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Load up Team Fortress 2 and the first thing you want is to find a decent server. Set the region to where you are, don’t show empty or full servers, set the ping to < 100 and type “nocrit” into the tags box.

You’re looking for a server with between eight to twenty-four people – any less, you won’t be able to play Spy efficiently, any more and it’ll just be spam. Now you want to see what maps are on offer. Some maps like pl_badwater and cp_gravelpit are classic Spy maps, plenty of space and heights, whereas maps like cp_dustbowl are filled with tunnels and a lack of height making chokepoints for spam more prevalent. Ultimately it is your ability as Spy that determines how you play, but poor maps can increase frustration when you can’t flank or jump on the enemy. For me personally, Dustbowl epitomises rubbish level design.

I will explain why to put “nocrit” into the tags. As you may or may not be aware, depending on how new to TF2 you are, the game has critical hits that do three times the damage. These occur randomly, but suspiciously melee critical hits seem to be around 90-100% against Spies. Whilst I have no direct evidence to support my claim, I go by the empirical experience of my time as Spy, which I estimate to be around 500-600 hours. My stats have been reset on occasion so there’s no way for me to know for certain. Having no crits evens the playing field a bit and reduces the chances when you’ll instantly die from a stray rocket meant for someone else.

Now that you’re in a suitable server, it’s time to play Spy! Adopt a friendly disguise that doesn’t slow you down and find your team, once you get to the front line it’s time to remember the fishing analogy I mentioned in a previous tutorial. Cloak and make your way behind the enemy. If you’re using the default watch, pick up ammo as you go and find somewhere safe to decloak with an enemy disguise. If you’re using the Cloak and Dagger, find crates or places to stand on so you can observe the enemy unnoticed. Thirdly, if you’re using the Dead Ringer, you’ll have to feign death to use the cloak and quickly find a location to decloak.

Observe the enemy and see if you can find any targets. Look for players who aren’t checking behind them, an Engineer busy constructing, a Medic behind the patient, anything worth going for. Don’t charge in blindly. One of the skills I’ve picked up during my time as Spy is patience. Only go for a target if you are certain you have the upperhand or sense an opportunity.

When moving around, always have the revolver equipped and if you are found, use your revolver whilst retreating or turn invidible and head back to your own team. Don’t ever get into a melee fight as the Spy’s balisong does the same damage as the Axtinguisher when the target isn’t on fire. Most players who are in close quarters combat with a Spy will immediately equip the melee weapon and chase you, so keep running and use the revolver. At point blank range the default revolver will kill most classes in three or four shots.

If you want to increase your odds of survival, as soon as you stab one enemy, turn invisible and escape. It will take one or two seconds for the other players to react to the backstab scream in which time you should be fully cloaked.

The Spy is equipped with a sapper, but don’t think that the Spy is the counter to the Engineer. A competent Engineer will beat the Spy most of the time. I very rarely play Engineer, but have only been killed by a Spy once and that was because I was cocky and tried to put a teleport exit too far forward. When facing Engineers as Spy, if there’s more than one Engineer or sentry gun in proximity, don’t even bother. A lot of Spies I’ve seen will just run up, sap the buildings, die then the Engineer removes the sappers getting free points. Here’s a simple rule to keep in mind. Only engage the Engineer if you are confident you can kill him and destroy his buildings. I will go into dealing with Engineers in another tutorial, this one is a general overview of playing on a public server.

Finally, I’ll make a list of the order of people you should target in priority.

Sniper
Medic
Heavy
Spy
Engineer
Scout
Demoman
Soldier
Pyro

The Spy has an edge over the Sniper assuming skill levels are equal, Medics are usually too busy healing and removing the ability to heal greatly impacts the enemy. Heavies have the highest damage per second of all classes at close range (500), so when they are spun-up, make great targets. As you play Spy you will be able to spot enemy Spies very quickly and it is best to kill them quickly before they assassinate important classes on your team. If you can deal with an Engineer and his buildings, it will be a great help to your team. Scouts are rather easy to deal with, but can be a pain if they jump around all over the place. Three revolver shots or a headshot and one shot from the Ambassador will deal with them. Demomen and Soldiers are the hardest classes to kill as Spy because they have high health and their weapons have high splash damage meaning they are unavoidable at close range. Finally Pyros are the counter to Spy so avoid them. If you are being chased, backpedal and fire the revolver. Most Pyros will just run at you flaming, but four shots from the revolver or a headshot and two shots from the Ambassador will put them down.

I’ve been writing this on the go, trying to help players with Spy, so there will always be more I could write about. To summarise, here are some key points:

1) Be patient and look for opportunities.
2) Don’t get into melee fights.
3) Remember the fishing analogy – cloak behind, disguise and head back to your team getting backstabs.
4) Use friendly disguises when with your team – I can’t stress this enough!

I’ve finally got a collection of suitable footage I will condense into a video. It won’t be a frag video, but a video showing how I play and hopefully there will be something you can learn from it.

Thank you for reading!