The Saharan Spy

Learn everything you need to know about this amazing spy set!
This will teach you to:

• - Play the Saharan Spy.
  
• - Learn about every component of the set.
  
• - Learn how to avoid them.

This list will NOT teach you:

• - How to get the saharan spy.
  
• - How to play spy.
  
• - How to eat a sandvich.
  
• - How to control nuclear energy powered mass destruction devices.

Introduction

Has this ever happened to you:
You are playing TF2 when, suddenly, a spy appears. Meh, a spy, stupid spies. So you kill him, but BADABLAM! He backstabs you! Wasn't he dead? What just happened? I WANT TO DO THAT!!

If your answer is YES (or no, or maybe... or anything) then THIS is the guide for you! Because this guide will teach you and detail EVERYTHING (that I know) about the saharan spy set! We'll talk about:

• Weapons
  
• The invisibility watch to use
  
• Pros and cons
  
• How to work WITH them
  
• How to work AGAINST them
  
• How to face every class
  
• And MUCH MORE! ... or maybe not

So embrace yourself, because WINTER IS... this guide starts NOW!

Components and effects

So the Saharan spy has 3 basic components: Your eternal reward, L’etranger and The familiar Fez.

Your eternal reward:This will be your knife, or melee weapon. You WON’T be able to disguise yourself using the disguise kit, but you will impersonate anyone you backstab. This means that when you backstab anyone you will instantly become that person. You will disguise as his class and have his name without effects or smoke or any of those things that make you an obvious spy, and there is no delay between backstabbing and disguising. That means that any player who is not very aware of his surroundings may not even notice that the teammate that is right in front of him is being backstabbed. And if you add that the kill feed will remain silent (It will not show the other team you just eliminated one of their teammates) this weapon makes it easy to stay infiltrated and kill while in large groups.
However, the inability to disguise at will makes it difficult to start. Being infiltrated may be easier, but INFILTRATING gets a lot harder. Also, if you fail a backstab, or you attack with your gun, you will lose your disguise (like normal) and you will have to backstab again.

L’etranger:This is your gun. L’etranger deals 20% less damage than your normal revolver, but on hit restores 15% of your cloak meter. With a critical hit it will inflict 96 damage, and a normal shot will inflict around 32. That means you’ll need 4 shots to kill a simple scout on full health. If it isn’t clear by now, don’t try to kill a full health heavy with this. Use this weapon when in needs of cloak, or to kill low health enemies.




The Familiar Fez:Nothing to say about this hat, except... Its a UGLY HAT. Its horrible, I hate it, and It shouldn't exist. Seriously, whoever thought THIS was a good idea should go f*[We interrupt this guide while the author is raging to tell you that Michael Jackson has respawned, and that you are all invited to his rebirthday party. We also want to apologize for everything he is saying. He really doesn’t mean it]





The effects this grants:

So this 3 items conform a set. That means, when you equip them all at the same time, you will get some bonuses. Lets see...

• Reduced decloak sound volume: Well, pretty self explanatory. Whenever you decloak, the sound you produce will be... less loud. There we go.
  
• Cloak blink time is 0.5 seconds longer: Whenever you bump into someone or you get hit by an enemy, the time you remain semi-transparent is 0.5 seconds longer, thus making you easier to see for longer times. That is bad. Very bad.

You may have noticed that the effects of this set affect your cloak and not yourself. It doesn't make you faster or bullet resistant, it affects the way your invisibility watch works. So, which one to choose...

What invisibility watch to choose

The invisibility watch is... kind of a big deal. Even though you only have 3 different ones (Not counting the enthusiast's timepiece and the quäken... qüacken... the q... that duck-thing) they are very different from one another. Which one is the best?

Standard Invisibility watch:When activated, it will make you completely invisible for 9 seconds, with a fade time of 1 second. Cloak recharge time is 30 seconds, or you can use ammo boxes or fallen weapons to recharge it. When bumping an enemy or being hit you will ‘blink’ and remain visible while the enemy touches or continues hitting you, but you’ll nearly instantly cloak again when they stop (With the saharan spy it will take 0.5 seconds longer)

The decloak sound on this watch is... pretty undetectable by itself, almost impossible to hear with the complete set. However, the reduction of sound is so little it is not worth using the set, as the 0.5 seconds blink time will kill you more times than enemies hearing you. If you are using the Saharan spy, this is NOT the best watch to use (Well, if you like it go ahead, I don’t recommend it)





Cloak and Dagger:The first thing you will see about this watch is the 100% faster recharge bonus. “A watch that recharges 100% faster? That means double the time cloaked and double the fun!!” No little Timmy, thats not what it means, because if you look carefully you’ll see in little white letters: “Cloak type: Motion sensitive” Yes, this watch only depletes if you are moving. That means you can stand still for infinite time, and your cloak WILL regenerate while standing still, visible or not. But that also means that while running normally, your cloak only lasts 6.2 seconds before you have to stop and recharge. This also means that walking slowly will deplete the meter slower. If you crouch walk, your cloak will last a whole minute (But you will probably die of boringnessness, and you will travel the same distance) Recharge time is about 15 seconds (Half the normal recharge time) but you won't be able to recollect ammo to recharge.

The blink and sound mechanics are the same as in the standard invisibility watch, so again, this watch is not worth your time if you are using the Saharan Spy set. (But again, do whatever you please)

[Intromission]

But... but...

• I want to use 'Your eternal reward' and L’etranger!:
  Don’t use the Familiar Fez then! Its horrible. I recommend the Counterfeit Billycock, which is a hilarious spy hat, or maybe Le Party Phantom, to kill Like a boss.
  
  
  
• I want to use the familiar fez with L’etranger and 'Your eternal reward'!:
  Seriously? Uhhh... Get yourself a Wanga prick. It works the same as Your eternal reward, but doesn’t complete the set.

[End of intromission]


But... If the first two watches were not compatible with the set... WHAT IS? *Dramatic music*

The Dead Ringer:This watch SCREAMS please use me with that ugly hat. Its 3 main characteristics are the 80% improved charge rate (Which sets it at 16 seconds), the 60% “““improved””” drain rate (Cloak lasts for about 6.5 seconds) and most important, the cloak type: Feign death. Feign what? Sure, it’s a bit confusing at first, but let me explain. When activating the cloak, you’ll see nothing happens. No invisibility, no blink, no sandvich, no nothing. But thats normal. While active you have to get hit by an enemy to trigger your feign death. This will drop a fake corpse and make you invisible INSTANTLY, and absorb 90% of the hit. If that wasn’t enough, in the first 6.5 seconds of your cloak (If you pick up ammo and make the cloak last longer, these effects will only work in the first 6.5 seconds) your watch absorbs 90% of the damage you recieve (Meaning you CAN survive backstabs, full power headshots or even taunt kills) and you won't blink when bumping enemies or being hit.

The biggest downside to the Dead Ringer is that it has a decloaking sound that will be heard by anyone on your server and the 2 closest servers will receive notifications that you have decloaked (AKA very loud decloaking) Also, you CANNOT activate it if the cloak meter is not full. Keep that in mind before mindlessly going towards an enemy with a neon arrow pointing at you.

And THERE WE GO, because the Saharan Spy set will neutralize that sound, making it near impossible to hear! And if you cannot blink, you cannot blink longer, so the Dead ringer neutralizes the bad effect this set has, making it the perfect cloaking device for this set.

So from now on, I will be talking as if you were using the dead ringer. BUT AGAIN: If you want to use a different watch, go ahead. Play however you want.

General tips and strategies

So now we have the set... What the Hell do I do? Well...

• When activating your Dead ringer, try not to be very suspicious. Let them hit you a few times. Don’t wait too much though. The dead ringer has no delay between clicking and activating in optimal conditions, but in most servers it will take a couple of moments. If you wait too much you may be too late.
  
• If you find a pyro and he burns you, wait until you are out of the range of his flamethrower or until he has stopped firing to activate the Dead ringer. If you do it right, you will successfully eliminate the flames and drop the corpse. But if the flames hit you after you cloak, you will be lit up again, and everyone will see you (Yes, they WILL see you)
  
• When infiltrating the enemy lines, try to go unseen until necessary, and then let them trigger the Dead Ringer. After that look for a slow enemy to start the rampage.
  
• If you miss a hit you will lose your disguise, so its better to take your time than to attack blindly.
  
• You are more useful killing large groups of enemies. You can kill lots of people without retreating, because of the ‘Your Eternal Reward’, and if they detect you simply activate the Dead Ringer and look for more people to kill.
  
• If a medic is not watching, you can backstab his patient and he will continue to heal you.
  
• If already disguised, you can backstab an engineer without it’s Sentry noticing you.
  
• You may think you are quick enough to backstab an engineer before his sentry sees you. You are not. Don’t try it unless you know how to do it. Same goes for sapping.
  
• When low on cloak and undisguised, land some hits with L’etranger on far away or low on health enemies.
  
• Only target Scouts or Medics that are standing still. They are quicker than you, so you probably won't be able to catch up and you’ll go suspiciously slow when disguised as one.
  
• Don’t go in front of a Heavy without your Dead Ringer already activated. It’s suicide.
  
• Sniper nests are easy to finish, as when you kill one you will be one of them. If one has a razorback and you have a full meter, you can break it, let him trigger your invisibility and then come back to give him a final blow.
  
• Slower classes are very easy to kill, but they also imply slower disguises.
  
• Every kind of damage will trigger your Dead Ringer, even fall damage, saws or trains. But be careful.
  
• If someone backstabs you with your dead ringer active, you'll receive 75 damage. Nothing can damage you more than that.
  
• 1 HP = NO HP. Your dead ringer absorbs 90% of the damage, but it will always do SOME damage.
  
• Jarate and Mad milk, unlike fire, will stay when cloaking.
  
• Don’t ever stay still without the Dead Ringer ready.

Dealing with Saharan Spies

Saharan spies are easy to recognice (They have that ugly fez) So here are some tips for you to kill them with no risk:

• If you see a 'Fezzed' spy, kill it. Twice! When it dies, keep firing until another spy falls dead from thin air. If you have any weapon capable of burning stuff, use them. If you don't kill it, watch your back, as he will come back (Probably)
  
• If you know one of the enemies is a Saharan Spy, Spy-Check everything, even if you just did. Ang then do it again. And again.
  
• If you have Jarate or Mad milk, don't even think about not using it. It will render his fake corpse useless.
  
• Tell them their fez is horrible.
  
• If you trap them and trigger their cloak, they wont be able to escape and they'll waste the cloak. Kill them then.

You will like it if...

The saharan spy makes the spy different for some reasons.

• It will simplify the process of disguising, and it becomes automatic, so if you dont like the "kill-hide-disguise" loop you will probably like this set.
  
• It makes a the spy lives more action packed, and removes a lot of the "waiting till im disguised" or "hiding in a corner". So if you like more fast paced gameplay, you will like this.
  
• It makes it more difficult to attack engie nests, as you cannot disguise at will, making sapping a lot more complicated. So if your thing is sapping, you wont like it that much.

A little bug-trick

This is a little something I discovered a while ago. If you activate your dead ringer and taunt, the first hit will be absorbed, but the cloak wont activate or deplete. You can probably use it to taunt kill, or taunt without being killed.
...
...
...
Just wanted you to know

Last thoughts

Some videos to help you and demonstrate how things work:

If you need more help, or feel something is missing in this guide, please leave a comment or contact me.

Have fun!


Oh... And I really do hate the Familiar Fez. It's not a joke. I hate it.

(If you see any other guide with this style of guiding, this was the first one)

[rejectmonke]

u potato

[FLG]

they patch it

[Sergiovan]

Dismiss everything this guide says D: Ill have to make another one...

[Rebomonkey]

so, no more weapon set ability.

[Anonymous]

you could give some advise for getting the first stab

[ixi]

One more tip: Do no go for the sentry. Your priority as a Saharan Spy is to go on a rampage. Only sap the sentry if necessary or the area is cleared.

[Sodsboy]

i dont like you guys who diss that beatiful fez it so elegent so manly so like miami (csi to be precise)

[Username]

I actually prefer the cloak and dagger. the infinite cloak gives you as much time as you need to get your first disguise, and wait for the enemy to stop looking for you.

[pixelleaf]

I actually like the Fez, the sunglasses are just horrible.

[Krypton]

Great guide! Thx!