Oddly enough, I have the most time clocked in as Spy, and I consider myself to be decent with him. To all new people, use the Ambassador or Enforcer (if you have them), the Cloak and Dagger (if you have it), and the default knife. In my experience, everything else is garbage.

Also, to be a convincing spy, try to be a class that people will let behind them (medic, sniper, spy, maybe engie). Obviously, if they let you behind them, you can backstab them. Medic works well for backstabbing, because all the offensive classes will let you behind them (soldier, heavy, demoman). And just steer clear of Pyros.

ok so i started playing/trying out this game FINALLY and i like it. i am absolutely terrible at this game, but i like it. I'm best at pyro, but i don't enjoy playing the pyro so much. i'd love to get better at playing the spy, since i have the most fun as the spy even when i get my ass kicked.

edit: oh, steam name stuff:

account-yirktos
ign-∴Urch

That is so much bull. The cloak and dagger is useless. Being cloaked does not actually do anything at all.
Ambassador is useless if you cannot aim. Enforcer is most effective when you have the Dead Ringer.
Only worthwhile knives are the default one or Eternal Reward.

Tip to newbies who want to play spy:

The Cloak and Dagger teaches terrible habits and should only be used by spies that are able to recognise the extremely few situations in which it is actually applicable.
As for the other slots, default is best to start with, with alternatives only used in specific situations.

I'm finding myself using Cloak less than Disguise, mainly because it takes 2-3 seconds to exit invisibility and actually attack someone, and by then someone on their team will notice the enemy Spy popping out of thin air. There's two times I do Cloak: One, after I've disguised and need to get over to the other side without being noticed (because running in disguised as an enemy with a crowd of allies is just a little conspicuous), and two, after backstabbing someone, going invisible is a nice way to get away from the scene of the crime, as re-Disguising will usually be futile due to immediate spy-checks.

I have the Ambassador but don't really use it, the only time I use my pistol is as more of a last resort if I've been spotted and can't get away, and I'd rather have the higher damage and fire rate of the default Revolver in that situation.

I honestly don't see what's wrong with the cloak and dagger, being able to sit still and invisible while people walk past without even the risk of being spychecked (because good teams spycheck everyone) is wonderful
Also disguising as medic is a bad idea because usually people will be incredibly suspicious of a medic who's just wandering past them and not healing anyone

Also the enforcer is a beautiful weapon

Yeah, the cloak and dagger is the best watch IMO. The normal invis watch doesn't really allow you to get behind enemy lines. My tactic is always the same as spy: step 1, disguise. Step 2, cloak. Step 3, head into enemy territory and pretend to be an enemy. Proceed to murder the hell out of everyone.
Also with the cloak and dagger you can just sit there and wait to recharge your cloak and not get noticed.
The dead ringer on the other hand never comes in handy, ever. It's a nice concept, but the cloak doesn't last long enough to make a very good escape and if if you do escape, you still have to rearm it which takes a fairly long time considering. Waiting like 4 seconds before getting to cloak? That isn't very helpful. Of course this is coming from me and I tend to wear my cloak everywhere like I wear sunglasses in real life because I'm a douche like that.
Whatever floats your boat though.

No that's you just sucking with it.
It's for a more head on approach to spy combat.

Well I like being a sneaky spy more than an assault spy. Even with the enforcer, you can't really rely on being an assault spy because that's the one class that everyone will always go after. And yes I do suck with the dead ringer.

Are you kidding? If you know what you're doing you can raise serious hell and everyone'll be so confused that you can go on a murder spree.

I can't? You could've told me this before! I've been playing spy in an impossible way for months!!

I said it wasn't reliable, I didn't say that it was impossible. If you master it, then yeah, ok. But if you master unreliable tactics, they aren't as unreliable then, are they?

It really isn't unreliable at all.
You are bad at it, so you think it is unreliable.
You would also be really bad at piloting a jet fighter aircraft but that doesn't make them unreliable.

I don't use the dead ringer a great deal either but I'm not stupid enough to think it's useless, it just doesn't fit my usual playstyle.
That's a fault of me, not the item. The item itself is very useful and more reliable than the cloak and dagger, as it allows you to easily survive spychecks.

The Dead Ringer is great when the enemy team has five snipers picking everyone off, especially when combined with the Eternal Reward. It's nearly impossible for them to tell who's who, and when they finally do, you can just as easily escape and come back to kill them again. I often do this until all of them rage and change to Pyro.

Ambassador is only useful if you can aim for their head, otherwise revolver is best.
Cloak and Dagger is actually the worst spy cloak, and the YER can be useful sometimes, I myself go with DR, YER and the Enforcer (because it has no negative effect for DR of some cause.

Invisibility Watch is also a solid choice, and the regular knife works out good if your new to Spy.


Oh hey, I didn't see your post.

I agree with you so much.

Edit:

Because its impossible to make people not play Spy as their first class, then complain hes underpowered and what not..

1. If someone spychecks you, stay calm, pretend you didn't take damage, I usually do this, and then they just decide I am not a Spy, because I didn't run.
2. Do not ever disguise as a Scout or Medic, your so hilariously obvious.
3. If you are behind enemy lines, Sniper is a solid choice
4. Be aware that disguising as Demoman means your slower than 7 classes, this means they expect to go through you, but they can't so they kill you.
5. CnD is trash, and you know it.
6. Only use Ambassador if you can actually aim for the head.
7. Stay aware of Pyros, and keep away from them.
8. Disguise as a Heavy only in emergencies, like when your at the very front lines, and a medic with 100% uber is the only one nearby.
9. Stay away from Soldier disguising.
10. Disguising as Spy while walking among your own allies works wonders sometimes.
11. If someone complains about you being a Spy, and you know you suck, just play some other class.
12. If someone complains about you being a Spy, and you are an experienced Spy that killed everyone on their team 100 times over in one round, ignore them.
13. Again, don't disguise as Scout or Medic.
14. Disguise as Engineer nearby sentry nests.
15. The best all-round disguise is Pyro.
16. While you are disguised, you can actually switch weapons your disguise wears, primary, secondary or melee, if your for example a Pyro, press B while holding revolver to hold flamethrower, B while holding sapper to hold Shotgun/flare gun, and finally, B while holding Knife to hold whatever melee weapon the pyro uses.
17. You can fake reloading if you got less than max revolver ammo, press r to reload, and your disguise will do the same, to repeat the reload animation, switch weapon before reload finishes, then do it again, useful when disguised as a demoman.
18. Do not, ever, disguise as a Demoman after you sapped a building, he will loudly yell "KA BOOOM!" when you destroy a building.
19. DO NOT DISGUISE AS SCOUT OR MEDIC.

Done.