Dealing with Spies (TF2)

[galdon2004]

I tried looking it up; and typically locate answers that don't answer, or find threads in which some guy with half a brain has the same problem as me, and starts a thread ranting and raving like a crazed lunatic that makes anyone who actually agrees with him look so bad nobody probably WANTS to agree with him.

Anyways, spies. They give me a hard time, and I don't see much way to stop them short of pyro spam. The reason is not however their disguise ability that can be seen through by checking their life to see if it is exactly half full or shooting every team member to spy check.

The problem I have is with spies using the motion-sensitive invisibility.

The motion sensitive invisibility allows you to stay invisible constantly, and recharges while you are not running. In this case, there seems not to be anything TO check, and it's a waste of ammo to turn around and shoot a rocket behind me every 10 seconds.

Often, I've had times where I'm running forward, turn around to look behind me; nothing no enemy or ally, turn back forward, then pause an instant to aim at something or glance in a room before bursting in, and get backstabbed the instant I slowed down despite there being nothing behind me when i looked a second ago.

Is there any weakness that spies using this kind of cloak has that I can use effectively?

As for if I think spies are overpowered; I suppose I do in at least the sense that it is the only class out of 9 that you have to specifically worry about at all times regardless of what you are doing.

 

[Ouroboros0977]

Erm... the fact of the matter is that if you are asking this question NOW you haven't been playing long enough to understand that those spies may seem annoying the moment that you get stabbed, but they rarely kill enough to score decently, take solace in that if nothing else.

 

[edudogel]

you must of just bought it so learn some things your self when i got the game i had to learn and i love to be spy now also i may have killed yoy

 

[Ouroboros0977]

you must of just bought it so learn some things your self when i got the game i had to learn and i love to be spy now also i may have killed yoy

Someone appears to have missed that the uber update made tf2 free, it is entirely paid for with those micro-transactions now.

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

you can try staying with teammates, that way even if you are stabbed that spy is going to get smashed, and sometimes he may not even get the chance.

spies like to pick off stragglers, so staying with teammates usually scares them off

 

[Limecake]

Spies using the cloak and dagger are weaker in comparison to other spies when they run while cloaked, yes they can stand still to recharge their cloak but trust me you have to stop quite often.

keep moving and check behind you often, shoot any teamates you see (unless they are obviously not a spy ie. a medic healing a heavy who is shooting.) watch out after your teamates, if you see a pyro running straight at the back of a heavy it's almost definitely a spy.

as for dealing with spies who are standing still while cloaked, shoot where you would hide if you had to wait for your cloak to recharge. most spies like small corners or hard to reach areas because very little spam reaches there. also keep an eye out for blood appearing out of nowhere (if the spy takes falling damage). and if you bump into one shoot it.

my best advice is to start thinking like a spy, if you compromise his position where would he run to? where would you be least likely to check?

also I found these awesome spy tutorial videos last night on youtube, it should give you a sense of what a good spy is doing.

 

[edudogel]

i see i know but what i mean is i was new and i had to learn to deal with other classes thats why i am spy its just fun to stab and engy and sap his turret

 

[AnOriginalConcept]

The only advise I can give you is to listen for their decloaking sound and watch for strangely moving allies.

Also,
http://tf2wiki.net/wiki/Spychecking

 

[Tohuvabohu]

Spies are an incredibly weak class. They have to be at point blank range to kill you instantly, which is also conversely when any class instantly kill them. The dead ringer fixes this, but makes approaching enemies much more unreliable.

Anyways, spies. They give me a hard time, and I don't see much way to stop them short of pyro spam. The reason is not however their disguise ability that can be seen through by checking their life to see if it is exactly half full or shooting every team member to spy check.

The life-being-half-full thing was fixed awhile back. The health now mimics the health of the person the spy disguises as at the time he activates the disguise.

The problem I have is with spies using the motion-sensitive invisibility.

The motion sensitive invisibility allows you to stay invisible constantly, and recharges while you are not running. In this case, there seems not to be anything TO check, and it's a waste of ammo to turn around and shoot a rocket behind me every 10 seconds.

It's a bit of a waste to shoot at nothing just because you are paranoid. When you are traveling to the objective, don't just stare in one direction while running forward. Turn around frequently and watch for anything suspicious. Shoot a rocket a partner, if he doesn't explode horribly then you're good.

Often, I've had times where I'm running forward, turn around to look behind me; nothing no enemy or ally, turn back forward, then pause an instant to aim at something or glance in a room before bursting in, and get backstabbed the instant I slowed down despite there being nothing behind me when i looked a second ago.

It takes a moment to uncloak before you can attack. Like it or not, you held still and were oblivious long enough for a spy to uncloak and stab you in the back. Moving erratically helps somewhat, as a soldier try rocket jumping somewhere out of a spy's reach.

Is there any weakness that spies using this kind of cloak has that I can use effectively?

The cloak drains very fast while moving. Chances are if you are close to a spy using the Cloak and Dagger while he tries to cloak and escape, you can catch him.

As for if I think spies are overpowered; I suppose I do in at least the sense that it is the only class out of 9 that you have to specifically worry about at all times regardless of what you are doing.

Not at all times. If you are dug deep within your territory on a defensive map (Dustbowl, Goldrush) in the line of sight of your sentry guns. You are A-OK. Unless you are engineer, or the guns are sapped (keep an ear out.)

The most perfect moment a spy has to attack is when his target is distracted. Unless you are distracted by fighting something at all times, then you should use your downtime to make yourself a harder target to approach while consecutively protecting your team. Heavies are extremely vulnerable since they're incredibly slow and their firepower requires them to focus on their targets. Soldiers can be easy to approach when distracted to, but I rarely encounter soldiers out in the open who don't rocket jump during a fight.

In cramped areas then they can be somewhat vulnerable. Oh and if spies are really giving you that much of a problem, then go pyro!

 

[galdon2004]

Indeed I have not been playing too long, which would be why I'd be asking for some advice. So I can hopefully get better. One problem is invisagriefing. Last match I played, and I know this is probably not the norm, but the spy seemed to decide to be my stalker, i don't know if there's some sort of achievement for killing the same person repeatedly, but this guy decided completely unprovoked to constantly kill me while i try to run between the spawn point and where all the fighting goes on. (in a match where the given area has only one exit from the spawn zone)

Being perma-invis I didn't even have a visible target to randomly shoot at to check for; and the spy can see me turn around and shoot behind me, and get out of the way. Not being one to quit a match in mid progress because ragequitters stink, I had to deal with an unending cycle of getting backstabbed before getting to play with seemingly nothing that could be done about it.

I heard that there are tale-tell sounds that alert you to their exact pinpoint location, but I either don't have an ear for it, or this is greatly exaggerated.

Anyways, what I'd like to know are some good anti-spy measures that work well for invisible spies rather than disguised ones that one could reasonably learn.

Edit: got some more replies while typing XD going to read the rest of the points now; i'm not ignoring any advice.

 

[Zaeseled]

How to deal with spies; shoot anyone and everyone, don't stop moving (will be challenging if you're the Sniper). Other than that, I don't really know.

 

[imanerd000]

i usually play as heavy (a nice back to stab) and the only advice i can give you is be paranoid. every now and then look at your back, stick your back to walls and shoot anything that crosses paths with you.

 

[A Werewolf]

Stick with teammates, and shoot teammates who are running directly into your base, even if they are saying "Out of ammo".

As for invisible spies... thats a little harder. Either listen for the decloaking sound, and I can't stress this enough, stick with teammates.

you must of just bought it so learn some things your self when i got the game i had to learn and i love to be spy now also i may have killed yoy

The game is free2play now so expect alot of these threads.

 

[Twilight_guy]

In TF2 you never stop moving... ever. The moment you stop moving a spy is transported directly behind you even if their is no spy on the other team one will still appear behind you.

You just need to be paranoid. Play for long enough and you'll know to always check behind you as you move. On top of that, spies that wait around cloaked and don't move aren't useful to their teams. Camping and waiting a period just to kill one guy isn't very useful. If it really is a big problem, travel in groups. So long as you watch your buddy's back a spy attack is unlikely since if he stabs one of you the other will kill him.

 

[TimeLord]

Flame throwers. Lots and lots of flame throwers. Failing that, just fire in every direction if you see a Spy cloaking like I do as the Heavy and if you just fire wildly, you normally catch a glimpse of the sneaky bugger!

 

[Grufflenark]

Spies using the CnD usually suck, and camp one spot like babies while waiting for an easy kill, or nothing.
They usually are wasted slots on the team, and if you die to one, then you just know their team is one man down.

 

[edudogel]

i know it is f2p but really if you need to know achievements check em and yes their are grind achievements and you noobs are easy to get them

 

[Erana]

First off, in a well-rounded team, everyone's going to spycheck, and you'll have at least one pyro, who should know that whenever they are in the presence of their allies, should be spamming a few puffs of fire 'til they get to the enemy lines.

Still, a cloaked spy is a harmless spy, remember this! When cloaked, they take a few seconds to be able to hurt you in any way.

Also, move constantly. Even in your base. While you may think this is only good as a sniper deterrent, but spies need a specific range and angle to backstab you. A habit of sporadic jumping is your friend, and will foil many a less-advanced player easily.

Also, and empty room is a spy-friendly one. If you're alone in a space, whip out your secondary weapon, and fire a few shots, especially in the corners of the room. You should be able to pick up ammo pretty easily on the way to the front lines.

If you're killed by a spy, let your party know. This tells them that for a few seconds, anyone who looks like you is to be shot on sight.

Spies aren't really overpowered. In fact, they're the most difficult to balance, because their power is determined by the players' experience. The f2p surge of new users is a major boon for the class, because after years of everyone knowing all the tricks they have to offer, they have fresh meat who aren't immune to things like suspicious players running away from the front lines with full health.
Dealing with spies is something that will come with time. Why not take the chance to try and be one?

Spies using the CnD usually suck, and camp one spot like babies while waiting for an easy kill, or nothing.
They usually are wasted slots on the team, and if you die to one, then you just know their team is one man down.

Not necessarily! I've seen CnD spies who use it to deal with longer maps where running towards the base it just waay too obvious. They just cloak at the first sound of footsteps and can make it across long, empty stretches of space to take out engies that are building by the spawn entrance. Its not that effective of a killing method, but it can buy their team some time until their enemies work together enough to get a pyro on their engies. (Muahaha, terrorizing the engies)
And having level three buildings when the enemy has none can be a huge advantage early in the game.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

i usually play as heavy (a nice back to stab) and the only advice i can give you is be paranoid. every now and then look at your back, stick your back to walls and shoot anything that crosses paths with you.

Thanks for the information. [http://tf2wiki.net/w/images/c/cd/Spy_laughlong01.wav]