Please, Snipers, for you own good, don't wear a Razorback

["Old Hickory" James]

This is coming from a guy who plays a fair bit of Spy.

Remember, the Razorback does not stop Spies from killing you. There are these lovely things that Spies carry around called Revolvers. That car battery stuck to the shield doesn't stop them. In fact, there's a couple of revolver sub-species that make even shorter work than usual. The Ambassador, Enforcer and Diamondback spring to mind.

Just make use of Jarate or an SMG and learn to pay attention to your surroundings. Those two secondaries will help you much more in the long run. How do you expect to catch that sneaky Frenchman by derpily swinging around that knife like a dingus?

The answer, throw some jar based karate at him. France already smells like urine, use a jar of it to expose the Shpees.

[Wolfenstin]

I sometimes use it to deter derpy spies that NEVER shoot you, the ones that will backstab only snipers and then run away undisquised and uncloaked only to be blown up seconds later.
Again, only to to deter THOSE spies. Anyone else gets the jarate.

["Old Hickory" James]

Originally posted by WoLfenstin:

I sometimes use it to deter derpy spies that NEVER shoot you, the ones that will backstab only snipers and then run away undisquised and uncloaked only to be blown up seconds later.
Again, only to to deter THOSE spies. Anyone else gets the jarate.

You are a smart Sniper. The dumb Snipers, however, it's lead salad for them. Whether in the form of my Diamondback, L'Etranger or Soda Popper, they will eat lead.

[Wolfenstin]

Not to mention Ambassador, oh those poor stationary snipers. Still don't have skull plugger yet, but getting there.

["Old Hickory" James]

Originally posted by WoLfenstin:

Not to mention Ambassador, oh those poor stationary snipers. Still don't have skull plugger yet, but getting there.

I usually prefer the Diamondback. I feel like I really accomplished something when I stab a Heavy and then shoot the Medic in the gut.

A pastime of mine is to go Soda Popper Scout, find an unattentive Sniper, fly up to their spot and wait for them to taunt. Once the do, blammo.

[Wolfenstin]

I mostly use the diamondback for that reason, being able to actually defend myself easily. It's especially good to stop an engineer who knows I'm around but I've already got crits stored.

Sap the sentry, pull out diamondback and get away without a problem. Ambassador I tend to bring around if I feel like doing some 'spy sniper' by crouching in hidden spots and headshotting low health classes or scaring the crap out of pyros and medics with a poke.

["Old Hickory" James]

Originally posted by WoLfenstin:

I mostly use the diamondback for that reason, being able to actually defend myself easily. It's especially good to stop an engineer who knows I'm around but I've already got crits stored.

Sap the sentry, pull out diamondback and get away without a problem. Ambassador I tend to bring around if I feel like doing some 'spy sniper' by crouching in hidden spots and headshotting low health classes or scaring the crap out of pyros and medics with a poke.

That's always fun. My main draw to the Diamondback is the noise it makes when you fire the crit shots. Recently, I got 5 crits stocked from stabbing an Engi and busting his nest. I used those crits to kill the THREE Razorback+Huntsman Snipers on the enemy team. They all deserved it.

[Venrez]

I find it amusing to see a thread like this when just the other night, the entire server decided to have a silly match of Spies versus Snoipahs.

As it turns out, all the Spies were to use the Ambassador and never cloak, but the Dead-Ringer was allowed.

All the Snipers used the Huntsman, but the Danger-Shield was forbidden.

It was stupid fun.

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

i do it when theres a scrub trick stabbing spy on the other team, and for medeavil mode
although its not a bad thing, i would much rather have a spy try shooting me exposing his cover breifly enough for my teammates to take him out and me to dodge then a one shot stab and run away possibly not being seen by anyone

[100% Recycled Awesome]

Originally posted by "Old Hickory" James:

This is coming from a guy who plays a fair bit of Spy.

Nope. There are far too many skrubby spies that will stab anything for me to give up the razorback. The vast majority of a the time, a spy will try to stab rather than shoot even if I have the razorback on. TF2's pub state of play makes the razorback useful. The car battery stuck to the shield does in fact stop most of the pub spies out there.

[Fahrenheit]

I sometimes see tryhard pro snipers wear it.

I say try hard and pro because they can headshot consistantly but always stay in the light of sight of a sentry. So all they do is keep getting dominations and not even unscoping. Just hardscope and headshot (or both). You can't hit them as sniper because he will shoot you first, and you can backstab him or else the sentry gets you (not even suicide revenge kills work).

If used like that, it can make him a dominating troll.

[Princess Poppers]

Razorback Snipers screw me up sometimes, but it's hardly worth equipping just for that benefit. It's a little useful if all the spies are using the YER or Kunai, but I've broken the habit of not shooting when using the YER. Also, if I see a Sniper with a Razorback, I make him a priority target.

I suppose what it really comes down to though is that the SMG and Jarate are just universally more useful. The Razorback slightly inconveniences spies, while the other secondaries are more useful at both killing spies and other enemies.

[n00b3rt]

The razorback to me is like the cloak and dagger. The only people who make good use of it are pro teams in highlander matches, where one, teamwork is a thing, and two, getting a class down means something.
The razorback is good for the sniper who stays with his medic combo who protect him while he gets kills.
The CnD is good for waiting in a spot you know they'll cross hoping for the medic pick.
In pubs, no one is gonna protect you and waiting and killing a medic doesn't matter much if there are more than one. So yeah, some interesting items that are useless unless playing at a competitive level.

[Harmania]

Razorback is useful if the Sniper is around their team or within range of a sentry, in which case, the Spy doesn't have the option to make a suicidal or high-risk backstab, and the revolver won't really work.

[Spude]

Funny thing is Razorback is sort of underpowered in pubs but it makes Spies life living hell in Highlander when there are comms and everyone is on their toes when it comes to Spies.
Want to shoot the the Sniper? Good, you just revealed your location and everyone will start to be paranoid about you.
Want a stab the Sniper? Nope, not gonna happen, and the Bushman keeps shooting...

[Mr. Conga]

Agreed, I play spy a fair bit and most of them don't even notice I took away their shield.