Spy-checking

From TF2 Wiki

Spy-checking

Because of the Spy's ability to cloak or disguise as a character of the opposite team, it is useful to often check for the telltale signs of an enemy Spy in order to prevent them from backstabbing team-mates or sapping buildings.

Contents 1 Signs that indicate an enemy Spy 2 Signs that indicate a possible enemy Spy 3 Signs that indicate that a team-mate is not a Spy 4 Proving that you are not a Spy

Signs that indicate an enemy Spy

• A team-mate stops when bumping into him (true team-mates pass through you).
• A Medic without an ÜberCharge meter.
• A Scout moving at the Spy movement speed.
• Having your own name, or seeing your name yell a voice command that you didn't use.
• Having the name of somebody known to be elsewhere or dead.
• Having a name that does not correspond with the player's current class on the scoreboard. This happens when a Spy disguises himself as a class not currently on the team. It can also happen if the person has changed class while the Spy was disguised.
• Not taking any damage from enemy attacks, or plain not being fired at by the enemy.
• The most common method used for Spy-checking is a Pyro puffing his team-mates with his flamethrower. If the team-mate does not ignite, he is not a Spy. If he does, take him down.
• A team-mate standing on a friendly sentry gun or dispenser that he didn't build. The only person that can stand on a friendly sentry or dispenser is the engineer that built it.
• While cloaked, briefly glowing his team color when bumped or shot.
• Obstructing friendly contact projectiles such as Rockets and Pipe bombs. Such weapons will usually shoot straight through team-mates.
• Placing Sappers on friendly buildings.
• A friendly Pyro on fire (they are normally flame-resistant).
• A team-mate being launched off by the compressed air blast of the Pyro.
• Any player that is on fire will glow their true team colour.
• Whenever he dons a disguise, an enemy Spy is given a random fake health level between 50-100% that shows up to the other team. The spy can remove this clue by having a medic heal him. The Spy can never feign a health level less than 50%. Dispensers, carts and health packs can increase his apparent health only if his real health is injured. So a player who does not appear to gain health from a dispenser or cart is likely a spy. A spy can only consume health powerups if he is truly below 100% health, so a player who appears damaged but runs over health without picking it up is likely a spy.
• Being healed by an enemy dispenser while cloaked (healing "ribbons" are still visible). Cloaked friendly spies may also be revealed this way.
• While cloaking or uncloaking, the spy is briefly shows his own team colour until cloaking/uncloaking is complete.
• Medics using the Blutsauger can fire a single needle at a suspected spy and look at their own health. A green "+3" indicates that the target is a spy, as you cannot receive health by shooting friendly players.
• Heavies using the Natascha will slow down enemies, which can reveal which team-mates are enemy spies. You cannot slow down friendly players.
• A friendly player on a control point or near a payload cart who does not seem to be capping the point or pushing the cart.
• A microphone indicator that is not connected to a body on an alltalk server - cloaked spies still display the team colored ! indicator.
• A team-mate whose weapon sounds like the revolver when he reloads, making a clicking sound.

Signs that indicate a possible enemy Spy

None of these indicators are conclusive proof of a spy, but all of them would make a good time to run a spy-check:

• An engineer carrying a shotgun near a buildable device or a doctor carrying a syringe gun - spies can only hold the primary weapon of a class.
• Anyone hovering near sentries or dispensers, especially if they are attempting to move behind the engineer tending them, or are at full health.
• Anyone running in an unexpected direction - a friendly pyro, with full or nearly full health, running away from the enemies, is possibly a spy.
• Someone acting inappropriately - a pyro who stays near the snipers, a demoman who is near a point, but has not placed sticky bombs, etc.
• A team-mate that deliberately avoids walking through you in tight corridors. Many spies will strafe walk and dodge other players to avoid bumping.
• A fully healed team-mate that continues to call for a medic.
• A team-mate not firing at the enemy (as a Medic when your healing a team-mate, and you notice they're not firing back at the enemy bonesaw them just in case).
• A apparently injured (at around 50% is the strongest indicator) team-mate running around the spawn area doing nothing or calling for a medic, when he could easily get health from the spawn.
• A team-mate keeping some distance to Pyros which pose a great threat to Spies.

Signs that indicate that a team-mate is not a Spy

• Able to be passed through a team-mate, as opposed to stopped short.
• Shooting a weapon.
• Holding any tool/weapon other than the primary weapon (the disguised Spy can only display that class's primary weapon).
• A Scout moving at the normal Scout movement speed.
• A Scout double-jumping.
• A Medic with an ÜberCharge meter.
• Being surrounded by teleport particles of your team's color.
• On fire and glowing your team's color.
• Entering the resupply area.
• Reloading multiple times. Spy can fake a reload, but only once, to reload again his revolver has to be low on ammo, which can only happen if he fires the revolver, which he can't because it will remove his disguise. However there is the possibility for the spy to reload and cancel it by changing weapons before the animation is finished but this will also be visible as the animation cuts off, when the spy is moving this effect will be almost unrecognizable. He cannot fake reload as a Sniper, Heavy or Pyro because the primary weapon of those classes do not have a reload animation
• Changing weapons.
• Taunting.
• Carrying the enemy Intelligence.
• A Spy indicated as wearing a disguise.
• A fully cloaked Spy that is visible to you with a wavering outline--you will never see a fully cloaked enemy spy.
• A Sniper with his Rifle to his eye (instead of holding it idly).
• A Heavy spinning his Minigun.
• A friendly player who is using their microphone: A symbol appears over the player's head. In servers with sv_alltalk enabled, the symbol is tinted red or blue according to the player's true team allegiance.
• Holding an unlockable weapon (e.g Blutsauger or Backburner).
• If your team-mate has less then 50% health.

Proving that you are not a Spy

This is short set of ways to stop your team-mates from needlessly spy checking you.

• Switch to a different weapon (Spies in disguise only appear to be using the class's primary weapon).
• Shoot your weapon (a spy reveals himself by attacking).
• Agree to a sequence of moves in set up time (e.g. crouching twice).
• Taunt.
• Use your voice chat to say that you are not a Spy (e.g. "Just me").
• Walk through a team-mate. (Be careful as some might mistake this as trying to get closer for a backstab)