How to See a Spy [OUTDATED]

by Wolf, in Games: Guides & Tips, Team Fortress 2 (1 Comment)

Hello, my name is Wolf and this is my first post. To begin, I would like to share with you everything I have learned of spy detection in the online FPS game, Team Fortress 2, and hope to go beyond some of the basic tips given by other sites. I have been playing Team Fortress now for approximately half a year and use mainly the Soldier, Medic, and Engineer class, all of which are fairly heavily targeted by spies. I take pride in my (at times neurotic) ability to see spies and often suffer devastating, ego crushing blows when stuck. Here are tips that will, with any luck, keep yours in one piece:

Some Basics:

Body check. You cannot walk through enemy players, disguised and cloaked spies included. A downside to this is 1) it may take a while to walk to the suspect thus giving him time to take out another player, 2) it drops your guard to the real spy behind you, and 3) an experienced player will gladly take the opportunity to sidestep your advances and stick a knife in your back. While it is a guaranteed tell of a Spy, I am not a big fan of body checking.

Bumping, injuring, or flaming a cloaked Spy will reveal his location. Disguised spies will also burn.

Spies can only carry the primary weapon of the class they are disguising as. They cannot fire their weapon or heal if you call for a Medic. Often times, players will have their secondary weapon out or shoot as a courtesy if held in suspicion.

Spies move at the same speed as the class they are disguising as. An exception to this is the Scout: the Scout-Spy moves at the Spy rate and cannot double-jump. It is a nice tip to know, but in the heat of battle with many players around, it is often difficult to gauge individual speeds.

Look at player names. If you see your name or two players with the same name, that person is a disguised Spy. Shoot them.

The Meat:

DISGUISED SPIES WILL NEVER FIRST APPEAR WITH FULL HEALTH. When spies first change into a disguise, their health will appear as a random amount above half, but below 100 percent. Note the variability between the three examples, and that the rightmost figure’s health is only one pixel below max. Looking for this damage level on a “teammate” is the quickest and safest method for catching roaming spies.

• Note: It is possible for a Medic on your own team to fill up the enemy Spy’s false health bar, but this is the only way for him to gain the appearance of health while disguised. This is not a common occurrence though because the Spy will most certainly attempt an attack on the Medic, thus losing the look of full health. One additional tip for wary Medics: disguised Spy health bars will fill up much quicker than that of a Heavy or Soldier on your own team.

Running over health packs will not change the appearance of a disguised Spy’s hit points.

If you are close enough to a suspect Spy, test shoot him. His health will not decrease but you will see blood splatter fly.

Emerging cloaked spies will drip water for the same amount of time as another class, approximately five seconds.

Beware of friendly-appearing spies without a paper mask and/or a “disguised as enemy ____” under their name.

Medics without an Übercharge meter are spies.

Disguised spies cannot taunt.

Be suspicious of any players running the wrong way, hiding in corners, taking a less used path, running in a direct line toward other players/Engineer buildings, calling for a Medic, or calling “Spy!” If they are displaying slightly less than full health (see first Meaty tip) as well, they are almost definitely a Spy.

An enemy Spy can stand on your own team’s dispensers and sentry guns, whereas your own teammates (minus the Engineer) can pass right through. Although the life line will flow from the dispenser to the Spy, he will neither gain health [EDIT: Valve update, now he will], nor will his disguised bar increase.

When a disguised Spy is spam sapping Engineer buildings and there are many players running around, watch for the patting hand motion placing the sappers down. It requires three or more Engineers to stop spam sapping; the Spy will win and destroy the building given enough time, so make sure to help them out.

Listen carefully. On a quiet server, you can hear a Spy uncloaking. He’s probably behind you.

Listen very carefully. On an extremely quiet server, you can hear a cloaked Spy’s footsteps. He is most definitely behind you.

This concludes the Spy lesson for today; please check back for my next post titled “How to Avoid Being Knifed in the Back: Turn Around a Lot.” I would like to thank OWS members and OWS server regulars for providing the info and backstabs to write this article.

[Number of times the word “spy(s)” was used in this post: 36.]