as SMG).
     • There is also a bug where you will sometimes appear to have a stock weapon even when the person you're disguised as has a non-stock weapon. This appears to be random. I've personally run into it with the Persian Persuader (as the bottle) and Machina (as Sniper Rifle), while other times they appear correctly on my disguise.
2. If the team you're disguising as does not have a person playing that class:
   • You take on a random name from that team
   • You take on a random amount of health
   • You take on that class's stock weapons.

Note: It takes a few seconds for the game to update what classes players are playing, so it is possible to disguise as a class that has players, but still get a random name, health, and stock weapons. Disguising again will fix this problem. This is most obvious when disguising as your own team in spawn.

You can recharge your fake health via medkits, Medic, or dispensers (this was added earlier this year), but not the Resupply Cabinet.

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How wide is the arc which the Spy can perform a backstab?

Question

Can anyone provide facts or stats on how wide at the back of an enemy player which a Spy can perform a successful backstab?

Personally, I manage to inflict one at the side (90 deg, side-stab?).

Answer

180°

Also keep in mind that you don't need to actually face the same direction as the victim, as long as you hit the back area.

There's more info at the TF2 Wiki

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Avoiding cheap deaths in TF2

Question

Often when I play TF2 (usually as spy/scout, but sometimes as other classes), I'll find myself suddenly blasted/incinerated/pick your own favorite way to die by something I never saw coming. Many times there's no obvious error on my part that caused this, but just plain bad luck (bumping into someone around a corner while invisible, finding out as scout that there's a sentry behind that corner you just passed, etc.). Although some of these could be avoided by playing more cautiously and paying greater attention to my surroundings, that takes time that I do not have when in dangerous situations. (You can't take 360 spins to ensure nobody's sneaking up on you, you have to kill your target and get out of danger.) Is there any real solution to this, or do I just have to take the deaths, curse my luck, and respawn in 15 seconds?

Answer

In addition to learning the maps, there are a few other things to know:

• Sentry guns beep 1-3 times each time they change directions (so about every 3 seconds). Once for mini/level 1, twice for level 2, thrice for level 3. Generally, if you can hear a sentry's beep, you'll be in its range when you round a corner.
• As a Spy, you'll get a LOT of cheap deaths. Sadly, this is because of the Spy's shortcomings in order to combat the instant-kill backstab.
  • The Spy's Dead Ringer takes some getting used to, but in certain situations, using it (preferably while disguised as a teammate so they don't know you're a Spy) can get past a defensive line. Beware that the Dead Ringer makes a louder than usual decloak sound. The Dead Ringer is a "perfect" cloak for the first 6.5 seconds, so enemies who touch you won't make you appear as a team-color outline. However, they still can't move through you.
  • The Cloak and Dagger gives you some latitude by not decloaking when you don't want to, but it also has a very short cloak time.

Having said all this, you're still going to die a lot in Team Fortress 2. It's the nature of the game! The lower-HP classes in particular are specialized in some way, but lower HP is the drawback.

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How do you avoid bumping into players as a spy?

Question

Every now and then when playing TF2, I see a spy who seems to be able to stand right in the middle of a small group of enemies, whether in disguise or in stealth, and doesn't seem to have any problems staying with the crowd and not getting bumped.

However, it seems that when I (and the majority of spy players) are in a crowd of enemies in disguise, someone bumps into them and they are discovered. What are some good tactics for judging when a player is going to back up or suddenly turn towards you? What's a good way to avoid bumping into them without making obviously suspicious movements?

The moments I am most interested in are those times when you aren't ready to backstab anyone, and you want to wait until the group gets into a firefight so that you can more easily pick them off and escape... I don't seem to have too much problem moving in for a kill, just staying with the group without being bumped.

Answer

I think a key thing as spy is to avoid groups completely. If you reduce the chances to bump into someone then it will make life easier.

I think spies work best when they are trying to pick off the people at the back of the lines, whether it's people running from spawn, or engineers or people going back for health. Kill, cloak, hide.

If your in a situation where, when cloaked, your trying to get through a group of enemies, either following, or running through the front line to get behind the enemy, then I highly recommend jumping from side to side. Being able to reduce the area of possible contact with an enemy is the key.

When disguised there is a little bit of timing involved, as well as a clear plan. You need to look like you have a definite movement, nothing gives away a spy as someone just running around after another person. If you attack when they are attacking then it's easier to blend in and not look suspicious.

I do my attacks as spy in a forward motion. Cloak, get in behind the lines, disguise, decloak, run forward with the enemy attackers and attack. No matter the result, I push through to my team-mates, heal and resupply. Rinse and repeat. Obviously if your using the cloak and dagger or dead-ringer then it's different.

There is a huge slice of luck involved with tracking and pushing through as a spy as people are a little unpredictable and sometimes you just get unlucky.

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