The many weapons of Spy (and how to use them)

A description of Spy's weapons and tips on how and when to use said weapons. Make sure to check out my guide on Sniper's weapons, too :)

The Revolver

This is the stock revolver. It has no upsides, but it has no downsides either. This is all-around good revolver is useful in the most situations, although it can sometimes be surpassed by other revolvers, although only occasionally. My rule of thumb is that stock weapons are always the most reliable, and thus should be used more often than unlocks.

The Big Kill

Reskin of the stock revolver. Based off the revolver used by Sam in Sam & Max

The Ambassador

Ah yes, the Ambassador, the revolver praised by Spy mains everywhere. This fancy engraved revolver can crit on headshot, unlike the other revolvers, but this comes at the cost of many downsides. The Ambassador also has critical damage falloff so you can't snipe across the map with it, a 15% damage penalty, a 20% slower firing rate, no random crits (thank god), and the accuracy of the revolver decreases after the initial shot (you must wait for your crosshair to go back to its original size to be fully accurate.) There is also a cooldown after each shot where you cannot crit at all. So the main gimmick of this revolver is hitting consistent headshots. If you cannot do that, you're probably better off with the stock revolver.

The L'Etranger

Meaning "The Stranger" in French, this antique revolver differs from the rest. While this revolver has a 20% damage penalty, you also 40% extra cloak duration while this revolver is equipped. Not only that, but you gain 15% cloak charge every time you hit someone. This is the perfect revolver for those that aren't as good at managing their cloak, or like to have a safety net. Also commonly used by those using the "Your Eternal Reward".

The Enforcer

Hate dealing with damage resistances? Then you'll love this revolver. The Enforcer pierces through damage resistances, which includes Vaccinator Bullet resistance, Brass Beast Heavies, Natascha Heavies, Battalion's Backup, Fists of Steel, Spy's cloak resistances, and wrangled Sentries. The Enforcer also has a 20% damage bonus if you shoot it while disguised. So this weapon isn't a direct upgrade to stock, it also has a 20% slower firing rate. Use this revolver if the enemy team is fond of damage resistances. Otherwise use something else.

The Diamondback

The Diamondback. The weapon you love to use but hate to fight against. This weapon grants guaranteed crits upon backstabs or buildings destroyed with your sapper. What befuddles me is while the Ambassador has critical damage falloff, this revolver does not. This revolver is almost a direct upgrade to stock and rewards you for doing your job as Spy. To keep it from being a direct upgrade to stock, this weapon also has a 15% damage penalty like the Ambassador, as well as no random crits. Use this if you are playing competitive, or whenever you don't rely on random crits. Valve made this incredibly overpowered revolver, so you might as well abuse it.

The Knife

Another Spy stock weapon. All of Spy's knives one hit kill upon backstabs. A backstab is defined by hitting the back of an enemy in a 180 degree radius (unlike other weapons like the Backscatter and Backburner, which only have a 90 degree radius). Again, no upsides, no downsides. As simple as can be. Easily the most reliable of the other knives, too.

The Sharp Dresser

Reskin of the stock Knife. Resembles the knife used by Ezio Auditore da Firenze in Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

The Black Rose

Reskin of the stock knife. It is a double-edged butterfly knife engraved with roses.

The Your Eternal Reward

Aladdin reference aside, this is a really cool knife. The Your Eternal Reward is an engraved dagger which has the Silent Killer attribute on backstabs. This means that the kill is silent and will not show up in the killfeed for others. You also instantly disguise as the victim whom you backstabbed. There are two downsides, though. It takes all of your cloak to manually disguise, and you have 33% more cloak drain rate. Now you know why this knife is used with the L'Etranger, to counter the cloak drain rate. Use this weapon if you want to stay under the radar of your enemies, but in serious play, it would be better to use Stock or the Spycicle.

The Wanga Prick

Reskin of the Your Eternal Reward. It is an oversized voodoo pin.

The Conniver's Kunai

The Weeb Knife The Conniver's Kunai is a Japanese dagger which drains the HP of the enemy you backstabbed, giving it to you (maximum of 210 HP total). The extra HP you receive decays at a rate of 2 HP per second. The downside is that you have 55 less HP overall, giving you a base HP of a measly 70 HP. High risk, high reward. Use this if you are confident that you can get a backstab in the first place. Best used with the Dead Ringer in case you screw up and miss the backstab.

The Big Earner

The Big Earner is an Italian switchblade. Chain-stabbers rejoice! This knife grants you a speed boost on kill, as well as gaining 30% of you cloak meter. You also have 25 less HP, giving Spy a base HP of 100. Like the Kunai, this knife is best paired with the Dead Ringer as a get out of jail free card in case you don't kill the enemy to make use of the knife's upsides.

The Spycicle

"This "cool" weapon is literally an icicle. Upon being set ablaze by a Pyro, the Spycicle grants fire immunity for 1 second and afterburn immunity for 10 seconds, at the cost of your icicle disappearing for the next 15 seconds (can be regenerated quicker with ammo packs). Do not fret, as Spy as a revolver, remember? Backstab victims are also turned to ice, leaving a big red flag for the enemy to watch out for (as if the scream, killfeed, and voice chat weren't a giveaway already). I consider this almost a direct upgrade to stock.

The Disguise Kit

Also called the Spytron 3000, this tech-filled cigarette case allows the Spy to disguise as an enemy player, or a teammate.

The Invisibility Watch

Upon right clicking, the Spy will cloak, rendering himself invisible to enemy players. While invisible, you take 20% less damage from all sources, and you have a reduced timer on all debuffs. You can't attack while invisible, and if you bump into an enemy player, you will temporarily become slightly visible. You will also become slightly visible if you take damage, or are under the effects of the Gas Passer, Jarate, Mad Milk, or if you are Bleeding. Use it to sneak past your enemies and come up on them from behind

The Enthusiast's Timepiece

Reskin of the Invisibility Watch. The face of the watch looks like Pac-Man eating a Pac-Pellet. Resembles the watch Gabe murdered Tycho for in the comic "Penny Arcade" on November 1st, 1999.

The Quäckenbirdt

Reskin of the Invisibility Watch. It is an australium and tungsten plated digital watch with a duck design on the face of the watch.

The Cloak and Dagger

This watch functions almost identically to the Invisibility Watch, with a few changes. First and foremost, you can stay cloaked while standing still, which is a huge plus. This allows you to wait for the perfect moment to ambush your enemies. The cloak on this watch recharges 100% quicker, too. The downsides are that you cannot recharge cloak with ammo packs while invisible, and you recharge 35% less cloak from ammo packs while not invisible. The cloak meter consumption can vary, too. Again, it consumes no cloak while not moving, consumes a small amount of cloak while crouch walking, more so while walking, and drains very quickly while running. Do not, and I repeat, do not use this with the Your Eternal Reward.

The Dead Ringer

This watch functions differently from the rest. Upon right clicking, you do not go invisible, but instead you hold the watch out. If you take damage while the watch is out, you fake your death in the killfeed, leaving a body behind too. You immediately cloak and gain damage resistance and a speed boost to escape with your remaining cloak meter. You regenerate cloak 50% quicker, and you have 40% extra cloak duration. Great upsides right? Here come the downsides. You lose 50% of your cloak meter when you fake a death, and the decloaking sound is loud as hell. You cannot fake a death if you don't have a full cloak meter. You cannot restore cloak with ammo packs. Use this as a get out of jail free card when you mess up.

The Sapper

Right click on an enemy Engineer's buildings with this to slowly drain the building's HP, eventually destroying it. Sappers can be destroyed by Engineer's wrench, or by Pyro's Homewrecker or Maul.

The Ap-Sap

Reskin of the Sapper. It's a Wheatley core from Portal 2 repurposed into a sapper. Even includes voicelines!

The Snack Attack

Reskin of the Sapper. It's mutated bread wrapped around a magnetic coil. Beats me how this can function as a sapper, but hey it's TF2, so why not?

The Red-Tape Recorder

Instead of destroying building by slowly sapping its HP, this reel to reel tape recorder "unbuilds" the building instead, eventually reducing it to just a toolbox the Spy can pick up for extra cloak meter. It takes twice as long to fully unbuild the building compared to the stock Sapper. This sapper is best used if you know the engineer is close enough to remove it, that way the sentry will be Level 2 or Level 1 instead of remaining Level 3. This sapper is also good against mini sentries, as it will take longer for the mini sentry to be destroyed. Engineers can't destroy a building while it's sapped. Fun fact, the 3 Chinese characters on the RTR translate to "Anti-Sentry Device"

[That Random Person]

It is nice

[Yveltal]

Thanks

[S O L A R I T E !]

nice guide, man!

[Yveltal]

Aaaand that's a wrap. Keep a lookout for more weapon guides when I get around to making them.